“My boat’s here,” she said as though that answered everything.
The tone of his voice told her that her efforts to avoid him amused him. “It’s nothing to bring you back tomorrow.”
Taking the ledger and calculator from Darlene over the counter, she dug in. “No, Fred’s already enough of an inconvenience.”
“No inconvenience,” he replied while Darlene huffed out a response.
“What?” Cassidy asked her.
“I said, stupid drama!” Darlene repeated herself, speaking louder over the crescendo of the song playing. “For Pete’s sake, Cassidy, it’s not like you’re…” she flung out a hand in irritation, “you’re asking him for sex!”
The words themselves were unfortunate; that she shouted them as the song had ended was even worse. Cassidy’s stomach dropped, her cheeks blazed red as her breath caught, her mouth agape as she stared at Darlene in horror. Those nearby started laughing.
Unable to look at Mac, using the brim of her hat to block herself from view, Cassidy bolted toward the back, clutching the ledger and calculator to her like shields.
Mac darted around the edge of the bar and grasped her arm to stop her, but she jerked her arm away with surprising strength and snapped, “Get your hands off me!”
Someone called out, “Not nice to send mixed signals, babe!”
As Cassidy maintained her momentum down the hallway, she heard Mac’s aggressive response to the jokester, “Shut the fuck up.”
Darlene called after her, “Cassidy, really!”
Mac added, on her heels, “Day, hold up.”
Cassidy pushed open the office door. “Never mind; go back. He’s my dog; I’ll figure it out.” She had options. She didn’t need Mac or Darlene.
Fred bounced around in excitement at seeing Mac, waiting for permission to approach. Mac gave it to him, and he launched. “You aren’t upset over a storm.”
Hot tears rolled down her face. She wasn’t sure why. Of course, Darlene had hit the nail on the head unintentionally—in public—and people had heard it. They were all out there making assumptions that technically were true. Shehadasked him for sex. So, the humiliation was double-fold: both she and Mac knew how that had turned out, and now half the bar—some of whom knew her as a married woman—was thinking she was turning to Mac for sex.
Jesus, all true. She’d done it to herself. Only she hadn’t planned to broadcast it.
Giving her head a quick shake, refusing to look at him, she reminded him, “All the shit you don’t want to hear.”
“Day, I—”
“Jesus Christ, Cassie!” Darlene huffed from behind Mac. “You are wound tighter than a wet setten’ hen.”
Both she and Mac turned to her with expressions of bewilderment, Cassidy wiping at her tears.
Darlene fell to the side of the door as she looked in. “Means you got your panties in a wad over nothing.”
Mac gestured to Cassidy, his hard eyes on Darlene. “This is on you! Some fucking friend you turn out to be.” He pushed past her into the hall, ordering over his shoulder, “Fred! Let’s go!”
Cassidy dropped her head.
Darlene made an annoyed sound and said into the office. “Great, he’s blaming me for this. Way to cock block, Cassie.”
“Don’t you put that on her; it was your own mouth.” Came Mac’s terse response.
Cassidy peeked out from beneath the bill of the cap.
Darlene jumped guiltily and turned. Fred was standing in the hall midway between them, his paws tippy-tapping in indecision as he stared back at Cassidy, a worried expression on his face. Mac hadn’t left yet because Fred wouldn’t go.
Cassidy looked from Fred’s concerned brown eyes to Mac’s watchful ones.
Not one to be put in her place, Darlene drawled back, “Don’t recall you having any complaints about my mouth before. But if we’re going to start talking about mouths—”