Shine Not Burn (21 page)

He just stared at me, his own face going red too.
 
Only
his
high color probably wasn’t the result of being embarrassed, judging by the way he kept tensing his jaw while glaring at me.

“I’m not going to sign,” he finally said, before turning to leave.

“What do you mean, you’re not going to sign?” I wasn’t sure I was completely understanding or even hearing properly.
 
Maybe all that sun exposure had given me a stroke.

“I don’t believe in divorce,” he said.
 
He walked out of the room and the house without another word, slamming the front door so hard behind him it made the curtains shake and some glass things tink together in a china cabinet.

I stood to run after him, but quickly fell sideways onto the couch when my feet got tangled in themselves and threatened to take me down onto the coffee table.
 
My hip hit the cushions, sending a whoosh of air up into my face.
 
I blinked a few times getting my wits back before sitting up.

“What.
 
The.
 
Hell.”
 
I said out into the room.
 
I was at a complete loss as to what I should do now.
 
Run after him?
 
Nope, legs were not cooperating.
 
Yell at him?
 
Nope, he was already too far away to hear anything.
 
Wait for him to come back?
 
Not sure that I had any other choice.

I leaned back into the cushions and stared out into nothingness, my mind swirling around with the implications arising from this unexpected circumstance.
 
Never in my wildest of imaginings had I pictured him saying no to signing the papers.
 
The worst thing I’d come up with was another woman in the mix, and while it had been uncomfortable to think about, it wasn’t as awful as this.
 
At least a jealous girlfriend or even a second wife would have provided some kind of motivation for him to execute the papers.

Dammit!
 
What am I supposed to do now?
 
I looked around the room, my mind zooming all over and not making much sense.
 
But then my eye landed on a group of photographs and my brain zeroed in on one of the faces I saw there.
 
I slid off the couch and crawled on hands and knees over to the table that showed off the family’s loved ones in frames, not trusting my feet to get me there without tipping over.

I reached up and took down the one I’d seen from across the room.
 
I smiled when I saw the faces there and the postures held by the people in the photo that told me this was something I could use to my advantage.
 
“Bam.
 
I gotcha now, cowboy.”

I put the framed photo back and crawled back to the couch, deciding that in order to have my ducks in a row and the energy that I’d require for the upcoming fight, I’d need all my strength back.
 
A nap was in order, and the couch was just too comfortable to pass up.
 
I eased my aching feet up to hang just over the edge and laid down on my side.
 
Grabbing the silly troll doll and tucking my pressed-together hands under my cheek, I told myself it would just be a cat nap.
 
The troll’s hair tickled my chin, but I left the doll there.
 
My only friend in a great big state full of dust, snakes, and angry cowboys.
 
Just long enough to get the dizziness to pass and to put together my plan of attack.
 
All of my court cases had been won with a combination of planning and skill.
 
I could do this, no problem.
 
I’d be out of Baker City with signed documents in less than twenty-four hours.
 
I just had to be at the top of my game the next time I saw Mack, so I could convince him that denying me what I wanted was futile.
 
I would get him to sign those papers if it was the last thing I did.

At some point I sensed someone coming in and putting something heavy on me that I snuggled under happily.
 
And then I was finally awakened by the sounds of dishes and glasses hitting one another and silverware scraping on plates.
 
Distant voices told me that a large number of people were very close by.
 
I set the troll doll down on the coffee table and went to investigate.

Chapter Twenty-One

I GOT UP SLOWLY, MAKING sure not to put too much weight on my bum foot, and snuck out into the hallway where I found a bathroom.
 
Stepping inside, I emptied my bladder and did the best I could to fix my hair.
 
It was pretty much a hopeless case.
 
I had no brush to smooth out the lumps and bumps, and when I took my elastic out to try and tighten the ponytail I’d put in earlier, it broke.

“Dammit.”
 
I stared at it, wondering if I could knot it back together and try again.

“Hello?” came a voice from the other side of the door.
 
It was the woman who’d given me the Gatorade.
 
“Andie? Can I get you anything?”

“Uh, no, thank you.
 
I’ll be right out.”
 
I rubbed a wet finger over my teeth, trying to get rid of the sour sleep taste in my mouth, and washed my hands.
 
Before walking out the door, I took one last look at myself; I was a sunburned, tangle-haired mess.
 
Why Mack wasn’t rushing to sign the papers was some kind of weird mystery.
 
If I were him, I’d be doing everything I could to get my sorry-looking butt out of here.

I walked out of the bathroom to find the older woman waiting patiently in the hallway.

“There you are. Did you sleep okay?” she asked.

“Um, yes.
 
Sorry about that.”
 
My face went redder with embarrassment.
 
“I only meant to take a little catnap to get rid of that dizzy feeling, but I must have really dozed off.”

She put her hand on my shoulder and gently but firmly guided me down the hallway in the opposite direction of the living room.
 
“You were all tuckered out.
 
It’s perfectly fine for you to take a nap here, it’s not a problem at all.
 
We were just sitting down to an early dinner and thought you’d like to join us.
 
My name’s Maeve by the way.”

I stopped dead in my tracks.
 
“Dinner?
 
With your family?”

“Well, yes, sweetie.
 
We eat as a family here, every night.”
 
She smiled warmly.
 
“It’s kind of a tradition.
 
Our boys have always been the type to run out the door with friends and work and everything else, but one thing we always insisted on was dinner at home, all of us at the table with no television, no phones, and no radio.
 
Just eating and talking and hopefully laughing but sometimes a little bit of yelling happens too.”
 
She gave me wry grin.
 
“Comes with the territory of having all men in the house.”

I smiled, despite my panic.
 
“That’s nice.
 
The eating together part, anyway.”

“We like it.”
 
She pushed on me to make me move, but I stayed put.

“I’m sorry, is it your ankle or your foot?” She looked down at it in concern.

“No, it’s mostly fine now.
 
But I don’t think I should eat dinner here, though. I appreciate you inviting me, but I think I’d prefer to just get a bite in town.”

“Oh, no, I insist,” she said, pushing me more firmly.

I moved because to do otherwise would have been rude.
 
Besides, it was very possible that I’d need this woman to intervene on my behalf, so getting on her bad side would be seriously counterproductive.
 
“I guess if it isn’t any trouble...”

“No trouble at all.
 
I’ve never learned to cook for less than ten people.”

“Ten?” I squeaked out.
 
The closer we got to the next room, the louder the voices became.
 
Are there ten people in there?

“Sometimes we have that many.
 
Tonight it’s just the four of us, Boog, and you.
 
But since I cooked for ten again, we’ll have leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch.
 
I hope you like ribs.”

My stomach chose that exact moment to growl like a bear.
 
Ribs were one of the guilty pleasures I allowed myself about once a month from a local eatery that specialized in authentic pit barbecue.

She laughed.
 
“I’ll take that as a yes.
 
Come on.
 
I’ve put you across from Gavin.”

We turned the corner together and my feet slowed as I took in the scene before me.
 
Maeve and I were the only females in the room.
 
The rest of the space was taken up by giant men.
 
Not one of them could have weighed less than two hundred pounds, and Boog himself was almost twice that, with hair enough for a couple wookies.

It was easy to see where Ian and Mack got their good looks.
 
They were a perfect combination of their parents, getting their large frames and square jaws from their father and their hair color and smiles from their mother.

As soon as they realized I was in the room, the smiles disappeared.
 
The talking stopped and all eyes were on me.

Boog turned around to see what the silence was all about.
 
He was the first to speak.
 
“Well, there she is.
 
Sleeping beauty rises from the dead.”
 
He chuckled and went back to gnawing on the bone he held in his hand.

I walked over to the empty seat next to him and stood behind it.
 
“No thanks to you.
 
Appreciate you leaving me out there to die with the rattlesnakes.” I tried to sound mad, but the food looked and smelled so good I couldn’t concentrate on my anger enough to make it believable.

“You recall that I tried to offer you a lift…”
 
He turned to face me and I worked at not feeling sick over the pieces of rib schmeg stuck in his beard.
 
He looked like a complete and utter savage, making me wonder what Mack’s family could possibly be thinking by wanting him here at their table.

I looked across the table at Mack and then quickly shifted my gaze to the mashed potatoes when he caught my eye.
 
Those damn blue eyes.
 
Why do they affect me like this?
 
I felt like I had a fever, my skin suddenly going sensitive and the heat rising up inside me.
 
My master plan to use the girl in the photo to force his hand seemed flimsy.
 
He definitely wasn’t coming across as a man who could be easily intimidated.
 
Why did I remember him being so much more easygoing?
 
Was it because I was so drunk or because he’d changed?

I turned my attention back to Boog.
 
Looking down at him from behind my seat was like taking a visual cold shower, helping me get a grip on my emotions. “Yes, but you failed to mention when you offered that lift that the road was straight out of Baghdad and not suited to travel by a Smart Car.”

He snorted.
 
“Foreigners.”
 
Taking a bite of his rib, he continued to speak, not letting the fact that he had a mouthful of meat bother him in the least.
 
“I got news for you … a Smart Car isn’t suited to travel anywhere around here, not even the highway.
 
With all the four-wheel drive trucks around, you could get yourself hurt if you got in an accident.
 
Better leave the Smart Cars on the golf course where they belong.”

Mack shifted in his seat and I looked up at him again.
 
I felt the heat rise in my cheeks as the muscle in his jaw pulsed out a few times.
 
I was affecting him as much as he was affecting me, only I think my presence was making him angry whereas his was making me think stupid, stupid things that girls who are engaged to other men should not be thinking.
 
I pulled the chair out and stood in front of it at the table.

Boog continued.
 
“Next time a gentleman offers you a ride, you should take him up on it and not be so big city independent about it.”

“The first time one does, I will.”
 
I smirked, taking my chair at the edges and pulling myself up closer to the table. I was so distracted from Boog’s scolding and my own witty comeback, I sat down from higher up than I intended and my butt made a loud slapping sound on the wood.
 
I blushed again, too embarrassed to look at anyone.
 
There was already at least one guy at the table who’d noticed my big back yard, but now the whole family was aware of the fact that my butt-cheek to chair-seat ratio was a little butt-heavy.

“Welcome to the ranch of Clan MacKenzie,” said the big man at the head of the table, sitting just to my left.

I jerked my head in his direction, glad for the distraction.
 
“You’re the patriarch, I take it.” I held out my hand.
 
“My name’s Andie.
 
Andie Marks.”
 
His grip was firm and warm.

I snuck a glance in Mack’s direction in time to see his jaw bouncing out a couple times as he clenched his teeth together, but then he put a rib up to his mouth and covered the lower half of his face, making it impossible for me to tell what he was feeling.

“I’m Angus,” said Mack’s father.
 
“My boys are Gavin - he goes by Mack - and Ian.
 
My wife over there is Maeve, and this is Mr. Atticus Boegman, but everyone just calls him Boog.”