The Bull's Bride Hunt (Holiday Mail Order Mates Book 3) (5 page)

Jack was headed to the park to check out the setting for the Easter egg hunt. He and Tanner were going to plan the setup together, then Tanner would give the plans to his department at City Hall to okay. Jack, Tanner, and their small crew of volunteers would set up everything together.

Jack’s biggest contribution, besides his money and time, was convincing a few of his business friends to donate. Now, they had more than enough money to set up a great Easter egg hunt with some awesome prizes. It was going even better than Jack had expected.

The city park was gorgeous. It was all green, and there was a gazebo at the center. The city had planted some new trees two years earlier, so there were small saplings dotted around the park. It had already been the setting for many of the town’s gatherings. The Christmas stroll and the tree lighting happened here in the winter, and the fireworks in the summer were here too.

Jack spotted Tanner waiting for him at the gazebo as they had planned. “Hey, buddy.”

“Hey.” Tanner walked up and shook his hand. “Thanks for helping us with all this. I know how valuable your time is. I want to thank you again for getting so many of your friends to donate.”

“Who would’ve thought that a bull shifter would be the most charming man in town?” Jack joked. “I guess nobody wanted to get on the wrong side of this bull’s horns.”

Tanner laughed. “I guess not, but I’m very glad I’m on the right side of your horns.”

“So, what were you thinking about doing?”

“I really want to do some throwbacks to some of the older hunts,” Tanner said. “Problem is, I wasn’t here, so I don’t remember any of them. You have any memories you can share to use?”

Jack rubbed his chin. It had been decades since he had gone on his last Easter egg hunt. He had stopped going before he turned ten. They were still going on then, but he was much too old for them. He tried to think back to anything memorable from when he was still going. Nothing came to mind except for the candies.

“You know, there used to be maple candies hidden in some of the eggs. Whoever found the maples got a dollar prize. It doesn’t sound like much, but back when I was a kid, a dollar went a lot further.”

“That sounds great,” Tanner said excitedly. “There’s a candy shop in town that still sells maple candies. I bet we can team up with them and maybe convince them to donate a few if we let them set up a shop on site. I think a dollar prize is still good. A dollar is a lot to little kids. We’re capping the age at ten for this.”

“That sounds like a great plan. But I thought the candy shop in town closed some years back.”

“It did, but a new one just opened. They make really great stuff. It would be really great if we can help out another local business.”

Jack nodded. Before he could answer Tanner, he heard a girl laughing and turned to look. Macy and her daughter were nearby. Macy was pushing her daughter on the swings and the little girl was laughing.

Jack couldn’t get away from her. The universe hadn’t stopped putting her in front of his face since the moment they had met.

“Who’s that?” Tanner nodded in the direction of Macy and her daughter.

“No one. No one at all,” Jack said. “Just a customer from the bar. She recently moved back to town.”

“Okay,” Tanner said, and patted Jack on the arm. “She’s not nobody. You’re looking at her like she’s the last drink of water on a hot day.”

“It’s complicated,” Jack said with an air of finality. He didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

He wished he was over there with his family, playing. He imagined it would be nice watching as Macy pushed their daughter on the swing. Maybe after the meeting with Tanner, they would go out for lunch as a family.

He shook his head to get that notion out of it. That wasn’t going to happen for him.

Macy noticed them staring, and she caught his eye and waved. Her little girl hopped off the swing and looked in their direction. She took off running before Macy could grab her hand.

“Jill, you get back here!” Macy yelled across the park.

The little girl made a beeline straight for Tanner and Jack.

“You guys are really big,” the girl said as she reached them. She had run as fast as the wind, but she wasn’t even out of breath. Jack had forgotten how much energy small children had.

“Jill, that’s rude!” Macy looked at him apologetically. “I’m so sorry. This is my daughter, Jill. Jill, this is my friend, Jack.”

“Nice to meet you, Jill. Macy, this is my friend who works at City Hall. Tanner, this is Macy.”

Macy nodded at Tanner. “You two were doing something for the hunt here?”

“We sure are,” Tanner said. “And you two are coming to that, aren’t you?”

“You bet we are,” Macy said, smiling at Jill. “We love this park. You two picked a great location.”

“Yeah, but they’re still very tall,” Jill said, craning her neck to look up at Tanner and Jack.

“That’s because we’re shifters.” Jack knelt down to her eye level. “You know what a shifter is?”

Jill’s eyes got wide. “You turn into animals! Right? Can I see it?”

Jack laughed. “Maybe later.”

“Promise?” Jill held out her hand with her pinkie outstretched.

Her little face was scrunched up so earnestly that Jack almost laughed. He tried to keep a serious face as he linked his pinky with hers. “Promise. One day when you’re older and your mom says it’s okay.”

“We should leave you two alone to get to work.” Macy picked Jill up. “We have to get back to have lunch anyway. It was nice seeing you two.”

“It was great to meet you,” Tanner said.

“Bye!” Jill waved over Macy’s shoulder as they walked away.

Jack waved and smiled, but his heart was a little sad. He hoped he would have a family that nice one day.

There was a knock at the front door, and when she opened it, Macy was surprised to see Don standing on her mother’s doorstep again. It had been four days since he had said he would reschedule their date, and she hadn’t heard from him since. She was honestly surprised that he had the nerve to show up on her doorstep again.

“So, I see you’re back in town.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Nice of you to think about coming to talk to your family.”

“Yeah, I’m really sorry about that. Things got a little out of hand.”

“Daddy!”

Jill ran out before Macy could stop her and hugged Don around the legs. She looked up at him with a big, innocent smile. She was so happy to see her father that it softened Macy’s heart a little. It was hard to be so mad when her daughter was so happy.

“Hey, honey. Nice to see you.”

“Daddy, I met a man who could turn into a bull.”

The excitement in her daughter’s voice made Macy smile. She wasn’t sure if Jack was going to transform for Jill, but if he ever did, her little girl was going to be over the moon.

“What?” Don looked confused. He pushed Jill off his leg.

“The Easter egg hunt is this weekend. You think we’ll get to see the bull then?”

“Yeah, whatever.” He pushed Jill toward the door. “Your mommy and me need to talk. Why don’t you go inside?”

“But, Daddy, do you think we’re going to see the bull this weekend? And what time are you coming?” Jill asked as her father pushed her inside

All of a sudden, Macy’s mother was there too. Shirley put her hand on Don’s chest to stop him from taking one step farther, then picked up Jill and took her inside. “Don’t worry, honey,” she told the little girl. “You can go to the hunt, Daddy or not. Your mommy and I can take you if he can’t come.”

Jill looked like she was on the verge of tears, but she bit her bottom lip and nodded stoically. “Bye, Daddy.”

Rage filled Macy’s chest. He was already making her daughter cry. This was too much for her to bear.

“What are you doing here, Don?”

“I need to borrow a thousand dollars.”

“What?” Macy couldn’t believe her ears. Of all the things to say at this moment, he’d chosen to ask to borrow a large sum of money. He wasn’t apologizing for treating their daughter badly. He wasn’t apologizing for standing her up. He wasn’t apologizing for not calling for four days. Nope, none of that. He’d asked to borrow money. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I promise I’ll pay you back. I’ve got a business opportunity, but I’m a little cash poor right now. Let me borrow it, and I swear I can get it back to you in, say, a week or two.”

Macy laughed bitterly. “You haven’t changed one bit, have you? I can’t believe I was so stupid. Just go. I’m not going to lend you any money. I don’t even have it, Don. Why do you think I’m living with my mother?”

“What do you mean, you can’t lend me anything? I’m only asking to borrow it for a week. I’m your husband. You know I’m good for it.”

“No. You
were
my husband. In a few days, you won’t even be that. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I’m not going to lend you money or let you back in our lives again. My mother was right—you’re a terrible man.”

“I told you, I’m a new man. I’ve changed. Let me borrow the money and you’ll see that. I’ll pay you back. With interest! And we can use the money to get a place of our own.”

“I don’t have the money, and I wouldn’t give it to you if I did. I don’t want to live with you again. I don’t want you disappointing our daughter like you’ve disappointed me.”

“Is this about that stupid Easter egg hunt? This is serious, Macy. This is a genuine opportunity. These don’t come along every minute. I need to make money for us so we can live together again.”

Macy shook her head. “I know something about missing out on a good opportunity. Sorry, Don, I don’t have it.”

“I’m sure you have something. Let me tell you about the job. I’m sure you’ll understand why I need the money. My buddy and I go in with a truck and we break up some driveways. Then we haul away the old material and put in new cement. This is a good, solid job. I just need to put up some seed money to get the truck.”

Macy rolled her eyes. “You aren’t listening to me, Don. I’m not giving you anything. This was my mistake, but I won’t make it again.”

“Just let me borrow five hundred, then. That’s enough to get a good-faith loan from my boys for the rest.”

“Have a nice life, Don. Don’t come back here ever again. I’ll call the police and let them deal with you next time.”

As she shut the door in his face, Don, ever the gentleman, had to have the last word.

“I see you’re still batshit crazy!” he yelled from the other side of the door.

Macy hoped Jill hadn’t heard that, but she was very glad of the decision she’d just made. She had almost made a massive mistake. She had almost given a loser like Don a second chance.

She would never be this dumb again. She knew she had no shot with Jack anymore, but she still had a chance to give her daughter a good life. It might be a long while before she met anyone as good as Jack, but at least she knew for sure that she and Don weren’t going to work. She would never feel bad for keeping Don out of his daughter’s life. He didn’t care about her or Jill. He only cared about what he could get from them.

Macy leaned her head back against the door. She wished she knew what she was going to do next.

Jill came in from the kitchen. “Where’s Daddy?”

“Your daddy’s gone away.”

“Do you know when’s he’s gonna be back?”

Macy shook her head. “I don’t know. But he’s probably not coming back for a very long while. I know you might be sad about this, and that’s okay. It’s not your fault. Your daddy makes mistakes sometimes, and he needs some time to sort himself out.”

“Like when I do something bad and I have to have a timeout?”

“Exactly like that.”

“Good,” Jill said sagely. “He called you a bad name. So he should have a very long timeout.”

Macy held back a laugh. “I think that sounds fair.”

Macy’s mother smiled in the kitchen doorway. “I knew it was time to take out the trash.”

Macy shook her head. She should have listened to her mother. She’d said Don was a loser from the start, and she was right. He had no idea what it took to care for his family or be a good husband.

She knew that whomever she dated next, she had to be sure he would be good to not only her but also her daughter. It wasn’t going to be an easy search, but she was sure she would find someone eventually. She had already made the mistake of losing a good man. She wouldn’t do that again.

It was late in the evening and Jack was at the park alone. He’d managed to wrangle a cart for the egg hunt. It hadn’t looked that great when he first got it, but he’d fixed it up and painted it. Now, it looked as good as new. He’d gotten the idea that they could rent a pony for the day and it could take kids around the park in the cart.

The park was pretty long, so it would be a nice ride for small children. Jack wanted to test it out to make sure it would work. He just needed to wait for his passenger to show up.

“This thing looks great,” Tanner said when he finally arrived. “Sorry I’m late. I got held up at a meeting.”

“No problem at all. I wanted to give this thing a test ride before we let kids ride in it.”

Tanner looked around. “That’s a great idea, Jack, but we don’t have a horse.”

“But we do have a bull.”

Jack stripped down and transformed behind the bushes. He came back out to Tanner in his bull form. Tanner strapped Jack to the cart and got in the back.

“There’s no harness, man, so go slow.”

Jack began to pull the cart around the park along the route that he thought the ride should take. He hoped that there would be enough time to get in at least a dozen pony rides during the egg hunt. It was a nice, scenic route, and Jack thought all the kids would love it.

As they rode, Jack’s bull was really enjoying itself. It didn’t get to be out in public very often. He didn’t let his bull roam in the city because it was just too big and he was afraid the animal would freak people out.

As they came back around to the gazebo, Jack was surprised to see Macy, her daughter, and her mother taking a walk along the edge of the park. It was late, and he hadn’t expected to see anyone since the park was almost closed. And of all the people to run into, of course it had to be Macy.

“Whoa there, buddy,” Tanner said. “What about we go and chat those nice ladies up? Let’s see how the ride works with real passengers.”

Jack nodded as best he could and hoped that Tanner understood. It worked, because Tanner ran off and came back with Macy and her family.

“I can’t believe it’s really you in there,” Macy said, stroking his nose.

“This is Mr. Jack?” Jill asked excitedly.

Jack dipped his bull’s head again. Tanner ushered the ladies into the cart and Jack took them on a nice slow ride around the park.

Jill talked excitedly the entire time. She told Jack about her entire day and about all the eggs she hoped to find on the egg hunt. He’d never seen a human child so calm around him when he was in his bull form. Usually they were afraid at first and were slow to warm up to him.

When they got to the end of the ride, Tanner helped the women and Jill out of the cart.

“How was it?” he asked anxiously.

Jack had already rented the pony, so he hoped it had been fun for them.

“That was the best ride I’ve ever been on!” Jill said excitedly, jumping up and down. She came to stand in front of the bull. “Now turn back into a person.”

“He’s going to have to go behind the bushes for that,” Tanner said.

When he shifted back, he’d be naked. He was glad that Tanner had said something, because he didn’t want any unfortunate mishaps with a child present.

“We’ll go behind the bushes first to make sure Jack’s not hiding there,” Mrs. Peach said.

Jack marveled at what a quick thinker Macy’s mother was. Now there was no way that Jill would think they were pulling a trick on her.

Macy’s mother and daughter went behind the bushes and checked all around for Jack. Satisfied, they came back and let Jack go behind the bushes. He transformed back into his human form. Tanner handed him his clothes, and he pulled them on quickly.

“Ta-da!” he said, jumping out from behind the bushes. He picked up Jill and tickled her before tossing her in the air.

“I can’t believe you’re really you,” she said, giggling. “You’re an animal and a man. That’s so cool, Mr. Jack.”

“That was pretty exciting,” Macy said, looking at him shyly. She got close so she could whisper in his ear. “Can we talk?”

Tanner took the hint and said he needed to go. Macy’s mom said she’d walk Jill home by herself and quickly left Macy and Jack alone.

“I’m really sorry,” she said when they were finally by themselves. “I acted like a real crazy lady, and there’s no excuse for that. I should have rejected your profile as soon as I saw you so you could find a better match. I thought I needed to give my ex a chance since he’s the father of my child. I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

“I understand,” Jack said. “I was disappointed that you weren’t available, but I won’t hold that against you. You’re a mother, and I understand that you want to do what’s best for your daughter. I can’t say I’m not disappointed. Your husband is a lucky man.”

Macy looked down at her hands. “The thing is, my husband and I aren’t getting back together. We’re getting a divorce in a few days. He came back like he’d changed, but he hasn’t. I was wrong to try to take him back.”

Jack’s heart beat rapidly in his chest. Then, he did have a chance? Everything about Macy’s body language told him that he did. His bull still wanted her. He didn’t care if she had tried to do the right thing for her daughter and get back with her ex. What mattered was that she was single and available now. He wasn’t going to let her past stand between them.

Jack leaned in and kissed her softly on the mouth.

Macy’s eyes lit up. “What does that mean?”

“It means that I’d still like a chance to date you if you’d like that. My bar closes down early tonight. Maybe you and I could go back there, have something to eat, and talk?”

“That sounds really good,” Macy said breathlessly.

They went back to the bar and got to work in the kitchen. He didn’t have much food on hand, but Macy was able to pull everything he had into a great meal. Jack lit a few candles he had lying around from the Halloween party the year before, and they had a nice meal in one of the booths.

Over dinner, they talked about their past and what they were looking forward to in the future. She was even better than Jack had imagined. He couldn’t believe how right LK Brides had gotten it.