And besides, he was big. Big. People always called him Big Mack back home, and the name stuck once he got here. It was his brother Jared who started it, mostly to make fun of Mack for his size. But I know a part of Mack that’s even bigger than anyone realizes. And maybe… Maybe that made me a little nervous. Now though, with all of this engagement stuff on the table, I’m more excited to go for it than I ever thought could be real.
I pace and look at my watch.
7:08 PM.
Macklin Pride is never late. A shiver runs down my spine. He was supposed to pick me up at my parents’ house eight minutes ago. And knowing him, I’d expected to see him right around 6:45, holding a bouquet of pink tulips like the ones he brought to me on our very first date. I shiver again. Something is wrong.
My mother pokes her head through the door, frazzled as ever. She’s been dealing with hassle from some of the credit card people and she couldn’t care less what I’m doing with my day. “Why’re you still standing out here, Renata? You waiting on somebody?”
I shrug and sit down on the short stone wall in front of our house. The cows are mooing in the distance, sun hanging low in the sky. “Just Mack. We’re engaged, remember?”
“Oh yeah, that. Well, he doesn’t have any money, does he? Like I said last night, do you really think all this is a good idea?”
I grow cold and keep looking ahead down the dirt road. Mack’s been talking to several NFL teams, and there are several more probably interested. He’s juggling them right now, trying to see who will give him the best salary. And me? I was the top of my class in the business school at Brooks. I might not have a job now, but as soon as someone looks at my resume, they’ll figure out that they can’t live without me. The money is coming. Unfortunately, a lot of it will go toward maintaining our family’s farms and paying off the years of debt that they owe to every lender in a twenty-mile area. But the money is coming. I’m sure of it. We were raised poor kids, and we’re doing everything we can to change that.
“Mack’s talking to Carolina tomorrow, Mom. He’s not a poor kid anymore. He’ll get a major deal with the NFL.”
“Talk is cheap, Ren. He’s bound to screw it all up and be right back where he started. Just like his daddy, just like his mama. Just like that good-for-nothing entire damn family, including him and his brother.”
I hear my father yelling at her from inside the house, something about letting me figure it out myself. It’s not like they’ve kept their opinions a secret. Ever since I started dating Mack for real in college, they’ve had something to say about it every Christmas—the only time I come home for the year. He’s worthless. He’s poor. He’s not good enough for someone like me.
They don’t know the Macklin Pride that I know. The Mack I know worked his ass off for the football team at Brooks, taking them further than any other linebacker ever has. He shone brighter than any other player in his year. And for all four years at college, he made better grades than anyone else on the team and excelled in his classes. He was just as serious about his economics degree as he was about football. He didn’t do quite as well as I did—and I gave him plenty of crap about it. I smile at the memory. He told me that if it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t be half the man he was. Well, that’s good. Because I’ll always be there, right by his side.
The door bangs shut behind my mother. I turn and watch her—she has her hands in the air, and she says something scathing to my father, no doubt about Mack and me. I suppress the feeling of anger that rises up in my gut. There is nothing that either of them can do to ruin this. Even if Mack is late, I know that our relationship will last the rest of our lives. That’s what he told me the night before we left college. That’s what he’s told me since the day we were first together.
Nothing can stop the excitement I feel inside right now. Nothing can keep me from this man or the experience we’ve both been waiting so long for.
I try to let the feeling of anticipation build again, the sensations I felt before my mother came and rained on my parade. Before Mack ended up being egregiously late to pick me up. I stop my mind from going to tragedy.
What if he’s deathly ill? In the emergency room? Got into a car crash?
I shake my head, the warm summer air playing through my hair.
No, there’s none of that. There’s no accident. It’s something normal. Something I wouldn’t even think of—so mundane that I’d never expect it. His watch ran out of batteries, or he forgot to charge his phone, couldn’t find his keys.