He knelt down, placing his palms around Jonah’s face. Mack’s hands were shaking. “Are you okay, son?”
Noticing a crowed of bystanders starting to congregate, he grabbed Jonah by the hand. “Come on.” He whisked him away down a hallway into an empty function room. I followed them but stayed in the doorway to give them space.
“What happened, Jonah?”
The boy sniffled as he answered his father. “They were calling me ugly and making fun of my hair. They started pulling on it. My head hurts.”
Mack closed his eyes momentarily in an attempt to gather his thoughts before blowing out a breath. “You have to understand something. Those boys were picking on you because they know it affects you. Mean people won’t change. The only thing you have control over is your reaction to them. I promise you, if you don’t let them see you’re upset, or if you act like you don’t care, they won’t want to pick on you anymore.”
“But I do care.”
“I know. I know, son. But you have to try to pretend like it doesn’t bother you, even if it does. It’s not easy. You know what I want you to do next time something like that happens?”
“What?”
“I want you to walk away.”
“What if they run after me?”
“They won’t. You just walk away and pretend you don’t care about what they have to say. Just trust me on that, okay? And if by some chance anyone ever hurts you, Jonah, they’ll have to deal with me. I have one job now and that’s to protect you. I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you. I promise.” He pulled his son into a hug. “You trust me?”
Jonah nodded.
“I love you, son.”
My ovaries nearly exploded, and my heart felt like it was ready to burst. What an amazing feeling to witness what a loving father he was. I was almost envious of Jonah for getting to experience the love of a father like Mack. Then, it hit me that I, too, got to experience what it was like to be loved by this man—in a different way. I reminded myself that he’d told me he loved me just a couple of days ago.
Mack finally noticed me standing there. I suddenly felt like an imposter.
Taking a few steps inside the room, I asked, “Are you okay, Jonah?”
“Yeah.”
Addressing Mack, I said, “I want you to know I’m going to be calling those kids’ parents to let them know what happened.”
“Thank you,” he said without looking at me.
Then came a very unwelcome interruption when Clarissa McIntyre and her son, Ethan, walked in.
Great.
“Sorry to intrude. We heard there was a little scene out there and wanted to make sure Jonah was okay.”
“Hey, Jonah,” the boy said.
Jonah’s face perked up a bit. “Hi, Ethan.”
Ethan was actually a very good kid, shy in his own right and seemed to be Jonah’s only friend. His mother, on the other hand, was the opposite of shy and couldn’t have been more obvious in her intentions.
Clarissa batted her eyes at Mack. “How are you holding up, Dad?”
“I was rattled, jumped out of the dunking cage when I saw those little punks messing with him.” He squeezed Jonah’s shoulder. “But we had a talk about ignoring bullies, didn’t we?”
“Ethan had the same problem with that group of boys.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, I saw Kyle McDonough took your place in the dunk tank. So, I think you’re off the hook.”
“Good. I’m in no mood to go back there.”
“I’m kind of bummed I didn’t get one shot at it, though,” Clarissa said as her gaze wandered along Mack’s wet physique in admiration. “We were wondering if you guys wanted to join us for dinner tonight.”
Mack looked pensive. “What do you think, Jonah? You want to go over to Ethan’s for dinner?”
Jonah nodded.
“Okay. Thank you. I’ll call you later to find out what we can bring,” Mack said.
Clarissa looked like she’d won the lottery. “No need to bring anything. I’m gonna cook up a bunch of different things for us. Come hungry.”
Mack glanced over at me before he replied, “I will.”
He was totally fucking with me because he knew I was jealous. I couldn’t blame him for being pissed after what Victor pulled. Mack had every right to be frustrated.
“Can’t wait. We’ll see you boys later, then.” She looked over in my direction, acknowledging me for the first time on her way out. “Bye, Francesca.”
Almost as soon as Clarissa and Ethan exited the room, things took a dramatic turn for the worse when Torrie appeared at the doorway. It was like a game of Whac-A-Mole, one down, and an even worse one appears.