“You have a car?” I asked as I walked to the driveway, making my way over to a pickup truck that Maeve was already getting into.
“We have a couple cars here, but I guess you could call this one mine. It’s the one I drive most often.”
I stopped at the passenger door, my fingers resting on the handle. “I probably could have asked you for a ride last night instead of Boog, huh?” It was the closest I could come to scolding her for not offering without being a complete jerk.
“You could have asked, but I would have said no, unfortunately.” She slammed her door shut and reached for her seatbelt. “I can’t drive from dusk on. I have night vision problems.” She smiled ruefully at me as I climbed in next to her.
“Oh. Well that’s … inconvenient.” I put my seatbelt on and scanned the dashboard. There was dust all over it. I clasped my hands in my lap to keep from wiping it off. Instead, I busied myself with getting the small brush out of my satchel and working the knots out of my hair.
“No, not really.” She started the engine and it roared to life. “When I go out at night, I’m always with Angus or one of the boys, anyway. I prefer it when they drive. Then I can just ride and look at the scenery.” She backed out into the yard and turned onto the dirt road leading to the property’s entrance gate.
I lifted an eyebrow but kept my mouth shut about the so-called scenery, refusing to let my bad day ruin hers too. As far as I could tell, the entire landscape consisted of scrub brush and dirt. There wasn’t much to miss, except maybe the mountains off in the distance.
“Hey!” came a voice from the side of the house, just as we were reaching the gate.
Maeve stopped the truck and rolled down my window. Boog was just coming around to the front where all the trucks were parked.
“Where you headed?” he asked.
“Into town. Grocery store. Need anything?”
“You could grab me some chew and I wouldn’t complain.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Maeve promised.
The window went up as Boog pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and started a call before going back around the side of the house and out of sight.
We rode down the dirt road that had almost killed me yesterday, the truck’s shock absorbers doing little to keep my teeth in my gums. I had a headache by the time we reached the main road.
“I sure hope you’ll be able to stay for the picnic. It’s a big event for the family, and since you’ve got some MacKenzie connection somewhere in your line, it would be nice for everyone to be able to meet you. We have MacKenzies coming in from some other counties, not just the immediate area.”
Great. More people to witness my shame. “I really can’t. I have to get back to work as soon as possible. After I talk to Mack, I’ll be heading out.”
Maeve frowned but said nothing in response.
After a little while, the silence started to eat at me. “So, do you know why Mack had to go into town?” I was trying to sound friendly-casual about it. “He’d told me we could sit down and chat at nine, so I was kind of surprised to hear he wasn’t around.”
“I have an idea why, but I’m not sure it’s right.”
I bit my lip. “I hope it wasn’t an emergency. I mean anything bad.” I cringed at my complete lack of finesse.
Maeve didn’t seem to notice. “He just has some loose ends back in town that he’s been putting off taking care of. I guess he decided it was about time and got a bug up his buns to do it right away.”
“With Hannah Banana?” I did it. I totally went for it. And now that my mouth had leaped in front of my brain once again, I was just going to have to live with the fallout. I waited on pins and needles for Maeve’s response.
She looked at me sharply before turning back to face the windshield. “How did you know about Hannah? Did Mack tell you about her?”
I shrugged. “I saw her at the diner when I was in there yesterday for coffee, and then I saw the pictures of her and Mack in your living room. I just put two and two together.” Stupid jealousy was eating me alive. Before, Hannah being in Mack’s life had just been a suspicion, something I planned to use to force his hand into signing the papers. Now it was something else entirely. Does he love her? Does he want to marry her? Why do I care?
Maeve sighed deeply. “Hannah is … how can I say this nicely …” She pressed her lips together for a few seconds. “Hannah has been hanging on to the idea of her and Mack being together since she was fourteen years old.”
“That’s…” I paused to estimate the years.