Hannah dragged her eyes from me to acknowledge Maeve, who wasn’t standing more than three feet away from her. “Oh, hi, Miss Maeve, I didn’t see you there. You acting as tour guide for the visitor?”
I glanced nervously around the immediate area, wondering if Mack was shopping with her. Part of me wanted to see him because he made me punch drunk with his sexiness, but the other part of me - the part that had a functioning brain - wanted a few States separating us. Especially with Hannah Banana around, staking her claim and making me feel like an advertisement for Nerdgirl Monthly in my plain t-shirt, shorts, and borrowed moccasins.
“I guess you could say I’m a tour guide.” Maeve smiled at me. “We’re just stocking up for the picnic.” She turned a less smiley gaze on Hannah. “You’re coming this year, I assume.”
Hannah grinned so big she looked like she was trying out for the part of The Joker. Her eyes even sparkled. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’ve been to every single one, since I was just a kid. I love being part of the MacKenzie family.”
My nostrils flared at the idea, and the kitty claws came out before I could think to sheathe them. “Are you a MacKenzie? Like, officially?”
Hannah’s smile went tight at the corners. “I’m one by osmosis. I’ve spent my whole life at Mack’s side, so yeah, I’m pretty much a MacKenzie.”
I swallowed back the retort that was my first response and let out the one that would be most likely to get me home with my eyeballs not scratched out by a jealous waitress. “That’s nice.”
She put her chin in the air. “It is, actually. Mack’s a really good guy. Are you going to be staying in town long? Maybe you and I could have lunch sometime.”
Maeve pushed her cart forward. “Andie, I’m going to check out those cookies I mentioned to you if you want to come take a look.”
Cookies? What cookies? Understanding dawned a second later, and I seized the escape Maeve was offering. “Yeah, I’m coming.” I stepped away, looking over my shoulder at Hannah as I left. “I’m only going to be here another day or so, so I’m going to have to skip lunch. But thanks for the offer.”
“I won’t see you at the picnic?” The hopeful gleam in her eye was impossible to miss.
“Nope. Gotta get back to work.”
“Awww, that’s too bad. Have a nice trip back, though!” She whirled her cart around and pushed it down the first aisle at a fast clip. I was pretty sure she had just added champagne and cake to her shopping list so she could really celebrate my departure in style.
“Thanks for that,” I said to Maeve as I pulled up next to her and her cart. We turned down Aisle Five.
“Don’t mention it. Hannah, that poor misguided girl, sometimes just gets a little ahead of herself.”
“What … ? You mean you didn’t sign up to adopt Hannah as your long-lost daughter?”
Maeve chuckled. “No. Definitely not. She’s a sweet girl when she wants to be, but she’s got her claws dug so deep in my boy’s arm, it gets me a little hot under the collar sometimes. But I’m just the mom, so I have to keep my opinions to myself.”
“Maybe Mack should just give in,” I suggested, sad about the idea but thinking I had to be mature about it. “She seems really dedicated to him.”
Maeve stopped pushing the cart. “Give in and go with a girl he doesn’t care about? What’s he going to do when the girl he’s meant to be with comes along, then? Sounds like a life of sorrow to me.” She shook her head. “No thank you. I don’t want that for my boys. Life’s too short to settle for second best.”
“Maybe she’s the right girl for him, though. She sure seems to think so.”
“Just because a person is obsessed with the idea of something, it doesn’t make it right or even good for them.” She slowed down and started scanning the shelves for something specific. “Unfortunately, obsessed people are also deaf, dumb and blind most of the time, so it rarely works to try and help them see the light. Mack is too kind. He has a hard time just coming right out and saying what needs to be said sometimes.”
Her words were like giant Liberty Bells gonging around inside my head. Whether she realized it or not, she wasn’t just talking about Hannah. She was talking about me and my stupid obsession with my lifeplan. Why had I put so much of myself into the idea that I could carefully script everything out?
I knew the answer. Just like Maeve had said yesterday, sometimes when a person’s life is so out of control and scary, the only thing that can give it any sense or meaning is structure. My life as a teen had been such a mess, I’d done what I had to do to get out with my sanity intact. I’d created a new reality for myself so I could survive when survival was the bare minimum I could ever hope for.