Fool for Love (7 page)

Mac put his arms around her and lifted her
right off her feet. "Hey, brat."

"Don't call me that," she said
as she always did.

He set her back down and took a good long
look at her face. "What can I do? Tell me what you need."

Joe placed her bag at her feet and took a
step back.

Mac finally seemed to register that his
friend was there, too. He reached out to shake Joe's hand. "Thanks,
man."

Joe shook Mac's hand. "Sure."

Janey turned to Mac. "Will you give
us a minute? Please?"

Mac's sharp eyes shifted from Janey to Joe
and then back to his sister. "Okay. I'll wait for you in the truck."
With one more wary glance at Joe, Mac picked up her bag and took it with him.

"You'll make him suspicious,"
Joe said when they were alone.

"Because I want to say a proper thank
you to my good friend?"

"He knows, Janey. Don't forget
that."

"I won't forget anything. That's all
I wanted to say."

His eyes went soft. "Neither will I.
Take care of yourself, you hear me? It's all about you and whatever you want
and need. That's the only thing that matters."

Overcome by his softly spoken words and
the emotion behind them, Janey nodded and hugged him one last time.

"I'll send your car over as soon as
it's ready."

"Thanks. Would it be okay if I called
you?"

"Yes, Janey," he said with a
laugh, "it would be okay if you called me."

"Well," she said, taking a deep
breath, "here goes nothing."

"You'll get through this. You can do
anything you put your mind to."

"I guess we'll find out."

Joe gave her a little nudge. "Go.
Before I kidnap you and take you back home with me."

She gave him a last reassuring smile.
"See ya around, sailor."

He returned her smile, but she noticed it
was tinged with sadness and didn't engage his eyes. "See ya."

Janey slid into Mac's black SUV, preparing to answer a million questions.
However, her brother surprised her with his silence.

"Where're we going?" she asked
as he drove them out of town.

"My place. I figured you might not be
ready to be alone just yet."

Janey appreciated his thoughtfulness. Her
house was full of pictures of her with David that someone would have to get rid
of before she could return there. "Thanks."

"So what was all that just now with
Joe?"

Her stomach rippled with nerves. She
should've known he'd tune right into any secret she tried to keep from him. He
always had. Except for times like this when he stepped back into the role of
overbearing big brother, the seven years between them had disappeared once she
reached adulthood. "He was really great. I just wanted to thank him."

"And that's all?"

"What else would it be?"

Mac studied her for a long moment before
accelerating through an intersection. "David called Mom again."

Janey was glad her brother had moved on
from interrogating her about Joe. "What did he want?"

"Since he still can't reach you, he
said he's coming over tomorrow."

"Fabulous." She'd hoped to have
some more time to prepare for that confrontation, but at least this way she
could get it over with sooner rather than later. "I have to work
tomorrow."

"I saw Doc Potter at the liquor store
earlier," he said, referring to the island's veterinarian. "I told
him you were dealing with a situation, and he said to take the rest of the week
off. It's slow because of the Fourth anyway."

"Oh. Okay."

"I hope you don't mind that I talked
to him."

"It's fine." His interference,
which would've irritated her under normal circumstances, was the least of her
concerns at the moment. "What'd you do about Mom?"

"I told her you'd call when you're
ready to talk about it."

Janey glanced over at her handsome
brother. He was tanned from long hours at the marina, his dark hair was damp
from an earlier shower and stubble sprinkled his jaw. Being in love clearly
agreed with him. He'd never looked better. "What makes you suddenly so
good at Mom management?"

He grimaced at the backhanded compliment.
"Fighting with her over Maddie."

Their mother hadn't approved of his
relationship with one of the housekeepers who worked at the family's hotel. Mac
had knocked Maddie off her bike by accident and then insisted on caring for her
and her infant son until she was recovered—including taking her shifts at the
hotel until she could work again. Unlike their mother, who had since come
around, Janey had been delighted to watch her stubbornly single brother fall
flat on his face in love.

"How's it going at the marina?"

"Surprisingly well."

"I still can't believe you're really
taking the place over and moving home to the island."

"Some days I can't believe it, either,
but I seem to be exactly where I belong. Finally."

"I'm happy for you, Mac. I really
am."

He reached over and squeezed her hand.
"I know you are, brat. I'm sorry all this is happening to you, especially
with our wedding just around the corner."

"I certainly don't want what's
happening to me to detract from your happiness. Please don't give that a
thought."

"Are you still up for being Maddie's
maid of honor?"

"Absolutely! I'd be heartbroken if
she asked someone else."

"Good," he said, sounding relieved.
Clearly, they'd given that some thought since they heard about what had
happened with David.

It occurred to her just then that Mac had
asked Joe to be his best man, since he'd refused to choose one of their three
brothers. Her stomach took a nervous dip at the thought of serving as maid of
honor to his best man at the upcoming wedding. That ought to make for an
interesting day. Fortunately, it was almost two weeks off, and a lot could
happen in that amount of time.

Mac took the last turn onto Sweet Meadow
Farm Road, to the house he and Maddie had only recently moved into.

"How's the unpacking going?"

"We're getting there. My stuff
arrived from Miami the other day, so it's a bit of a disaster area," he
said with a note of apology. "We're praying for clear skies on the Fourth
so we can have the party outside."

"Even if it rains, everyone knows you
just moved in." Janey didn't care if the place was a disaster area. Even
chaos would be better than stewing alone in her house full of memories from her
long relationship with David.

"Thomas is all about the bubble
wrap," Mac said, chuckling. The ten-month-old had captivated his new daddy
from the instant they first met. "He goes crazy when it pops."

Janey smiled at Mac, appreciating his
efforts to take her mind off her troubles. "I'd like to see that."

They pulled up to the house, and Mac
killed the engine. "Hey."

Janey looked over to find him gazing
intently at her. "Whatever you need, anything at all, just ask me—or
Maddie. We'll do whatever we can to help you through this."

She leaned into his one-armed hug.
"Thanks. I'm glad you're here. I couldn't have dealt with Mom
tonight."

He planted a kiss on the top of her head.
"That's what big brothers are for." Retrieving her bag from the back
of the truck, he guided her to stairs that led to an expansive deck.
"You're sure I'm not allowed to kill him?"

"May I put that offer on hold until
after I hear his lame excuses?"

"By all means."

After Mac and Maddie had wined and dined her and allowed her the privilege of
giving Thomas his bath and bottle, Maddie tucked Janey into the guest room. Her
soon-to-be sister-in-law had fawned over her, surrounding her with love and
friendship that touched Janey's battered heart.

"I'm sorry it's kind of blah in
here," Maddie said of the unadorned walls and windows.

"Don't be. You're still settling in.
I can't believe how much you've already gotten done."

Maddie flushed with pleasure at the
compliment. "We're working on a tight deadline. Mac is determined to have
the downstairs presentable in time for the wedding."

Janey held out a hand, encouraging Maddie
to join her on the still new-smelling queen-size bed. Maddie had corralled her
long caramel-colored hair into a messy bun that Mac had teased her about
earlier.

Keeping hold of Janey's hand, Maddie
stretched out next to her.

"Thanks for everything tonight. It
helped to come here rather than my empty place."

"Mac figured it might."

"With a little encouragement from
you, I'm sure."

"Maybe just a little. You wanna talk
about it?"

Janey shrugged. "Not much to say. He
was with someone else."

"And you
saw
him?"

"With my own eyes."

Maddie shuddered. "I can't
imagine."

"And you never have to. Mac would die
before he'd ever do something like that to you." As she said the words,
Janey knew all the way down to her bone marrow that she spoke the truth. Mac
had waited forever to find the love of his life and was utterly devoted to her
and her son. Janey wanted that kind of certainty for herself, too. Until this week,
she'd never realized just how important it was.

Thoughts of Joe resurfaced all at once,
infusing her with heat and desire as she remembered his passionate lovemaking.
After two days with him, she knew without a doubt that he'd never do what David
had done.

"What, Janey? What is it?"

She glanced at Maddie. "I need to
tell someone…"

Maddie pushed herself up on one elbow.
"What?"

"You have to promise you won't tell
Mac."

Maddie's eyes narrowed, and she swallowed
hard. "We have a rule about keeping things from each other, but I suppose
I could make an exception this once. He'd want me to do anything I could to
help you."

"It's big, Maddie. Huge, in fact, and
you're going to want to tell him, but you can't."

Maddie groaned. "I should run out of
here right now while I still can, but now I
have
to know."

Janey smiled at the torment on Maddie's
face. "I was counting on your female need to know."

"Spill it. Right now before I change
my mind."

Her eyes darting to the open door, Janey
whispered, "I slept with Joe."

Maddie's mouth fell open and then closed
just as quickly. "Are we talking slept or
slept
?"

"Both."

"Wow," Maddie said on a long
exhale as she fell onto her back. "You weren't kidding. That is
huge."

"And you're already trying to figure out
how you'll keep it from Mac."

Maddie turned her head so she could see
Janey. "He can't ever know that, Janey. He'd totally flip out at
Joe."

"I know, and it wasn't even his
doing." Janey's face heated with embarrassment. "At least not the
first time."

"It happened more than once?"

Janey swatted at her. "
Shhh
,
will you?"

"Answer the question!"

"It happened a lot, actually."

"Oh, my God! I can't believe it. How
was it?"

A bolt of heat traveled through Janey's
body as she thought of being with Joe. "
Amazing
. I had no idea it
could be like that. No idea at all."

"So what now? Are you guys like
together or something?"

"No, nothing like that. He knows I
have a bunch of crap to deal with."

"And then?"

"I don't know." Janey's stomach
ached with dismay. She'd made a huge mess of things by getting involved with
Joe, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to call what they'd shared a
mistake.

"He's very … you know … devoted to
you," Maddie said.

"It's much more than that, and you
know it."

Maddie at least had the good grace to look
guilty.

"You weren't kidding when you said
you tell each other everything."

"Mac was worried about you both when
he heard you were staying there."

"I was in such a fog after what I saw
at David's. Then my car broke down. I probably shouldn't have called Joe, but
he was the first person I thought of. And he was on the mainland while the rest
of you were out here."

"And he came running."

"Yes." Janey filled her in on
how they'd ended up in bed together. "I'm not proud of how I acted that
first night, but he was so
there.
And even though I knew it was probably
a mistake, somehow it helped."

"Wow."