Tipping Point (20 page)

“You’re overwhelmed with stress that you’re pretending isn’t under the surface,” he continued relentlessly. “You’re taking on the responsibility of everyone around you. From the plans I’m seeing around here, you’re setting up something that could take care of a lot more than just the four of you.

“I’m not trying to tell you that you shouldn’t help anyone else. It’s who you are, and exactly the woman I admire so much, but you need some help. Not just the help of three twenty-somethings who don’t know what they’re doing. You need someone who cares just as much about your emotional and mental needs, as they do about your physical survival.

“You can walk away from
us
, and tell me to piss up a rope if you want, but so long as we’re together I’m going to be
that guy
. If you accept me in your life, you have to accept that I need to give you what you need. I can’t be anything else.”

Mac looked away when her eyes burned.

“Honey, I’m not trying to shame you. Don’t look away from me. I’m not trying to be right, or make you feel bad. You’ve done everything right. You’re not wrong in anything you’re doing. You’re only wrong in what you’re saying to me about me not needing to help you. I absolutely
do
have to do this. This is an extreme situation we’re all facing. I can see how capable you are, and that you wouldn’t need help if you weren’t facing this kind of timeline.”

“You done now?” He nodded with that damned twinkle in his eye again.

“Let me just correct one little misconception on your part there, cowboy. The garden may be sickly, but I’ve got a zillion back-up seeds and enough food to get us all through the winter even if none of the animals or vegetables produce anything edible. Our dry food and canned-good shelves are very well stocked, buster. And I’ve rescued sicker gardens than this one.”

“I stand corrected then.” The smirk on his face had her digging a finger into his ribs.

“Since you’re mister helpful, help me unload all this feed and follow me to the hardware store. We’d just decided to buy some sheds before I left to get the feed and try to bring Allan back here. I might need your truck bed.”

“My bed is always at your disposal.”

“I’ll bet. Hook up your horse trailer while you’re at it. The more sheds we can get, the better. I have a feeling we’re going to need them.”

Mac checked to make sure her weight hadn’t jostled the posts in the cement. It was pretty fast-drying stuff, but wasn’t supposed to be load-bearing for about four hours. There was a small gap between the post and the cement now, which gave her another excuse to poke him.

“You said something about helping me? Fix those posts, would you? Seeing as you’re the one who tossed me up there.”

“Bossy. I like it. Gives me an excuse to toss you back up on the rail, just to prove I’m still a man.” Mac sidled away from him warily, before risking another poke at his ego.

“You just do as you’re told, mister. I won’t have any backtalk from you on the job.” He raised his eyebrow at her, and then moved too fast for her to dodge him.

“Not the rail this time,” she yelped.

“Alright.” He tossed her over his shoulder instead and smacked her ass.

“Hey! We’ve got work to do. Don’t go getting me all excited with a spanking when we don’t have time to follow through.” Neil started laughing again and put her back on her feet.

“Not the response I was expecting from you, but one worthy of closer inspection.”

“Uh, just kidding?” He looked at her face.

“We’ll have to see I guess. Later.”

“Much later, like maybe never. As in, ‘Never, because I’m going to dump hair removal cream into your shampoo if you ever try it.’ That kind of never.”

“That’s a hell of a threat, and most men would back down after that, but I’m not most men, honey. I think I’m going to have some fun with you.” Mac planted her hands on her hips.

“You’ve already had plenty of fun with me. Get your ass in your truck so we can get this shit finished.”

“Correction: I haven’t begun to have my fun with you yet. I’ve got a lifetime of fun planned for you, and I haven’t even dipped my toe into the water as far as I’m concerned.” Mac groaned. She was feeling a great deal of sexual frustration at the moment, and there was going to be a long wait before any of that frustration could be eased.

Instead of retorting, Mac just spun on her heel and let the others know they were going to be leaving, while Neil fixed the little problem he’d created with the fence posts.

When they got to the hardware store she kept looking around, but didn’t see Gerry. They managed to get six eight-by-ten sheds for just under five grand, so Mac decided to get a couple that could be used as single-car garages.

The young woman working the checkout was a little surprised when Mac handed her cash, and she had to call the manager over to double-count the hundreds, just to be safe. It was the same manager she’d spoken with about Gerry, and so Mac got the same discount she had the last time.

When the discount was entered and the money was finally accepted, the manager asked if she could speak with her. She happily complied. They stepped away from the till, Mac holding the receipt for the sheds she’d have to drive around to the side of the store to pick up.

“I wanted to apologize to you. I didn’t fire Gerry when the first incident happened, because I thought it was possible it was a misunderstanding. I didn’t really believe it was, but I had to be sure. I’m glad you sent that message. It gave me a fully justifiable reason to let him go. I know his dad, and it was a relief to know I could give him a good reason for the termination. He hasn’t asked, so I assume he knows something about the situation already?”

“He does. A friend of mine let him know, and I’m sure another friend of mine, one with a badge, paid him a visit the same day. The kid doesn’t know me, but I do know people in the area. He’s actually caused problems since then, and either he’s been arrested, or they’re looking for him. If you see him you might want to let the police know. He could be angry with you, too, so you should be careful.”

“I will be. Thanks for letting me know. I hope you’ll be careful, too. Do you need these sheds delivered?”

“I’ve got a friend with a pick-up and trailer, in addition to mine. We’ll be fine, but thanks. For everything. I knew what the situation was when you didn’t let him go before. I spent a lot of years in the city, where a manager would never apologize to a customer under these circumstances. Too much risk of liability. I’m a small town woman, though. My name is Mac, by the way.”

“Carol Swenson. Pleased to meet you. I’m sure I’ll see you around town in the future.” Mac could see Neil coming up to her. Carol turned a bit to look at him.

“Mac! How are you?” It took her a second, but then she looked back and forth between both Macs and started to laugh.

“Is this the Mac you were telling Samantha about? I didn’t even make the connection for some reason. That must be pretty strange for you guys, being called the same thing.”

“Nah,” Mac said. “We’ve got it all worked out in code and hand signals.” Carol laughed again and Neil shook his head.

“She calls me Neil, among other things.”

“I’ll just bet. Well, you two have a nice evening. I’m so glad I got to meet your Mac, Mac.” Then she started laughing all over again as she walked back to her office.

“I guess I should expect a lot of that around town, huh?”

“That’s assuming anyone knows your name, honey, and we’re keeping that to a minimum at this point. Carol only knows about me and you because she’s married to Sam, and she’s not a gossip, though she does have a sense of humour.”

“What I find interesting is that you told your employee about me. How come?”

“Oh, I told her she should probably expect to have her boss coming in as an old married man one day soon.” Mac felt her jaw drop, only to have Neil chuck her under the chin and then kiss her as soon as her mouth was closed.

“Wait. What? What?” She was sputtering, so he helped her out with that problem too, by kissing her again, right in the middle of the store. She looked around, wild-eyed, but no one was paying them any attention, surprisingly. She figured Neil would be exactly the kind of man who would inspire gossip amongst the local ladies.

“Stop kissing me in public. I thought you didn’t want the little shit to find out about us.”

“I don’t, but I don’t know anyone that’s in here right now. I run a knife store, and not too many women come in there. It’s mostly women in here right now, in case you didn’t notice. It’s too late in the day for contractors, I think. Kind of surprising there aren’t more men in here, though. It’s one store where the men in this town don’t mind going shopping with their wives. Now don’t look at me like that. They live how they choose to live. I’m not the one following any stereotypes.”

Mac glared at him for another ten seconds, just in case. Finally they headed to their trucks to get the sheds loaded at the shipping dock.

Driving her truck, with him following behind her in his, Mac had a bit of time to ponder her situation.
Old married man, indeed
, she thought huffily, though the insane side of her was waltzing around in a dreamy haze of happiness. He’d already intimated his interest in that direction, so she wasn’t really surprised about that part of it, but the fact that he’d said something to his employee was rather dizzying.

Mac pulled to a stop beside the gate, motioning for him to stop, too.

“What is it?”

“Come with me for a minute. I need to get you set up.”

“You’re setting me up? For what? Target-practice? I think I’ll just stay in the truck, thank you. Much harder for you to hide the blood evidence on upholstery.”

“That’s not entirely off the menu just yet, but no. I’m talking about the gate. It’s ridiculous for you to not have gate access when you can just walk over from your property. Assuming you’re not afraid to give me access to your fingerprints, of course.”

“Well, you’re pretty friendly with the local constabulary, so I doubt hiding my prints from you would do much good.”

“Not really, no. And those aren’t my only cop friends, either, which is somewhat surprising considering my checkered past, and a list of former associates that were outright criminals.

“Come on, you. Ya might as well get this over with. It only hurts for an hour or two.”

“Very funny. Checkered past, huh? I’m intrigued.”

“Don’t be. It’s not that interesting. More irritating than anything else. For now I’ll just tell you that I don’t have a criminal record, though I probably should.” He followed her to the tree she was always stepping behind when she had to let him in. He smiled when she brushed some dead leaves from the top of a small biometric scanner.

“Man you’re good. Natural hollow, and those leaves look like they’ve been there forever. Wireless?”

“Nope. Too risky. Detectable with a signal scanner, and easily duplicated, completely nullifying the moderately decent security of a fingerprint.”

“Moderately decent?”

“Retinal scan is tens of thousands of times less likely to be copied or cracked. The units are too big to hide like this, though, and having it hidden is more valuable than having better security. You can’t crack it if you don’t know it’s there. The wire goes down behind the bark, mostly. Then it’s buried until it gets to the opener mechanism.”

“Well, that’s certainly one area where you kicked the snot out of my setup. So what do I do?”

“Hang on. I have to enter my prints and then open access for a new set of scans. We’ll do all ten. It can get picky if there’s dirt on a print, or you get a cut. People also lose their fingers, or even a hand, so they recommend doing the full set. Try not to lose your appendages, though. I’m developing an attachment to them.”

“I’m already attached to them, or they are to me, so I certainly don’t intend to. Nice to know you’re
developing
an attachment to them, though.” She smirked at him.

“Fine, I’m madly in love with your fingers. Happy? Now show off those beautiful digits to the scanner, so it can love them as much as I do.”

Just as the last one finished scanning, Neil turned to her.

“Mac?”

“Hmm,” she said absently as she shut down the scanning and returned it to its secured mode, covering it back up with the dead leaves.

“You’re already madly in love with the rest of me, too. It’s only a matter of time before you admit it to both of us.” She turned to face him. Before she could speak a single word, his body pinned hers against the tree, and his mouth made sure she didn’t.

15

R
EVELATIONS

With bark in her hair and a stuttering heart, Mac drove up the length of the driveway and then past their temporary home. She wanted to unload the sheds close to where they would likely need to be assembled. She parked and headed straight into the house to get herself cleaned up a bit. Adding sweat to the reek of sex certainly wouldn’t make it any less noticeable, so a shower was vital.

It wasn’t until she turned to close the bathroom door that she noticed Neil coming into the house.

“Gotta pee. You can shower with me after if you feel a need. I certainly do.” Then she slammed the door to drown out anything he might say. She had just closed the lid and flushed when he strolled right in.

“Hey! I don’t walk in on you when
you’re
takin’ a leak.”

“First, how would I know? Maybe you will once you’ve known me for a week. We don’t live in the same house, so you’re not always around when I use the facilities. Second, why would you think I’d care? For that matter, why do you care?” Before she could even answer, he covered her mouth with his hand.

“I don’t think you actually do care. You’re not the type to worry about peeing in front of a guy you’ve been having all kinds of sex with. The other kind of bathroom break is another story, and I’ll go so far as to say it’s for the best if people retain a certain amount of mystery in a relationship. Sharing has limits.” Mac almost smiled, but not quite.