The Gingerbread Bakery (Dream Harbor, #5)(23)

Mac straightened and caught her looking at him in the mirror. He did that ridiculous winking thing again and Annie was once again relieved that no one was here to witness the flush in her cheeks; thankful she was the only one to feel her stomach flipflop every time he looked at her.

This was getting ridiculous.

He scrubbed his face dry with the towel and then handed her his extra toothbrush. Annie was horrified at the thought of him watching her brush her teeth. That was one intimacy too far. She could not allow Mac to watch her brush and spit! He clearly sensed her hesitation, flashed her one more smile and left the bathroom.

‘I’ll give you a minute,’ he said from the bedroom.

Annie closed the door with a sigh of relief. Why was she being so weird about this? None of this had to be a big deal. Nothing physical had happened between them last night. They’d had a chat. That was it. It was something that had happened between her and Hazel and Logan a million times before. Although, to be fair, neither Logan nor Hazel made her feel all hot and confused and twisty inside.

She focused on brushing her teeth, splashing cold water on her face and attempting to look like some semblance of herself instead of on the panic slowly building in her belly. She really needed her friends back before she did something she would regret. Because whatever was happening here, Annie already knew she would regret it.

By the time she was following Mac up the stairs for breakfast, Annie had made up her mind that this morning would be the last part of their bizarre week of friendship. Annie had plenty of friends, she had plans, she had a future here in this town. Mac had, well she didn’t know what Mac had, other than the ability to make her completely flustered, but he was leaving anyway so there was really no point in delving into these insane feelings she'd been having. She’d let herself, for a brief moment, indulge in the idea of living out the fantasy of her silly high-school crush paying attention to her. But that was all it was, a silly fantasy, and Annie didn't go for fantasy.

‘Morning, Mom,’ Mac greeted the petite woman pulling sizzling bacon out of a pan on the stove. She turned to face them, and Annie gave her a polite wave from her spot beside Mac in the doorway of the kitchen.

Annie had seen Mac’s mom before around town, of course, and she’d chaperoned a few field trips over the years, but Annie had never been in his house, and she had the same surreal feeling she’d had watching him brush his teeth. Like she wasn't supposed to be here.

His mother's eyebrows rose as she took in the two of them standing side by side, clearly still wearing last night’s clothes. Annie shifted on her feet. Why did she feel so guilty when nothing had happened? Not to mention they were fully grown adults. She was allowed to do things like sleep at a guy's house, wasn’t she? Although this wasn’t a guy’s house. This was a guy’s mom's house, which changed the math a bit.

‘I didn’t know you had a guest,’ she said, directing her attention to Mac.

Mac cleared his throat, suddenly less confident in the face of his mother’s scrutiny.

‘You know Annie,’ he said as if that made things less weird.

‘Annabelle Andrews.’ Her eyebrows rose even higher. ‘I didn’t know you two were friends.’

Annie bit back the words, I didn't know we were friends either, and instead she said, ‘Hello, Mrs. Sullivan, it’s nice to see you again.’

‘It’s nice to see you, too, Annie, although somewhat unexpected.’

Her gaze shifted back to her son. ‘I hope you were a gentleman,’ she said with a pointed look. ‘And that you remembered that it’s only fun if everyone's having fun. And in the bathroom cabinet we have plenty of—’

‘I know!’ Mac cut her off with a wince. His face was bright red. ‘I know, Mom, but it's really not like that. Annie is just a friend.’

Mac’s mom looked skeptical at that assessment, but she gave a little shrug and let it drop. ‘Well, who’s hungry?’ she said, turning back to the pan on the stove. ‘I made bacon and eggs but I’m happy to throw on some pancakes if you’d prefer, Annie.’

‘Oh no, eggs are fine, thank you.’ Annie sat where Mac had gestured at the table.

He nudged her shoulder. ‘Sorry about that,’ he whispered.

Annie let out a small laugh. ‘Did your mom actually just remind you about the location of condoms in your house?’ she whispered back.

Mac’s face turned even redder, but he laughed with her. ‘Yeah, and to make sure both partners get off.’

More giggles spilled out of Annie even as her face heated with Mac’s words. What would it be like to get off with Mac?

‘Now you’ve had a glimpse,’ he added, ‘of how horrifying my parents’ sex talk was for me.’

Annie snorted. Mac grinned at her from his seat next to her.

Mrs. Sullivan turned back to the table with two plates heaped with bacon, eggs, and toast. She looked like she was about to ask what was so funny but seemed to change her mind halfway to the table. Instead, she smiled at them like she knew exactly what was happening here. Annie wished she would fill her in.

They spent the rest of breakfast chatting about Annie’s plans and the upcoming holidays and about how Annie’s family was doing. Mac was mostly quiet, but after her initial nerves, Annie found it easy to talk to his mom. She was nice and funny, and Annie had always been good at talking to adults.