The Gingerbread Bakery (Dream Harbor, #5)(6)
It was weird that they were here.
Even though it was nice to look at him across the booth from her, all dark hair and bronzed skin. Annie happened to know, thanks to a sixth-grade ancestry project, that although Mac’s name screamed Irish, he was also half Italian. So even here in the midst of a cold, dark New England winter, Mac’s genes apparently still thought he was in the Mediterranean.
He lifted long dark lashes and caught her staring at him. His immediate smile was enough to make her stomach flutter.
Shut up, stomach.
‘So, Annie,’ he said, leaning back in the booth. ‘Should we clear the air first?’
‘Clear the air about what?’
‘About why you hate me so much?’
Annie choked on her French fry. ‘I don’t hate you.’
Mac scoffed. ‘Yeah, okay. You definitely do.’
‘I do not! Just because we’ve never been friends doesn’t mean I hate you.’
‘Ha! Every time I look at you, you frown at me.’
Annie rolled her eyes. ‘I’m sorry that I don’t fall all over you like everyone else at our school used to.’
‘They did not.’
‘Please! Captain of the lacrosse team? Girls love that crap.’
‘But not you.’
Annie shrugged. ‘I’m not that interested in sports.’
‘Or the people who play them.’
‘So what? It’s not like you were showing up at student council meetings.’
Mac shoved three more French fries into his mouth. ‘Fair. But I still think you don’t like me.’
‘I don’t like how you treated Logan when we were little.’
Mac’s eyes widened. ‘Logan?’
‘Yeah, you used to tease him. And his mom had just died. I guess it did make me hate you.’
To his credit, he looked abashed about his behavior toward Logan. ‘I’ll apologize.’
Annie rolled her eyes. ‘Yeah, I bet.’
‘I’m serious. Give me your phone.’
‘What? No!’
‘Pull up Logan’s number. I’ll text him right now.’
‘You’re kidding.’
‘I’m dead serious. I was a little shit. Let me apologize, and then me and you can have a fresh start where you don’t hate me anymore.’ Mac held out his hand expectantly. He was serious. Whatever she had been expecting from him, this was not it.
She took her phone out of her purse and pulled up her text chain with Logan. The last message was a picture of a grinning Nana Estelle in between a frowning Grandpa Henry and a squinting Logan. They all had sunburn across their noses and Estelle’s giant sunhat nearly covered Logan’s and his grandfather’s faces. Annie hoped she was having the best time. She’d been waiting to go on this cruise her whole life.
Mac’s eyebrows rose in amusement when he saw the picture, but he didn’t comment. Just took the phone and typed out a message. He handed it back to Annie to approve before sending.
ANNIE
Hey, man. It’s Mac. Sorry I was an asshole to you when we were kids. Hope you’re having fun on your old-folks cruise.
‘You know this is very weird, right?’
Mac nodded. ‘Yep.’
Annie hit send.
They both stared at the phone on the table and waited for a response.
It didn’t take long before a string of question marks came through.
LOGAN
????
ANNIE
I’m at the diner with Mac
Annie texted back to clarify.
LOGAN
Why?
ANNIE
Not sure, really
LOGAN
Okay…
ANNIE
He wanted to apologize, I guess
LOGAN
Weird. Apology accepted.
‘He says he accepts your apology.’
Mac sighed. ‘Phew. So do you forgive me, too?’
Annie’s phone buzzed again, and she looked down.
LOGAN
Wait, are you on a date with Mac??
She tossed the phone back in her bag. She would deal with Logan later.
‘Okay, fine. I forgive you.’
There was that damn smile again. So maybe it wasn’t just the sportiness that had the girls lining up at Mac’s locker.
‘Great. I don’t know about you, but I feel better.’ His arms were stretched over the back of the seat, showing off the breadth of his chest. Annie swallowed a half-chewed fry and nearly choked again.
‘Shouldn’t you be playing lacrosse somewhere?’
Mac laughed. ‘You know I was captain of a not very good team in a very small school. College scouts weren’t exactly lining up to recruit me.’
‘Oh.’ She wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He didn’t seem overly bitter, but the slightly lost expression he’d had when he told her about his cross-country plan was back.