she was still hooked up with Carter. Which I’m now assuming she’s not.”
“What does she look like? Is she pretty?”
“Jesus, Mac, now you are being a girl. I have no idea. Ask Jack.”
Scowling, she pointed to the door. “If you have no juice, take your drink and go. I’m working.”
He grinned at her, that potent flash of Brown grin. “But I’m having such a good time.”
“No juice from you, you get none from me.”
The phone rang. She checked the readout, didn’t recognize the name or number. “Mac Photography at Vows.”
“Mackensie! Hello from beautiful, sunny Florida.”
“Mom.” She immediately held a finger at her temple and flicked her thumb like a trigger.
Del tossed his coat back on the couch. Friends didn’t leave friends in a twist. And if Linda was on the phone, Mac would end up twisted.
“I’m having the best time. I feel like a new woman!”
“Whose phone is this?”
“Oh, it’s Ari’s. I left mine in my room, and we’re sitting out by the pool. Or I am. He just went to see what’s taking so long with our drinks. The sweetie. It’s glorious here! I have a treatment soon, but just had to talk to you first, so Ari lent me his phone. He’s such a gentleman.”
Jesus, Mac thought, she’d actually predicted this. “I’m glad you’re having a good time.”
“It’s been amazing for me. For my health and well-being, my mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. I need another week.”
Mac closed her eyes. “I can’t help you.”
“Of course you can! Sweetie, I have to finish this. If I don’t I’ll come back and slide right down again. It’ll all have been wasted, as if you’d thrown your money away. I just need you to clear another thousand. Well, two to be absolutely safe. I need to complete myself.”
“I don’t have any more to spare.” She thought of the work she’d done, more than four hours of work on a Sunday.
“You can charge it,” Linda said with a trill that went sharp around the edges. “It’s not like you have to run down here with cash, for God’s sake. Just call the office here with your credit card information, and they’ll do the rest. Simple as that. I’ve already told them you’d be calling, so—”
“You can’t keep doing this to me.” Her voice wanted to break. “You can’t keep expecting me to pay and pay and pay. I—”
Mac jolted when Del grabbed the phone out of her hand. “Don’t,” she began, and he cut her off with a look.
“Linda? Hi, this is Delaney Brown. Sorry, Mackensie’s been called away from the phone.”
“We haven’t finished—”
“Yes, you have, Linda. You’ve finished. Whatever you’re pushing her for this time, she said no. Now she’s busy.”
“You have no right to talk to me this way. You think because you’re a Brown, because you have money you can push yourself between me and my own child?”
“No, I think I can do that because I’m Mac’s friend. You have a real good day.”
He hung up and turned to where Mac stood, misery shining in her eyes. “Don’t cry,” he ordered.
She shook her head, went straight into his arms to press her face to his shoulder. “Goddamn it, goddamn it, why do I let her do this to me?”
“Because if you had the choice, you’d be a good and loving daughter. She doesn’t give you the choice. It’s on her, Mac. Money again?”
“Yes, again.”
He rubbed her back. “You did the right thing. You said no. Keep saying that. Now I want you to promise me you’re not going to answer the phone if—when—she calls back. If you don’t give me your word, I’m dragging you out of here, forcing you to watch the game at Jack’s.”
“I promise. I wouldn’t have answered, but I didn’t recognize the number. She used somebody named Ari’s phone and called the business line. She knows how to get to me.”
“Screen your calls, at least for a while, unless you’re sure who it is. Okay?”
“Yeah, okay. Thanks, Del. Thanks.”
“I love you, baby.”
“I know.” She stepped back, smiled at him. “I love you, too. Go watch football. Don’t tell Parker. If I need to, I will.”
“All right.” He picked up his coat again. “If you need me—”
“I’ll call. That’s another promise.”
She couldn’t go back to work, not yet, not until she cleared her head and could focus again. And the pity party she felt coming on, with balloons and streamers, wouldn’t clear anything.
Take a walk, she thought. It had worked before, with Carter. She’d see if