Spring Secrets - Allie Boniface Page 0,56
and walked into the diner.
Sienna’s eyes widened. Mac Herbert? That hadn’t been Damian Knight’s car he’d gotten out of. And he hadn’t looked happy. But she couldn’t imagine the laidback construction worker fighting with anyone. The red car did a U-turn and pulled away, but not before Sienna caught sight of a sticker on its back bumper.
No way.
Now she knew why the vehicle looked familiar. Sienna parked next to Polly Preston, and that Vegan and Proud Of It stickered red sedan, almost every day at work. Was that who Polly had been texting in the hallway? And who Harmony had told her wasn’t good enough to waste time on? Sienna made a face. Probably. Harmony would never think a blue-collar worker measured up when it came to relationship material.
And that was a darn shame.
“Hi, Josie,” Sienna said as she walked into Zeb’s a few minutes later. She hadn’t decided on the diner just because she thought Mac might still be here, but now she was glad she had. She pulled up a stool next to him at the counter. “Hi, Mac.”
“Hey, Sienna.” He didn’t smile, just stared into his coffee.
“Well, this sure is a surprise,” Josie said as she tossed a paper placemat and napkin in front of Sienna. “Don’t your mama usually have Friday night dinners at her place?”
Where else but in a town the size of Whispering Pines would the local diner waitress know that? Everyone sure did know everyone else’s business around here. Well, except maybe when it came to Mac and Polly. Sienna considered that for a minute. She’d never thought much about it, but how many other people kept secrets like that one? Big, juicy, you’d-never-guess-in-a-million-years secrets like that one?
“Sienna?” Josie waved the tail end of a pen in front of her face.
“Sorry. Ah, Ma and my pops are on a date,” Sienna said. “So no cooking for her tonight.” She scanned the menu, but she knew most of it by heart. “I’ll have a turkey club with fries. Thanks.”
“BLT for me,” Mac said. He hadn’t looked up from his coffee.
“Is everything okay?” Sienna asked after Josie had disappeared into the kitchen. She didn’t expect him to answer, but he looked so down, she couldn’t help asking.
He shrugged and rubbed a hand over his face. “Women.”
Josie returned from the kitchen. “What about women?”
Mac looked up. “You got super-sonic hearing or something?”
“Of course I do. How else do you think I manage in this place? I got fourteen different people hollering at me they need water or a menu or some napkins or their burger isn’t cooked right or where’s the bathroom...” Josie stopped for a breath. “I gotta hear ’em all.”
Mac spun his mug in a slow circle. “There’s this woman I’ve been seeing. She kept wanting to be casual, not go out in public together or anything. An’ I thought that was fine at first. I thought she’d come around. But now we’ve been spendin’ all this time together and she still—” He flattened his hand on the counter. “I don’t think I’m good enough for her.”
That’s Harmony whispering in Polly’s ear, Sienna thought. She’d bet a hundred dollars on it.
“You listen to me,” Josie said. “You are a good man, Mac Herbert. A very good man. Any woman who doesn’t see that is a purebred idiot. This woman sounds like she’s messed up in the head. Who wouldn’t want to parade you around town? Handsome guy like yourself, local football star, works magic with those hands...”
“Aw, now you’re just tellin’ lies,” Mac said, but he smiled.
“I’m doin’ nothing of the sort.” Josie patted Mac on the shoulder. “You keep your chin up. If this one don’t come around, there’s other fish in the sea.”
“Not in Whispering Pines.”
She swatted him with a towel. “Stop bein’ fresh. There’s plenty of single women here in town.” She walked back to the kitchen.
Silence hung over them. “I’m sorry,” Sienna said after a moment. “But Josie’s right. If this woman is hung up on money or materialism or whatever, then she’s not right for you. You’re a good guy. You deserve better.”
“I guess. That’s what Damian keeps saying. I just really like her, you know?”
“I know.” Sometimes you can’t help who you fall for. Money didn’t matter. Jobs didn’t matter. Even if two people belonged to different worlds and had different histories, well...that didn’t matter either, did it?
“Why are women so complicated?” Mac asked. “Why don’t you just say what’s on your mind, instead of making us try