Chapter 8
THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
MAC
I knock on Miss Ina’s door. I wait for her to answer for a minute, then knock again and press my ear to the door to see if I can hear her coming. I haven’t seen her in a few days, and I’m honestly a little worried. “Miss Ina?” I knock again.
“Child, if you don’t stop knocking on my door and give me a few minutes to walk across the room to answer it, I’m going to beat you with my walker when I open it up,” she grouches.
I let out a relieved breath and smile.
“Hurry up!” I shout.
I hear her huff on the other side, which makes my smile even bigger.
“Why did I have to come along for this?” Libby asks.
She’s next to me, standing with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Because I thought it would be nice if you were here when we invite her over to Christmas dinner. She’s alone.”
“She really did put a spell on you, didn’t she?”
“I told you. I like her.” I shrug, then knock again just to annoy Ina.
“What’s so important that you need to wake me from my afternoon nap?” Miss Ina answers as she finally opens the door.
I grin, then give her a hug that she tries to pull away from. I don’t let her get far.
“You’re coming with us on Christmas.”
“No, I’m not.” She shakes her head and attempts to shut the door, but I block it with my foot before she can.
“Yes, you are. I even ordered us a car service for the morning of so we don’t have to take the train out to Long Island.”
“Child, I’m staying home on Christmas. Now go on.” She tries to shoo us away.
Before, that might have worked, but now I know that she’s a big softie. I’m not going anywhere.
“Miss Ina, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but the day you made me tea and let me cry on your shoulder and then sleep on your couch is the day you and I became friends. I don’t let my friends sit alone at home on Christmas, so Christmas morning you will be coming with me and Libby to our parents’ house—even if I have to break into your apartment and drag you with me.”
I smile, and she glares at me. Then she glares at Libby.
“I should call the law on you two for harassing me.”
“Do it.” I raise a brow, and she huffs again.
Libby tenses at my side, not knowing that the woman is all bark and no bite.
“Fine,” Miss Ina says, finally giving in. “I’ll come—but only because I want to.” She shakes her head as she starts to shut the door again, but I move my foot back in to block it again.
“Promise me.” I hold out my pinkie toward her.
“I should have left you to cry in the hall,” she says.
I don’t move anything more than one eyebrow, which I raise.
“Fine. I promise.” She slaps my hand, then slams the door.
“She’s still scary,” Libby says, taking my arm and pulling me along with her.
“I heard that! I’m glad you think so, seeing how your sister’s forgotten!” Miss Ina shouts through the door.
I laugh along with Libby as we head up the stairs to our apartment.
After entering, I kick off my shoes and sigh. “It feels like I haven’t been here in forever,” I say as we plop down on the couch next to each other. I haven’t been home for weeks. I’ve been spending all my time with Wesley, but with his mom and stepdad sleeping in his bed while he’s on the couch, I won’t be staying with him again until after Christmas.
“You haven’t, and it’s a lot quieter without you around,” Libby says.
I look at her and instantly feel guilty for not having been home much.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Honestly, it’s been nice.” She smirks. “Do you think that you and Wesley are going to move in together sometime soon?” she asks, sounding way too hopeful. I pick up one of the pillows and hit her with it, making her laugh. “Seriously, though. What are you guys planning on doing?”
“I don’t know. It will probably be a while before we take that step. Our relationship has been moving too quickly from the beginning, and I think that we need some time to get to know each other before we make any big commitments.”
“That’s probably smart, but then again, you have been with him every day and every night. It doesn’t make sense to live here, paying rent, while spending all your time there with him.”
“True.” I hug the pillow to my chest. “But if I was to move out, do you think you could afford this place on your own?”
“Yes, Mom.” She rolls her eyes. “Plus, I’ve been tucking away the extra money I’ve been making at Tony’s the last couple weeks.”
“How’s it been, working there?”
Ever since the day I told Libby about Tony being in the hospital and Antonio needing help at the pizza parlor, she’s been going in a few days a week to help out with waiting tables and answering the phone. Antonio said they didn’t need help, but she went above his head and talked to his mom about it. I’ve also gone in a couple of times to pitch in, but Libby seems to have it under control. Mrs. Moretti adores her, which I think annoys the crap out of Antonio.
“It’s fine.” She shrugs, then fiddles with her hair.
That’s something she’s done since she was little—whenever she’s not telling the truth.
“Just fine?” I narrow my eyes at her, and she shifts in her seat.
“Just fine.”
“Is Antonio being nice to you?” I ask.
She rolls her eyes at the mention of his name.
“He’s being himself.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he’s constantly complaining about my shoes, my clothes, and the fact that I wear makeup.”
“Don’t let him get to you.”
“I won’t,” she says, but I can tell by the set of her shoulders that his opinion bugs her.
“I’m sorry that he’s being a jerk.”
“Don’t be. His opinion of me doesn’t matter.” She waves my comment away. “I like his mom, and his dad is very sweet. So he can suck it.” She stands up. “I’m going to take a bath then watch a movie. Do you want to watch a scary one with me?”
“I’ll make popcorn,” I answer.
Watching her walk off toward our bedroom, I can’t help but wonder what the hell is going on between her and Antonio. Her reaction was not normal. They have always bickered, but now I wonder if there isn’t a little bit of attraction between them.
My cell phone starts to ring, and I lean forward and grab it off the coffee table.
It’s Wesley. “Hey,” I answer when I put it to my ear.
“Hey.”
“Did you get your mom and Peter settled?” I ask as I relax back against the couch. Tucking my feet under me, I pull a blanket over my lap and get comfortable.
“Yeah. Now I’m heading to the station to meet Levi. We have to work for a few hours.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, just work,” he answers.
I know by his tone that he’s not going to say anything more about it.
“I miss you,” I say.
There’s silence on the other end.
“Do you?” he asks after a moment.
I can hear the smile in his voice, which just makes me miss him even more.
“Yeah.”
“I miss you, too.”
“That makes me feel a little less crazy,” I admit, smiling, then smiling wider when he laughs.
“My mom is crazy about you.”
“She is?”
“She is. I knew she would be. She said that she loves you for me. That she couldn’t have chosen better herself.”
“That’s good, right?” I ask, feeling hopeful.
“That’s better than good. She’s looking forward to meeting your family on Christmas.”
“Oh.” I deflate, slumping back into the couch. “Let’s not get our hopes up, then. You and I both know that my family is crazy. She might change her mind about me after meeting them.”
“It will be fine.” He laughs, then I hear a car door slam.
“Did you just get to work?”
“Yeah, baby. I’ll call you in the morning.”
“Be safe.”
“Always. Night, gorgeous.”
“Night.” I hang up, then press the cell phone to my smiling lips.
“What are you so happy about?” Libby asks, coming out of the bedroom wearing a robe. Her hair is tied up in a bun on top of her head.
“Wesley’s mom likes me.”
“Are you really surprised by that?” she asks, going to the kitchen.
She grabs a wineglass, then opens the fridge and pulls out a bottle of white wine, filling the glass to the brim.
“I don’t know. I didn’t know what to expect, honestly.”
“Everyone likes you. Even Miss Ina, who I’m pretty sure hates everyone. So I’m not surprised.” She takes a sip of wine, then holds the bottle up between us. “You want a glass?”
“No, thanks.” I shake my head and she nods, putting the bottle back in the fridge. “Did you already take a bath?”
“Not yet. I’m filling the tub now. I just wanted a glass of wine.”
“Cool.” I yawn, covering my mouth. Then I reach forward for the remote. “If I’m asleep when you get out, just wake me up.”
“Will do.” She heads into the bedroom.
I turn on the TV and lie down, then promptly fall asleep.
When Libby does come out and wake me up, I’m only able to make it halfway through the movie The Ring. I can’t keep my eyes open, so I give in and go to bed.
“Good morning!” Fawn says in a singsong voice as she walks into the apartment without knocking, making me jump out of my skin.
“Sheesh! You scared the crap out of me.” I hold my hand over my pounding heart.
She smiles. “Sorry. I didn’t even think twice about using my key.” She shrugs, then holds up a bag. “I brought bagels.”
My stomach, which has been silent all morning, growls. My mouth waters when I see the all-too-familiar name printed on the bag.
“Please tell me that you brought smoked salmon cream cheese,” I beg, forgetting all about being scared moments ago.
“I did!” She smiles and sets the bag on the counter.
Pulling out the toaster, I plug it in, then dig out one of the “everything” bagels from the bag and cut it in half.
“You’re here already,” Libby says groggily, coming out of the bedroom.
Fawn looks at her when she comes over to kiss her cheek.
“Levi was out all night. He came in early this morning, so when he came to bed I got up so I wouldn’t bother him,” Fawn explains.
Libby makes her way past me and toward the coffeepot that finished brewing moments ago.
“Levi’s already back to work?” Libby asks.
“Last night was his first night back. The doctors told him that as long as he doesn’t push it, he should be okay.”
“I haven’t talked to Wesley this morning yet. Do you know if everything went okay last night?” I ask.
Fawn’s face softens as she looks at me.
“Yeah, last night they got a lead that they needed to look into.”
“Does Levi talk to you about his cases?” I ask, wondering if it’s only Wesley who keeps his work from me.
“Never.” She shakes her head as she accepts a cup of coffee from Libby. “I don’t even ask him anymore. He knows if he needs to talk that I’m here for him, but he doesn’t talk to me about work. Does Wesley talk to you?”
“No.” I bite the inside of my cheek. Maybe I should ask my mom if my dad talked to her about work.
“I don’t think you’d really want him to talk to you about his work,” Libby says, wrapping her arm around my shoulder while taking a sip of coffee. “I love horror flicks, but I know there is no way that I would be able to handle seeing someone who was really murdered—or hearing about it firsthand.” She shakes her head, then reaches around me to grab the bag of bagels. She pulls one out. “I think them not talking to you about work is their way of protecting you from how ugly the world is.”
“Who protects them?” Fawn asks as my bagel pops up. “I love that Levi wants to protect me, but I also want to know that he’s not carrying around the weight of everything he sees and does on his shoulders.”
“I think you do that for him,” I tell her honestly. “He may not talk to you about his job, but I don’t think he needs to. I think you’re his escape from all that.”
“Exactly,” Libby agrees, handing me a plate from the cupboard above the sink.
Grabbing a butter knife, I open the tub of smoked salmon cream cheese and slather a thick layer on my bagel. There is nothing better than New York City bagels and cream cheese. Nothing.
“So what stores are we hitting up first?” Libby asks.
I know she’s excited about today. She’s a marathon shopper; I swear that after shopping with her for one day, I need the rest of the year to recover. Today is the one day of the year when she can willingly get Fawn and me out of the house to shop with her. It’s going to be crazy since today and the next two days are the craziest shopping days of the year. Everyone is out, and the stores are crowded, making it almost impossible to even move. Why we don’t shop before today like most people, I don’t know.
“I need to find something for Levi. I have no idea what to get him,” Fawn says as she picks up the second half of my bagel and takes a bite.
“Lingerie,” Libby says before taking a bite of her own bagel.
“Isn’t that more of a gift for me than him?” Fawn frowns.
“No.” Libby snorts, then asks, “Do you even own any lingerie?”
“No.” She frowns.
“Well, then, tell me who would it be for?”
“Him, I guess.” She shrugs.
“Exactly. It would be for him.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“First stop, Victoria’s Secret!” Libby says.
I wonder if I should go with her idea, too, because I have no idea what to get Wesley. What do you get the guy you’ve only been seeing for a few weeks? I don’t even know if I should get him anything.
“I don’t know what to get Wesley, either,” I say.
Libby chews the bite she just took of her bagel, then swallows.
“What part of lingerie do you not understand? It’s the gift that keeps on giving. You don’t even need to tell him that it’s a gift; he will just know when he unwraps it,” she says.
I laugh. “Who the hell is unwrapping your gifts?”
“No one. I unwrap my own gifts, and I’m damn good at it, too.” She winks.
I shake my head as Fawn laughs. “I miss you guys.”
“I miss you, too. We need to have a set night every other week for sister time,” I agree.
When we all lived together, we made it a point to have dinner together at least two nights a month. We would order in pizza or Chinese food, then lounge around in our PJs and watch scary movies until the early hours of the morning. When Fawn moved out, we let that tradition go, but I want to do that again. I miss how close we used to be.
“Yes, well, that is if your men will let you up for air long enough to hang out,” Libby huffs.
I look at her just in time to catch her rolling her eyes.
“You sound a little jealous,” Fawn states, smiling.
“Did I not just tell you how good I am at unwrapping myself? I’m so jealous I’m green. I want a man. A real living, breathing man.” She tosses her hair.
“What about Antonio?” Fawn asks.
I turn to look at Libby.
“No, thank you. He’s way too pompous for my taste.”
“I don’t know . . . when I was in there the other day to pick up my order and saw you two together, your arguing seemed a lot like foreplay.”
“If foreplay is plotting someone’s death in your mind from start to finish, including getting rid of the body, then you would be right,” she says.
I know she’s full of it. She’s attracted to him, and it probably makes her crazy that he isn’t falling at her feet like most men do. Libby is beautiful in a timeless way that calls to men, but most people don’t know that she’s a hard worker, she’s ambitious, she’s outgoing, and she’s one of the kindest women I have ever met. Most men just see a pretty face and a perfect body—one that she does absolutely nothing to make that way. She eats like crap and never works out; if I ate like her, I would weigh five hundred pounds.
“All right, you two need to get ready so we can go. Times Square is going to be insane,” Fawn says.
I shove the rest of my bagel in my mouth, chew, and swallow. I drink the rest of my coffee, then head to my room and get ready to spend the day with my sisters.
Sliding into a booth at the back of Jack’s bar, across from my sisters, I smile at Libby and Fawn as they chat about all the things they bought. Pulling my eyes from them, I look around and realize I haven’t been to Jack’s in forever. The last time I was here was at Halloween with my sisters. Jack’s has always been my favorite bar. I love the TVs in every corner playing different sports games, the worn tables that have dings and dents in them, and the crowd of men and women who are all there to have a good time.
“It’s been a while, Mac,” says Lisa, one of the waitresses, as she comes over to our table to drop off the drinks that we ordered when we first walked in.
I turn to look up at her and notice then that she’s pregnant.
“Are you guys ready to order, or do you need a few minutes to look over the menu?”
“You’re having a baby!” I blurt out.
She laughs, resting both her hands on her very round stomach.
“I’m so happy for you!” I get up and give her a hug. She hugs me back before letting me go and shaking her head.
“Yeah, me and Vick are so excited. I didn’t know I was pregnant until two months ago. I thought I was just gaining weight.” She laughs again, and I laugh along with her.
“That’s great. Tell Vick I said congrats,” I mutter, feeling a weight settle down around me.
I don’t know what I would do if I found out I was pregnant right now. As good as things are between us, I don’t know how Wesley would feel.
“Anyway, enough about me. Are you girls ready to order?” she asks.
“I think we’re ready,” Fawn says.
Libby and I both nod. We always get the same thing when we come here. I will have to work out for a week after this, but it’s always worth it.
“Three cheeseburgers and fries, an order of cheese sticks, and an order of fried pickles.”
“Sure,” Lisa agrees.
My stomach twists.
“I’ll bring your food out as soon as it’s done.”
“Thanks!” we say in unison before she walks off.
“Why do you look so pale?” Libby asks as soon as Lisa is gone.
I don’t even know how to answer her. I don’t know if I should just tell them that I messed up and had unprotected sex.
“Earth to Mackenzie!” Libby snaps her fingers in front of my face, and I blink.
“Wesley and I have had a couple accidents,” I say.
My sisters share a look before they both frown at me.
“What does that mean?”
“We’ve had sex without protection.”
“Seriously?” Libby hisses, leaning across the table toward me. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“I obviously wasn’t thinking. But in my defense, the second he touches me, all rational thought goes out the window and I lose my mind. I know that it’s stupid, but it’s the truth. I swear I can’t help myself around him.”
“If you end up pregnant—” Fawn says, but I cut her off.
“I know,” I whisper. “Believe me, I know. I’ve got a prescription for birth control, but I have to wait for my period to start this month to begin taking it.”
“Well, you know Mom would be thrilled,” Fawn laughs.
I cover my face and groan. Our mom would be thrilled if I got pregnant. She would think she hit the mother lode. With Fawn and me both in serious relationships and me pregnant, she’d probably faint from sheer happiness.
“What’s the chance of it happening? I mean, it has to be like one in a million, right?” I ask.
Fawn shrugs, but Libby seems to ponder the question before giving her answer.
“I don’t know. It’s probably a lot more likely than you think it is. But then again, who the hell knows? There are a million variables that go into getting pregnant. Some women have to use thermometers, calculators, and calendars in order to get knocked up. Let’s just hope you’re like one of those women and not as fertile as Mom.”
“Yeah, every time Mom said she wanted to have another baby, she got pregnant. So if you’re anything like her, you’re probably already carrying our niece or nephew,” Fawn says, looking at my stomach.
I cover it with a hand without thinking, then quickly drop it away.
“Shut up and don’t curse me! I don’t even know what I would do if I ended up pregnant. And Wesley . . .” I shake my head. “I can’t even imagine having to tell him that news. He would probably lock me in a room or roll me up in bubble wrap.”
“Remind me why that’s a bad thing?” Libby says, smiling at Lisa when she drops off our food at the table.
“It’s not a bad thing. His crazy possessiveness gives me tingles, but it’s annoying when he’s overbearing. It’s hard to explain—I love it but hate it.”
“I get it,” Fawn says, taking a sip from her wineglass. “Levi is a little cray-cray, too, but I try not to let him get away with it. I don’t want him to think it’s okay to boss me around or control me.”
“Exactly. It’s like a game of tug-of-war. He pushes, I pull, then he pushes again,” I say, sliding my glass of wine across the table.
“I think I’ll stick to loving myself. All this relationship business sounds way too complicated,” Libby mutters.
Fawn laughs.
“It is complicated,” I agree, wondering if it might become even more complicated.