Speaking of Love (Perfect Kisses) (7 page)

Chapter Seven

“How do I look?”

Silly question.

“You’re gorgeous,” Mac assured her cousin as they climbed out of Mac’s car.

Brandy’s tall, amazon frame towered over Mac. When Mac looked up at her cousin’s face, she realized how very different they looked. Genetically speaking, the comparison was not in Mac’s favor.

They were both blond, but Brandy’s hair was much lighter, almost silvery, and it hit the middle of her back. Mac tucked some of her own shoulder-length—frighteningly conservative—golden locks behind one ear.

Brandy was lean yet substantial, and, well, she had one of those faces. Saying it was perfect was an understatement, and calling it beautiful was just plain silly. She was tall and blond and gorgeous. For the sake of her own ego, Mac decided to leave it at that.

They crossed the parking lot of the restaurant. It was March and chilly, but the sky was crisp and blue and lovely. Mac held the collar of her thin coat together.

“I’m glad we’re doing this,” Brandy said, linking her arm through Mac’s. She ran her free hand through her hair; it was all glimmery and swishy. “I’m really in need of some fun.”

Fun. Brandy was all about fun. Perfect.

“He’s cute, right? That’s what you said. This Rick guy I’m meeting?”

Mac grinned, recognizing the look in her cousin’s eyes. “Very cute.”

Brandy actually squealed, clapped her hands, and did a little jump.

Mac giggled. She was realizing that doing good deeds was its own reward, even something as little as introducing two people who just might end up being soul mates. She gave herself a very firm mental pat on the back.

Jeremy was already at the table when they arrived. That was one great thing about him—he was always on time. And he always looked good. His hair was dark, almost black. He was wearing it longer these days. If Mac thought about it, she liked it better that way, but she didn’t usually think about it. Tess was right: he did rock a little Marky Mark, and his mannerisms
could
be rather ape-like. But it was only a lunch.

“Good afternoon, ladies,” Jeremy said in a swagger voice as Mac and Brandy got to the table. He didn’t stand up, but wasn’t that an old-fashioned custom, anyway? He raised his water glass instead.

Mac slid into the chair next to him, while Brandy sat across from her. Only one more empty chair to fill.

“Have you been waiting long?” Mac asked after kissing his cheek.

Jeremy shook his head.

Their table was outside, but standing heaters surrounded it. It was a lovely day, just as Mac had predicted. Perfect for outside dining.

Before the chitchat began, Mac spotted Rick’s car whip around the corner. His car was always easy to spot—or his
cars
. He had several. She never knew which one he would show up in. Lately, it was the leathery Mercedes or the black Cadillac SUV, which was what he was in today. Probably because of the heated leather seats. In less than a minute, he was striding toward their table.

“Hello,” he said, sounding a bit winded. He wasn’t that late, Mac thought, eyeing him. He didn’t have to run from the parking lot.

I guess some men never get over the idea of dating the prom queen.

“Rick, this is Brandy,” Mac said, playing the role of good matchmaker.

“Hi,” Brandy said, showing a dazzling smile. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Rick replied. His smile was just as dazzling.

“And this is Jeremy.” Mac waved in her date’s direction. “We’re old friends.”

“Hey there,” Rick said, shaking Jeremy’s hand. He unbuttoned his coat and shrugged it off. Mac didn’t recognize the dark blue cashmere sweater he was wearing, but it looked good on him. Really good. The color, the fabric… And when he rotated his body to drape his coat over the back of his chair, she noticed how the fine cut of the sweater accentuated his chest and back muscles.

He didn’t wear clothes like that when he was around her. Mostly, she saw him in evening suits or his cute hipster reporter wardrobe. Maybe this was his official “date attire.”

She leaned an elbow on the table, still looking at him. Not bad. In fact, compared to this nice-fitting sweater, his other clothing didn’t do his body justice. But what was Mac doing thinking about Rick’s body? He was Brandy’s date, maybe even her soul mate and future husband, she reminded herself.

Brandy followed suit and unzipped her jacket. Rick helped her slide her arms out.

“Thank you,” Brandy said, gifting Rick with another smile.

Mac was suddenly feeling a bit warm under the heaters as well. When she began peeling her coat off, Jeremy didn’t move, just continued to stare down at his menu.
Oh well, just another antiquated ritual.

It was a tight squeeze, and when she accidentally lost hold of her sleeve, her flyaway elbow clocked Jeremy in the side of the face.

“Ouch,” he said, but he smiled at her dotingly.

“Sorry,” Mac whispered.

“Need some help there?” Rick asked.

“I am perfectly capable of removing my own clothes,” she said, though still struggling with her coat.

Jeremy chuckled and finally put down his menu. “I got it,” he said, pulling on her sleeve. Mac thanked him with a pat on the arm.

“Sorry I was late,” Rick said.

“Chasing a lead down some dark alley?” Mac asked, draping her coat across the empty chair behind her.

“Something like that. I’ve got a story running tomorrow. It’s not nearly done.”

“You’re a reporter?” Brandy asked, looking confused, then she glanced at Mac. “I thought he owned the paper.”

“I do,” Rick said. “On top of being managing editor, I also write a column. It’s mostly weekly, but sometimes more often. Depending on what it is.”

Brandy leaned an elbow on the table and gazed at Rick. It wasn’t her pouty expression that Mac had seen her lay on other, helpless guys. It was even better: Brandy looked positively engrossed. Wow, she was good. “What are you writing about today?” Brandy asked Rick.

“It’s about Lincoln Park,” Mac answered for him.

“The park by your Mom’s house that’s been there forever?” Brandy asked, looking at Mac. “What about it?”

“It’s being torn down.”

“
That
,” Rick inserted, “has yet to be decided.”

Mac leaned across the table toward him. “Oh, really?” she said. “You’re telling me you still think there’s a chance the city won’t vote to sell half of those woods to the developer?”

Rick shook his head. “I have no idea. The council may be split
now
, but that can change overnight. It’s best not to get hung up on numbers or polls.”

Sitting back, Mac opened her menu, searching for a subject change. “Those woods are special,” she couldn’t help adding. “It’s the only greenbelt on that side of town.”

“I’m not disputing that,” Rick said. “Or your sentiment.”

Mac rolled her eyes. He could come off as so patronizing sometimes, treating her the same way people like his parents always have.

Using her interpersonal communication skills, she managed to steer the conversation away from Lincoln Park, and the friendly chitchat continued. Bread was brought, then the salads. By the time their entrees arrived, Rick and Brandy were really hitting it off.

Seriously, why she hadn’t thought of this sooner was a mystery.

…

Rick was having a good time and really enjoying getting to know Brandy. She was charming and attractive, reminding him a lot of Mac. Which probably shouldn’t have been a surprise.

While Brandy was telling a story about something that had happened to her at work the other day, Rick turned his head to the side and looked toward the glass doors leading from the patio into the dining room. Mac had gotten up, cell phone to her ear, nearly ten minutes ago. He hoped everything was all right.

The instant Jeremy started in on his own story, Rick excused himself. He waited inside the dining room while the hostess kept trying to seat him with other parties.

“Hey,” Rick said, as Mac appeared from around a corner. “Anything wrong?” he asked, gesturing at her phone.

She slipped her cell in her pocket. “It was Justine.”

“Everything okay?”

“She likes to check in.”

“Your little sister is protective. I noticed that before.”

“It’s more than that.” She rolled her eyes. “She’s probably going to write a dissertation about me one day. She claims I’m a higher level of neurotic.”

Rick chuckled. “I wouldn’t say that, but I did enjoy meeting her the other night.”

“You better be careful. She might have a little crush on you.”

“Oh yeah? Am I that charming?”

Mac laughed. “It’s probably more of a psychological interest. I think she’s wondering why I’m willing to pass you to Brandy.”

Rick tilted his head, suddenly greatly interested in the subject. “What did you tell her?”

Mac was flipping her cell phone over in her hand. “Something like, if I went to one more chamber dinner with you that I’d probably be thrown in jail for punching the city manager.”

Rick laughed, fighting the overwhelming desire to hug her. Where had that come from? He glanced past her out to the patio and could see the back of Brandy. His date.

“Well, we should probably get back to them,” Rick said, pushing the glass door open.

“Yeah,” Mac said with a smile.

“After you.”

When they sat down, Rick noticed the to-go box in Mac’s hand. Evidently, Brandy noticed it, too.

“Are you ready to go already?” Brandy asked, as Mac started transferring the pasta on her plate into the Styrofoam container.

“No,” Mac replied, sitting back and smoothing her napkin across her lap. “Not really. I’m just through eating and don’t want to stare at my food. No rush.”

“Oh,” Rick said, lowering his fork, “it’s Friday.”

“So what if it’s Friday?” Brandy said. “What’s the hurry?”

Rick pointed his fork across the table at Mac. “She volunteers on Friday afternoons. An animal shelter, right?”

“Eww.” Brandy curled her lip. “Do you have to clean the cages?”

Mac laughed. “Of course. It’s not a big deal that I’m missing today. I’m already planning on going an extra evening next week.”

“Aww,” Brandy said, making a pretty good impression of a frowning angel. “I’m sorry you’re missing, Kinz. Listen.” She leaned her folded arms on the table. “You can go there tonight. It’s okay.”

“And leave you alone?” Mac said, closing the lid to her leftovers. “You just got here.”

“Well…” Brandy looked down at her plate. “Maybe I can find someone else to take me off your hands.” When she lifted her eyes, they fell on Rick’s.

He knew what was happening, and he’d be ungallant if he didn’t jump in. “Absolutely,” he said, reaching for his drink. “I’d be happy to. Dinner?”

Brandy sat up straight and beamed. “Love to!”

“Why don’t we go, too?” Jeremy suggested.

Rick watched Mac turn to her date. His arm was draped across the back of her chair.

“Jeremy.” She was speaking slowly. “I’m going to the shelter. That’s what we were just talking about.”

Jeremy leaned over to her. “Come on, babe,” he said softly.

Rick didn’t like it. He didn’t know who this Jeremy guy was, or why he was pawing at Mac in broad daylight. Mac had told him she and Jeremy were “old friends,” but it didn’t seem like it from here, even though Rick did notice how Mac—not too subtlety—had pushed Jeremy’s arm off the back of her chair.

And had he actually just called her
babe
?

“What about tomorrow, then?” Jeremy asked. “We can go to a movie.”

Suddenly, Jeremy grunted, his face showing pain, and he sat up straight. Mac put a hand over her mouth. “Sorry,” she whispered through her fingers. “Did my foot slip?”

“That wasn’t a
foot
,” Jeremy said. “It was a stiletto heel.” He glanced under the table. “What are you wearing?”

“I can’t tomorrow, anyway,” Mac continued to Jeremy, sitting back in her chair. “I’ve got a…a thing.”

She looked directly at Rick. “Remember,” she added, her blue eyes steady. “I was telling you the other day about that
thing
.”

Rick knew she was lying, but he didn’t know why. So he thought it best to play along. That kick to Jeremy under the table had not gone unnoticed. After this morning’s hockey game, he didn’t need any more slap shots.

He and Mac had a “code” they used sometimes at one of their functions. If the word “thing” was emphasized in conversation with another party, that was the other’s cue to agree with whatever the other was saying.

“Right,” Rick said, looking directly at Mac. “That
thing
.”

Mac lifted a lightning-quick smile at him. “Yeah, sorry,” she said to Jeremy. “Maybe some other time.”

“
I’m
free,” Brandy said, beaming. “Completely free all weekend.” She smiled at Rick.

Rick couldn’t help but smile back at her enthusiasm. The attention felt nice after getting into the whole Lincoln Park thing with Mac earlier. Sometimes she could be exhausting and stubborn, and that temper…

But not today. There was something different about Mac. Maybe it was seeing her with another guy. Or maybe it was that he was with another woman. Now that he no longer had to be constantly on guard with his attraction toward Mac, the pressure was off.

Or it should have been.

When Brandy reached for the salt, she kind of pressed herself against Rick’s side. Rick felt a little warm, but instead of looking at Brandy, he couldn’t look away from Mac.

Chapter Eight

Mac was tapping a pencil on the top of her desk and staring at the framed poster of Ann McElhinney, famous English orator, that was hanging next to the blackboard. She hadn’t realized the student standing in front of the class was done talking. The spattering of applause was her first clue.

This week’s speeches were peer-evaluated. Her only real duty was to make sure all the kids had their turns and that no one threw spit wads. She had the luxury of dozing off during the actual speeches if she felt like it.

“Great job, Danny,” she said, not even bothering to rise from her desk at the back of the room. “The rest of you, take three minutes to fill out the evaluation form, then pass them to the back.” She ran a finger down the roster. “Monica, you’re next up.”

The young girl looked panicked. “So soon?”

Mac smiled. “Where’s your happy place? Don’t say it out loud,” she added. “Just close your eyes and think of it. Put yourself right there. Then you’ll be ready for it, I promise.”

“Okay, Miss Simms.”

Mac smiled again, kind of loving her job.

But when Monica started her speech, Mac couldn’t help drifting off, right back to where her thoughts had been before.

Apparently, the bonus dinner date between Rick and Brandy on Friday had gone very well. So had their date on Saturday night. Mac hadn’t been waiting up, per se, she’d just happened to be into the fifth hour of a
Friends
marathon on
Nick at Night
when Brandy finally got home. For some reason—maybe it was the greasy takeout Chinese food that hadn’t been sitting well—Mac hadn’t felt like asking for details of date number three. All she knew was Brandy was smiling and kind of giddy.

Mac’s job had been to set them up. That was done. Everything was going according to plan. She could simply bow out now and leave the rest to them. Unless…

About the same time that Monica finished her speech, Mac was cooking up a new plan. She just had to wait until lunch to call Rick about it. She would call Brandy next, even though she already knew her cousin would be totally game.

“I don’t know,” Rick said. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”

Mac blinked at her phone. “Don’t you like her?”

“Yes, of course.”

Right. Of course.

“So what’s the problem?

Rick didn’t answer right away. “It’s pretty fast, don’t you think?” he said. “A weekend away together. We just met.”

“You’ve been out three times and I know you’ve been e-mailing.”

There was a pause. “She told you that?”

“Is it a secret that you e-mail each other? This isn’t nineteen fifty. And we’ll make the weekend a group thing,” Mac added. “Weren’t you telling me a while ago that you haven’t been to your family’s cabin in a few years?”

“Yeah, but it’s a busy time for me.”

Mac switched her phone to the other ear. “Do you want to go through with this or not? Don’t you want to make time for a social life?”

Mac wasn’t sure why she’d brought that point up. In fact, they’d never really discussed it. Although Mac knew she was probably on the right track. She could always tell when men were ready to settle down. They would start to get the same gooey Rock Hudson look in their eyes that Rick had had the other night when he’d picked her up for the chamber dinner. Mac had spotted it a mile away.

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to,” Rick said. “I’m saying that I’m going to be out of town at the end of next week, and—”

“I know that, remember?” Mac cut in. “You’re going to be in Chicago, we’ll be there at the same time. I’ve got a teachers’ conference on Thursday.”

“So?”

“The cabin is only about two hours from there, right? We can make a long weekend out of it. Nothing better than a cozy cabin and a little fun in the snow to get to know someone better.”

“Are you talking about me and Brandy or you and Jeremy?”

Mac blinked.
Jeremy?
She hadn’t thought yet about who she was going to take as her weekend date. Why would Rick assume she was bringing Jeremy? Well, he would be as good as anyone, Mac guessed.

“No, I don’t mean me and Jeremy,” she said. “I mean you.”

“Me?”

“You and Brandy.”

There was a long pause.

“But that’s who you’re bringing,” Rick said. “Jeremy.”

Mac didn’t like his tone. It sounded a bit disgusted. “Yes,” she slowly answered. “Probably. I was thinking of Tess and Jack, too. But they took a trip last weekend. Besides,” Mac quickly added, “this is about you, not me. I’m setting
you
up. Remember?” ”

There was another stretch of silence.

“Right,” Rick finally said. “Okay, then. Sounds great. I’m totally in. Can’t wait.”

…

After Rick hung up the phone, he stared at it. He didn’t know whether to be happy or totally confused. Though confusion, particularly when it came to dissecting Mac’s words, was a waste of time. So he decided to be happy.

During their conversation, when she said how being away in the snow would be good to help move a relationship to the next level, for a split second, he’d thought she’d meant the two of them. But that had been his mistake. He felt stupid now for even thinking it.

He shot a quick e-mail to the property manager of his family’s various real estate properties to make sure the cabin was available next weekend. It was. So, it was settled.

Again, he decided to be happy.

When he heard a knock, he looked up to find his brother Mitch leaning against the doorframe.

“Hey,” Rick said. “What are you doing here?”

Mitch walked in and took a seat. “I thought I’d drop by and let you treat me to a late lunch.”

“You drove a hundred miles for lunch?”

Mitch picked up a stapler in the shape of a Jaguar off the desk. “No,” he said. “I was coming to Franklin anyway.” He paused and looked at Rick. “It’s our mother’s birthday. We’re having dinner at the club.”

“Oh.” Rick pinched the bridge of his nose. “I completely forgot about dinner. Should I order flowers?” he asked, reaching for his phone.

“Already done,” Mitch said. “Though technically they’re from Em and me, but I suppose you can take credit, too. They were ridiculously expensive. Now you really
do
owe me lunch.”

Rick smiled and exhaled. “Thanks. Where is Emily?”

“She’s driving in later.”

Not for the first time, Rick thought about how lucky Mitch was to have someone like Emily in his life, someone he loved at his side for potentially dreary events like family dinner at the club.

Automatically, he envisioned Mac being with him tonight, sitting in the chair beside him. If nothing else, he would have fun with her. They always had fun together. She had a way of making the most boring event entertaining… Maybe not to anyone else, but definitely to him.

It was almost like a punch in the gut when he remembered how things had gone down when Mac had met his parents at the chamber dinner last week. He still didn’t know what that was all about. Mac wouldn’t talk about it, and he hadn’t bothered asking a single follow-up question. He felt like revoking his own journalist credentials.

“Em’s excited to talk with you,” Mitch added. When Rick’s eyes refocused, his brother was grinning. “She wants to hear about your blind date.”

“You told Emily about that?”

“There are no secrets when you’re married, my friend,” Mitch said, fiddling with the cuff of his shirt. “So, how did it go with the cousin?”

“Brandy,” Rick said. It seemed there were to be no secrets between brothers, either. “It went well. We’ve been out a few times.”

Mitch sat forward. “So you’re interested? That’s great.”

“Yeah,” Rick said. He wasn’t sure if he should disclose anything further, but his brother was probably a good person to talk things through with. “In fact, I think we’re going up to the cabin for the weekend.”

“That’s pretty fast work,” Mitch said and then smirked. “I think the upstairs rooms have new mattresses. You’ll have to break them in.”

Rick chuckled. “No, it’s not like that. Mac’s coming, too.”

Mitch’s eyes went wide. “Now you’re talking.”

“Don’t be an ass-hat—you’re a married man. It’s a group thing. Four of us. There’s still some snow on the ground, so we’ll ski, maybe skate.”

Mitch’s smirk didn’t waver. “If you say so.”

Rick laughed and leaned back in his chair, thinking about Brandy, how she might look in a snow outfit. Then he imagined her in a cocktail dress, hanging off his arm at the next chamber dinner. She would smile and say all the right things.

But would she be any fun?