Stef Ann Holm by Lucy Back (books to read in your 30s TXT) 📗

Lucy wiped the countertop, getting ready to prepare the last dish of Drew’s choices. It was a side. Portabello mushrooms with Italian sauce, artichoke hearts and feta cheese.

As she scraped the gills from mushrooms, Mackenzie wandered into the kitchen.

“Hi,” she said, walking toward the refrigerator and grabbing a bottle of Coke. Drew kept the commemorative kind, and he had an opener on the side of the countertop.

Mackenzie knocked the cap off, then took a long and satisfying drink. “My momma used to put mint leaves into the bottle and she called it a Dixie cola.” She took a seat at the long counter. “She made that up so I’d feel special when my grandpa Earl came over and drank a mint julep on the porch. I liked to sit in the white wicker chair by him and watch the wind ruffle his whiskers. He kind of looked like a Civil War general.”

Smiling, Lucy couldn’t help but warm to Mackenzie. The young girl was very open with her feelings, and the expressions on her face were genuine and real. “Your mother sounds like someone I would have liked.” As she said it, she wondered how Drew could have walked away from Caroline. Lucy didn’t like how that felt in her heart. Torn in two…

“Everybody liked my momma. I miss her.”

“I’m sure you do.” She felt the need to steer the conversation away from Mackenzie’s mother. “Both my parents are still alive. They live in Sun Lakes, Arizona. Shoot, I need to call my mom and check in. I haven’t called in a couple of weeks. I’ve been busy, but that’s no excuse.”

“Do you cook for a lot of folks?”

“Six people.”

“You must like to cook and all. My momma said that anyone who could read, could cook. I can, but I’m just not a natural at it.”

“What do you like to make?”

“I can do all right with a grilled cheese. Sometimes I burn it if I have to use this stove. Ya’ll use gas. We have an electric range back home and it doesn’t get this hot.” Mackenzie’s brown hair was thrown into a ponytail, its glossy mane dusting her bare shoulders. Her summer tan was rich and golden. She wore a lavender tank top with a scoop neck, and hoop earrings, a silver ring on her right hand. “I know how to bake cookies.”

“What’s your favorite kind?”

“Chocolate chip. Do you bake?”

“Not too much.”

“Do you ever get sick of your own cooking?”

“Sometimes.” Lucy brushed olive oil on the mushrooms, then put them in the oven for ten minutes to broil.

“I miss my aunt Lynette’s grits and gravy.” Mackenzie absently took up the pen that rested by a notepad. She doodled pictures. “Drew cain’t make anything. We order in or we eat out, or we eat what you cook for us.”

Lucy leaned her back against the counter. Knowing that this girl was Drew’s daughter put a different light on things. She had had a rough upbringing, and Lucy wasn’t sure how she could forget the truth. She more than liked Drew, but the mother in her wanted to protect Mackenzie from further hurts. Lucy had raised her sons from babies and couldn’t conceive of ever leaving them or denying them. That Drew had was a hard pill to swallow.

She’d promised Drew she’d keep his secret. And she’d meant it. But right now, a part of her wanted to tell Mackenzie that Drew was trying to be a better person, that he wasn’t the same man who’d fathered her. It had been a long journey for him and he wanted to make amends.

Setting the record straight wasn’t Lucy’s business, so she kept her mouth shut. Or she would have if Mackenzie hadn’t asked, “You like Drew, don’t you?”

Lucy was momentarily taken aback. That wasn’t just a casual question, but Lucy treated it as if it were. “Everyone likes Drew.”

“You like him like a boyfriend.”

Suddenly, Lucy had ten different things to do. She got out the feta and began to crumble it.

Do I like Drew Tolman as a boyfriend?

The question echoed inside Lucy’s head.

Yes, I do.

She’d known that for a long time now, but she hadn’t wanted to confront the idea. Because she did want him in the worst way—a sure sign of sinking. She knew she’d drown in his arms, and that was the surest way to bring her heartache.

He was the town’s bachelor boy, a man with a full plate right now. A daughter he was trying to bond with, an ex-girlfriend he was getting over… Add in a new woman? Disaster.

Lucy had had one disaster in her life in recent years: Gary’s leaving her. She couldn’t deal with another so soon. That was why she had purposefully put off dating and getting involved with someone else. Already, she felt the threads tightening, pulling, bringing her toward a vortex of emotions and complications she wasn’t sure she was capable of handling.

This was new territory.

“Do you?” Mackenzie questioned.

Pushing aside the feta, Lucy kept her back to Mackenzie. “I think he’s a fun person to be around. You can’t help but like his way with people, don’t you think?” She turned toward Mackenzie in the hopes that the young girl would see Drew’s merits and maybe soften toward him.

“I think he’s a charmer,” Mackenzie said flatly. “And I think I’m probably crimping his style, so maybe I should go home.”

“Oh, no!” Lucy quickly replied, then bit her lip. “I don’t think you’re crimping anything where Drew is concerned. What gave you that idea?”

“I don’t know.” The teen grew quiet, then lowered her chin. “I guess I’m just homesick, and I’m thinking it’s better I leave before I get left.”

Lucy came around to Mackenzie, stopped, wasn’t sure if she should put her arm around her or not. In the end, she did.

The young girl smelled like floral body splash, and it reminded Lucy of the fact that, at one time, she’d wanted a daughter really bad. But over the years, she’d settled in