Skin (McCullough Mountain 2) (23 page)

“Did something happen at work?”

“No. Work was fine.”

“After work?”

She turned and opened the fridge. “What kind
of dressing do you want on your salad?”

He caught the door of the refrigerator,
sneaking up on her. “Forget the salad. Talk to me. Something
happened and I want to know what.”

Was she really going to tell him? What if he
agreed with Erin and she saw it in his eyes that he’d eventually
return to his ex. No matter what he said, he’d never be able to
take back that sort of look once it was out there. When they first
met he’d planned on marrying that girl. “Nothing. A cart hit my car
at the market. It put me in a bad mood. I’m sorry. Let’s start
over.”

“Is it bad? I know a mechanic that does
bodywork. I can take it over there for you and have him look at it
if you want.”

Jesus. This is why you don’t lie!
“No. It’s barely noticeable. I overreacted. Do you want to set the
table?”

He smiled, but his eyes looked concerned.
“Sure.”

By the time they were sitting down to eat,
she’d forced all thoughts of Finn and his ex out of her mind. Finn
told her about his day and complimented her cooking. He gave her a
lecture when he noticed she was eating her salad without dressing,
but she was sick and tired of people using her weight against her.
She was going to get skinny if it killed her. And if she
failed…well, then she’d sit on little bitches like Erin and beat
the crap out of them.

She needed to calm down.

After dinner Finn helped clear the table and
kept stealing little touches here and there. She kept shouldering
him off.

His arms wrapped around her waist and she
felt like she couldn’t breathe with him holding her like that. He
wasn’t suffocating her, but she didn’t want him to touch her at the
moment, didn’t want him to feel her, if that made any sense.

She nudged him away and he pulled her back,
pressing his lips to her shoulder. “Want to go watch some TV?”

That wasn’t what he was asking. He wanted to
fool around and while that had been her plan all morning, things
had changed.

“I’m not really in the mood.”

He frowned. “What do you want to do?”

She sighed. “I need to get stuff ready for
work and…stuff.”

His gaze scrutinized her. “Do you want me to
go?”

“It’s late.” She didn’t want him to go. She
wanted him to stay and hold her while she cried about how badly his
miserable ex hurt her feelings that afternoon. She wanted to tell
him how much he meant to her and how afraid she was that he would
leave her eventually.

Needy much?

“Mallory, if I—” His words cut off as his
phone rang. He rolled his eyes and let out an aggravated sigh as he
answered it. “Hello?…Again?…I’m sort of busy…”

She didn’t think it was anyone in his family
by the tone of his voice. To give him privacy she started on the
dishes, but she could still hear him talking to the person on the
phone.

“Can’t you call your brother?” There was a
long pause. “Fine. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Stay in the car
and lock the doors.”

He ended the call and she shut off the
water, grabbing a towel to dry her hands. “Everything all
right?”

“I have to go. That was Erin. Her car broke
down and she’s in the middle of nowhere.”

Her jaw must have hit the floor.
“What?”
She was doing this on purpose. She knew Mallory was
cooking him dinner tonight. That…
Bitch!
“Don’t go,” she
suddenly pleaded, completely changing her tune from minutes
ago.

He frowned. “Mallory, I have to go. She’s
stranded and her brother isn’t answering the phone.”

“So? Doesn’t she have other friends she can
call?”

“I guess not. She called me. I’m sure I
wasn’t her first choice.”

Wanna bet?
“Finn, I think you should
call her back and ask her to call someone else. Doesn’t she have
parents?”

He scowled at her. “Mallory, she called me.
You have to get ready for work anyway. It would be different if we
had plans, but you just told me to basically leave. I might as well
go help her.”

She couldn’t help the begging tone in her
voice. “I don’t want you to go.”

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair,
gripping the back of his neck. “Mallory, please don’t be like that.
I pride myself on being a guy people can count on. She’s a girl and
she’s broken down on the side of the road. Don’t be like her. Don’t
make me choose.”

Her breath caught. He
did not
just
say that. No, she wouldn’t make him choose. She couldn’t. She was
too afraid of what his choice would actually be.

Her expression blanked. “You better go.”

“Please don’t be mad.”

“I’m not.”
I’m afraid this is the last
time I’ll look at you and be able to call you my
boyfriend.

He kissed her and she pulled away too soon.
After he left, she stood by the window and listened as his truck
roared to life. Her throat tightened as she watched his taillights
fade down the dark road—on the way back to his ex.

* * * *

Finn found Erin’s car on the shoulder just
after the exit out of town. The road was dark and the glass was
foggy from her waiting inside. He pulled up behind her and grabbed
the tools out of the back of the truck. As soon as he fixed her car
he needed to have a talk with her about calling someone else the
next time something like this happened.

It wasn’t fair for him to upset Mallory, but
what else could he have done? He couldn’t leave Erin stranded. He
walked to the front of the car and banged on the hood. “Pop the
hood.”

The latch under the hood released followed
by the soft pinging of the driver door opening.

“You should stay in the car,” he called as
he lifted the hood and turned on his flashlight. She, of course,
ignored him.

“I don’t know what happened. It just made
this horrible noise and stopped.”

He shined his light over all the major
things that usually went wrong, but everything looked tight. “It
just stopped? How did you get over to the shoulder?”

“Well, it sputtered, like.” She stepped
closer and he smelled her perfume. He preferred Mallory’s perfume
and found Erin’s to be the type to give him a headache. “I really
appreciate you coming to help me. I hope I didn’t interrupt your
night. Were you doing anything?”

“No. It’s fine. Why don’t you try to start
it?”

“You’re always so wonderful, coming to my
rescue and driving me when I need a hand.”

He turned and felt his brows lower. He
wasn’t buying this sweet act. “You really need to start calling
someone else for this kind of thing. Either that or get some
roadside assistance.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I was scared and I knew
I could count on you.” Her hand landed on his where it rested on
the car.

He glanced down at her manicured fingers.
“Go start the car, Erin.”

She looked at him for a long moment then
nodded. She seemed to take a long while getting the key in the
ignition. When the engine turned over it purred like a kitten and
he cursed.

“Son of a bitch.” He slammed the hood.
“Sounds fine to me.”

She left the car running and got out again.
That was when he noticed her outfit. She was wearing the jean skirt
he used to like her in and a cropped little top. It was too cold
for an outfit like that.

“I don’t know what happened. Maybe we should
just wait here a few minutes and let it run. You know, to make sure
it doesn’t shut off again.”

He doubted it would. “Do you think I’m an
idiot, Erin?”

“What? Of course not. Finn, I swear, it just
stopped.”

“Yeah, cars do that when you take the keys
out. Do me a favor and play your games with someone else.”

She scoffed. “Because you’re too busy to
help your friends now?”

“That’s the thing, Erin. We aren’t friends.
Friends don’t trick each other to play games and cry wolf. Did it
ever cross your mind that I might have been in the middle of
something when you called?”

She laughed dryly. “Yeah. Maybe I thought
I
was rescuing
you.
”

He scowled at her. “What the fuck is that
supposed to mean?”

“Oh, come on, Finn, everybody is talking
about it. Do you really think a girl like that is going to compare
to a girl like me?”

He stepped back. Never before had he had the
urge to hit a woman. “No, I don’t think there’s any comparison.
Mallory is nice and sweet and honest and doesn’t have a nasty bone
in her body. You on the other hand…”

“She’s fat, Finnegan!”

He grit his teeth and gave her a look of
absolute disgust. “You can call her whatever you want. Your
opinions don’t matter. But for the record—regardless of whatever
label you throw at her—I find her way more beautiful than you. It’s
not always about the package, Erin. Maybe you should look at your
reflection from time to time and figure out when your personality
turned ugly. You used to be sweet.” He turned and marched back to
his truck.

“Asshole! Just wait, Finn. You’ll see.
You’ll be back!”

He left her there and drove the long way
home, needing the time to cool off.

* * * *

When Mallory’s phone rang around ten-thirty
that night she was surprised and relieved, but before she answered
it those emotions were replaced with darker ones. Was this it? Was
he calling to break up with her?

She answered the call. “Hello?”

“I’m sorry. You were right. I shouldn’t have
gone.”

Her stomach knotted with fear. “What
happened?”

“Let’s just say I made it clear from now on
she needs to call someone else if there’s an emergency.”

She lowered herself to her bed. She’d been
pacing her room since he left. “Are you just getting home now?”

“No. I’ve been home for about an hour. I
went for a drive. I needed to think. I’m really sorry if I upset
you.”

She smiled sadly. He had upset her, but she
mostly upset herself. She needed to stop being so insecure and give
Finn the trust he deserved. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him. It
was that she didn’t trust his ex. “I’m sorry too. I was awful
tonight. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

“Well, we all have bad days. Listen, if you
want me to take your car over to the mechanic’s tomorrow to have
their dent guy look at it, I can swing by the school on my lunch,
probably have it back before you’re done for the day.”

She was a terrible person. “Yeah, about
that…”

“What?”

“Um, my car’s fine. There’s no dent.”

“Then why did you say—”

“I lied.” The line became silent. “I didn’t
mean to, I just didn’t want to explain what really happened. I was
embarrassed.”

He didn’t sound happy, but he asked anyway.
“What really happened, Mallory? I gotta tell you, I’m getting a
little tired of being lied to by women today.”

His comment stung. She wasn’t a liar. She
hadn’t meant to make up a story, but her self-preservation took
over. “When I was at the market I ran into your ex.”

“Erin? You saw Erin?”

“Yes. She wasn’t nice to me. She said some
really mean stuff and I left right afterward. I was so upset I came
home and just sat here.”

“What did she say?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Mallory—”

“No, Finn. It hurt and I can’t say her
accusations weren’t true. I just want to forget about her.”

He cursed under his breath. “I don’t know
what’s going on with her lately, but she isn’t someone you should
put a lot of stock in. I’m sorry she was mean to you, but next
time, please, just tell me if something like this happens. If I’d
known that earlier, there would’ve be no way I would’ve helped
her.”

She didn’t know if that was necessarily true
and there was no way he could know that either. “Let’s not talk
about her anymore.”

“That sounds like a good idea. How about
tomorrow I come to your place and
I
make you dinner?”

The rest of their conversation was nice and
had nothing to do with miserable exes or hurt feelings. By the time
she hung up with him, it was almost midnight. She’d barely slept
the night before and needed her rest.

* * * *

The following morning, Mallory stared at the
scale and scowled. She’d gained a pound. It was stupid to care
about one silly pound, but she did. There were always days that her
weight fluctuated. She was due to get her period that week, and
that was likely the cause. Nevertheless, she had only six more
pounds to go until she reached her first goal.

September was almost over and before she
knew it, it would be Thanksgiving. If she kept at it, she might
even be able to lose forty pounds by then. What would that look
like?

That day at work, she had a visitor in the
office. Samantha McCullough popped in and surprised her by inviting
her and Finn to dinner.

“Colin and I would love to have you two
over. We could play a game or something along those lines. Maybe
this weekend?”

“Sure. I mean, I’ll have to talk to Finn,
but that sounds great.”

Samantha gave her a wide smile and nodded
happily. “Great. I’ll tell Colin to call his brother and set it up.
Let them handle the details.”

That night she told Finn about the
invitation to have dinner with his brother and sister-in-law. Finn
laughed and she felt like she was missing something.

“What’s so funny?”

“This. They think they’re so slick sending
Samantha in to do their dirty work.”

“I don’t understand.”

He tossed some sliced peppers into the pan
with the shrimp. “It won’t be dinner with just the four of us.”

“I know. Tallulah will be there too. I want
to meet their daughter.”