College is the fresh start Mackenna Baker is hoping for, but her past follows her from the small town she left behind like a ghost. She does her best to ignore them and no matter how hard she tries, she can never seem to actually let them go. Shovin...
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It's safe to say the grocery store stop was almost a complete failure.
Keyword there is almost.
I think Mackenna and I were both enjoying the high of a fantastic trip where we didn't hide our relationship like we had unintentionally been doing whenever she came home from school.
Coming back to Buffalo was a wrecking ball of us returning to reality. The small hometown Mackenna lives in, there's always gossip and we had done well to avoid it.
Until now.
Her freak out had not gone unnoticed by anyone in the store, but I held my head high, shooting glares at people who dared to make a peep about her when I passed.
They could think what they want, they don't know our relationship.
But, I'll be damned if they talked about her in front of me though.
Now though, we are back at the ranch, unloading the groceries we bought after I got her back inside the store before Miles gets back from whatever he and the hands are doing today.
"Are you okay?" I ask her.
She's been walking around her house like a ghost since we got back. "Uh-huh," she nods.
"Mac, stop." I grab her arm and pull her to a stop in front of me. "They don't know about us or what we have. Their opinion doesn't matter."
"That's not the point, Wesley. They'll never stop. It's been a fucking year and they won't stop."
"Who gives a shit?"
"I do! I live here! My life is here. The ranch, my brother. You!" she screams, tears threatening to fall from her glazed eyes. "You don't know what it was like to live here after you left! Having everyone talk about you, your family. You'd think they would have let up when my dad died, but they didn't. Not really"
"Mackenna-"
"It was awful. They talked about me, my parents. You." Tears begging to roll down her cheeks and my heart breaks to see her this broken over town gossip. "They thought you took advantage of me, that I didn't know better because my mom was gone. Thought my dad was blind because he didn't see it until I was in too deep with you."
"Mac, baby," I cup her face to stroke her wet cheeks with the pads of my thumbs. "Their opinion won't change how I feel about you or how I see our relationship going in the future. I love you and there is absolutely nothing that is going to change that."
She leans into my touch, stepping forward to close the distance between us. "I love you too, Wesley. I don't want to lose what we have."
"Then let it go." I kiss her forehead.
"I'm sorry," she sighs.
"Don't apologize for your feelings," I hum. My hands drop to her waist and pull her closer and wrap my arms around her. "I just don't want them to stay in your head when you have nothing to worry about. I'm not going anywhere. What I want is. Right. In. Front. Of. Me."
