Page 71 of Mack

“Coffee, Mack?” Siobhan was already reaching for the pot.

“Please. Good crowd tonight.”

“Saturday night.” She set the cup down and moved off.

He turned, leaned against the bar, and watched Mallory. She was in it tonight, really in it, her whole body moving with the song. When she glanced over and saw him, she smiled without missing a note.

He picked up his coffee and kept his eyes on her. He could do this all night.

He’d been there about fifteen minutes, just listening, when she stumbled over a line.

He frowned. In all the times he’d watched her sing he’d never seen her lose her place, not really. He looked to where her eyes had gone, scanning the far end of the bar. Nothing obvious. Just the usual Saturday crowd.

Shane said something to her from behind his guitar. She nodded, smiled at the room, and picked the song back up like nothing had happened.

But Mack had seen it.

He filed it away and finished his coffee. He needed to get back to his rounds. He shoved the cup across the bar, worked his way through the crowd to the edge of the stage, and looked up at her the same way he had the very first night. She glanced down and found him there.

He touched the brim of his hat and grinned.

She smiled, and it almost reached her eyes.

He walked out and stood in the cold parking lot for a moment before getting in the cruiser.

Something was wrong. He didn’t know what yet. But he knew her well enough now to know the difference between her real smile and the one she put on when she needed people to think everything was fine.

He pulled out of the lot and went back to his rounds.

****

Mallory set the mic back on the stand and stepped off the stage, heading straight for the bar. The opposite end from where Troy was standing.

She kept her eyes forward and her pace easy, like she’d learned to move around him a long time ago. Like she wasn’t aware of exactly where he was at every second. She was always aware.

She accepted a glass of water from Siobhan and wrapped both hands around it and told herself to breathe.

Why was he here?

She knew why. He wasn’t here for the music. He was here because this was another place that mattered to her, another space he could occupy just by standing in it, and he wanted her to know he could do that anywhere. Anytime. That there was nowhere she could go that he couldn’t follow.

That was Troy. That had always been Troy.

She took a sip of her water and didn’t look at him.

When the band wrapped up for the night Mallory looked around the bar. No sign of Troy.

She knew better than to feel relieved. He didn’t leave when you expected him to. He left when it suited him, and he made sure you never knew which it would be. That was the point. Keep her scanning every room, every parking lot, every dark stretch of sidewalk.

She picked up her coat and looked at her brother.

“Will you walk me out?”

Shane frowned. “Everything okay?”

“It’s late. I just don’t want to walk out alone.”

He looked at her with that particular look that said he knew she wasn’t telling him everything and he was going to let her have that. Shane had never pushed her. Not once, through any of it. If she needed him to walk her out, he’d walk her out.