shrugged. “You could be dating a whole slew of them. People have secret lives that not even their best friends know about. I heard about it on Oprah.”
Will and Mack both stared at him. “Since when do you watch daytime television?” Will inquired, his eyes alight with amusement.
“Bree has it on at the flower shop sometimes,” Jake responded defensively. “I see it when I make deliveries there. It’s not like I race home to watch every afternoon.”
Mack grinned. “Good to know.”
“Hold it,” Will said. “How’d we get away from the real question here? Are you planning to ask Susie to marry you?”
“Not anymore,” Mack said, sinking right back into despondency. “How can I? The timing sucks.”
“I doubt Susie would agree,” Will said. “She’s been waiting for a very long time for you to wake up and see the light. I don’t think your temporary unemployment would deter her from saying yes.”
“It wouldn’t be right,” Mack insisted. “I need to get my life back in order first.” He frowned at his friends. “And if either of you mention a word about this to anyone, I swear you’ll live to regret it. Am I clear?”
“Got it,” Jake said.
“No one will hear it from me,” Will agreed.
“Thank you.”
“But I am going on record telling you that waiting is a mistake,” Will said. “Life’s short. Don’t waste a minute of it.”
“Says the man who took forever to get around to asking Jess O’Brien to go on a date, much less marry him,” Jake commented.
“Different situation entirely,” Will claimed, then grinned. “But, yeah, I wasted too much time. Don’t follow my example. Learn from my experience.”
“The timing’s all wrong,” Mack reiterated. “And I don’t want to talk about any of this anymore. What do you guys think about that backup quarterback the Ravens picked up? He’s looking good, don’t you think?”
Will and Jake exchanged a look, then sighed.
“Real good,” Jake agreed.
“I was planning to write a column about him next week…” Mack began, but his voice trailed off. He reached for his scotch again. It didn’t seem to matter what they talked about. Right this second, his entire life sucked.
“You guys might as well go,” he said. “I’m lousy company.”
Both men shook their heads.
“Doesn’t matter,” Jake said. “We stick together.”
“Jake’s right,” Will said. “But if I’m going to drink any more, we’d better think about ordering a pizza. This disgusting day-old glob sitting on the table is starting to look downright tasty to me. And if I don’t eat, I’ll wind up falling asleep on your floor, and Jess will be on the warpath.”
“Ditto with Bree,” Jake said.
Mack saw the determination on their faces and sighed. “I’ll make the call.”
“Extra sausage,” Jake said.
“Extra cheese,” Will added.
Mack chuckled. “I know you two don’t order like that when your wives are around. Last I heard, you were limited to the veggie specials.”
“Sadly true,” Jake said despondently. “That’s why we love you. You don’t judge us for our disgusting eating habits.”
“Who knew that pizza was the bond that would keep us together for a lifetime,” Mack said wryly.
“That, and knowing too many of each other’s deep dark secrets,” Will added. He held up his glass of scotch. “To friends.”
Mack and Jake tapped his glass with their own. Maybe there was one part of his life that didn’t suck, after all. He had some of the best friends around.
That one of them also happened to be the woman he loved was just a bonus. He’d have to think about that after these two went home. Maybe talking to Susie about all this wouldn’t be quite the disaster he’d been envisioning.
Then again, a man had his pride.
Susie had to admit she was a little freaked-out when she didn’t hear from Mack as usual. He’d gotten into the habit of calling on his way back from Baltimore. Most nights they made plans to have dinner together. Sometimes she cooked. More often, they grabbed a bite to eat at one of the cafés along Shore Road, then went for a walk or sat somewhere by the bay and talked. Once in a while they played Scrabble or cards. It always astonished her how competitive Mack could be over a silly game.
As quiet and relaxed as they were, she’d grown to count on these evenings. Of course, that had probably been a mistake. It wasn’t as if they had any kind of commitment, for heaven’s sake. It was just dinner and conversation, night after night, for what seemed like forever.
Though she felt thoroughly foolish doing it, she swallowed her pride and walked into Sally’s at lunchtime to see if Mack was there with Will and Jake. The three of them had been claiming the same booth ever since Jake and Bree had split up years before. Will and Mack had done it to support their friend during the roughest period of his life. And the tradition had stuck. Only after lunch did Mack occasionally make the drive to Baltimore to put in an actual appearance at the newspaper office.
Since he did his interviews from home or in team locker rooms, then emailed his columns, going into the office was purely to remind people what he looked like, or so he claimed. Since the paper had plastered his face on billboards and bus benches, it seemed unlikely to Susie that there was a person in the region who wouldn’t recognize him, but Mack thought it was important to show up in person from time to time. She thought he enjoyed the interaction with his colleagues and the bustle of the newsroom more than he wanted to admit.
At Sally’s, she found Will and Jake in their usual spot, but Mack wasn’t with them. His absence alone was enough to give her another disquieting twinge. She slipped into the booth and studied them intently.
“Why do the two of you look hungover?” she asked bluntly. “Now that you’re married, I thought your carousing days were behind you.”
“Just a late night,” Will said with his usual circumspect caution.
“With Mack?” she inquired pointedly. She noted that Jake and Will were a little too careful to avoid each other’s gazes. “Okay, what’s going on with him? I know you know. Maybe you didn’t when I called to ask you, but you do now. I can see it in your faces. Heaven help either of you if you ever decide to play high-stakes poker. You couldn’t bluff worth beans.”
“Susie, anything I know, assuming I do know something,
