Family Is All It Takes

It was later that week before anyone really saw Mac. Sure, they had seen her walking around and Sutter saw her outside the apartment, but no one had any contact whatsoever with Mackenzie Lawrence.

In fact, when Brandon saw Mac crying in her office on Tuesday, he really wasn’t supposed to. The door was open a crack and he could hear sniffles.

Knocking lightly, he peered in. “Mac? You okay?”

She jolted upright from her slumped position behind the desk. “Brandon! I… I’m fine.” She tried to wipe the tears away, but new ones spilled out.

Brandon walked in and closed the door behind him. “No, you’re not.”

She refused to look at him, instead busying herself with throwing away her tear-dampened tissues.

“Mac,” Brandon said crossing the room and putting his hands on her upper arms. “What’s wrong?”

She looked up at him then and for a moment, she felt odd. This was such a Jordan-like thing for him to do. She could recall plenty of times when her blonde-haired best friend would comfort her similarly before he, Heather, and herself would have a movie night after Jake went to bed. Something tugged in her chest.

“Talk to me, Mac,” he said quietly.

Taking a deep breath, Mac began. “It’s my mom. She doesn’t see me fit to raise Jake. Apparently, with Langley out of the picture, I’m not bringing him up right. And she said all these horrible things and-,” but Brandon cut her off.

“Who the hell’s Langley?”

Her eyes went wide. “I haven’t told you that I was married?”

Now it was Brandon’s turn to be shocked. “You were married?! But you’re… you’re so young.”

She laughed lightly. “I’m 27. At the time, I was 21. We got pregnant by accident and we just assumed it was a good idea to get married. Hell, looking back, it was really stupid. I was a senior in college and he was two years older. But we were young. And foolish, so, so foolish.”

“Did he leave you two?” Brandon asked carefully.

Mac nodded. “Yeah. Pretty cowardly, huh? He left behind a wife and a one year old son.”

“I’ll say,” he agreed. “How long were you married?”

“God, I don’t even remember,” Mac said thinking. “Um, let’s see. We got married in a civil ceremony a month after we found out, I was almost 22. Jake’s almost five now… so we were married for just under two years. Although, he left long before that.”

“That sucks,” Brandon said without thinking. “Oh my God. I can’t believe I just said that. I mean… shit; I don’t know what to say.”

Mac let out a laugh. “It’s okay. No one ever does.”

Brandon walked towards the door. “C’mon.”

“What?” Mac asked.

“I’m taking you out for a drink,” he shrugged.

“You have a game tonight. Dan’ll have my head on a silver platter if he finds out you went drinking,” she said logically. “Plus, it’s probably not a smart idea to play hockey while under the influence.”

“It’d be an HUI,” he laughed. “So we just won’t tell Coach. It’ll be our secret.”

“Can I pick the bar?” Mac bargained.

“Anything for you, Princess,” Brandon smirked. “Let’s go. We’ve got three hours until the puck drops.”