Family Is All It Takes

Mac sat on the patio of Eric and Tanya’s home in Raleigh as she watched Jake, Eric, Jordan, Parker, and Levi play in the backyard. Heather and Tanya sat on either side of her, each in their own worlds.

Or at least they were, until Heather stood up.

“Jake, Parker, Levi. Keep an eye on the boys for us! We’re going inside!”

“We are?” Tanya asked. Heather gave her a look. “Oh! Yeah. We are.”

“I’ll stay here, thanks,” Mac said not looking at either of them. She knew what they wanted to talk about.

“Come on,” Heather said hauling her cousin up out of her seat.

Groaning, Mac slowly followed her cousin and friend inside. The conversation that was about to happen was one she was not looking forward to by any means.

****

“When are you going back?” Heather asked point-blank as the three women entered the living room.

“Um, eventually?” Mac shrugged.

“Mac!” she sighed. “You can’t hide from what’s happened in Pittsburgh, we all know that.”

“But I can sure as hell try,” Mac countered.

“Mac,” Tanya began in a softer tone than her sister-in-law. “Think of Jake. You can’t keep home-schooling him. It’s been nearly a month.”

That certainly rung loudly in Mac’s head. Tanya had a point.

“But I don’t think I can go back there,” she said quietly. “Not after everything that happened.”

“Your editor was a douche,” Heather shrugged. “You’re much better off without him. And plus, don’t you want to be there when he gets investigated by the paper’s board?”

“No,” Mac shook her head fervently. “I don’t want to be there at all.”

“What about Brandon?” Tanya asked. “Have you forgotten about him?”

Mac looked away. “No,” her voice was quiet. “But hopefully, he’s forgotten about me.”

****

“Any luck?” James asked Kris as he walked into the locker room.

“No,” the French-Canadian shook his head. “She’s not there.”

“Okay,” Sidney said taking charge. “Let’s think. If she’s not in Montreal, working there, and she’s not in Philly, then she still has to be in Carolina.”

“But we don’t know for sure,” Brandon said quietly. “No one down there is taking our calls.”

“She hasn’t been on Twitter lately, either,” Tyler said. “She posted one picture a week after she left of Jake on the beach. Nothing else since then.”

“Max says he’ll keep an eye and an ear out for any news of her in Philly,” Marc- Andre offered as he read from his phone.

“She’s still in Raleigh,” Brandon decided.

“We don’t know that,” James said.

“Of course we do!” Brandon said loudly. “Why else wouldn’t they be talking to us? Mac and Jake are there.”

“Where would she be?” Sidney asked. “You used to play there. Where would she be?”

“She was talking on the phone with Jordan that day,” Brandon said thinking back to the month prior. “She was going to stay with him and Heather. I’ll bet she’s spending a lot of time with Eric and Tanya as well.”

“We go down there after Christmas,” Sidney said. “If we haven’t heard from her by then, then we’ll find her. We all want her back, Brandon, not just you.”

Brandon nodded slowly. ‘I just hope she heard what I had to say.’

But he knew she hadn’t. He just didn’t want to believe it.