92 Pacific Boulevard by Debbie Macomber Page A

quick breath. “I did let him set up a trust fund for Noelle, but that’s all.”
    Mack waited a moment before he attempted to speak. When her tirade was apparently over, he ventured a comment. “In my opinion, Noelle’s better off without David in her life.”
    “I agree with you! Not that I have any worries there. He doesn’t want anything to do with her—or with me. Which is just as well. But one thing’s for sure.”
    “What’s that?”
    She nodded once, in a slow, stately movement. “I won’t be so easily fooled again. Men aren’t to be trusted, especially the good-looking, sweet-talking kind. Like David—you could frost a cake with his words!”
    “Your brothers—”
    “Don’t get me started on them, ” she broke in. “Linc’s a stubborn know-it-all, and as for Mel and Ned, they’re oblivious. A woman who got involved with one of my brothers would need her head examined.” She paused long enough to breathe. “Don’t get me wrong, I love my brothers. They’ve been wonderful about Noelle, but they’re clueless.”
    “Well, I—”
    “Oh, I shouldn’t have said that,” Mary Jo blurted out. “It’s just that they’re at the garage all day and aren’t exposed to females in the workplace. Except for women who bring their cars in, of course. And they’re always impressed.” She rolled her eyes.
    “I was impressed with Linc, too, when I met him.” Mack felt he had to tell her this. He and Linc had talked for a good thirty minutes after the aid car had taken Mary Jo and Noelle to the hospital. At the time, Mack had been excited,and so had Linc. He was an uncle now and thrilled with the idea.
    “Of course you’d side with my brothers,” Mary Jo muttered. “You’re a man.”
    “Well, I—”
    “No, I’m finished with men. Done. Forever. You know what they say, once burned and all that. Well, I’ve got third-degree burns and there is no way in this lifetime that I will ever trust a man again.”
    Mack didn’t like the sound of this. “What exactly does that mean?” he asked.
    The look she shot him said it all. “You don’t want to know.”
    “Actually, I do.”
    “No, you don’t, because you’d feel obliged to defend the male gender and it would only end with us agreeing to disagree. You can’t tell me anything Linc hasn’t already said.”
    “Like what?”
    Crossing her arms again, she sighed loudly. “That all men aren’t like David.”
    “They aren’t.”
    “I realize that. My dad was a wonderful husband and father, and there are still a few decent men left in this world. Cliff Harding, for example.”
    He noticed he hadn’t been mentioned but decided not to take it personally. “If you believe that,” he said, “then why are you finished with men?”
    “Because,” she said, leaning forward, “I know there are good guys. That’s not the problem. The problem is being able to tell who’s good and who’s a jerk. Unfortunately, my jerk detector is clearly out of whack.”
    “I think you’re being too hard on yourself.”
    “Nope. Because you know something? David wasn’t the first.”
    Mack’s eyes narrowed.
    “I mean…I never went as far…got as involved with a man the way I did with David. But before I met him, there was a guy at work who completely charmed me. Not until later did I discover he was married. We never really went out or anything—I just had lunch with him or a drink after work. Nothing more than that. But I had no idea he was lying, too. Lying by omission, anyway.” She glanced at Mack over her shoulder as she paced. “Other women seem to have that filter, you know, the instinct that tunes them in to a man’s motives. I don’t, so I can’t trust myself with men. Another relationship isn’t worth the risk.”
    Setting down his coffee cup, Mack mulled over her words. “So I guess that’s it.”
    “That’s it. I have my daughter, and from now on it’ll be just the two of us. As soon as I find another job, I’m going to get an