A Husband for the Holidays (Made For Matrimony 1) by Ami Weaver Page B

wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
    She heard the squeak of Ross’s desk chair as he dropped into it. It drove all the employees crazy, that squeaky chair. It was the only thing not full-on chic in her boss’s office. Hearing it now, she realized he must have been pacing in front of the windows overlooking Michigan Avenue. She’d bet he hadn’t noticed any of the Christmas cheer that Chicago put on, or the beauty of the falling snow. She herself hadn’t, not for years, and on purpose. “Darcy. I need you here.”
    “I can manage my team from here,” she said, wishing she had room to pace herself, but the wind outside would make conversation difficult. And stomping around in the slushy mess in the parking lot would ruin her shoes. “I’ve been checking in with them periodically. And really, Mally is perfectly capable of handling this on her own, Ross. You know she is.” Darcy had spent much of her professional life putting out fires before they even reached Ross’s radar. Mally needed to do that. Darcy was betting that the account wasn’t that bad at all. Now he was seeing just how valuable Darcy was—in time for her to step away. She couldn’t help wincing. “I’ve got plenty of time to take off. This isn’t a hugely busy time for us.”
    It took the better part of an hour, but she got Ross to agree to her time off. She called Mally next and filled her in. Thankfully, the woman was calm and unflappable and very good at what she did. She and Darcy made an excellent team. Mally sounded surprised when Darcy told her she was taking an entire month off, but she didn’t make a big deal of it. “Good for you, showing him work isn’t the only thing you’ve got in your life. He tends to think that’s how it should be. Probably because it is for him.”
    Darcy didn’t want to be like Ross, so tied to his company he couldn’t separate out his real life from his work life. But she was well on her way. It made her wonder—for the first time—if something had happened to send him to seek solace in his work. Like what she had done.
    She drove back to the house and sat in the driveway for a minute, just looking. The Christmas lights were on, outlining the house and blanketing the bushes. A huge lit wreath glowed on the side of the barn. The tree dazzled in the living room windows. The whole scene was cozy and familiar and Darcy realized how much she’d missed it. Missed being here.
    She thought of Mack’s house, the charming bungalow that he’d restored so beautifully. But he had no Christmas decorations up, save a small tabletop tree on the dining room table she’d bet he never used...and she’d double down on the bet that the little tree was his mother’s doing.
    They’d lost so much, at the time of year when families were supposed to be celebrating.
    They’d lost everything.
    Darcy swallowed and gathered up her stuff. She’d assumed Mack would move on. That he, wrapped in the Lawless name and family, would be able to grieve and let go and start his life over, without the specter of his very short marriage and almost parenthood hanging over him. It was a huge part of why she’d run.
    No, not run. Running implied she’d been unable or unwilling to deal with things as they’d been. But they’d been too much of a mess to fix. She’d seen that clearly. Leaving had been her last gift to Mack, the only way she could see to make it all up to him. Setting him free of all of it.
    But—maybe she hadn’t. And the thought that she’d given up so much for nothing made her feel ill.
    * * *
    Mack knew he was burning the candle at both ends. Which was why he knew it was a waste of time to stop and grab a beer with Chase. Except Chase was insisting on it and Mack had finally given in.
    So he parked in the icy gravel lot of Sloan’s Bar and got out, noting he’d beaten his brother here. He pushed through the heavy door and headed up to the bar, where they always sat. This late on a Tuesday, the place was