Misery Company

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Mackenzie stayed until the baby fell asleep, she left her peacefully in her basket before rushing back home; Aunt Kate was there. “Where have you been?” she asked.

“Babysitting.” Mac answered, making a beeline for the fridge and grabbed a soda.

“At least give me a lie I can believe, I saw you leaving The Chandler’s.”

With a heavy sigh she leaned against the counter. “Exactly, what else would I be doing? You know how I hate Dean. His cousin is staying with them and she’s six months old. I felt bad for the poor kid. His parents aren’t home and he can’t handle a baby to save his life.” She explained, remembering Dean had said he was going to keep the ‘cousin’ lie going until the school year was over.

Kate looked over her cup of coffee and considered that. There was no way in hell Mac had been over there doing anything wrong. It must’ve been important for her to be near Dean Chandler. “Ok but we have to discuss what happened today at school. The principal called.”

Mac made a face. “Let’s not and say we did.”

“You’re lucky you weren’t suspended.”

“No I’m stuck an extra few hours after school with a lot of people I don’t like and don’t like me. Joy to the world. Don’t you think that’s punishment enough that we don’t have to get into this?” she finished her soda and tossed the can out, trying to hide the anger that always got her into trouble.

“How did the fight start?”

Mac shifted her weight uncomfortably from foot to foot. “She mentioned mom. I’m going to bed now.” she rushed out of the room before her emotion got the best of her and she cried. Her mother was a sore and painful subject she’d rather not face.

She laid back in her bed with a sigh and wondered what came next with her day from hell. Her thoughts were interrupted as she realized something was hitting her window. She moved the curtain aside and opened the window. “What?”

Dean was standing in his own bedroom, holding a fist full of pennies he used to grab her attention. “I need your help.” He felt his stomach turn at saying those words, to her of all people.

“You need a lot of help, mental help but what do you want from me?”

“Come over.”

Mac sighed and leaned into the window frame. “No it’s my bedtime.”

“It’s seven o’clock.”

“And?” she shrugged.

“Don’t make me beg, I need your help and while I’d rather walk on fire it doesn’t change the fact you’re good with Megan and at the moment I’m not.” Dean hated that she found out his secret but apart of him, a small part was grateful he had help.

“Fine.” Mac looked out the window down at the grass, it wasn’t a big jump. It would be easier then going downstairs and facing Kate. She jumped out the window without breaking anything then climbed the tree next to Dean’s window. “Eww your bedroom.”

Dean swallowed back and decided to be the bigger person and not fight with her. “Do you know how to change a diaper?”

“Don’t you?”

“She’s a girl.”

“And? She’s here so that means you’ve seen a vagina before.”

Dean almost grinned, sometimes what came out of her mouth was too much. “I don’t want to hurt her and my mom is stuck at work until nine and my dad left when he realized we had a new add on. I do have cousins that are babies but they’re all boys.” He was desperate, that led him to spill all his guts to his archenemy.

“You need to get her stuff.” Mac realized Megan was laid in his bed with tons of pillows surrounding her just in case. “A crib would be a start.” She picked up the little girl. “Your dad’s scared of little ol you. It’s funny right?” she laid a blanket on the floor and placed Megan on it. “Do you have any plans at the moment? Besides how you’re going to hide that she’s yours.” she asked Dean while changing the dirty diaper. “Your parents spoil you, I know you have extra crash laying around.”

“So?”

“Are you listening to me at all? You can’t have a baby that knows how to crawl on top of a bed. She needs a crib.” After taping the new diaper and fixing her little shorts Megan was done. Mac held her in her lap.

“Now?”

“Now would be good. You know I pegged you as a pain in the ass and a jerk but never stupid. I was wrong; you’re stupid.” she stood from the floor with the baby. “Let’s take a trip. Grab your keys.” With all Megan’s things between the bed and the floor it was easy to grab her jacket and car seat.

“What am I doing?” Dean asked himself once he was alone. With a shake of his head and seeing no other choice he grabbed his keys and met them outside. He felt his heart stop when at the same moment Christy was stepping out of her own car.

Mac laughed. “This is gonna be fun.” She whispered to the baby as she bounced her in her arms. “He’s in trouble now.”

“What’s going on?” Christy asked Dean. “What are you doing with her and who’s the kid?”

Mac’s humor faded and the anger she kept for Christy was back. She didn’t like how she spat out the word kid. She stepped closer to Dean. “She’s our love child.”

Dean almost had a heart attack. “She’s my cousin, she’s staying with us and Mackenzie here was nice enough to help.”

“That’s me…always helpful.” There was an edge to her voice as she snatched his keys away and began to put Megan in the car.

“What are you doing with her?” Christy asked, as if it was the worst thing in the world, for some it was.

“She found out Megan was staying with me and offered help. I’m not use to being around babies so I took it. No big deal, it’s not like I’m marrying her or something.” Dean explained, using the tone his girlfriend had. As if anything more with Mac would be wrong.

Mac leaned into the car with her back facing them. She reminded herself she didn’t care what they said because it wasn’t about them, she did truly want to help Megan because she was innocent, and there was hope for her life still. She stood up and pushed that stupid thing called emotion away. “Hey Christy nice bruise on your jaw.”

Christy rolled her eyes and faced Dean. “I could help you with the baby.”

Mac tensed and grabbed Dean’s arm. “We should be going.” She gave him a warning look before walking to the passenger side.

“I’ll talk to you later.” He kissed Christy goodbye and climbed into the car. “She’s not going to drop this.” Dean backed out of the driveway.

“Make her because we already have a deal and Christy shouldn’t watch an egg let alone a baby. Now you could break the deal and tell her everything but we both know she has a big mouth and this is me guessing but I don’t think she’ll be happy you had a baby with another woman.”

“Please stop talking; it’s like nails to a chalk board. You keep your end of the deal and I’ll keep mine.”