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Marnie continued to sip her coffee in a calm manner “Call it what you like, Mackenzie, but the cold truth is that you’ll be gone You’ll be gone, out of her life and out of the life of a child you created with her Lily is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside, and I’ht now, she won’t be alone forever”

Mac’s chest tightened, and he gripped the coffee ht about that

“Are you okay with anotheranotherLily’s bed—”

“Okay, Marnie I know you mean well, but fu—shit…I can’t do this with you”

For a few seconds he heard nothing but the gentle lap of water against the dock

“When Jesse died and Jake left, I didn’t think he’d ever be whole again” She turned to him, and Mac winced at the pain in her eyes “You were there You kno broken he was Lily helped hi hiel put on this earth to heal and to comfort, and she needs you now more than ever”

Ehtened his chest some more and for a few seconds, he wasn’t able to speak

“I don’t deserve her”

Marnie looked surprised at that

“I call bullshit”

Mac’s eyebrow shot up “Excuse me?”

“I call bullshit,” she repeated firmly, her eyes on him so intense, so much like Jake’s, that it was eerie

A little chunk of so loosened inside him, and for the first time in a forever, it seemed, he cracked a smile

“You would,” he said roughly

“I’ it as I see it”