What I Love Most

Chapter 8

If Opie wasn't already distracted himself, he may have noticed how hard Mae was trying to avoid being alone with him. A shower was the first excuse then she had to help Ellie with a few things, neither of which were lies but certainly long and drawn out.

"We still have to talk," Opie said as he grabbed the bag by the door. "I should only be a few hours with Kenny."

She smiled and handed him the small fabric cooler with some drinks and snacks for their fishing trip. "Don't rush it, Ope. This'll be good for both of you." It would and he was looking forward to it but there was that cloud over him, he'd taken to thinking of it as a SAMCRO cloud.

"What are you two doing?" He asked as Ellie followed Kenny down the steps. "Shopping and getting your nails done?"

Mae feigned offense and shook her head. "No, your daughter has a group science project, a diorama I think. I'm taking her to her friend's so they can work on it."

"And you?" Opie asked with uncertainty. Before, she hated the loneliness but now she was so busy it might very well be welcome. "You can come fishing if you want."

"Yeah, no thanks, I'll pass. I have some stuff to do around here and case notes for work, maybe I'll get crazy and even take a nap."

They said their goodbyes and the girls waved from the doorway as Opie and Kenny drove off in the pickup. "You have all your stuff?" Mae asked as she picked up Ellie's school bag for her.

"Yup!" The girl was thrilled to be going and that made her feel so much better. Ellie had to go but having to drop off a miserable child while she sneaked to meet Dave would have added so much more torment to the already difficult situation.

There was always a bit of awkwardness when Mae was involved in mom-type things. Some of the other women didn't know how to treat her, like step-moms were some new thing no one had encountered before she came around. They chatted before she slipped out and left Ellie with her own burner from Opie, just in case there was some emergency, it seemed so outrageous to Mae but then again, their lives in general were pretty outrageous.

Mae stopped at Hanna's to order some takeaway cake for Dave. It was risky, those little old ladies behind the counter knew her and Opie's usual cake order, carrot, and to have her order the blueberry cobbler would be enough to gossip about. She paid and hurried out, before anyone could ask or comment she knew they undoubtedly would.

Using the little knocker she announced herself, her feet moving nervously as she waited for him to invite her in, which he did instantly. Handing him the box she sat in the oversized chair and turned down his offer of coffee or a drink. "I'm not going to dance around this, Dave." Spinning her wedding rings with her thumb she frowned, the guilt worse than she imagined it would be. "Do you love me?"

"Mae," his head fell. "What do you need?"

"I know how you feel about him and the club, you've made it perfectly clear but I need your help." Annoyed, he kept his eyes on the clock above her head and waited for her to continue. "Stahl is back in Charming, she's harassing me at work. I found her in my office last week and she admitted yesterday she knew who I was when she was in there even though she claimed it was some mix-up when it happened."

That news was much more than he expected to hear but not beyond June Stahl, not at all and Hale knew that first hand. "What did she say? How has she been harassing you?" The change was instant and apparent. "She told me I looked familiar, my coloring or something, did that whole 'do I know you thing', made a comment about my beautiful family and told me to be careful."

Horrified by the complete lack of morals and by how blatantly she destroyed any kind of rules set by the federal government, Hale could see Stahl was in this for revenge not justice and that made her very dangerous. "Your coloring," he said sadly. "Pale with dark hair, Donna was too. She's playing with you, it's some sick game to her."