Chapter 13
Thirteen
“The love we give away is the only love we keep.”
—Elbert Hubbard
Lexi’s first stop upon arriving back in Houston was at a cell phone store to replace the phone that had died the day before and wouldn’t recharge. She’d used her computer to email her mom to tell her about the phone and that she’d be stopping to get a new one when she got back to Houston.
They’d wanted to pick her up, but she’d told them she’d get an Uber home, knowing how much they hated driving in Houston traffic. It’d been thirty degrees when she left Butler, but was seventy in Houston, which gave her temperature whiplash.
The minute her new phone came to life, she checked her messages and saw Max’s from the night before, which she immediately replied to.
So sorry I didn’t reply last night. My phone died at some point yesterday and wouldn’t recharge. I just saw this message when I bought a new phone in Houston. I missed you, too, the minute I left last night. Hope all is well. Call me later!
While in the Uber home, she saw that he’d read the message, but he didn’t write back. He was probably busy with Caden. During the long travel day, all she’d thought about was Max and his little boy, the weekend they’d spent together and how long it would be before she saw him again.
In the three days since she left Houston to go to her reunion in Vermont, she’d experienced every emotion on the spectrum. The one she was left with after reuniting with Max was pure joy, something she hadn’t felt since the last time she was with him.
The Uber pulled into the driveway of the home she shared with her parents and grandparents.
“Thanks for the ride,” Lexi said as she got out of the back seat and took her bags from the driver.
“You have a nice evening,” he said.
“You, too.”
All four of them were waiting at the door for her, making Lexi wonder if they’d been standing there waiting for her to come back since she’d left. She hugged and kissed them all and let them fuss over her, feed her and pepper her with questions about her trip.
“We were so glad you got to see Max and his family,” her mom, Angie, said.
“That was definitely the highlight.” Lexi used her new phone to show her parents and grandparents pictures of Max, Caden and Daisy.
“His little boy is so sweet.”
“He really is. He turned seven this weekend, and the party was epic with all the Abbotts and their Coleman cousins and a million kids.”
“I’ve never known anyone with a bigger family than the Abbotts had,” her dad, Larry, said.
“They’re all having kids of their own now. Elmer Stillman has forty-one great-grandchildren, with more coming.”
“Wow,” her grandmother, Carol, said. “How is Elmer? He and Sarah were our good friends back in the day.”
“He’s delightful as always and asked about you guys.”
“He’s got to be in his nineties by now. He was quite a bit older than us.”
“If he is, you’d never know it. He looks exactly the same and is right in the middle of everything with his big family.”
“That sounds like him,” Carol said as she sipped from her after-dinner cup of coffee. “He was always a family man and took such delight in his grandchildren.”
“Just like you do,” Lexi said to her grandmother, smiling.
“Indeed. I love seeing you glowing with health and happiness again. It does my old heart good.”
“Your heart is not old and thank you. It feels good to feel good again.”
“Being with Max was wonderful?” Angie asked.
“Just like always, after I explained to him where I’d been and why.
I realized I should’ve told him what was going on, because it was hard on him when I just disappeared.
But after he said he wanted to see other people while we were in college…
” She shrugged. “I found out this weekend that he still cared very much about me.”
“He was always the nicest boy,” Angie said. “We loved him and his family.”
“He’s still the nicest boy and a wonderful single father to Caden.”
“What happened to the child’s mother?”
“Shortly after the baby was born, she told Max she wasn’t ready to be a mother. He’s been a single parent ever since, but he gives tons of credit to his parents and siblings for supporting them both. His mom watches Caden after school and in the summers so he can work.”
“What does he do for work?” Larry asked.
“He divides his time between the family sugaring facility and Christmas Tree Farm. The business has exploded since the catalog went live, and the town is full of people coming to visit and to find the handsome catalog models.”
“I get that catalog,” Carol said. “Those Abbott and Coleman boys are handsome.”
“Yes, they are, even more so than they were when they were younger,” Lexi said, standing. “I’m going to unpack and shower. Thank you for dinner.”
“It’s great to have you home, honey,” Larry said. “We’re so glad you had a wonderful time.”
“Thanks. It was fun.”
She cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher before she went into her room to unpack and check her phone to see if Max had responded.
Not yet.
Lexi showered, changed into pajamas and threw in a load of laundry.
She was in bed scanning the day’s headlines on her phone when he called an hour later.
Her heart lurched with excitement when she saw his name on the caller ID, just like it used to back in high school when he’d call her every night after dinner.
“Hi,” she said.
“How was the trip home?”
“Long. I left Butler at nine and just got home an hour ago, with a stop for a new phone.”
“I wondered why I didn’t hear from you last night.”
“Sorry about that. I didn’t realize my phone had died until after I got back to the rental. I didn’t have your number to text you on my computer.”
“No worries. As long as you’re okay.”
“I’m fine. Did you have a good day?”
“It was okay. Back to the grind after a fabulous weekend. And then I had to talk to Caden about Chloe.”
“How’d that go?”
“He was curious, which I suppose is to be expected, and he said he’d like to meet her. He also loved the gift she sent, but Daisy didn’t. She was growling and snapping at the truck. It was pretty funny.”
Lexi laughed. “Poor Daisy.”
“She’ll eventually get used to life with a very busy boy. They’re super cute together. She sleeps in bed with him. I know I shouldn’t allow that, but Ringo used to sleep with me, so how can I deny him?”
“You can’t.”
“He asked if you’re my girlfriend.”
“Did he? What did you say?”
“That you were my girlfriend when I was in high school, and I hope maybe you will be again.”
Her heart fluttered madly. “What did he say to that?”
“Nothing much. I think you’re right about easing him in slowly to the idea. It’s just been the two of us for all this time.”
“I totally understand that.”
“I do, too, but I’m ready for more—for myself and for him. I know it’s a lot to ask someone to take on a seven-year-old, but he’s a great kid.”
“Yes, he is, and it’s not a lot to ask. Not of me, anyway.”
“When can you come back?”
“I’ll figure that out soon and let you know.”
“I hope it’s soon. My bed is lonely after having you here.”
“Max,” she said on a nervous laugh. “When you say those things…”
“What?”
“You make me breathless. You always have.”
His groan echoed through the phone. “Don’t say stuff like that when we have no idea when we’re going to see each other again.”
Lexi laughed. “Stay strong. We’ll figure this out.”
“Do you promise?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“I really missed you for all the time you were gone.”
“I missed you, too.”
“Let’s make this happen, okay?” Max asked softly.
“Just give me a little time.”
“I can do that, as long as we talk every day.”
“Deal.”
“I’ll call you around the same time tomorrow?”
“That sounds perfect.”
“Then I guess I’ll talk to you then.”
“Sleep tight and have a good day tomorrow.”
“You, too.”
The phone line clicked when he ended the call.
This was crazy, to be as besotted by him as she’d been ten years ago after only a couple of days together.
But it was the best kind of crazy. It was why she’d fought so hard to survive her illness, hoping maybe she’d see him again and feel a fraction of what she had back then.
It was, she’d discovered, even sweeter the second time because of what they’d both been through. They had a deeper appreciation for how rare the connection between them was and how special it was to still feel the same way they always had.
Lexi slept better than she had in years that night, feeling rested and refreshed the next day as she did errands and made plans.
She would move back to Butler in January and give her relationship with Max a real chance.
After two days without him, she was already going stir-crazy wanting to see him again, which she told him when he called that night, right on time.
“I feel the same way. Like I made a huge mistake letting you leave, which is insane. You were only visiting.”
“It feels insane to me that I left you, even for a short time.”
“What’s the plan, Lex?”
“I’m coming back for January. I’ll talk to my parents tomorrow and tell them what I want to do.”
“How do you think they’ll take it?”
“My mom will be upset. Now that I’m well again, she wants to be with me all the time. We ran around together today, got our nails done, did some errands, and she was so, so happy. I haven’t seen her like that in so long, I almost forgot she used to be that way.”
“It’s been hard on them. I’ve been thinking a lot about them and what it would be like for me if Caden got sick like you did.”
“It was a nightmare for them, and I wouldn’t still be here without all four of them stepping up for me the way they did. But now they have to let me go and live the life I fought so hard to have, and they will. It just won’t be easy for them.”
“Maybe they’ll come back to Vermont, too.”
“I don’t know. My grandmother has terrible arthritis, which has been so much better since they moved to Houston. I can’t see them going back to the cold, even if I do.”