Chapter 15 #2
“I’m sure they’re all talking about us leaving together. People from Butler are very good at minding other people’s business.”
“Always have been, always will be. Has your family been asking questions?”
“Not particularly. They’re playing it cool, for the most part.”
“My family was thrilled to hear that I saw you and met your son and had a great time with you and your family.”
“Give them my regards.” Max wanted to tell her he’d give them his own regards on Friday, but he was sticking with the surprise.
One more day to get through and then he’d be on his way to Houston.
He couldn’t wait. “I hate to say I need to go to bed, but I’m still exhausted from this weekend when you came to town and kept me up all night. ”
“I kept you up? I recall it being the other way around.”
“We kept each other up,” he said, “and I discovered I’m not as young as I used to be.”
“Neither am I. I’ve been napping a lot this week.”
“You’re okay, though, right?”
“I’m fine, Max. I swear.”
“Good. Let’s keep you that way, okay?”
“That’s the plan. Talk to you tomorrow?”
“I can’t wait. Sleep well.”
“You, too.”
As he ended the call, he wanted to tell her he was still crazy about her, but that could wait until he saw her.
Two more days.
Max flew from Burlington to Atlanta first thing Friday morning.
Because he’d had to leave the house so early, Caden and Daisy had spent the night at the barn.
Hannah and her family had been there when he dropped Caden off, and Caden was so preoccupied playing with Callie and Colby that he’d barely noticed when Max said he had to go.
He’d kissed him goodbye and told him to be good for Grammy and Gramps.
“I will,” Caden had said. “I always am.”
“Love you.”
“All the way to Pluto?”
“Yep—and don’t say it.”
Caden had given him a mischievous grin, and that’s what Max had brought with him on the trip, holding that grin close to his heart as he ventured into the world without his sidekick.
It felt almost unnatural to be going somewhere without him, but he was determined to enjoy the break from his responsibilities and to make the most of his time with Lexi.
He couldn’t wait to see her. It’d been five days since he last saw her, and that felt like forever after reconnecting so completely the weekend before. It was the right thing to go there, to see her, to fully explore the connection with her that had never died.
But being without Caden for five days would be rough.
It was the longest they’d ever been apart since his son was born.
He hoped Caden would be okay for that long without him and wouldn’t further resent Lexi for keeping his dad away.
Jeez, he hadn’t even considered that possibility when he made these plans.
With a two-hour layover at the massive Atlanta airport, Max found his departing gate and then went looking for lunch.
Because he was on a mini vacation, he had a beer with his burger and fries and caught up on SportsCenter at the restaurant bar.
When was the last time he’d looked at a TV that wasn’t playing a kids’ show or movie? He couldn’t recall.
His whole life was Caden, and even though he knew that wasn’t entirely healthy, it had worked for them.
But now that he knew where Lexi was and that she’d never stopped thinking of him or caring about him, everything was different.
The life he’d been leading before he saw her again didn’t seem as full and satisfying as it had been only last week.
He’d gotten a taste of what it might be like to have someone of his own to love, and he’d liked it a lot, especially because that someone was her.
It was funny how being with her again made it so clear to him that the reason he’d struck out with relationships was because he’d never stopped loving her.
She’d lived in his heart all this time while he tried to move on from her, refusing to speak of her or think of her because of how painful it was to not know where she was or if she was okay.
Hearing what she’d been through had been gut-wrenching for him—and heartbreaking.
He wished he’d known about it at the time, but in some ways, it was a relief to find out after the fact since he wouldn’t have been able to do much to support her during that ordeal while managing single fatherhood, too.
He would’ve worried himself sick over her from afar, so in a way, she’d done him a favor when she’d kept him in the dark.
He left a twenty and a ten on the bar to pay for lunch and returned to his gate, eager to get this last leg of the trip underway. In the gate area, he sat next to a young woman with a baby girl, who immediately wanted Max’s attention.
“She’s so cute. How old is she?”
“Nine months and full of beans,” her mother said. She was blonde with brown eyes and reminded him a little of Cameron. “This is her first airplane trip.”
“How exciting,” Max said, giving the baby a finger to squeeze. “Do you live in Houston?”
“No, my parents do. I used to live here in Atlanta. Not sure where I live now.”
Max didn’t want to ask, but he couldn’t help being curious. “Are you okay?”
“Not at all.” She forced a smile as tears filled her eyes. “My husband confessed to having had an affair with a work colleague that’s gone on for almost as long as we’ve been married, so I left him. And now I’m going home to my parents, and I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
Holy crap. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“Thanks. It’s just a lot to process, you know? I never imagined I’d be a single parent to this little peanut.”
“I know a little something about that. I’ve been raising my son on my own since he was a couple of weeks old.” Max pulled out his phone and showed her a photo of Caden. “He just turned seven.”
“Wow, he’s gorgeous. Seven years on your own. How’s that been?”
“My parents and extended family have been critical to my success. I couldn’t have done it without them. My mom, in particular.”
“I’ll probably move back to Houston to be closer to my parents. It’s just so overwhelming to consider it all right now. I only found out about the affair yesterday.”
“That’s a lot to deal with, and it’s incredibly overwhelming at first. But it does get easier. I promise.”
“I’m glad to hear that, because I can’t seem to wrap my head around it all.”
“The good news is you don’t have to wrap your head around it all right now. You can take it one step at a time and figure things out as you go.”
“Is that what you did?”
He nodded. “After the shock of his mother leaving wore off, I just powered through the days one at a time and tried not to get too far ahead of myself. After a while, you find a groove, and it stops being so daunting. And not that you asked me, but if your parents are willing to help, I think you’ll be glad to have them nearby. ”
“They’d love to help. They’re crazy about her.”
“What’s her name?”
“Adele. That was my grandmother’s name.”
“Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”
“I’m Jamie, by the way.”
“Max. Nice to meet you.”
“You, too. Are you from Houston?”
“No, I live in Vermont. My girlfriend is in Houston.”
“She’s a lucky girl.”
“Thanks. I’m not sure if I should be calling her my girlfriend just yet. We dated in high school and reconnected at our reunion last weekend. I’m surprising her with a visit this weekend.”
“So you broke up years ago and just saw each other again?”
“We never really broke up.” He filled her in on why they hadn’t seen each other. “Now that I know that she never stopped thinking of me or wanting to be with me, the time we spent apart seems to have disappeared, like it never happened. Not sure if I’m explaining this right.”
“No, you are. I get it. She didn’t stay away because she wanted to.”
“Right.”
“Are you worried that you’ll go all in with her again and her illness will come back?”
“She tells me that after the transplant, she has as much chance of getting leukemia again as I do. So I’m trying not to worry about what might happen and live in the moment. I’m so glad to have her back in my life.”
“That’s really sweet, Max.”
“My love life, such as it was, has been a bit of a mess since I was with her, and I think I’ve realized it was because I never really got over her.”
“How could you have when you never really broke it off with her?”
“We agreed to see other people while we went to colleges on opposite coasts, but I never expected not to see her again for ten years.”
“It’s really sweet that you guys reconnected and that you’re going to surprise her. That’ll mean a lot to her.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.”
The gate agent made an announcement that would begin the boarding of their plane.
“Let me give you my number if you need to talk to someone who gets the single-parenthood challenge,” Max said.
“Oh, that would be great.”
They exchanged numbers, and he helped her with the stroller she was checking at the gate.
“Talking to you made me feel a lot better. Thank you. Your Lexi is a lucky girl indeed.”
“Glad to help. I’ve been right where you are, well, except for the marriage-ending part, and I get it.”
“Have a great weekend with Lexi.”
“Thanks. I hope it all works out for you.”
“It will. I’ll make sure it does.”
“That’s the attitude.”
“It really helped me to talk to you and to find out my life isn’t over because this happened.”
“Far from it. Keep in touch, okay?”
“I will.”