Chapter 16 #2
“I can’t believe this is happening, Max. That you’re here, that we’re picking right up like nothing ever changed.”
“Nothing did change. It wasn’t like we had a big meltdown and decided to never see each other again. Life happened. And now that we’ve found our way back to each other, all I want is more of everything with you.”
“You promise I’m not dreaming?”
“I promise.”
They turned the corner and walked into a park that they had all to themselves at that hour.
Max led her to a bench and turned to face her. “Kiss me.”
She placed her hand on the face that had haunted her dreams during ten hellacious years and gazed into his eyes as she pressed her lips to his.
Max tipped his head and kissed her more intently, his tongue brushing against hers until she was clinging to him, lost to the kiss and him the way it had been between them since the first time they were together.
Back then, they’d been so young that the desire had come almost as a shock to them.
To go from having never experienced it to something so incendiary had been amazing and terrifying and wonderful all at the same time.
“Mmm.” He withdrew slowly from the kiss. “I’ve needed that since the second you left the other day.”
“I’ve needed it, too. Isn’t it the weirdest thing to be completely addicted to each other again after just a few days together?”
“Weirdest, best thing ever.”
Lexi leaned her head on Max’s shoulder. “For sure. Being with you again has made the epic struggle to survive worth it.”
Max tightened the arm he had around her. “Thank you for not dying.”
Laughing, Lexi said, “You’re welcome.”
When they returned to Lexi’s house, Max checked his watch and saw that he needed to call Caden to catch him before bed. “I’ll just be a minute,” he told Lexi.
“Take your time. Tell him I said hello.”
“I will.”
Max called the barn and wasn’t surprised when his son answered the phone. “Hi, Dad. What’s up?”
“That’s what I’m calling to ask you.”
“Grandpa-Great and I are watching Cobra Kai. Don’t worry, he said it’s okay for kids to watch.”
Max smiled at how Caden knew exactly what he’d say. “How is it?”
“It’s pretty cool. He said we’ll watch The Karate Kid this weekend.”
“I love that movie.”
“He said that you guys have watched it a million times.”
“At least a million. How was school today?”
“It was good. Joey got a bloody nose, and Maisy pinched Molly.”
“Molly is having a rough week.”
“I know,” he said, giggling. “Cooper had to call and apologize to her, and he has to do extra chores to pay to get her hair fixed.”
“It’s not funny.”
“It’s a little funny. Admit it.”
“I won’t.”
“How’s Houston? And where is that anyway?”
“I told you. It’s in Texas, and it’s good. It’s still warm here. Oh, and Lexi said to say hi to you.”
“It’s freezing here,” Caden said, breezing over the message from Lexi. “Grandpa-Great says it’s gonna snow like crazy tomorrow. Uncle Will said maybe we can ski this weekend.”
“That’d be fun,” Max said, feeling a pang about missing the first ski outing of the season. But there would be plenty of others.
“I gotta go. Grandpa-Great is gonna fall asleep if we don’t finish this episode.”
Max laughed. “You’d better get to it, then. Don’t stay up too late.”
“I won’t.”
“Love you, buddy, and I miss you.”
“Love you, too.”
“But you don’t miss me?” Max asked in a teasing tone.
“I miss you. Don’t be silly.”
“Sleep tight, and I’ll call you tomorrow night.”
“Okay, bye, Daddy.”
The line clicked before he could ask to speak to his mother, but she would call him if she needed to. What did it mean that Caden had totally ignored the message from Lexi?
“How’s your boy?” Lexi asked when she joined him in the front living room, which looked like it rarely got used.
“He’s good. Watching Cobra Kai with my grandfather.”
“It’s so wonderful that he has him in his life.”
“They have a tight bond, just like he had with all of us. It’s very sweet.”
“Did you give him my message?”
“I did,” Max said with a sinking feeling. “He was caught up in the TV show and didn’t have much to say.”
“I want him to like me.”
“He will. It’s just been the two of us for so long. It might be a bit of an adjustment to add someone to our duo.”
“I don’t want to cause any trouble for you with him.”
“You won’t. My mother reminded me that despite how it might seem, he’s not in charge. I am, and if I want you in our lives, then you’ll be in our lives.”
“Not if it upsets him.”
“He’ll get used to it, and when he does, it’ll be fine.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
“He will. It’s been a crazy week for him. In addition to his mother resurfacing, he saw me with a woman for the first time. He’s processing it. That’s all it is.” Max hoped he was right about that. He couldn’t imagine Caden being intentionally rude to someone, especially a friend of his.
“I hope so.”
“I’ve probably made a bit of a monster out of him by giving him my full attention for all these years. He’s not used to sharing me with anyone.”
“He’s not a monster.”
“I mean that in the best possible way. We’ve been a couple of bros, and now there may be a third member of our pack, and he’s not sure how he feels about that.”
“That’s why I still say we need to ease him in slowly so he doesn’t resent me.”
“Probably, but I really hope he’ll come around sooner rather than later. If it was up to me, you’d move in with us when you come in January.”
“That’s not a good idea, and you know it.”
“I do know it,” Max said with a sigh. “But I hope we can make that happen before too long.”
“We have all the time in the world. We don’t need to be in a big rush.”
“I’m in a huge rush. Now that I have you back, I want everything right now. It’s like I need to make up for all the time we missed, and I need to do it immediately.”
“Do you think it feels urgent to you because I was sick?”
“No, I think it’s because I have so many things I want us to do, like get married and have more kids and get a bigger house and do everything together.” He stopped when he saw tears in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything is so right that I can’t believe it.”
“Believe it. We’re going to make this happen.” He caressed her face and gazed into her eyes. “Where’re the parents?”
“Probably in the family room watching Jeopardy! and trying to outdo each other in yelling out the answers.”
“That sounds like my parents and grandfather. My grandfather and my dad try to outdo each other with who’s smarter.”
“Who usually wins?”
“Gramps. My dad says he’s the possessor of more worthless knowledge than anyone alive, to which Gramps replies, ‘It ain’t worthless if it helps me whup your ass, boy.’”
Lexi’s laughter reminded him of how much he’d loved to make her laugh the first time they were together. “He’s so cute. I love him.”
“I do, too. I can’t believe he’s going to be ninety-one soon. He’s unstoppable.”
“Thank goodness for that.”
“I need to keep him around forever. I honestly don’t know what we’ll ever do without him.”
“You don’t need to worry about that any time soon.”
“I hope not.”
Lexi tried to stifle a yawn, but Max caught her.
“You need to sleep.”
She snuggled up to him. “Not yet.”
Max put his arm around her. “Where am I sleeping?”
“With me.”
“No way. I can’t do that here.”
“They don’t care. We’re twenty-eight, and they’re thankful I’m alive.”
“We’re not manipulating them that way. I can sleep on the sofa.”
“We have a guest room upstairs, across the hall from my room.”
“Perfect.” He kissed the pout off her lips. “We’ll have three nights in Galveston, so quit your pouting.”
“Will you at least tuck me in?”
“I’d love to.”
“Let’s say good night to the parents.”
Max helped her up and held her hand as she led the way to the family room, where her family was, in fact, watching Jeopardy!
“Who’s winning tonight?” Lexi asked.
“Your mother,” Larry said. “She’s putting the rest of us to shame.”
“She usually does,” Lexi said. “We’re going to watch a movie upstairs, so we came to say good night.”
“Let us know if you need anything, Max,” Angie said.
“Thank you. I’ll be sleeping in the guest room.”
“That’s not necessary,” Angie said.
“Told you,” Lexi said with a saucy grin. “Funny how a near-fatal illness changes things, huh?”
“Don’t be sassy, young lady,” Larry said with a grin. “And, Max, please make yourself at home here. We haven’t seen Lexi happy like she’s been tonight in a long, long time.” His voice broke on the word time.
Angie reached for her husband’s hand. “It’s lovely to see,” she said, smiling at them.
Lexi went to kiss them all good night. “Love you guys.”
“Love you, too, sweetheart,” Jim said gruffly. “Night, Max.”
“Good night, and thanks again for having me.”
“It’s our pleasure,” Carol said.
Lexi took him by the hand and led him upstairs. “We have the second floor to ourselves. Their rooms are on the main floor. They won’t come up here to check on where you’re sleeping, so you may as well sleep with me.”
“You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” Max asked, amused by her.
“I’m very clever, and don’t you forget it.” She turned to him and ran her hands over his chest. “They know there’s a very good chance we might’ve been married by now if things had gone differently.”
“You think we would’ve been?”
“I’m almost sure of it. I wasn’t going to last four years at Berkeley. I had already been approved to transfer to UVM when I got sick.”
“You had? Really? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted it to be certain before I said anything, but before I could tell you, I got sick.”
Max sighed. “It’s weird to consider that if you hadn’t gotten sick, I might never have had Caden.”
“Everything that’s happened since we went our separate ways was meant to be, including him.”
“I can’t think of him any other way but meant to be, even though I wish more than anything that you hadn’t been through such a horrible ordeal.”
“I’ve realized that it was my destiny as much as Caden was yours.”
“And now maybe we can be each other’s destiny?”
She went up on tiptoes to kiss him. “I would love that.”