23. Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Three
T he walk to dinner had been awful.
The few bites he’d taken had been tasteless.
And the conversation had been stilted.
Owen couldn’t wait until this evening was over.
When Regan had at last finished her meal, he'd paid for it and made tracks to the door.
At last, he'd gotten through to her that they were never going to be anything to each other.
Not friends. And certainly nothing romantic.
That ship had sailed when she'd lied to him about being married and having a child.
He felt as though he'd never truly known her at all. The woman he’d loved had been nothing more than fiction.
When he'd told her that he had real feelings for Maxi, he hadn't been lying. He didn't mention that he might have blown his chance with Maxi by failing to mention the depth of his prior relationship with Regan. Although none of it was any of Regan’s business.
When they stepped outside the restaurant, he intended to go in the opposite direction of Regan. He could only hope that she was leaving the island as soon as possible.
What he hadn’t anticipated was Regan throwing herself at him. One moment she was standing in front of him and the next, she was pressed against him, and her lips were on his. For a second, he didn’t move. He blamed it on shock.
In the next second, he had his hands on her waist as he peeled her off him. He wiped his mouth off. “What are you doing?”
“Reminding you of the good times.”
“Well, you failed. Those times are dead to me. Don’t ever do that again.” He turned and strode away.
All he wanted to do was put as much distance between himself and Regan as he could. He had just turned a corner when he practically ran into his brother Grant. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"
Owen didn't want to stop. He was anxious to go to Maxi, but he couldn't blow off his brother. "I...uh, just left dinner."
"With Regan, I hear."
"How do you know?"
Grant shrugged. "I think the whole island is talking about the bidding war between Maxi and your ex."
Owen lowered his gaze to the sidewalk. "I didn’t know she’d be there."
"I heard you left with Regan. Bro, how could you do that? Maxi is great."
Owen’s jaw tightened as his back teeth ground together. "It wasn't my idea. I only went with Regan because she won the bid."
"Still, what about Maxi?"
He hated how his brother made him feel like a fool. He'd messed up. He knew that. "I have to talk to her."
"I think it's going to take more than talking to her."
Owen arched a brow. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Grant shook his head. "Never mind.”
“How am I supposed to do that? Sounds like you know something I don’t know.”
“It’s just that I can't believe you messed this up. You finally brought home someone that everyone in the family loves. She's so much better for you than Regan."
Owen frowned at his brother. "How can you say that? I never even brought Regan home to meet anyone."
"Exactly. She had you sneaking around and avoiding your family for the entire summer. If you thought that was a healthy relationship, I’m here to tell you it wasn't. But Maxi is someone who could fit right into our family.
Figure out a way to fix this." His brother strode away as though he'd done his duty as the big brother and set Owen straight.
Owen couldn't believe that things had gotten so bad that his big brother thought he needed relationship advice. There was only one thing to do now. He started walking toward Bonnie’s house.
He didn't know what he was going to say when he saw Maxi. He supposed that he'd beg for her forgiveness. That should be a good start. He'd wing it from there.
As he strode down the street, a number of people shook their heads at him. A few pointedly told him not to lose Maxi. How was it that the whole town seemed to know about his troubles with Maxi?
He strode up to Bonnie’s house. He stepped onto the porch and without giving himself a chance to change his mind, he rapped his knuckles on the door.
When no one immediately answered the door, he glanced at his watch. It was only a quarter till nine. Surely they hadn't gone to bed that early.
He knocked again and waited.
A few moments later, the door opened. Bonnie stood in the small opening. She frowned at him. "It's not a good time."
When she went to close the door in his face, he put out his hand, stopping the door from shutting. "Please. I need to talk to her."
Bonnie shook her head. In a soft voice that was almost a whisper, she said, "She went to bed."
"She's asleep already?" It took him a moment to realize that his thoughts had been translated into words.
"I highly doubt she's sleeping.” The frown on her face deepened. “You really upset her."
"And I'm sorry. That was never my intention."
"I don't know what your intentions were, but I won't let you hurt my niece again." This time she firmly closed the door in his face.
He had never seen Bonnie so upset with him. He had made such a mess of everything. And now he had no idea how to fix things.
He didn't want to have this conversation over the phone, but it appeared that it might be his only option. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Maxi’s number.
The phone rang once and went to voicemail.
He called again. The same thing happened again.
On the third attempt, it didn't ring at all. It went straight to voicemail.
"Maxi, I stopped by to see you. Your aunt said you'd already gone to bed. She wasn't happy with me, not that I can blame her. I didn't want to have this conversation over the phone. Could you please meet with me? I can explain."
He kept walking until he reached the beach. He stared out at the water, and that was when he saw a couple walking along the water's edge. If he hadn't messed up, that was what he and Maxi would be doing right now.
Buzz.
His heart picked up its pace. He yanked the phone from his pocket and pressed it to his ear. "Maxi?"
"Uh. No. It's Liam. Don't you check your call ID before you answer your phone."
A disappointed sigh crossed his lips. Deciding to ignore his brother's jab, he said, "Hey, what do you need?" He hoped this wasn't a call to tell him what a mistake he'd made with Maxi because he already knew it.
"Sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you.”
“You aren’t. What do you need?”
“It’s Tate. He’s very excited about the race. I’m having a hard time getting him to go to bed. I thought maybe I could bring him by the tent in the morning to see the car before the race. Would that be okay?”
“Definitely. Bring him by.”
It felt good to think and talk about something other than the mistakes he'd made with Maxi. And so for a moment, they talked about his car and his chances of winning the race. For those few minutes, he didn't dwell on the fact that he might have lost Maxi for good.
When the phone call ended, he found that he was exhausted.
It had been a really long week with a lot of late nights.
He turned for home. He didn't know if he'd sleep that night, but if he wanted to make sense when he spoke to Maxi the next day, he had to get some shut-eye.
He had a feeling he was only going to have one chance to get it right.