Chapter 42
Chapter Forty-Two
Rotisserie chicken or fried chicken?
Jasmine carefully examined the options, unable to decide what she wanted to take home from the supermarket deli section.
Fried. She hadn’t had fried chicken in a while. She was reaching for the container when she saw him.
Maxwell.
He was standing in front of one of the store’s refrigerators, filled with bottles of juice. He wore a charcoal sleeveless shirt that showed off his biceps, cargo pants, and sandals. He looked casually, effortlessly sexy.
Did he know she was going to be here? She didn’t think that was possible, but maybe.
For the past month, she hadn’t been allowed to forget about him. It started with the roses and his promise that he was not going to give up on them. Since then, she had seen him twice at Piedmont Park. The second time, she had been alone, and he’d only said hello and kept walking.
He gave Keisha tickets to a Delta J show. A Pac-Man game had shown up gift-wrapped at her apartment, no note. But she’d known it came from him, showing he’d remembered the off-hand comment she’d made at Uptown Arcade about looking into finding something similar.
A box of kid-sized toy stethoscopes had arrived at the office one day.
No name, no return address. They placed them in the waiting room play area.
The second mysterious gift they had received was a set of bilingual picture books, which had also been placed in the waiting room play area.
They would come in handy since the number of Spanish-speaking patients and parents had increased over the years.
No one had claimed credit for the stethoscopes or the books, but she knew they had come from Maxwell—thoughtful and delivered without an audience.
She watched him remove a bottle of orange juice from the refrigerator and place it in his hand basket. Her eyes followed him as he moved to the produce section and started examining the blueberries. She could hear him now. He laughed and said something in Spanish.
He hadn’t once glanced in her direction. His behavior let her know he had no idea she was there, so he couldn’t have followed her. She stood uncertainly in front of the hot food, waiting for him to see her.
Then, before she could talk herself out of probably the craziest decision she had made in weeks, she wheeled her cart over to him. She was almost on top of him before he looked up, and his face went still.
“Jasmine.”
“Hi.” Her voice came out quieter than she had intended.
He said something in rapid Spanish to the person on the phone. Paused. Then spoke again in Spanish before hanging up and tucking it in his pocket.
“Hi,” Jasmine said again. “Grocery shopping.” She immediately felt foolish for stating the obvious.
“Getting a few things for the weekend.”
She rubbed her left forearm. “Me too. I was trying to decide if I wanted the roasted chicken or the fried chicken.”
He looked in her empty cart.
“I decided on the fried chicken, but when I saw you... I, um... thought I’d come over and say hi,” she explained.
“I’m glad you did.” He shifted the basket to his other hand. “For the record, I wasn’t following you. I had no idea you would be here.”
“I believe you.”
“Excuse me.” A woman reached between them and picked up a container of blueberries and then went over to the oranges.
Neither of them moved. They kept their eyes on each other.
“You look good,” Maxwell said softly.
“You said the same thing at the park a while back.”
“True then. True now.”
She could feel the color filling her cheeks. “Why did you leave the practice?”
His eyes shifted away for a moment. “Your father warned me once that if I hurt you, I’d have to leave.”
“My dad?”
He nodded. “Rightly so. Plus, I can find another practice to work for. I didn’t want to delay my departure and make you feel uncomfortable or unhappy. I decided to leave right away.”
“You did that for me?”
“I’d do anything for you. If you told me to take off my left arm right now, I’d do it.”
“Max...” Her throat closed around the rest of her thoughts.
“It’s true.” He looked toward the exit and then back at her. “Can we go outside and talk? Only if you want to. If you don’t, I understand.” He waited, looking slightly anxious.
“Sure.”
Maxwell placed his basket in her cart, and they walked outside. The sun had gone down, but the sky wasn’t completely dark yet. They stood off to the side, in front of an unoccupied bench.
“I’ve thought long and hard about what I would say to you if I ever got the chance. I had a whole speech planned, but now I can’t remember a word of it.”
“Then come up with a new speech,” Jasmine said.
He exhaled and looked deeply into her eyes.
“Jasmine, I’m a better man because of you.
When we were together, seeing you was my favorite part of the day.
Every day. You’re my favorite person, and I can’t count how many times I wished I’d met you sooner so we could have had more time together.
But the truth is, no matter when we met, it wouldn’t have been enough. I don’t think a lifetime is enough.”
As the sting of tears built behind her eyes, Jasmine looked down at her hands.
“I know you’re scared,” Maxwell said gently.
“I understand how seeing a woman in my bed caused you to lose trust in me, especially since you know my history. I can’t change that day, but I can tell you the truth.
I didn’t invite her over and nothing happened.
I love you. I’m never gonna stop loving you.
You can keep me at a distance if you want to, but I’m not going anywhere.
I’ll be right here, waiting, until the day you give us another chance. ”
She lifted her eyes. “Maxwell...” Words failed her.
“I don’t want to live without you, Jasmine. That would be hell. Torture. I’m too selfish to torture myself,” he said with a faint smile. “So at some point, you have to take me back.”
“You think you can just sweet-talk your way back into my life?”
“No.” Maxwell stepped closer. “But I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win you back.”
Jasmine shook her head. “I want to hate you. Why can’t I hate you?”
“Because we belong together,” Maxwell said simply. He reached up—slow enough that she could stop him if she wanted to—and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. “You know I’m right. We’ve known since the first night we met, though neither of us was in the right mind to admit it.”
Jasmine closed her eyes. “There was a woman in your bed, Max. On a day you didn’t expect to see me.”
“I know.”
She opened her eyes. “I was so hurt. Humiliated.”
“I know, babe.”
“You want me to trust that what you said is the truth.”
“I know I’m asking a lot.”
The overhead lights flickered, and an elderly man pushed a rattling cart full of groceries through the parking lot.
“Jayson came and talked to me. Have you talked to him?” Jasmine asked.
Maxwell rubbed the back of his neck. “We had a fight. Haven’t talked to him since. What did he say?”
“He told me he’s the one who invited Jenny over, and he let her into your place.”
“That’s what we fought about. He knew better than to do that.”
“He misses you, and I know you miss him too. I could see it in your face as soon as I said his name.”
“What he did was messed up.”
“But not out of the ordinary in the type of relationship the two of you had, right? Seems like he thought nothing about offering another woman to you, even though he knew you and I were in a committed relationship.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say. You already know that I played games. It’s not news, and looking back, I’m not proud of my behavior. But things were different with you. Judge me by my actions. Not my past. Tell me what you need, and I’ll do it. Whatever it is.”
She thought about everything that had occurred in the past month. He had proven to be a man of his word. He was thoughtful. And he hadn’t given up on them.
“I need you to be open and honest at all times. I need you to keep showing up and keep loving me, even when I don’t make it easy,” Jasmine said, her voice trembling.
“Done. What else?”
“Nothing else,” Jasmine admitted. She grabbed his shirt, locking the fabric in her fist. “Every night I go to bed grieving the loss of someone who’s still alive.
Missing you is a constant pain, and some days I don’t know if I’m coming or going.
I want the pain to end, and the only way it’ll end is if I let you back in. I need you.”
He covered her fist. “I made you a promise, and I’ve kept it. I will continue to keep it. I will never hurt you, Jasmine. Your heart is safe with me.”
She moved before she had time to think, closing the few inches between them and kissing him square on the mouth. Maxwell made a guttural sound of relief and slid his hand into her hair, kissing her back as if he’d been waiting an eternity for this moment.
His other arm clamped around her waist, and she lifted her fingers into the thickness of his hair, devouring his mouth as her body strained against his.
When they finally broke apart, they were both a little breathless. Then Maxwell laughed, and she did too.
“We’re making out in front of the supermarket,” Maxwell said.
“What is wrong with us?”
Jasmine rested her cheek against his chest and closed her eyes, relieved to be enveloped in the warmth of his arms.
“Want to finish our shopping and get out of here?” Maxwell asked quietly.
“Not yet.” The pain had eased, and her body was finally at rest. “Give me another minute.”
He squeezed her tighter. “Take all the time you need.”