Chapter Twenty-Five
Twenty-Five
After Stella left, Max found himself cleaning.
He tidied the kitchen, attacked the bathroom, did three loads of laundry, and dusted just about everywhere. By the time he was done, he was thoroughly exhausted and still thinking about what Stella said.
I guess I’m not used to someone wanting to see me two nights in a row.
She’d told him she had never been in a relationship before, but this felt different.
Like she was trying to say something else without saying it.
Unfortunately, they’d skirted past it while she was distracted by his delicious French toast. Max didn’t consider himself a man who had “moves” per se, but the morning-after French toast with the mama’s-boy story was one that had never failed him.
Today, though, it worked a bit too perfectly, and instead of learning more about Stella, they ended up spending their time talking about him and his family, skating uncomfortably around the Miles of it all.
Max’s phone began to vibrate on the coffee table. He stretched out his arm, blindly reaching for it from his spot on the couch.
It was as if his brother could sense that Max was thinking about him.
“Hello, brother,” Max said.
“Maximo, Maximo,” Miles said.
Max frowned. Miles never called him by his full name. Not unless he wanted something.
“What are you up to this evening?” Miles continued.
“I’ve got plans,” Max said.
“Cancel them! We’re going out.”
In the background, Max could hear what sounded like a lot of people. He looked at the clock on his cable box. It was almost eight thirty on a Saturday night, which meant his brother was probably already out.
“I can’t, man. I have plans,” Max said. “Where are you?”
“Who knows?” Miles said. “I’ll drop a pin for my location. Come over. Everybody’s here.”
“And who is everyone?”
“You know…everyone.”
“Right.” Max sighed. “Well, for the last time, I have plans tonight so I’m not coming, but please do tell everyone that I said hello.”
“Don’t tell me your plans are to sit on your couch alone all night, watching some sad shit or something.”
“I won’t be alone.”
There was a beat of silence, and Max knew he’d made a mistake but it was too late now.
“You won’t be alone?” Miles asked. “What do you mean, you won’t be alone?”
Max hesitated. He knew he couldn’t very well tell Miles he was dating one of his employees, but he also didn’t enjoy lying to his little brother either.
“I mean I won’t be alone,” he said. “I have someone coming over, which means I should probably hang up so I can prepare.”
“Ah, yeah, you gotta douche.”
“What the fuck do you even know about douching?” Max asked, choking on a laugh.
“I read,” Miles said. “I listen. I learn.”
“Alright, DEI master. Well, yeah, I gotta do all that, so bye.”
Without letting Miles get another word in, Max hung up the phone. Now Miles would think Max had a guy coming over, and maybe that was for the best.
Max’s phone began vibrating in his hand again. It was the doorman.
“Hello?”
“Good evening, sir. I have a Stella Johnson here for you.”
“You can send her up, thanks,” Max said.
“No problem, sir.”
The call ended and Max put his phone back on the table.
He stood, did a full circle, and then sat back down, unsure what to do with himself.
Everything was clean, and he’d taken another shower because cleaning ended up being a workout whenever he did it.
And yet he felt like he needed to be doing something when Stella arrived, although he wasn’t sure why.
Was he nervous?
Max thankfully didn’t have time to dwell on the thought because his doorbell rang.
He sprang up and did a light jog to the door, pulling it open to reveal Stella in a different outfit than the one she left in.
Her puffer coat was unzipped, and underneath she was wearing a long red sweaterdress that hugged all her curves.
The hem stopped right above her combat boots, but there was a long slit on her right that revealed a large portion of her leg when she moved.
“Hi,” Stella said, sounding slightly out of breath. “Can I come in?”
“Oh, right, of course, sorry.” Max stepped aside and let her through as she shrugged out of her coat, brushing off the sleeves. He realized then that she was covered in tiny snowflakes.
“It’s snowing?” he asked, even though the answer was obvious.
“Yeah, just a little,” Stella said. “It started right as I got off the train so I sprinted over here. I think I avoided most of it.”
She bent over to untie her shoes, and Max, because he was a gentleman, focused his eyes everywhere but on her ass.
“Why didn’t you call me?” he asked. “I would’ve sent a car for you. Or picked you up myself.”
Stella straightened. Without her shoes, she lost a smidge of height on him, making her seem even smaller.
“I appreciate the thought, but there would be no easy way for me to explain to my parents how I could afford an Uber all the way back to Brooklyn, which is where they thought I was going after we left dinner.”
“Ah, right. I guess it is a bit too early for them to know about me.”
Max meant for it to be a joke. A silly throwaway line about meeting the parents, which of course wouldn’t happen anytime soon, if ever, because they were only casually seeing each other.
And yet the look of pure terror on Stella’s face still felt like a punch in the gut.
Was it really that bad if her folks knew they were seeing each other?
“I’m kidding,” Max said quickly.
“Oh, I know,” Stella said with a laugh that sounded forced. “Sorry, I just, well, I love my parents, but they can be a lot. They peppered me with a hundred questions about my life today, so I think I’m still on edge from their inquisition.”
Max took Stella’s hand and led her to the couch.
“I get it. My parents are the same way even though I see them pretty frequently since they don’t live that far,” Max said as they sat down.
Stella pulled her legs up underneath her and turned so she was facing Max. He shifted, pulling up a leg so he was facing her, too.
“Where do they live?”
Max tilted his head in the general direction of the town house he grew up in.
“About ten blocks up, two avenues over,” he said. “If Miles and I are taking too long to pay them a visit, which could be anywhere between two days and two weeks, my mother will issue an invitation for a family dinner that is, of course, mandatory.”
Stella chuckled. “She sounds like my mom. Except if she texts me and I don’t respond quick enough, she’s calling me nonstop until I answer to make sure I’m alive.”
“Damn,” Max said with a low whistle. “Your mom wins.”
“I’m sure she’d love to hear that,” Stella said, smiling.
It was a small smile, and her eyes were cast downward as she drew circles on the sliver of couch space between them. Max ducked his head so he could meet her eyes.
“Hey, you okay?”
Stella blinked at him, startled.
“Oh yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Did something happen with your parents?”
“No, no, they’re good,” she said. “Everything’s fine.” She held up three fingers. “Scout’s honor.”
Max inspected her face, trying to find the truth of it there, but then Stella was leaning forward, taking his face in her hands, and kissing him. He stopped questioning things after that.