Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
KARI
I slung my bag over my shoulder. “See ya later, Chandra.”
“Night, Kari.”
I brushed my fingers across the seed packets tucked safely in my pocket and smiled. My fingertips touched a stray piece of paper and I pulled out the packets curiously. Attached to the back of one of the packets was a sticky note.
I love you.
I stroked my thumb across the words written in Max’s handwriting.
I pressed the button for the elevator and was relieved when it opened quickly and was empty. I got in and pressed the P for the parking garage when I saw Dr. Manning walking towards me.
“Can I ride with you?” he asked, entering the elevator.
“Sure,” I smiled. “How was your shift?”
“Not bad, not great. No fantastic stories to remember to tell the grandkids one day, but I’ll survive,” he winked.
I laughed. “I should write a book about some of the stuff I’ve seen.”
“I’ll be your co-author.”
The elevator began its descent. “Was that your mother that called for you earlier? Is she okay?”
Connor’s face softened a bit. “Yes, it was. She’s okay, just had a question about her meds.”
“She’s lucky to have you.”
He shrugged. “Well, I’m all she has, so she’s stuck with me either way.”
“You’re an only child?” I asked as the door opened and we walked into the cool darkness. I hated walking through the parking garage at night. It was such a lonely place.
“Yeah. Well, my mother has a son from a previous marriage, but I don’t know him. She married my dad and they had me but divorced when I was a teenager. She’s kind of a hard pill to swallow sometimes, pardon the pun.”
“I’m sorry.” I stopped at the branch in the roadway, needing to take a right but knowing that he parked in the doctor’s lot to the left. “I hope she gets better soon.”
“Me, too.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and grinned. “So, you going home to Max?”
I matched his smile. “Yeah.”
“He seems like a decent guy. I think you should go work out whatever was going on. A girl like you deserves a man that will appreciate you and Max seems to understand that.”
“Ah, doling out relationship advice along with medicinal instructions tonight, huh, Doc?”
“I am a professional at everything I do.”
I laughed. “Noted. Have a good night, Connor.”
“You, too, Kari.”
Kari
The house was dark when I pulled up. I would’ve thought that Max wasn’t home except that his truck was in the driveway. I parked my car and walked up the front steps, knocking lightly before going on in.
I felt weird knocking, since I technically lived there. But it seemed like the right thing to do.
I tossed my bag beside the front door. The kitchen light in the back of the house was on and I bent down to pet Titus before making my way into the lit room. It looked like it did before I left the night before, except a mark on the far wall.
“Max?” I called out. I walked cautiously through the house and up the stairs. I could see the bedroom light on beneath the door and I knocked timidly. “Max?”
The door popped open. He took my breath away. His dark hair was unruly, his green eyes soft and glistening. He had a dark pair of denim jeans and a plain white t-shirt, his feet bare. When he saw me, he smiled and the dimple in his cheek shined.
“What ‘cha knockin’ for, sweetheart?” He reached for my hand and guided me into the room, his eyes never leaving mine.
All at once, he pulled me into him, wrapping his arms securely around my waist, pinning mine to my sides, and kissed me like his life depended on it.
He rested his forehead against mine and caught his breath.
“I missed you,” I whispered. I sagged into him, my cheek resting against his heart.
“The only thing I hate about any of it is that you didn’t tell me this stuff before. Not because it would’ve made a difference, but I hate it that you don’t trust me. To know that Blaine knew and I didn’t...it feels like you had something with him that we don’t.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, knowing that I couldn’t put this conversation off any longer. “It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you. It’s not that at all.”
“That’s how it felt.”
“I know. It probably did. Does. Whatever. But it’s the opposite, really.” My throat was tightening, the warmth that came with tears and sadness creating waves inside me.
Max kissed the top of my head and held my hand, pulling me gently to the bed.
We climbed on and rested against the headboard.
“I’ve told you before that I can’t be what you need if I don’t know what you need.
And when I try to get close, you push me away.
And then I see in black-and-white that you had no issues getting close to another man. ”
I snuggled into his side, trying to comfort him by letting him feel me close.
“It was different with Blaine. He didn’t want kids, so he didn’t care—hell, he was happier knowing that I probably would never be able to have them, even if I wanted them.
But you are the opposite. You were meant to be a father.
Family is everything to you. So I figured telling you that would be writing my own exit. ”
He squeezed my shoulder. “Do you really think I’m that shallow?”
“It’s not shallow to want a family.”
“No, it isn’t. But to think I’d love you less because you have a health issue that you can’t control would be pretty damn shallow.”
“It just felt wrong to love you and know that I would eventually put you in a position where you had to pick me or a future.”
“You think that my future and you are separate things? You silly girl.”
I smiled against his side.
“Is that why you push me away all the time? You’re afraid you’re cornering me or something crazy?”
I nodded sadly. “That’s exactly what it is. And then I meet your parents and hear them talk about grandkids and they look at us with such expectations,” I sighed. “They’ll hate me, Max. They’ll look at me and look at Isa and I’ll be the loser. I’ll be half the woman she is. I’ll be—”
“My wife.”
“What?”
“You’ll be my wife. You’ll be the woman I chose to spend the rest of my life with because you make me happy.” He paused. “The only half of anything you are is half of me,” he whispered.
Tears welled up and fell in one swift moment. “Oh, Max.” I rose up and planted one knee on either side of him, straddling his midsection. He winced in pain. “You alright?”
“Take it easy on this side, sweetheart.”
I shifted my weight and curiously lifted the hem of his shirt. His eyes narrowed, his forehead marred in what seemed like fear.
The shirt lifted to his neck and I saw a white gauze pad taped to the top of the tattoo that spanned his side.
“What happened?” I looked at his face and he closed his eyes. A slow smile spread across his face, his dimple ever-present.
“I got a little marked up on the way home.”
“What do you mean?” I asked nervously. “Did you get hurt? Are you bleeding?”
“Ah, just a bit. I’m okay.”
“Did you put something on it? What happened?”
He moved his head side to side. “I sat down in a chair and got stuck with something sharp. It’ll be okay.”
“You might need a tetanus shot, Max. That’s nothing to play with. You don’t even know how many people come to the ER and have serious issues because their tetanus wasn’t up to date. Let me look at it.”
“Be my guest.”
I slowly peeled the gauze off and my hands dropped to my side, my eyes growing wide. “Max!”