Leave it to Max (Lori's Classic Love Stories Volume 1)

by Lori Handeland

What had happened between them last night had touched him deeply. He’d thought it had touched Livy, too. Yet despite his ability to break through the barrier and tell her how he felt, she hadn’t said a word about love or the future.

  Once, she’d been the only person who saw him as special. Then he’d walked out on her and proven her belief in him a lie. Would she always see him as that worthless boy? Most likely, since he was very close to losing his standing as a worthwhile man.

  Chapter 18

  Livy awoke alone. That wasn’t new. But considering she awoke in Garrett’s bed, in Garrett’s house, she didn’t like it.

  Sitting up, she shoved her tangled hair from her face. The room resembled the set of an X-rated movie—or what she imagined one to be: clothes tossed everywhere, her camisole hanging from the lamp, sheets crumpled, the quilt peeking from under the bed.

  Last night she’d needed Garrett and he’d been there. His touch had soothed her sadness. She’d been at home, feeling lost and alone, so she’d called Kim and ended up listening to her machine. Rosie had gone out. And as good a friend as Klein had proved to be, she didn’t want to talk to him. She’d wanted to be near her son. She’d wanted—no, she’d needed—Garrett.

  Last night had been spectacular. So why did she feel so unsettled?

  Because he’d told her he loved her, and she hadn’t been able to say the words back. He’d blindsided her when she’d least expected it. She had not been thinking of love; she’d been living the lust.

  And once her mind cleared, the thought of saying “I love you” had brought a superstitious fear that if she uttered those words again, he’d run just as he had the last time.

  But this wasn’t last time, and she had to stop comparing then and now.

  Livy got up. She found her underwear on the floor, then a robe in the closet. Though she really could use some coffee, she took a jaunt down the hall and peeked into every room.

  Garrett’s belongings were all still there. Max slept in a tangle of covers on a pullout couch. She resisted the urge to kiss him. With her luck, he’d wake up and start in on her like his gramma and Kim. She could really use a few more moments of peace.

  But peace was not to be found. Nor was Garrett Stark. As Livy meandered through the place, she discovered that she and Max were the only living beings in the house.

  ‘‘Like the last living cells in a dead body,” she murmured, and gave an evil-sounding laugh.

  Her joke did not seem funny. Nothing did when she entered the foyer and saw an orange, white and purple envelope on the table along with some legal-size documents. Though she knew she shouldn’t, she picked them up anyway.

  “Alaska?” Her voice trembled.

  Insane as it was, Livy ran outside. He wasn’t on the porch. She ran down the walk and straight into the sisters.

  “Olivia!” Miss Violet let her gaze wander from Livy’s tousled head, down the man’s robe, to Livy’s bare feet. “How incredibly tacky.”

  “Thank you,” Livy said absently, looking up, then down, the street. The sisters were the only people out and about at this hour of a Saturday morning. Lucky her.

  “We were on our way to speak with Rosie,” Miss Viola said. “But since you’re here, you may as well tell her.”

  “What now?” She did not need her mother arrested today.

  “We wanted her to know that we don’t want the goose back. She’s no doubt shipped it to some farm and it’s ruined now anyway.” Miss Viola leaned over and whispered, “Consorting with common geese will do that.”

  “Rosie doesn’t have it.”

  “You keep on believing that, dear.” Miss Violet patted Livy’s arm.

  They began to walk toward home, but paused after only a few steps and turned back.

  “Were you looking for someone, Olivia?” Miss Violet asked.

  “Garrett.”

  “The boy’s father?”

  “Yes.” It felt good to say that, almost liberating. So she said it again. “Max’s father, Garrett Stark.”

  “He drove off in his car.” Miss Violet pointed down the street. “That way.”

  All of Livy’s good feelings evaporated. “Drove off?”

  “He was in an awful hurry.” She sniffed. “Yankees always are.”

  Livy didn’t notice when the sisters left this time.

  Drove off? Hurry? Alaska? He couldn’t have. Not again. Not when Max loved him so. Not when she loved him.

  Why hadn’t she told him? Pride? Superstition? Both seemed silly in the face of all she felt now.

  Livy sat on the porch steps as the sun spread over the street, over her. She was numb, confused. She didn’t know what to believe. When the door opened and Max sat down next to her, she didn’t know what to say.

  This was why she hadn’t wanted to tell Max the truth. She did not want to see the echo of abandonment in her son’s eyes. She didn’t know if she could bear it.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  She cleared her throat. “Hey, baby.”

  “Mo-om.”

  “Sorry. Max.”

  “Did you sleep here, too?”

  Answer only one question at a time, she’d learned. Don’t tell him more than he wanted to know. “Uh-huh.”

  “Too bad you missed the popcorn and the movie.”

  He seemed to have completely forgiven her for any transgressions. Unfortunately, there might be a few more coming his way.

  “Where’s Dad?”

  “I’m not sure.” True enough.

  “Why did he rent a house in Alaska?”

  Damn! She’d left the contract on the table where she’d found it.

  “He doesn’t live here. He’s only visiting.”

  “But now that he’s got me, he’ll have to stay.” His dark eyes were full of hope. “We’ll all live together and you’ll marry him.”

  “Sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them to.”

  “Sure they do. I’ve been wantin’ this so bad it can’t not come true.”

  Livy touched his hair. He pulled away. So much for forgiveness.

  “Believing in yourself is great, Max. And if you believe you can do something hard enough, I believe you can. But changing what is, making people do things they don’t want to do… You can’t make that happen just by wishing it.”

  Max shook his head, spilling hair into his eyes. “But he is my real dad. I believed it and it came true.”

  “It was always true. Your believing it didn’t make it that way.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  Livy sighed. “Neither do I.”

  “You think Dad left us again?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “He didn’t!” Max jumped to his feet. “He wouldn’t. He loves me.”

  “He does.”

  “He wouldn’t run off like he did before. I believe in Dad. Can’t you?”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “Why can’t you forgive him? I forgive you.”

  “Thank you. But—”

  “There is no ‘but,’ Mom. I love you. You love me. Even when you lied, I still loved you. Even when I mess up, you love me. Because that’s what love is, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Didn’t you love Dad?”

  “Of course.”

  “So when he messed up, you stopped? That’s not love, Mom.”

  Cars passed on the street. Doors slammed on the block. The world was waking up. Maybe it was time Livy did, too.

  Her son was right. He so often was. In the simple faith of a child so much wisdom could be found.

  “I never stopped loving him,” she admitted.

  “Thank you.”

  The deep voice made Livy leap to her feet. Garrett stood on the walk in torn running shorts and a sweaty white T-shirt. He’d never looked so good.

  Her first thought was—he’s back. Then she understood that he’d never left, and from the expression in his eyes, he never would.

  Livy jumped down the steps and into his
arms.

  *

  In shock from hearing Livy say she’d never stopped loving him, Garrett still managed to catch her when she landed in his arms. He even managed to kiss her, quite thoroughly, even though he really wanted to talk.

  He’d been scared, thinking about the worst thing that could happen—that Livy no longer loved him and she never would. He’d tried to figure out how he’d handle that. How on earth could he face that fear and turn it around? And he’d lit on the truth. He couldn’t. If Livy didn’t love him, there was no help for it no matter how much that hurt.

  Garrett lifted his mouth from hers, looked about for Max, only to discover his son had disappeared. Smart kid.

  In Livy’s eyes, he saw everything he’d always wanted right there in her.

  “I love you,” she said.

  His heart stuttered with hope. He wanted to believe, but he still had to ask. “For Max? Or yourself?”

  “Both. We need you. Stay with us. Alaska sucks.”

  “You saw the contract?’ ’

  “Kind of hard to miss.”

  “Let me explain—”

  “You don’t have to. We were both kids once and we both made mistakes. But now we have a child, and we’ll still make mistakes. But we should make them together.”

  Garrett removed himself from her embrace. Her face reflected the uncertainty in his heart.

  “Last night you told me you loved me,” she murmured. “Was that only for Max? Because I’m not going to keep him from you. You don’t have to say something you don’t mean just so you can see your son.

  “Livy.” He spread his hands, helpless to say what he felt. He’d never been good at talking, only writing, once upon a time. But he tried now, for her. “I never told another woman that I loved her because there’s never been another woman for me but you. Once, you said you loved me and I ran. I didn’t know if I could love you the way you needed me to.”

  “Just loving me is enough. Why do you think you have to be something other than what you are?”

  “What am I?” He threw up his hands. “A writer who can’t write. A man who has no other profession but make-believe.”

  “I’ve told you before—you’re Max’s father. You’re the man I love. To me, to us, you’re everything. I love you, Garrett. That hasn’t changed in nine years without you—it isn’t going to change now.”

  Torn, he put his hands on her shoulders. “Even if I have to go away for a while?”

  “To Alaska?”

  “That was my agent’s idea of a joke. I’m not going to Alaska. But I’m thinking that maybe I should go somewhere, alone, for a little while. Try one more time to find this Muse of mine I seem to have lost.”

  “Go.”

  The speed of her answer made him blink.

  “Do what you have to do. We’ll be right here.”

  He tilted his head, searching for annoyance, anger, distrust. All he saw was love. And that tickle of an idea he’d had while jogging through Bonaventure Cemetery began to itch like a new case of poison ivy.

  “You’re sure?” he asked.

  “I am!” Max stood in the doorway. “We believe in you, Dad.”

  “Yeah.” Livy cupped his cheek, guided his face back to hers. “We believe in you.”

  Standing in the Savannah sun, with love shining on him from both blue eyes and brown, Garrett started to believe in himself, too.

  Chapter 19

  “Come on, Mom.” Max ran ahead, the cape of his vampire costume trailing in the night breeze.

  The streets were filled with ghouls, ghosts and goblins. Halloween had come to Savannah.

  Though the nights were cool, they rarely got cold; still, the passing of time whispered on the wind. Flowers fading past prime, a few leaves tumbling down and loneliness descending with the early-to-sleep sun.

  “You think he’ll be there?” Rosie asked.

  “Max thinks so. And I’ve learned that what Max believes seems to happen. It’s downright creepy.”

  “He believes with all his heart and soul, sugar. There’s power in that.”

  Livy hoped her mother was right. Garrett had called, though not as often as she would have liked, but he’d always sounded distracted, busy, and he wouldn’t tell her where he was.

  Oh, he always said the appropriate things, that he loved her and he would see her soon, but “soon” seemed to have a different meaning to Garrett than it did to her. As the days stretched into weeks, and the weeks to a month, Livy had to admit she was getting nervous. Because things had come full circle in more ways than one.

  In Savannah, the excitement over Max’s parentage had died down quicker than Livy had thought it would. Probably because lying wasn’t as big a crime as it used to be.

  People whispered about her for a week and then they were done. She’d gone to school and talked to Max’s teacher and the principal. To her relief, the teasing for Max had been nonexistent, mainly because his dead father had turned out to be someone famous.

  Klein checked in often, even asked if he should hunt Garrett down. But if she believed in the man she still loved with all her heart, she had to trust him, or they’d never get past their past.

  Kim had forgiven her. As Rosie said, she was a good friend. But she’d also taken a leave and gone back home on a secret emergency. All this cloak-and-dagger stuff was getting on Livy’s nerves.

  Rosie had been on her best behavior. Not an arrest in weeks. She was even civil to the sisters when she saw them, though Livy didn’t think that could last much longer.

  “Mom, look!” Max stood on the sidewalk in front of Garrett’s house. The place appeared dark, abandoned, haunted. What was so great about that?

  Then she saw where Max was pointing. The dining room coffin now sat in the middle of the lawn. The lid crept open, except no one appeared.

  “Uh, Mom.” Max appeared uneasy. ‘‘Can you…?” He waved his hand at the coffin.

  Livy let out an exasperated sigh, cloak-and-dagger, mystery-schmystery. She stomped over to the coffin and peered inside.

  ‘‘Boo!” Garrett said.

  She merely raised her brow. He was dressed like his son—white face, red lips, black cape. She couldn’t help but laugh. They were so alike it was scary.

  He climbed out of the coffin. “Did I scare you?”

  “Oh, yeah. Terrified me.”

  He opened his cape, gathered her inside and kissed her. At least the kiss was the same as it always had been, but when he pulled back, his eyes shimmered with an emotion she’d never seen there before and wasn’t able to place.

  “Everything all right?” she asked.

  “Why don’t you tell me?” He reached into the coffin and handed her several hundred pieces of paper.

  “The book?”

  “Most of it.”

  “What’s it about?”

  “A little boy with angel eyes.”

  Livy had no idea what that meant, but Garrett seemed thrilled. Though she was happy for him, disappointment tickled deep down inside. “You did need to get away, be alone, move along.”

  He shook his head. “Read the dedication.”

  Livy moved closer to the street where the lights shone on passing tiny tigers, Pooh-bears and ballerinas.

  For my Muse, Livy. And Max, my greatest work of art. It’s not what people do that gives them worth, but who loves them. Which makes me the richest man in the world.

  Her eyes burned. He’d heard her at last and seemed to believe it, too.

  “It’s beautiful, Garrett. But I thought you went searching for the Muse.”

  “My mistake. She was right here all the time. Love, Livy. It opened my heart, brought back all the magic. I thought new places, fresh vistas, adventure gave me the words. But the words were in me.”

  “I could have told you that, Dad.”

  Garrett opened the cape so Max could cuddle inside too. They must look like the strangest family in Savannah, and that was saying quite a bit.

  Family. That so
unded very good.

  “Since you went to a new place and found that illusive book, I don’t understand how you came to this conclusion.”

  “Because I went to that new place and got nothing, but when I came back here, I discovered what I needed had been there all along.”

  “You’ve been here.”

  “For the past three weeks.”

  Livy wondered if she should be mad, decided it wasn’t worth it and kissed him again. What she’d seen in his eyes had been confidence in himself.

  “Ugh!” Max escaped the cape. “If you’re going to do that, I’m going to the next house with Rosie.”

  Livy glanced at her mother, who had tears in her eyes. “I’ll take him a few places and we’ll be right back.”

  “Thanks.” She snuggled deeper into the cape, into Garrett “I could get used to this vampire getup. Dangerously sexy.”

  “You think so?”

  “Always have.”

  He hugged her tighter. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

  Livy smiled to herself. “I’ve got a bigger one for you.”

  She hoped he was happy with the surprise. She wanted everything to be perfect this time for them both.

  He released her to pull legal-size documents out of a hidden pocket in the cape. Were they moving to Alaska after all?

  And it would be “they,” because she wasn’t going to let him get away twice. No matter how much Savannah felt like home.

  But a glance at the papers revealed he’d bought the Alexander house.

  “Is that okay with you?” He sounded anxious, as she continued to stare at the deed. “I wanted us to have a place, and I didn’t think it fair to kick your mother out of the ancestral home.”

  “As if.”

  “Will you live with me here, raise our son, be my wife?”

  “Under one condition.”

  “Anything.”

  She raised a brow. “Anything? You haven’t heard what it is yet.”

  “Doesn’t matter. Anything is worth a lifetime with you. Name your price.”

  “A nursery.”

  “You want more kids? Great. I’m game.”

  “You’re gamer than you think.” She took his hand, placed it on her still-flat stomach. “We’ll need that nursery in less than eight months.”