Fall in Love

by Anthology

  “I ordered us drinks and salads. I hope that’s okay,” Kaylie said.

  “Sure, whatever. You know I don’t care. How’re Trevor and Lexi? Chaz said they loved the cake.”

  “Who wouldn’t love cake for breakfast? I’m such a bad mom.” Kaylie was one of the best moms that Max knew. She spoiled her kids with love and attention rather than gifts, even though they were wealthy enough to buy anything on the planet.

  Max listened to Kaylie, but her mind was on the chocolate cake, which brought her back to Treat. She stared at their little booth, and dinner with Treat the evening before came rushing back. Max suddenly, desperately, longed for him.

  “What’s going on with you? You look like you just lost your best friend, which is really silly because I’m sitting right here with you.”

  Kaylie had a way of making Max smile. “Ha-ha,” Max said with a smirk.

  The waitress brought their lunch. Max took a sip and relished the sweetness on her tongue. Treat’s kisses. Don’t think about tongues.

  “This” —Kaylie used her fork to draw a big circle in the air across from Max’s face— “is because of Treat, isn’t it? You’ve got it bad. So, catch me up.”

  Max covered her face with her hand and groaned. “Oh God, it’s…it’s complicated.”

  “Listen, I’ve seen it all and if I haven’t seen it, then I’ve helped someone else through it.” Kaylie took a bite of salad.

  “It’s pretty embarrassing.”

  “Any good relationship is. I swear, between you and my sister, I worry that I’m the freak when it comes to this stuff, because I don’t find anything about sex or relationships embarrassing. It’s all just…part of it.”

  Max looked at her friend’s expectant eyes. She wasn’t used to talking about dating and men. She didn’t have other close female friends, and she’d always drawn a thick line between work and pleasure and was careful to keep the two separate. Max was used to solving things on her own, but this time she felt like she couldn’t see the trees beyond the shore. She needed to talk things through with her best friend, even if Kaylie was her boss’s wife.

  “Okay, start with the basics. The man sent you a cake, and then waited for you in the dark for hours. You don’t have to go into details. I mean, it’s obvious that something happened and something went very wrong.”

  “You could say that again.” Max leaned across the table and whispered, “We were…you know…and I freaked out and kicked him out.” She slid back into her seat, mortified that she’d just admitted it out loud.

  “Wait!” Kaylie waved her hands frantically. “You were in middle of having sex and you told him to leave? Why?”

  The people at the neighboring tables looked over. Max shrank down low in the booth and shielded her eyes from them.

  Kaylie noticed the stares aimed at Max. She put on a serious face and said to the gawkers, “What? Like you’ve never done that? Pfft!” She waved a dismissive hand at them and they turned away. She reached across the table and touched Max’s hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. Move over.” She scooted out of her side of the booth and plopped herself next to Max.

  “Okay,” she said quietly. “So, what was it? Was his manhood small? Like your pinky? Or was he rude? Did he smell? Was he mean? God, I hate mean guys.”

  Max cringed. “No, none of those things. He’s big.”

  Kaylie arched a brow.

  “Okay, really big.” Max smiled. “And he’s so romantic. The things he says to me make me swoon like a teenage groupie. Oh, and the way he smells is like…heaven…only better. The way he smells makes me want to climb right into his arms and never leave.” Max put her hand over her heart. “He’s just…Oh, Kaylie. I sound like an idiot, but when I look into his eyes, there’s so much there. It’s like, you know how in the movies the guy looks at the girl and her knees go weak and you can just see that she’s melting and holding herself back from ripping his clothes off at the same time? That’s it. That’s me.”

  Kaylie shook her head. “Wow, Max. I mean, wow. Then why did you kick him out? Is he all that and a terrible lover? What a shame that would be.” Kaylie narrowed her eyes and twisted the end of her hair around her finger. Her blue eyes focused on her glass, and her lips turned down, as if she were mulling over a tragedy.

  “No,” Max said in a breathy voice. Since when do I have diarrhea of the mouth—about men? She couldn’t stop herself from talking about Treat. It felt so good to release the feelings that were only getting hotter by the second. “His kisses are sizzling hot, and when he touches me, my whole body wants him to touch me more. And as far as…you know…a-mazing. Really, not that I’ve been with many men—”

  “Yeah, well, I used to wonder if you were gay, because you never even talked about men.”

  Max made a face.

  “Sorry!” Kaylie laughed. “You never even alluded to having a date, so what was I supposed to think?”

  “That I was a private person,” Max answered.

  “Whatever. So, he’s hot, well hung, and talented where it counts. So what’s the issue? I swear, Max, if you’re one of those women with some strange hang-up about feet or something, I’m gonna slap you right upside your head.”

  Max laughed. “If the rest of him is any indication, his feet could be in footwear modeling ads.” Max relaxed back into the corner of the booth and let out a breath. She had to be honest with Kaylie. No—she wanted to be honest. How could she figure this out if she wasn’t honest with Kaylie and herself?

  “Remember when we were in Nassau and you guys saw me in the same clothes I’d worn the night before?” Max closed her eyes against the pain of her impending admission.

  “Your walk-of-shame outfit? Of course.” Kaylie’s eyes opened wide. “Oh my God. You were with Treat?”

  “No. That’s just it. I wasn’t. I was with Justin, just as I told you guys. But we didn’t do anything more than kiss good night.”

  “Max, you’re killing me. I still don’t get it.”

  “Well, I never said anything, but when Treat and I first met, there was a connection, or something. I don’t know what you would call it, but the second our eyes locked, it was like…”

  “We all saw it. Love at first sight. Of course, I said lust at first sight at the time, but you know my sister. She swears by love at first sight ever since she fell in love with Blake.”

  “I don’t know if it was love, but it was something strong.” Love? Do I love him? I can’t love him. You don’t fall in love overnight. That’s a fantasy. “Something that made me pull away every time I saw him after that first time. And he kept looking at me. It was like everywhere I went, he was there, looking at me like he wanted to devour me, but he never said anything. He didn’t ask me out, didn’t do anything but stare.”

  “You are so blind, Max.” Kaylie took a sip of her tea. “The man kissed your hand and stared into your eyes. Doesn’t that sound like a romance novel to you? He didn’t do that to any of us. How could you miss that?”

  “I was too busy picking my jaw up from the floor and trying to tamp down the desire to jump him to notice much of anything else.” She thought of when they’d first met, and Kaylie was right. He looked right through her with those seductive eyes. “I remember feeling naked. Like he was seeing so much more of me than anyone else could see.”

  Kaylie let out a dreamy breath. “Isn’t that the greatest feeling? That instant when you know someone recognizes that you’re something more than what anyone else sees? I remember that with Chaz.”

  “Hey, we’re talking about me here. Focus,” Max teased. “Anyway, that afternoon before the rehearsal dinner, I went down to the lobby and basically hung out, hoping I’d see him. When he wasn’t anywhere in sight, I went outside and walked around the grounds. Did you know there were three pools, not just one? That place was amazing. Anyway, I ended up on the beach, where I met Justin, and he asked me out.” She took a drink, building up her defenses for what she had to tell Kaylie and h
ow it would make her feel to say it aloud. She didn’t want pity from her. She needed answers, and relationships weren’t like logistics. She could navigate logistics with her eyes closed.

  “Treat saw me the next morning. He thought I had slept with Justin, I guess. I didn’t really know what he thought at the time, but it was pretty obvious that he thought I was a whore.”

  “Max!” Kaylie gasped. “No, you’re wrong. You have to be. Everyone has a one-night stand at some point, and I’m sure Treat’s had many.”

  “I never have,” she admitted.

  “Wait. Never, as in never, never?”

  Max shook her head. “Not once, and not that night either.”

  “We’ll talk about that after. Wow. Okay, let’s figure this out first. So what did Treat say?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?”

  “Nope. It was how he looked at me, like I was dirty.” She lowered her voice. “Like I was cheap and slutty. You know how a guy can look down at you and you know just what he’s thinking?” Max touched the end of her hair, then dropped her hands to her lap, and finally, crossed her arms to guard her heart from reliving the pain all over again.

  “Oh, yeah. I know that look all too well, but unlike you, I give it right back with a quick retort that takes them to their knees.”

  Max smiled. “Yeah, you would.”

  “But that’s me, not you. Oh, Maxy. I’m so sorry. What did you say? Please tell me you said something to him to straighten him out.”

  Max shook her head. “I wouldn’t even know what to say. I’ve never been in that situation before. I think I just blushed like a child and looked down at the floor. That’s kind of my normal go-to reaction with anything uncomfortable besides work.”

  “I can’t even imagine how you must have felt. I mean, I’ve seen you rip people to shreds in a business environment. No offense or anything, but you get shit done and you don’t take any flack. You know, I guess this just shows us how multifaceted you are. You’re a ballbuster at work, a seductress in the bedroom, and a sensitive kitten at heart.” She brushed a strand of hair that had come loose from Max’s ponytail from her face. “Max, you must really care about him.”

  “I think I do,” she admitted. “But I don’t want to be treated like that by anyone ever again.” She’d never told Kaylie about her ex-boyfriend who made her feel worthless every single day for months on end. Until one night when his verbal abuse had taken a turn for the worse and he’d done things to her that she couldn’t even think about. He’d grabbed her so roughly that she’d had bruises on her wrist for a week. Max had a good relationship with her mother, but her mother was of the mind-set that women didn’t share the trials and tribulations of one’s relationships. Because of that, when it came to her boyfriends, Max had never confided in her mother—in good times or in bad. And when Max had answered the phone crying the evening her boyfriend had done those terrible things to her, she’d been unable to put two sentences together, and her mother hadn’t even asked what had gone so wrong. With the space that always felt so empty between them, Max hadn’t expected her mother to be able to interpret her sobs; yet somehow she had. Her mother had two words for her: Get out. That was the night Max packed her bags and drove halfway across the country, leaving that weak persona, and—she’d thought—that broken girl, behind.

  Luckily, Kaylie didn’t ask whether she’d ever been treated like that before. She assumed that Max had been referring to that one look from Treat.

  “And you shouldn’t ever have to,” Kaylie said, pulling Max into a hug.

  Max wiped the tears that had filled the corners of her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be a buzzkill.”

  “Who’re you kidding? You’re not a buzzkill. A buzzkill is sending a guy out in the middle of the night mid-you-know-what.” She smiled.

  “Yeah, about that. That night before we…moved into the bedroom, he was trying to apologize, but I didn’t want to hear it. I was afraid I’d just get pissed off and, Kaylie, I wanted him so badly. I’ve never wanted anyone or anything as much as I wanted to be with him in that way.”

  “That’s love, girl. I mean, there’s horny sex and then there’s love. Were you thinking about what you wanted to get done after he left?” Kaylie’s eyes were serious, contemplative.

  “No. I couldn’t think past my next breath.”

  “Were you comparing him to your other lovers?”

  “I can count them all on one hand, and no. I seriously couldn’t think. I could barely speak.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “And it made me do things that I’d never initiate with anyone else.”

  “Yup, that’s how you know. So, did he ever get to apologize? I mean, what pissed you off so badly that you had to kick him out? I’m still missing something.”

  Max pulled her shoulders back and said, “I couldn’t push the image of that look away. It’s stupid, and I know that, but I didn’t want to be treated like that in the future, and even though he did all the right things and said things that made my toes curl, I just didn’t want to take the chance. So the wall came right back up. Brick and mortar, ten feet high. There was no way he was getting through.”

  “Girl, you’re harsh.” Kaylie shook her head. “Did he get pissed?”

  Max shook her head. “He was gracious. I think he really wanted to talk, like he was having sex with me because I pushed it, but he’d rather have talked things through first. And then he showed up at work last night, but you know that already.”

  “That was good, right? I thought it was so romantic.”

  “Yeah, it was.” Max smiled, thinking about their walk and the dinner they’d shared. “He told me stuff that he’s never told anyone else.”

  “If he really and truly did not do one of those…” She lowered her voice an octave. “Oh yeah, baby, you tell me, I’ll tell you kind of things, where you know they’re just trying to get into your pants, then that’s a really clear indicator that he’s feeling for you what you’re feeling for him.”

  “I know.” Max dug into her purse and pulled out the two handwritten notes from Treat. “I was an idiot. I didn’t really react to what he told me. I think I was too shocked. When I got home, these were in a bag on my doorknob. He’d put them there before we had dinner, and he showed up to take them after dinner, but I was already there.” She shrugged. “And then he said goodbye before I read them. Only I didn’t realize he meant goodbye, goodbye.”

  Kaylie read the notes. “Oh, Max. Where is he now?”

  “I don’t know. He left town in the middle of the night.”

  “You broke his little heart,” Kaylie said. She must have noticed the hurt in Max’s eyes about the realization of Treat’s hasty departure. “We have to find him. You have to go to him.”

  Max shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m sort of thinking about going away for a few days to figure things out. He told me that his favorite place was Wellfleet in Cape Cod, and I’ve never been. So I was thinking I’d go there, and…” She shrugged. “Maybe fate will step in, maybe not.” Fate? Had she really said fate? She had, and the more she thought about fate, the more she wondered about it. Maybe it was fate that had brought them together in the first place, at the gates of the festival, and maybe fate could step in again. Max hadn’t even been thinking about going to the Cape until the words left her lips, and now, the more she thought about going, the more right it felt. Even if she didn’t see Treat, it would help her to figure out where her heart stood on the whole matter—though now that she knew where she was heading, every bit of her hoped fate would step in and show her the way.

  Kaylie groaned. “Has my sister gotten to you? Danica is all about fate and destiny.” She rolled her eyes. “I believe in lusty love and creating your life. Listen, you have to make this happen. Find out where he is first and then go see him. Don’t chance it, counting on fate. Otherwise, you’ll never know what could have happened. He’ll always be the one who got away.”

  Max wasn’t l
istening. She’d already moved on to the romantic notion of the Cape. “Do you think Chaz will give me the week off?”

  “What? You’re seriously considering this? Are you going to call him?”

  She’d almost forgotten that she had his number. “Nope. Something tells me that I need to do this on my own. If fate doesn’t step in, then it doesn’t, but at least this time I’ll be following my heart without anything holding me back.”

  “Who are you and what have you done with my Max?” Kaylie asked.

  Max’s eyes grew wide. “Do you think Chaz would mind? It’s only four workdays, since we’re closed today. I haven’t taken a sick day in…well, I’ve taken three in the eight years I’ve worked there, and I never take vacation, except a few days here and there to visit my parents.” Her mind spun with hope.

  “Who are you kidding? Chaz is a romantic. If I tell him why you’re going, he’ll drive you there himself. In fact, here.” Kaylie dug her wallet out of her purse and handed Max her airline frequent-flyer card. “Use our account and you can fly practically free with Chaz’s frequent-flyer miles.”

  Max’s eyes lit up. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, of course. We have too many to ever use anyway. Just log into our account, and make sure when you book it that the actual ticket is in your name. If they need me to call and confirm the purchase, just let me know.”

  Max hugged her. “You’re a saint! Thank you! I’ll call Chaz as soon as we leave here, just so he also hears it from me. I need to ask him, even if he tells you it’s okay, right?” She didn’t wait for Kaylie to answer. “Of course I do. It’s the right thing to do.” Just like going to Wellfleet. It feels right.

  They paid the bill and headed out of the restaurant.

  “Kaylie, do you think I’m being stupid? I mean, the guy owns a zillion resorts. He could be anywhere in the world.”

  “Yes, I think you are one hundred percent wacked out of your mind, but if I were Danica, I’d be gushing and telling you how you are doing the right thing and that the spirit gods are all on your side!” She shook her head. “Or some crazy shit like that.”