Suddenly he’s dragged off me and I see him being flung, like trash, to the ground. “Keep your damn hands off her,” Max yells at Trent and lays a few swift kicks into his side.
“Fuck, you broke a rib,” Trent yelps in pain as he holds his side.
“Are you okay?” Max cradles my face in his hands, then kisses my forehead. “The police are on their way.”
“Max,” I mumble as I watch Trent writhing around on the parking lot concrete in pain.
Max looks toward Trent and shelters me from looking at him. “Don’t bother looking at him,” he says while standing over me, protectively.
As I hug Max, I peek from around his broad shoulders. Max barely touched Trent. Yet there’s tough guy Trent, twisting around as if he was beaten to within an inch of his life. Much like he’d actually done to me, and most likely Audrey.
The police are here within moments, and Trent is screaming at how Max beat him.
Peter comes out to see why there are police cars and an ambulance out behind his store.
“What happened?” he asks as one of the police officers whose separated Max from me and is taking his statement.
“Trent attacked me, told me he was going to kill me.” Although I can see Trent lying on the ground, I feel nothing for him. He’s rolling around, yelling and crying, but I don’t feel a single thing toward him. I don’t feel the knots in my stomach I used to feel when he hit me. I don’t even feel my pulse hammering through my veins in anticipation of the next blow. I’m completely numb toward him. I have no inclination to go to him and to make sure he’s alright. He’s nothing to me, and I feel just that toward him. Nothing.
“How’s the head, Lily? Your eye looks bad.”
I can already feel my eye swelling, and I know within an hour or two, it’ll be much worse. “I’ve suffered worse.”
“No more suffering.” He walks over to the police officer who’s cuffing Trent and he says something to him. He shakes hands with him, then heads back over to me.
“What happened?” I ask.
“Look up there.” Peter points to the back of the building and I look in the direction. And I see them. A cluster of cameras. “You see them.”
“I do,” I say, as I smile and shake my head.
Max stops talking to the police officer and comes over to me. “You need to get looked at,” he says as he points to my eye.
“No need, it’s not that bad,” I say. “But Peter just gave me some great news.”
“Which is?” he turns to Peter and asks. Peter just points to the cameras and Max lets out a chuckle. “But you still need to get looked at. Come on, I’m taking you to the hospital.”
“But the police?”
“We can go down after you’ve been looked at and give them your statement.” Max leads me to his car, and Peter is already walking with an additional police officer back toward the store.
“I’ll be glad when today is over,” I say as I relax back in the plush black leather seats of Max’s car.
“So will I,” Max adds as we drive toward the hospital.
What a difference a month makes.
As it turns out, Trent didn’t break anything of mine. Max, however, did manage to break two of Trent’s ribs. With the surveillance out in the back of the store, and what Trent said to me, he was arrested for attempted murder.
In turn, it all fell apart for Trent. Audrey pressed charges against him, and he ended up losing his job at the hospital where he was working. They didn’t want a felon working for them. His trial isn’t until toward the end of the year, and Trent is being held in prison until then.
Katherine has been such an integral part of my recovery. She’s been working with me extensively and I’m managing to get through it all.
Peter and Dale were right. I ended up receiving three more offers from publishing companies. And in an hour, Max and I are going to go see the one I’m most interested in. “Are you nervous?” Max asks as he brings me over a hot chocolate.
“You know what? I’m actually not. I’ve been approached by a lot of publishing companies, and I either have to travel, or I can’t keep working on my own list. And if I don’t get a job with one, well I’m busy enough to be able to leave the store if I want to. I’m booked three months in advance with now over twenty on a waitlist. So, no, I’m not nervous.”
“It makes me happy to see you happy, Snowflake.”
“You’ll have to think of a summer name for me, and alter them when the seasons change.” I put my laptop on my lap and finalize the last part of a read-through before I need to send it to my client.
“Did you hear what I said?” Max asks.
“Huh? Were you talking?”
Max stands and goes into the kitchen. “We’re going to be late,” he says as he points to the wall clock above the TV.
“Crap,” I holler as I place my laptop down and run into my room to get changed. Where did that forty minutes go? I change and go out to the family room where Max is chuckling to himself, leaning up against the kitchen counter. “Come on, stop standing around,” I tease as I head out the door. Max follows, laughing at my complete disarray.
We get down into the parking garage and Max jogs ahead, opening my door and waiting for me to get in before he jogs around and reverses out of the spot. “You don’t need to be nervous.”
“I’m not.” But really I am.
“Ha. You could’ve fooled me. You’re fidgeting and you keep fixing your hair. You look beautiful, and I’m sure they’ll be a good fit for you.” I nonchalantly shrug my shoulders, as if it’s not a big deal. “There you go again, pretending you don’t care.”
I look at him and smirk. “When have you gotten to know me so well?” It’s a rhetorical question. Max laughs and repeats my casual shrug. “Yeah, right,” I mumble under my breath.
We pull up in front of the address Miriam gave me, and I look up at the small building. This publishing company is really small. It’s made up of Miriam who’s the Director, one editor, one proofreader, and a personal assistant. “You ready?”
“I am.”
“Would you like me to come in with you?” Max asks. I silently nod my head. “Then let’s do this.”
We get inside and the personal assistant greets us. Her name is Xena and she’s young and full of life. Her hair is all different shades of pink and she has a piercing above her lip. She asks if we want anything to drink, Max and I both decline.
“Lily,” a relatively young woman says as she comes toward us.
Both Max and I stand, “Yes, hi, I’m Lily and this is my partner Max.”
“Pleased to meet you, ma’am,” Max says as he extends his hand.
Miriam looks at Max and smiles. “The pleasure is all mine.” Right away I look at her and stare blankly. I’ve had no problems understanding Max and his stutter, but I know all new people at first really struggle with him, which is why he’s content to not introduce himself. But Miriam responded to Max and answered him as if she understood. Or maybe she did understand him. Either way, her reaction is already marking her high on my list.
“Please, come into my office,” she pauses and laughs, “And my boardroom,” she pauses again, turns to look at me with an amused look, “And our staffroom.”
“It’s an all in one. Cozy,” I say looking around and noticing the stacks of paper down the other side of the conference table.
“MML Publications is only fairly small in comparison to the top five. But I’m expanding and always in need of editors. However, I don’t hire easily. I have one editor, one proofreader and our PA.”
“I’ve done my research, and I’ve also seen the authors you have.”
“You have?” she asks as she tilts her head and looks at me. “She’s a smart one,” Miriam says to Max.
“She certainly is,” he agrees.
“I’ve also done my research, which is why I approached you. I’ve been keeping track of the books you edit, and every single one of them has made a bestseller li
st somewhere. And that is impressive. This is what I can offer you.”
I put my hand up to stop her. “Before you tell me what you can offer me, I’m going to tell you what I want.”
Miriam looks at Max again and winks at him. “What would you like, Lily?”
“I’ve had a lot of offers, and I’ve rejected each and every one of them. But these are my terms. I want you to match what I get now for being a personal assistant at the store where I work, and I’m still able to work for clients of my own away from here.”
“I can’t agree to the last part,” Miriam interrupts to say.
“Here’s the thing, Miriam.” I cross my legs in a dainty way, knit my fingers together and place them on the table. “If I can still keep doing edits personally, then I can keep an eye out for new authors. And you never know where you’ll find the next big thing. You yourself have said every book I’ve worked on has gone on to place on some bestseller list somewhere. Wouldn’t you like me to bring them to you, so you can grow your company to be one of the ‘big five’?” I air quote ‘big five’ then sit back in my seat and watch her reaction.
I see her visibly swallow hard. “Are they your only conditions?”
“I’ll work from home when I want and in six months we’ll renegotiate my pay.”
“Well, this has certainly not gone as planned. This is what I was proposing. I’d match the pay you’re getting now. You’d work out of this office Monday to Friday, you wouldn’t be allowed to take on outside work, and we’d renegotiate in twelve months.”
“Hmmm,” I say nodding my head. “Seems you have a way to go to match my conditions.” Inside I’m nervous as anything. But Peter, Dale and Max keep telling me I’m worth so much more than I’m asking for, so stick to my conditions and don’t falter. And if I’m not a fit for MML Publications, then I’ll be a fit somewhere else.
Miriam stands and goes over to the door, which she opens and says to Xena, “Get a welcome package, with all the relevant forms.” I’m doing an internal dance, and I’m trying my hardest to contain my smile. “Welcome to MML Publications,” she says as she holds her hand out for a congratulatory shake.
When we finish talking, Max and I leave and we head home.
“Oh my God, can you believe it?” I say in the car, still on cloud nine from the happiness coursing through me.
“Of course. It was bound to happen.” He places his hand on my thigh, and I cover it with my hand. “Tonight, we’ll go out to celebrate.”
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Actually, when we get home, I want you to change into something comfortable, because we’re going somewhere before we go out to dinner.”
“Where?” I ask excitedly.
“I’m not telling, but I’ll give you fifteen minutes.”
We pull up in the garage and I’m out the door before Max even pulls the hand-brake up. I’m pressing the elevator button, I’m in and the doors close as I see Max running to make it. I hear him yell, “Okay then I’ll wait here.”
I go put jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers on, then go back down to the garage where Max’s very attractive, tall, broad body is leaning against his car. Suddenly I see him for so much more than he’s ever been to me before. He’s always been statuesque, a perfect marble carving of a Roman or Greek God. But right now, I’m completely floored by his casual, incredibly sexy appearance.
“Are you ready?” his silky voice asks.
“I am,” I respond. What I don’t say is I’m ready for so much more than just this outing he’s taking me on. I’m ready for him. “Where are we going?” I ask, suddenly completely aware of the beautiful man sitting beside me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always felt attraction toward him, but now I’m ready to take it to the next level. And I have no idea how to tell him.
“Somewhere you said you’ve never been.”
“Huh, care to give me another hint?”
“Nope,” he says and then starts to whistle.
About twenty minutes into our trip, Max pulls up outside a small, barn-like house. There’s a scratchy old sign hanging up outside which reads ‘Strawberry Museum.’ Of course, I can’t help but laugh. “A museum,” I say as I get out of the car and close the door. He remembered what I said in New York.
“I want to take you to the Louvre, but seeing as that’s over five thousand miles away and you’d need to get on a plane, I brought you to the world-famous Strawberry Museum,” he happily says as he points to the sign like one of those game-show girls. “Come on, let’s go see all things strawberry.”
We walk in, hand in hand and we look around the tiny museum. By tiny, I mean it’s an old house which has been converted into a museum. The back of the house leads out to an open courtyard which has tall trees and flowers and planter boxes filled with strawberry plants. There’s a small café attached which makes all things strawberry-related.
“Have you ever smelled anything as sweet as this?” I ask as the common fragrance of strawberries assaults us the moment we’re outside. “It smells like they’re making strawberry jam.” The smell of sugar cooking with the strawberries is undeniably one of the most fragrant aromas I’ve ever sensed.
“How about we share a strawberry sundae?” Max is already heading over to the café to get it before I even say anything.
We’re the only ones here and so I pick the best seat, the one with ribbons of sunlight touching my skin, but also the one closest to the planters of strawberries.
“The girl will bring it over when it’s ready.” He sits opposite me and looks around. “I did some research on museums, and this one was one of the most obscure ones I could find. It was either this or the toothbrush museum.”
“There’s a toothbrush museum?” I scrunch my nose at it, thinking of what could be on display there. Used toothbrushes?
“Yep, but when I saw they have strawberry sundaes, it brought me back to when Dad would take me out for ice cream after I came to live with him. It was a way for him to get me to talk. And I wanted to share with you how it felt for me as a kid to do something with someone who loved me.”
I lower my eyes and feel the tears starting. But these are happy tears. I feel so alive, and finally, after twenty-seven years, I’m finally starting to understand myself. “I love you, Max.” I look up to find him staring at me. “It’s taken me a while to allow myself to feel it, and realize I’m worthy to be loved. But I know I love you with everything I am. I’ve never known love before. I thought I did at one time, but I now understand that was a coping tool. You’ve been by my side and asked nothing of me, yet given me so much of yourself.”
“Snowflake,” he whispers as he draws his eyebrows together.
“It’s taken me a long time. But now I know I am worthy of love, and I’m in love with you.” Max is quiet for a scary, long moment.
“That’s all I’ve ever wanted to hear,” he says.
“That I love you?”
He shakes his head. “No snowflake, to hear you say you’re worthy.”
I stare into his hungry, loving eyes and break down.
The ice cream sundae ended up being the most delicious thing I’d ever eaten. Not because it was sweet and gooey. Not because it had an abundance of strawberries and strawberry sauce. But because I shared it with the man I love.
We’re heading home now, forgoing dinner at some restaurant and opting for take-out instead. My cell phone rings, and I take it out of my bag.
“Girl, you sitting down?” Shayne says before I even have a chance to say hello.
“Max and I are on our way home, so yes ma’am, I’m sitting down.”
“Put me on speaker, I want to tell you both something.”
“Hang on,” I say and turn to Max. “Shayne wants me to put her on speaker, she wants to tell us something.” Max nods his okay. “You’re on speaker, Shayne,” I say and hold the phone between Max and myself.
“You know the trip to Disneyland you got Liam and me for Christmas?”
“I
do,” I answer.
“You know how Liam and I had the best. Time. EVER?” she yells.
“Yep, I do. You kept sending me pictures of all the rides you were on. And even one with you trying to feel up Prince Charming.”
Max laughs and so do I.
“Hell yeah, girl. That man was F.I.N.E.”
“I’m right here, you know,” I hear Liam grumble in the background.
“Be quiet you,” she says to Liam playfully. “Anyway, you know how Liam and I had a heap of crazy-ass monkey sex?”
I slap my hand to my forehead and shake my head. “Yes, I do recall the messages telling me how many times you and Liam were having sex.” Max laughs again.
“Seems one of those times worked.”
It takes me a split second, less than a split second to know what she’s saying. Suddenly, without my control I start screaming. Shayne starts screaming, and Max pulls over to the side of the road.
“Oh my God,” I say through the hysterical crying and screaming. “Congratulations.”
“Congratulations, Shayne. And to you too, Liam,” Max says as he grabs the phone before I drop it from all the excitement.
“So, anyway. Barbecue, our house, next Sunday,” Shayne manages to say once she’s stopped screaming. “You’re going to be the best auntie in the world, Lily.”
“We’ll be there,” Max responds on behalf of us both.
Then the realization hits me. I’m going to be an auntie. Not to my brother’s child, but to my best friend’s child. “Yeah, we’ll be there,” I say, mustering as much happiness I can.
“Bye, guys,” Shayne says and hangs up.
“Are you okay?” Max asks as he puts the phone down between us. I smile and nod, then my nod turns into a shake. “What is it?”
“I’m so happy for them to have a baby. Really I am. But she said I’m going to be an aunt. How can I be? I’m…”
Max moves so he’s cupping my face in his hands, his thumbs tenderly stroking my cheeks. “You’ll be the best aunt in the world to that child. You know why?” I shake my head. “Because you were chosen.” I feel my lips twist up in a slight smile. “And one day, you may even want to give their little son or daughter, a cousin to play with.” I rapidly blink at Max.
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