by Hope, Amity
“Fine. Here’s the thing. He didn’t run after you. He hasn’t even called. I just…I thought he would. I mean, he should. If it were me, I’d be chasing you down. No matter where you went. I mean…” He raked his hand through his hair. “If I was in his situation I would’ve never let you walk away. Well, scratch that because I’d never do what he did to get himself in that situation in the first place. But the rest of it, I can’t believe he just let you go. Because I never would’ve. Hypothetically speaking.”
He stopped his ramble and blinked at me.
“Right.” I said. “So it’s obvious. He wants nothing to do with me. He’s probably glad I’m gone.”
“That’s what you got out of what I said?” Max asked. “What I was trying to say is that you deserve someone who treats you—”
“Max!”
We were both startled by the appearance of a perky girl at the side of our table. A quick glance alerted me to the fact that she was our waitress. She had a blue half-apron around her waist and a notepad in her hand.
“Hey!” Max said, looking surprised. “Tori! I didn’t know you were going to be around this summer.”
She shrugged. “I know. I wasn’t supposed to be back. But I lived in the dorms during the school year. They close them up for three months. I couldn’t find a place off campus that I could afford for the summer.” She looked embarrassed over her admission. “So, um yeah, I’m living with my mom until I go back in the fall. And they let me have my old job back. So, here I am, living at home.” She let out a little high-pitched laugh as color flooded her cheeks.
“Our dorms don’t stay open, either. I moved back in with my parents, too,” I told her, thinking she had nothing to be embarrassed about. It wasn’t a lie. I had moved back into my old room for a week. It was undoubtedly where I’d be staying as soon as I went back to Chamberlain, now that I wouldn’t be living with Collin. Also, I realized with a pang of regret, I hadn’t had a reason to put in a dorm request. Now, it was probably too late. It looked like I would be staying with my parents for the entire school year.
I realized Tori’s gaze had settled on me. Her expression was questioning.
“Oh, sorry, hi,” I said. “I’m Holly, a friend of Max’s. I’m just visiting.”
“Oh, well, nice to meet you. I know Max from way back. We went to school together.” Her questioning look turned to one of practiced politeness. When she turned to Max, it slid into something else entirely. “Are you here for the summer again?”
“Uh, actually, I’m here to stay,” he admitted.
I leaned back in the booth to watch the interaction. Her expression had turned to one of pure delight.
“Really?” she asked and he nodded. Without looking at me she said, “Maybe we can get together? I mean, after your friend goes home?”
His gaze flickered to mine. I knew I was wearing a bemused smile. For some reason, he scowled at me. By the time he returned his gaze to Tori, she’d scribbled her number onto a page of her little notepad. She tore it off and slid it in front of Max.
He blinked at her. Instead of acknowledging her phone number he told her we needed a few more minutes. She left, smiling.
“That actually happens?” I asked. I pointed at the number written down for him.
“I guess,” he said with a shrug. He stared at it, not moving to tuck it away or program it into his phone.
“Don’t let me stop you.”
Max snorted a laugh. “What? You want me to chase after her?”
“I’m just saying I wouldn’t mind. I mean just because I’m still wallowing, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be out having fun.”
“You really wouldn’t care?”
I shrugged. “I really wouldn’t.”
Max’s gaze cut across the tables. We were hitting the post lunch shift and the place wasn’t very crowded. For once I couldn’t decipher the look on Max’s face. The way he was looking at Tori confused me. It was almost a look of…resignation.
“Don’t look so glum,” I teased. “You could do a lot worse.”
“No. I know. She’s nice enough. I just,” he shrugged, “I don’t know if I want to start anything. I mean, as long as you’re here, I just want to spend the time with you. You know? Before you leave.”
“Max,” I said with a laugh. “I might be here for awhile. You’ve got plenty of time to squeeze in a few dates now. You know, catch her before someone else steals her away. Then later, after I leave…”
I cut myself off because I didn’t like the way he was looking at me. As if I’d offended him somehow.
“What? Is she just not your type? You already said she was nice enough.” I realized that wasn’t exactly a glowing evaluation. But I didn’t understand why he looked so irritated over my suggestion.
The girl was cute, adorable really. She was petite, probably barely over five feet tall, putting her at nearly a foot shorter than Max. She had creamy skin, deep, midnight blue eyes, and a light smattering of freckles. She had shoulder length, raven-colored hair. Curly—corkscrew-curl—curly hair.
“Ohhh,” I said, a grin spreading across my face.
“No. Not ‘ohhh.’ Stop it,” Max ordered.
“Is that…?” I raised my eyebrows and let the question hang in the air. No wonder he was suddenly so aloof. This was the girl he’d told me about. I was sure of it. He was probably embarrassed.
He ignored me.
“Max, she’s really cute,” I finally whispered as I watched her walk across the floor. I mentally cringed because ‘cute’ wasn’t exactly what a girl our age aspired to be. I knew this because I couldn’t recall how many times I had been referred to as cute. Not a knock-out. Not gorgeous. Not beautiful, stunning or even pretty. Just…cute.
“Max. I think you’re blushing,” I teased.
He made a sound, deep back in his throat. I couldn’t help but giggle. Max was so worked up, he was actually growling at me.
“I could flag her over again,” I said as I reached for my napkin. “She’s obviously interested. I really think you need to date more.”
Max was a sweetheart, the big teddy bear-ish type. The kind of guy most girls thought of as a friend. Here was a girl that was clearly interested. His hesitation didn’t make sense to me.
I eyed her up again. She had an ice-cream sundae in each hand and her eyes kept drifting to Max. I could see the light, tell-tale blush that colored her cheeks from across the room. He didn’t notice her blush because he was busy glowering at me.
“Don’t do that,” he ordered. “Don’t be checking out my ex. It’s just…it’s wrong. And weird. And just…Stop.”
“So did you finally get to kiss the girl?” I teased. Judging by the way she was gazing at him, she didn’t hold a grudge over losing a hunk of hair years ago.
He nodded but was making a point of looking at the menu.
“So you actually dated?” I pressed.
“Last summer for awhile when I was here,” he paused. “Okay, maybe it was the whole time I was here. But we ended it when I left. Like she said, she wasn’t supposed to be back this summer.”
“But now she is,” I said as I pointed out the obvious.
“Guess so,” Max agreed.
I narrowed my eyes at him and crossed my arms over my chest. “You had a summer fling! And you didn’t even tell me about it! What else are you holding out on me?”
His eyes flew to mine, pleading with me to let it drop.
“Okay,” I relented. “But are you at least going to take her number?”
His cheeks reddened a few shades deeper. “I already have it. I mean, I never deleted it after last summer. I just didn’t think of it.”
“Ohhh,” I said again. My lips were twitching in a smile. It was fun to watch Max squirm.
He rolled his eyes at me but made no move to take the napkin.
I waited until Tori was facing the opposite direction, wrapped up in taking an order. Then I slid the napkin to my side of the table, folded it up and
put it in my purse.
“Why would you do that?” Max demanded.
I shrugged. “Because you weren’t taking it. Like I said, it’ll hurt her feelings if you just leave it sitting there. Unless you want to simply tell her you still have her number?”
He waved the menu in front of my face. “You should try the bacon cheeseburger.”
“I think I’m just getting ice-cream.” I hadn’t had much of an appetite the past few days. After the conversation with my mother earlier, what little appetite I’d had faded again.
“Okay,” he said as he finally looked in Tori’s direction. “We should order so we can get out of here.”
“Max,” I grumbled.
“Hey,” he said, “there’s just a lot I want to show you.”
“Max!” a voice boomed from behind me. I looked over my shoulder.
“Hey, Darren!” Max said. “Are you working here now, too?”
Darren nodded. “Yeah, I am. What are you doing here? Visiting your grandparents?”
Max explained to him that he’d moved back. He filled him in on his plans for the fall.
“Cool,” Darren said. “Maybe we’ll end up in some classes together.” His gaze, which had been flickering from Max to me, now found me again and lingered. He grinned, eyeing me up and making me shift around uncomfortably. “And you are…?”
“Not available,” Max said. His tone was teasing but firm.
“Hi, Darren, I’m Holly,” I said.
“Are you two…?” He pointed a finger, swinging it from Max to me.
Tori had returned with her notepad. A small frown had appeared.
“Uh, no,” Max said. I shook my head to confirm.
“Holly’s only here for a little while,” Tori supplied. “She’s just visiting Max.”
“Oh, okay.” Someone bellowed his name from behind the counter. “See you around, Max. Holly,” he said with a little nod.
“Yeah, sure,” Max agreed.
“Are you ready to order yet?” Tori asked. Her eyes flicked to where the napkin had been. She smiled slightly, most likely assuming Max had stuffed it into his pocket. He nodded and Tori said, “Bacon cheeseburger, no pickles, no onions, hold the mustard? Waffles fries? Oh, and a glass of root beer?”
“Yes,” Max said. “And Holly wants—”
“A banana split, please.”
“Got it!” she said with a perky little smile. She sashayed away. I noticed that Darren was craning his neck, watching her go.
“So, I’m not available?” I asked. It hit me then, that for the first time in nearly three years, I was.
Max looked startled. “Oh…yeah, that. Trust me. You don’t want to be available when it comes to him.”
I didn’t argue. I’d seen the lecherous way he’d been checking out Tori while he was supposed to be working. I wasn’t impressed. She came back from the kitchen, sneaking surreptitious glances at Max as she scooted out to check on another table.
Max flicked a glance at me.
I smiled reassuringly. I knew Max could be adorably shy. I didn’t want to embarrass him. “I won’t say another word.”
Chapter 9
“Are you going to stand in front of that aquarium all day?” Max teased.
“Maybe,” I said. I glanced at him. The room we were in was dim, the tanks were lit up inside. I liked the feel of the place.
By the time we had finished eating, the sky was a questionable, rugged gray. We walked back to the house. Instead of spending some time on the beach, like we’d planned, Max decided to show me around the town.
Not long after we were tucked inside of his car, the rain started coming down. He pointed out places along the way. Among the places he showed me were the school he’d gone to, the nearest grocery store, the city park and the university he would be attending in the fall. The campus looked beautiful. Its flowerbeds were overflowing with vibrant colored blossoms that broke up the monotony of the red brick buildings. Max had told me that their business program was good. But their journalism program was better.
When we’d passed the Sapphire Bay Aquarium, we’d stopped on a whim. We really had nothing better to do. I felt like Max was simply humoring me but since he really didn’t seem to mind, I let him.
We’d already made our way through the complex once. It had been a decent enough way to pass a rainy afternoon. The place was huge, most of it was indoors. I saw more forms of sea life than I’d ever seen before. It was a quiet workday afternoon so we didn’t have to fight a crowd. Max and I’d spent a ridiculous amount of time petting stingrays.
On the way out, I’d stopped at the sea horse tank again.
“I could watch them all day,” I said.
They were the coolest little creatures. They looked so peaceful and content just bobbing along. I found them sort of fascinating, really.
“Not as scary as the sharks?” he teased.
I poked a finger into his chest. “Hey, those shark tanks can break. It happens!”
We had walked through a long tunnel, a tube really, that went through an enormous shark tank. It was an eerie feeling, walking through as too many sharks to count glided all around. They were above us and below us, essentially surrounding us on all sides. I had clutched on to Max’s arm. He was kind enough to not peel me off.
“You and your phobias,” he said. He shook his head, mocking me.
“I don’t have phobias. I just don’t like spiders. Or sharks. Or snakes.”
“Or heights, or mice, or small places,” he added on.
“Hey, that doesn’t count. You know I was just taken by surprise.” I knew he was referring to the time I’d been locked inside of the darkroom. I’d gone in to check on some photos he’d taken for the photography class we were both in. The door had closed behind me. I may have panicked just a little until Max had shown up. I’d tumbled out of the room, nearly knocking him down. He’d calmly rubbed my back until my heart stopped trying to jump out of my chest.
“What’s your excuse for the fire tower?” he wondered.
I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at him. He had me and he knew it. Our science class had taken a trip to the forestry center our senior year. Everyone had taken their turn, in groups of ten, trudging to the top of the tower to check out the view. All one hundred feet to the top. Everyone except for me.
“Fine,” I relented. “I have some silly fears. Sometimes, I tend to be overly cautious. What can I say? I’m flawed.”
“Nah,” he said as he reached over to mess up my hair. “You’re not flawed. You’re just quirky. Besides, you’re kind of funny when you’re scared.” A smirk was trying to force its way out. “When that big shark came toward us, I thought you were going to tear my arm right off. In fact,” he said as he rubbed his bicep, “I think you may have drawn blood.”
“I wasn’t scared. They just kind of make me nervous. These,” I said as I pointed to the delicate looking seahorses, “are much more fun to look at.”
He apparently tired of teasing me because he changed the subject.
“Well, the sun is out, now. So you can either watch those all day or we could get some beach time in,” he told me.
I decided going back to the beach house sounded like a good idea. I’d started to unpack a few things that morning. But I hadn’t really had a chance to settle in or explore. As we were leaving the aquarium I stopped in the gift shop.
I followed the maze through the displays, not really sure what I was looking for. Max good-naturedly followed along behind me. We wove our way through the store, sidestepping a few other people and swerving around racks.
I stopped in front of a display of sand dollars.
“I love these things,” I told him.
“You can find those,” Max said. “On the beach I mean. I used to collect them when I was a kid.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “Yeah, usually after a storm is best. They wash up on shore. No sense buying them when you can collect them. Finding them yoursel
f is way more fun.”
“That makes sense,” I said.
I put the sand dollar I was holding back in the enormous ceramic bowl it had been resting in. I was determined to buy some sort of souvenir. I took off again, bypassing the racks of stuffed sharks, turtles and puffer fish. I found myself at the back of the shop. The back wall was covered in t-shirts. I found a completely cheesy, entirely touristy pink t-shirt adorned with shimmery silver seahorses.
I held it up to my chest. “Do you like it?”
Max made a face at me but kept his comments to himself.
Twenty minutes later, we were home.
The rain had stopped and the sun had managed to force its way through the clouds. The air was warm again, even if there was a breeze. We went in and changed into our swimsuits. I spent a few minutes picking up some things I’d left lying around my room. I had to dig around in my bag to find a rubber band so I could hoist my hair up.
I checked my phone and answered texts from both Dani and Felicia. Both asked if I was doing okay. To my surprise, I was. For the most part, anyway. If I let thoughts of Collin creep into my head, my chest was filled with a dull ache. Somehow, I’d managed to keep my thoughts of him to a minimum.
My mom had left a few voicemails. I decided I’d call her back later. I was surprised to see that my dad and Gwen had called as well.
Of course, there were no calls from Collin.
I sent off another quick text to Lanna to let her know I was doing fine. Then I shut my phone off again.
I wandered out to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of water. Max had already gone out. I could see him through the glass doors. He was pacing the shoreline. The waves looked calmer than they had been earlier in the day. He seemed to be inspecting the ground, intent on finding the perfect place for us to sit. I wasn’t sure what difference fifteen or twenty feet made but he looked a bit preoccupied. After a little more wandering, he seemed to find an acceptable spot. He spread out the blanket as I finished up my glass of water.
The fresh air hit me the moment I stepped through the door. I hadn’t really had a chance to look around much. It had gotten dark so quickly the night before. I’d been busy with other things earlier that morning. Now that I had the time, I stood on the deck and took in my surroundings.