by Hope, Amity
He disconnected before I could respond. I stood there, holding the phone to my ear. Mike had said that Max loved me and Lanna had, too. I thought they were teasing or at the very least exaggerating. I knew Max wouldn’t say it if he didn’t mean it. I smiled as I tossed my phone back onto the bed. I couldn’t wait to hear him say it in person.
***
I was so exhausted I managed to do something I’d never done before. I slept on the plane. The best part of this was that when I awoke, I was in Chamberlain. My body was humming with excitement and anticipation. I couldn’t wait to see Max. One night without him, under such stressful circumstances, had been far too much.
I pulled my bag out of the overhead compartment and impatiently waited to deplane. I waited my turn and then followed the crowd as we disembarked. I was glad I only had my carry on and didn’t need to deal with the baggage claim. I wheeled it along behind me as I hurried to the exit.
As I strolled through the doors that led out of the airport, I was swallowed up in a hug comprised of nearly six feet of blond bombshell.
“Lanna!” I cried as I squeezed her back. “What are you doing here?”
“Max called me,” she said as she released me. “He was going to use Mike’s truck to come get you. Right before he was getting ready to leave, Mike disappeared with it. I didn’t have time to go get him and get here to get you. So,” she grinned, “I’m bringing you to him.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing I would see him soon. I was happy to see Lanna but I was desperate to see Max.
“I told you last night that everything would work out,” Lanna said. “And it worked out even better than I thought because now you’re here!”
“How was your date?” I asked as we slipped into her car.
She scowled at me as she slammed her door. “Let’s just say he’s no Max and leave it at that.”
“No second date?” I guessed.
“No second date,” she confirmed.
“So, where is Max now?” I asked.
“Actually, I figured Felicia owed him. She’s picking him up from Mike’s and she’s bringing him to my house. Mom and the moron are gone for the weekend. You two can have the place to yourselves to talk. I figured you wouldn’t get that at your parents’ house or Mike’s. He was at his mom’s earlier but she’s having friends over or something.”
“Things still aren’t going well with Gerald?” I knew they apparently weren’t if she was referring to him as ‘moron’.
“Worse than ever,” she said with a shake of her head. “It was bad enough when I was on another continent. He’s completely unbearable now. I sent my application into the dorms but it was late and I didn’t get in. In fact, I didn’t get into the university at all. By the time I got home last spring, I’d missed all of the deadlines. I don’t know what I’m going to do. Maybe take a year off? But I can’t take a year off and live in the same house as my mom and that man. I am seriously considering begging the girls to let me rent their couch until I can find somewhere else.”
“You think living with Felicia and Dani would be better than living at home?” I asked with raised eyebrows. If that were the case, things must be bad.
She sliced me a look. “Infinitely better. I have never met a man—or should I say ape—that is less discrete about his bodily functions. What was my mother thinking?! I know she has a phobia of being alone after my dad died but honestly, I don’t know how she can live with the stench. She could do so much better than these guys and she just doesn’t see it.” She sighed. “Actually, they’re on a romantic weekend away. They’re trying to rekindle the relationship or some damn thing. I begged out of hearing the details. I have a hunch it won’t be long until she gives this one the boot, too.”
“They haven’t even been together a year,” I said. Then wished I hadn’t. “Sorry,” I muttered.
She gave me a disgusted look. “It’s fine. I know, her marriages are getting shorter and shorter.”
By the time we arrived at her house, she’d filled me in on her whole rotten summer. All of the details she hadn’t wanted to bother me with before. I felt bad, I’d had one of the best summers of my life and she’d had one of the worst.
“You should’ve come with Max and me when we left,” I told her.
She rolled her eyes at me. “That would’ve completely defeated the purpose of sending you off together. Alone. So,” she said, “I bet your parents are glad to finally have you back.”
I scrunched up my face guiltily. “Actually, I didn’t tell them I was coming. I knew if I did, they’d be demanding to meet me at the airport. I haven’t told them about Max yet and I really need to see him. My parents can wait.”
When she parked in her driveway I pulled her into a hug.
“What’s that about?” she asked with a laugh.
“If you hadn’t been so insistent, I wouldn’t have gone with him. And if I hadn’t gone with him, we wouldn’t be together. I’ve had the best time this summer. I really owe you. And I left you here all alone to deal with,” I vaguely motioned toward her house. With the life she’d had the last several years, her mom always chasing after someone new; it wasn’t really a surprise to me that she preferred to be out of the county. I felt bad about it, all the same.
“Eh,” she said with a shrug, “I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it up to me.”
“We can start by having you come for a visit,” I said.
“A visit? Wait, what—”
I held up my hand to halt anymore questions. “Can we talk about it later?” Max had just come out of the house.
She glanced at him and grinned. “Yeah, I’ll head over to the girls’ for an hour. Then I’ll be back.”
I opened the door and was pulled right out of my seat into Max’s arms. He lifted me off my feet in a giant hug. “Did I tell you that I’ve missed you like crazy?” He accentuated his words with several quick kisses.
“Just look at the two of you!” Lanna said from inside of the car. I glanced over my shoulder as Max set me back down. She was leaning across the passenger seat, grinning at us. “You are every bit as cute together as I thought you’d be!”
Chapter 25
I waved at Lanna as Max pulled me into the house.
“It feels really weird to be here with everyone gone,” he said. I followed him into the living room and he pulled me down onto the couch with him. “I’m so sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”
“It’s okay, last night, it was just, I don’t want to think about it,” I said. “I’m just so happy to see you.”
“Did you miss me?” he asked. The seriousness of his tone betrayed the teasing look on his face.
I leaned over and kissed him. “That’s a silly question.”
“Good. So, what are we going to do about this? When I thought you were leaving, I mean, I thought you were coming back here for good, I just…I…” he stammered. “I couldn’t take it. After you left, I thought I was going to go crazy, letting you go the way I did. I just had to follow you. And then I was trapped at that damn airport and I didn’t have my phone and I couldn’t even talk to you. I thought for sure you were so pissed at me that maybe you wouldn’t even want to talk to me. I couldn’t even call you to find out. And I thought you were headed back to see Collin and I didn’t want you running off to see him. Especially not right after we’d been fighting.”
“Max,” I said as I put my hand on his arm. “It’s okay. Calm down. Just take a breath.”
He did and he raked his hand through his hair. “I thought for sure I’d blown it, acting like that. I know I asked if you’d consider a long-distance relationship. But,” he shrugged sheepishly, “I don’t know if I can stand that. That whole horrible night in the airport I was thinking…maybe I can come back here and get my degree. Or part of it. Maybe just the business part and then I can transfer later if—”
I put my finger over his lips and shook my head. “I’m not going to drag this out any longe
r. And I’m not going to let you give up everything you’ve started to build in California.”
“Holly,” he said as he shook his head. “I want—”
“No, let me finish. We should be on our mini-vacation right now. There was something I was waiting to tell you. I wanted to tell you tonight.” I leaned over and plucked my purse up off the floor. I pulled out the folded piece of paper inside and handed it to Max.
He frowned. “It’s a class schedule from the university.”
“Yes, but look closely,” I said. I reached over and ran my fingers across a few very important words.
“Online courses?” he asked. His eyebrows shot up and he turned to look at me. “What does that mean?”
I bit my lip for a second, waiting for him to figure it out. “I think you know.”
“That means,” he paused and a smile began to find its way onto his face, “you can take them from anywhere?”
“So I can take them from Sapphire Bay,” I corrected.
“From…So…Are you staying with me?” he finally asked.
“If you don’t mind, yes, I’d like to,” I said, suddenly feeling nervous. “If it’s okay, I mean. I guess I should’ve asked you first. But I wanted to surprise you. I know you didn’t want Tori following you back to Chamberlain last year. Maybe you don’t want me to stay in Sapphire Bay?”
“Holly,” he said as he squeezed me into a hug. “You are not Tori. I mean, she’s not you. What I’m trying to say is that I want you. Of course I want you in Sapphire Bay. It’s been all I can think about. I just didn’t think it was an option. When did you do all of this?”
I relaxed into him, squeezing him back before pulling away. I hadn’t realized until right then that a small part of me was worried about his answer.
“Not too long ago. To be honest, I called the Admissions Office in Sapphire Bay and found out that there was no way I could get in fall semester. They said there’s a possibility for winter but not fall. So then I thought maybe I could just take a semester off. But then,” I said, “I decided to look into online courses. I had to switch all of my classes around but everything I’m signed up for will transfer.”
His smile was huge now. “So this is really happening? You’re going to come back with me?”
I nodded. “I wanted to surprise you tonight. I had a reservation at a nice restaurant and I’d picked the perfect bed and breakfast right on the coast. I couldn’t tell you much sooner anyway because it’s taken me a few weeks to get everything straightened out. I mean, if you’re sure you want me and if you’re sure your grandparents will be okay with it.”
“I can’t believe you even have to ask if I want you to, because of course I do,” he said. “And I know my grandparents won’t mind. Just have them over for dinner again and they’ll be happy to have you there.”
“I’m sorry about last night. I never should have chosen to come running back after Collin. I only called him because I wanted to make it clear to him, once and for all, that he and I are over. But at the same time, I needed to come back to Chamberlain.”
“To talk to your parents? Or do they already know?”
I shook my head. “They don’t know. I needed to come back to talk to them.” I let out a little laugh. “I also wanted to come back to get a few things. I’ve been recycling my wardrobe all summer. I only have two pairs of flip-flops and a pair of sandals. I need to go to the campus bookstore to get my books. I’d like to drive my car back because if I’m staying, I’ll need it.”
“We’re going on another road trip?” Max asked. He looked excited by the thought of it.
“Do you have time for that?” I wondered. I was relieved. I had assumed I’d be making the trip alone. The ticket my mom had sent, the one pinned to the bulletin board, was a one-way ticket. I’d planned to use it but only because I’d planned on driving back to California.
He nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Everything had changed so much in the last twenty-four hours. I took in the way that he was looking at me. Like I was everything he ever wanted. I hoped he saw that I was looking at him the same way. He was everything I needed, wanted and probably more than I deserved.
My feelings for Max had twisted their way deep inside of me, wreaking havoc on my unsuspecting heart. After last night, I knew without a doubt I never wanted to let him go.
“Did you mean what you said this morning? On the phone?” I asked.
Color filled his cheeks but he didn’t look away. He nodded. “I shouldn’t have just blurted it out like that. I didn’t mean to. I just, I couldn’t help myself.” He cringed. “Was it too soon?”
“Not at all. Not if you meant it,” I said.
He took my hands in his. “I meant it.”
I smiled as I leaned into him. “If you meant it, will you say it again?”
He pulled me into him, wrapping his arms around me. He placed a few kisses on my neck, making his way up to my ear. “I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you, too,” I whispered back.
***
We stayed in Chamberlain four more days. We each caught up with our friends and our families. We’d had dinner with Max’s mom twice. She seemed happy for us. Mike had refused to come to dinner, begging off with other plans. I couldn’t blame him, or his perception of me. He was just looking out for Max and someday, hopefully soon, I’d make him see that Max really did mean everything to me.
My parents’ reactions were mixed. My mother wasn’t happy in the least. My dad raised his eyebrows, wondering if maybe Max hadn’t been behaving after all. Once they realized that my mind was made up and that I’d be leaving soon, they relented a little. I was only home for a few days. We all wanted to make the most of it.
Max felt bad about running out on his grandparents like he had but Villette assured him it was all fine. She found retirement dull and dreary and she didn’t mind filling in for Max since she spent most days checking in on the business anyway.
I had seen Collin while he was still in the hospital. Max had come with but he waited in the lobby. Our conversation hadn’t taken very long. I had told him that I was happy that he was okay. He was surprised that I hadn’t come back to Chamberlain to stay. Despite the gossip he’d been spreading about Max and me, he was surprised when I told him we were actually together. I’d decided he could do whatever he wanted with the information. As Lanna had pointed out to me once, everyone important to me knew the truth.
And the rest? They simply didn’t matter.
“Are you sure about this?” my mom asked. I’d lost count but it had to have been at least the sixth time. “If you’re not sure, it’s not too late to change your mind.”
I wished she would’ve said those very things to me the night before I was supposed to marry Collin. But she hadn’t and there was no sense dwelling on the irony of it.
Besides, as Villette said, everything happens for a reason. If everything hadn’t unraveled in the exact order that it had, Max might have left without me. Lanna might never have had the chance to insist that I go with him. I probably wouldn’t have agreed if it had been anything other than a snap decision.
“I’ve never been so sure about anything,” I said with a smile. I knew right then, I was exactly where I was supposed to be in my life.
“You know you can come home anytime,” she pressed.
I nodded. “That’s the nice thing about online courses. They give me a lot of flexibility and I can come home for a visit whenever I want.”
She frowned, as I knew she would. She wasn’t talking about me coming home for a visit. She meant indefinitely. I wasn’t going to argue with her. If there was one thing I knew about my mom, she was stuck in her ways. Only time would wear down the barrier of her stubbornness.
“Well, Pumpkin,” Dad said as he dropped another box in the trunk, “I think this is the last of them.”
“It’s a good thing, too,” I said with a laugh. I’d spent a good chunk of the last few days sorting throu
gh my belongings, boxing things up, deciding what I needed and what I could leave. “There’s not room for anything else. The backseat is so full I can barely see out of the back window.” The passenger seat, however, was open, waiting for Max to fill it.
“I suppose if there’s anything else you need, we can send it,” my mother said with a little sniff. At first, I thought it was her haughtiness shining through. Then I realized the haughty little sniff wasn’t haughty at all. In fact, the sniff was more of a sniffle.
“Oh, Mom,” I said as I pulled her into a hug. “I’m going to miss you. But you can come for a visit anytime. Max and I will come back for every holiday. And I’ll visit next summer.”
“Of course we’ll come for a visit,” my dad said. “We’ll be looking for somewhere warm to go this winter. And maybe by then you’ll miss us enough that you’ll be anxious for a visit.”
“I can’t believe my baby is really moving,” my mom said. She pulled out a tissue and wiped her tears away. “You have to promise to call every day.”
“Mom,” I said with a laugh. “I’ll call once a week, maybe more. Maybe you should learn to e mail,” I teased.
“Maybe,” she relented.
She then pulled me in for another tight hug. My dad wrapped his arms around the both of us. We stood there for a few moments, the morning sun shining down and the scent of autumn just barely in the air. Finally, with a sigh, he backed away and my mom followed. He pulled her into his arms as he handed me my keys.
“Okay then,” I said as I backed away. “I love you both. And we’ll talk soon.”
“Love you too, Pumpkin, drive safe,” Dad said.
“I love you, Holly,” Mom said.
I didn’t want to drag out the goodbye so I gave them a little wave and slipped into my car. I watched them in the rearview mirror, our brick house as their backdrop, as I drove away.
Minutes later I pulled up to Max’s mom’s house. I knew she’d left for work already. He must’ve been watching for me. The door flew open and he came down the sidewalk, his duffel bag strap slung over his shoulder and a huge smile on his face.