Falling for Max: Book Nine of The Kowalskis

by Shannon Stacey

  She smiled. “Work. Between the diner and the computer, I haven’t had much time to do anything else.”

  Except hang out with Max, but there was a zero percent chance she was going to tell either of her parents about him.

  “You can’t work all the time. You need to relax, too, or you’ll end up old and gray, like your old man.”

  “Rumor has it I’ll eventually end up old and gray no matter what I do, so I’ll work hard now and play hard later.”

  “That’s my girl. I have a small favor to ask you.”

  Here it came. Even though she’d expected it from the second she saw his number on the screen, the disappointment hit her hard. Every single time, she let herself hope this time would be different. That the worst was over.

  “I can’t find my collapsible fishing rod, and I think it’s in the garage. Your mother won’t let me in and refuses to look for it. I was hoping that, the next time you visit her, you could poke around for me?”

  “Sure, Dad,” she said, because it was the easiest thing to say.

  “You’re the best, doll. I’ll let you get back to work, but I’ll talk to you soon. Love you.”

  After severing the connection, Tori pulled up the to-do app she used on her phone and made a note to find the fishing pole. She tried not to wonder if he hadn’t needed her to intercede with her mother, how long would have passed before he called her, but she couldn’t help it.

  She’d thought moving three hours away would remove her from the middle of their battles. And, while it was definitely better than when she’d lived in the same city as the two of them, all it meant was more time on the phone and less time in person. They were just as draining long-distance.

  Once she’d made the note to do her daughterly duty, she hit Play on the remote. One of the benefits of not having neighbors was the ability to crank the television as loud as she wanted, and she cranked it loud. Then she stretched out on her couch and watched Bruce Willis save the world.

  Chapter Eleven

  Butch Benoit was always the first to arrive to watch football and this Sunday was no different. Max wasn’t sure if he wanted first choice of parking spaces or to get away from Fran, but he was never late.

  Butch handed over the pepperoni-and-cheese plate Fran had sent him with, then grabbed a beer from the fridge. “Heard you were out with Nola Kendrick last night.”

  “We had supper at the diner. Which you already know, of course.”

  Butch snorted. “How was the lasagna?”

  Heaven forbid the gossips not get the details right. “It was good.”

  “Fran told me more, of course, but the only thing I really paid any attention to was lasagna. Then I realized she didn’t mean she was making it for me and I stopped paying attention again.”

  Josh and Katie arrived together, with Gavin on their heels. Max took the basket Katie was carrying so he could lift the corner of the towel and inhale the delicious scent of Rose’s baking.

  “I think Rose should be the one who gets to watch the game,” he said.

  “Trust me, you do not want to watch sports with my mom,” Katie said. “She’s not a fan, but she’ll try to enjoy it, which means she asks a thousand questions.”

  He laughed, then turned to Tori’s cousin. “I’m glad you could make it today.”

  “Me, too.” Gavin held up the glass baking dish covered with foil. “Where should I put this?”

  “Is that buffalo chicken dip?”

  “Of course. I swear, I can’t go anywhere in this town without it.”

  Max put a trivet on the island and gestured for him to set the dish down. “I think I have some tortilla chips for that.”

  “Tori said she’d bring them.”

  For a few seconds, Max wasn’t sure he’d heard Gavin correctly. Tori didn’t follow sports. Why would she want to watch a game with them? His gaze fell on Katie, who was checking out the food, and he realized she and Tori would both be watching the game, but only one of them could sit in the corner of the sectional.

  Game day was supposed to be easy. He wasn’t supposed to wonder about social niceties because guys didn’t really care. As long as Butch got the recliner, the men were always happy.

  Matt showed up with his slow cooker of Swedish meatballs. He and those meatballs had become a regular addition to the crowd when he moved to town in the spring. And he was engaged to Hailey, who usually made plans with Tori on Sundays, according to Matt.

  By the time Tori arrived, the game had started. With everybody in the living room and already yelling, thanks to a crazy opening drive, he was able to meet her in the kitchen.

  “Sorry I’m late,” she said, holding up a bag of chips. “I hope people aren’t in there eating the buffalo chicken dip with spoons.”

  “I had a half a bag, but we’ll need those, too.” He set the bag on the counter and faced her. “Katie’s sitting in the corner.”

  “Um...is she being punished?”

  He sighed and tried again. “I mean she’s sitting in the corner of the sectional. Where you like to sit.”

  “I’ll sit somewhere else.” She snatched a brownie out of the basket from Rose. “Have you been worrying about that?”

  “Not worrying, exactly.” Not much, anyway. “I guess I tend to overthink things when there are a lot of new things in my life.”

  “You can cross Katie and I coming to blows over your couch off the list of things to worry about today.”

  She filled a plate and followed him into the living room, where everybody gave her some variation of a hello. Max had left his plate on the coffee table, and he watched Tori place hers between his and Gavin’s. Once she sat next to her cousin, Max was free to take his spot again.

  It was a cozy fit, with his thigh pressing the entire length of hers. He tried to ignore it, but the warmth slowly became heat and he was so aware of the contact, he could barely concentrate on the game.

  This was even worse than having her in his bedroom and that had almost killed him. He’d spent the entire time she was going through his clothes reminding himself that the only reason she cared what he wore was that she’d made getting him a date a challenge and she wanted to win. And winning meant him dating Nola.

  He wolfed down the last snacks on his plate just to have an excuse to get up and throw his plate away. When that was done, he became a roaming host, refilling plates and grabbing drinks. He’d perch on the arm of a couch or lean against the doorjamb to watch the game, but mostly he mingled.

  During halftime, Josh pulled him aside. “Hey, we’re going to have a Halloween party at the lodge on Saturday the first, since the town trick-or-treating is Friday night. It’s a fundraiser for the ATV club. You in?”

  “A Halloween party? You mean with costumes?”

  “Well, yeah. If you don’t have costumes, it’s just a party. It loses that whole Halloween thing.”

  Max had never been invited to a party by somebody he wasn’t related to, if he didn’t count elementary school, when parents forced their children to invite their entire class. Even the kids who didn’t fit in.

  “I know you don’t have an ATV to decorate,” Josh continued, “but you can still come and have a good time. Hey, maybe you could be a judge.”

  “No.” When Josh’s eyes widened, Max realized he’d been rather blunt. “I’m sorry. I would like to come to the party, but I’d rather not be a judge. I’m not very good at telling people their work is better or not as good as somebody else’s.”

  “I get that. So just come and have a beer and a good time. I know two weeks isn’t a lot of notice, but the idea just came up at the last club meeting. And it’s Whitford. It’s not like everybody has big plans.”

  “That would be movie night, wouldn’t it?” From what he’d heard, movie night was taken very seriously.

  Josh laughed. “So I was told. But the women agreed to skip a month for the cause. Katie said they’re thinking about revamping it anyway, and voting on a movie schedule. I guess Hailey ma
de them watch some old musical last time.”

  My Fair Lady. Max didn’t bother telling Josh that one was his fault. That would lead to an explanation he didn’t care to give. “I’ll be there.”

  “Excellent.” Josh slapped his shoulder. “I’m going to take a leak before the second half starts.”

  And Max was going to try to find a seat that didn’t involve his body being in contact with Tori’s.

  * * *

  The buzz about Max so often fell into two camps—the people who didn’t know him and thought he was weird, and the folks who watched sports at his house and said he was a good guy.

  Now that she’d gotten to know Max, the game day stories had seemed at odds with everything she knew about him, and she didn’t think he was that good an actor, so when Gavin had mentioned he was coming, she’d thought she’d come see for herself.

  At least it was a football game today. She’d dated a football player in high school, which had meant sitting in the stands watching high school games and sitting on his couch watching professional games. She really didn’t care about the game, but she had a basic idea of what was going on.

  And the buzz was accurate. Sports-watching Max was quite different from everyday Max. But she was sure neither was an act, which just confused her. He was so at ease with the guys and with Katie, and she didn’t see any of his little quirks on display.

  Tori had been at ease, too, until he sat down and everything except the fact that his leg was pressing against hers became background noise. When he got up to throw away his plate, she’d almost sighed in relief. Then he’d been too busy being a good host to sit back down.

  Somehow during the halftime seating shuffle, she’d ended up next to Katie. “Is it always like this?”

  “It has been lately. At the rate he’s going, Max is going to have to build an addition soon and buy more couches. So are you coming to the Halloween party at the lodge?”

  “I saw the flier taped to the door at the diner, and then Hailey texted me and told me I have to go.”

  “You may as well. Everybody else will be there. Paige even said she’s going to close the diner early, even though it’s a Saturday night.”

  Everybody else would be there. She wondered if Nola would be going. If Tori was a good friend, she’d probably tell Max he should call her and ask her if she was going and, if she was, if she’d like to go with him.

  Maybe they could even get cutesy matching his-and-hers costumes.

  “What’s the matter?” Katie asked.

  “What?”

  “You just made a horrible face.”

  “Oh.” She was going to have to watch that. “Nothing. I remembered something I forgot to do today. Work.”

  The game started up again and Katie lost interest in Tori’s facial expressions. Even though Katie’s daily attire usually advertised one of Boston’s sports teams in some way or another, Tori had no idea she was as rabid a fan as she was.

  Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out to see a text from Max.

  Are you okay? You keep making faces.

  She looked up and found him off to her right, leaning against the wall. The text is coming from inside the house.

  She watched his brow furrow and had to stifle a laugh. Obviously he needed to watch more horror movies.

  How many beers have you had?

  This time the laugh escaped and everybody in the room turned to glare at her. Apparently the Patriots had just done something on the television that wasn’t very funny.

  “Sorry. Funny text,” she muttered, holding up the phone to prove she wasn’t amused by their football misfortunes.

  Zero beers, she texted back. It was a joke. And I’m fine. I was thinking about work and made a face.

  When she looked over, he smiled at her and then tucked his phone back in his pocket. It was sweet that he was worried about her. It was also interesting that he’d been watching her enough to notice she was making faces.

  “I’m going to see if there are any of Matt’s Swedish meatballs left,” she told Katie. “You want anything?”

  “I’m good. And good luck on the meatballs. They go fast.”

  After getting to her feet and making her way through the room, trying not to block anybody’s view for more than a few seconds, she hit the bathroom. Then she took the last two meatballs. She stood at the island and ate them so nobody would ask her for some and force her to admit she’d eaten the last ones.

  She wasn’t surprised when Max stepped into the kitchen. He peered into the empty slow cooker, then raised a questioning eyebrow.

  “Yes, I ate the last one,” she said. “But don’t tell them. It’s bad enough I had to ask what an ineligible receiver is. They might throw me out.”

  “It’s my house.”

  She put the lid back on the slow cooker, as if she could hide the evidence. “Good point.”

  He dug through Rose’s basket until he found a couple of peanut butter cookies and winked at her on his way back to the living room.

  Tori was glad his back was to her because she was pretty sure the smile on her face defined goofy.

  * * *

  As much as he enjoyed the company, it was always a bit of a relief when the game was over and his house emptied out. Everybody was good about picking up after themselves, but it still took him a while to put things back to rights.

  He didn’t mind. It was part of the routine and it calmed him down after several hours of excitement. He especially didn’t mind today, because Tori stayed to help. She made herself busy, puttering around and picking up, so nobody seemed to think much of her not leaving. Before long, she was the only one left.

  “What made you decide to come today?” he asked once they were alone, since he’d been wondering all afternoon.

  “Gavin said he was coming and that it was kind of an open-door thing, so I decided to come.”

  “You don’t even like sports.”

  She walked to the garbage to throw away a couple of paper plates. “Is it okay that I came?”

  “Of course.” It was not only okay that she’d come, but he was glad she had. “I just notice when people change their habits, that’s all.”

  “Speaking of people and habits, you’re why I came, actually.” For a few seconds her words made his heart beat faster, but she wasn’t done. “I’ve heard about Max the possible serial killer and Max the sports guy and they sounded like two different people. I wanted to see Max the sports guy.”

  “I’m just Max. All the time.”

  She shook her head, taking a seat at the island. “No, you were different when the guys—and Katie—were here to watch the game.”

  “I doubt that.”

  “You were comfortable with them, laughing and cheering and trash-talking.”

  “It’s notable that I behaved the same way as all the other men in the room?”

  She propped her chin on her hand, tilting her head a little sideways as though she was studying him. “Yes, it is. But when Josh and Matt were in the kitchen, talking about trucks, you were more like yourself. You looked like you were paying attention, but you weren’t really part of the conversation.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t have a truck.”

  “How are you such a guy’s guy when it comes to sports, but so awkward when it comes to everything else? No offense.”

  “None taken. My dad and my two brothers are big into sports.”

  “That doesn’t really answer the question.”

  “It was pretty obvious from the time I started talking that I was different from my brothers. At first they thought it was a ‘being the baby and mama’s boy’ kind of thing, but I’m just...different. Then I started school and I was a little different from most of those boys, too. Then I was a nerd.” He stopped when he looked up from the leftover baked goods he was wrapping in plastic wrap and saw her face. “Should I stop telling this story? You look like you want to punch somebody in the face.”

  “I do... But, no, you
shouldn’t stop.”

  “Okay. I realized that whether a guy was six or sixteen or sixty, he could always talk to other guys about sports. No matter where I went, I saw men—some of whom were strangers to each other—talking about sports.”

  “So you started following sports.”

  “I know what you’re thinking,” he said, because he could see it on her face, “but I honestly love the games. The strategies and statistics combined with luck and athletic performance is fascinating to me.”

  “But it also made you feel more like your father and your brothers?”

  He shrugged. “I’ll never be like them, but I was able to be part of their conversations. I could sit at the supper table and argue about who had the best chance to win the Series just like they did.”

  “Well, today was definitely a side of you I hadn’t seen before.”

  “I’m with people who share a love for sports and are watching a game. If they also shared a love for model railroading, you’d see that side of me then, too.”

  The way she was looking at him gave him an urge to squirm, just as his elementary school teachers’ looks had. Maybe Tori had missed her true calling. “That’s why, when you talked to Jeanette at the diner, you opened with sports. Because it’s instant camaraderie.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  “Of course it’s not, since you really love sports. But it’s a rather different side of you, so make sure she likes both sides.”

  “Let’s watch a movie.”

  She must have recognized his signal that he didn’t want to talk about it anymore, because she shrugged. “What did you have in mind?”

  “We could see if My Fair Lady is on streaming.”

  “Ha, ha. Action or horror.”

  “Drama?”

  She made a face. “Depends on the drama.”

  “Let me finish this up and we’ll see what’s on.”

  She helped him finish the kitchen and he said nothing when she loaded the dishwasher differently than he usually did. It was nice to have somebody to talk to, which was what he’d been hoping to achieve when he went to the diner the first time.