“Check out your bedroom.” Max nodded, grinning again.
“You’re incorrigible. Who raised you, anyway?” I pretended to scowl at him.
“That would be you, the best Pops around. But go on. What happened when she was with you in Burton? Besides the two of you doing the horizontal hokey pokey, I mean.”
I ignored that last comment. “We had a great time. Peyton loved Burton, and I began to really hope that we could build a life together. I had visions of big family dinners—hers and mine, combined—in my dining room. I was thinking we could travel together. But mostly, I was thinking that we could make up for lost time.” I shook my head. “But she doesn’t want that. She doesn’t want me.”
Max frowned. “Pops, did she say that? Did she actually say the words?”
“Not exactly, but she told me that she likes her life the way it is. She said that it’s taken her a long time to get to a place where she feels settled and content, and she’s worried that changing all of that now would be . . . risky, I guess.”
“Huh.” Max pursed his lips. “Yeah, I guess I can understand that.”
“Oh, can you?” I replied sarcastically. “Really? Then you’re a better man than me, because I can’t.”
“Pops, it sounds like she had to fight for everything she has. If that guy—the dickhead—got her pregnant and then ran, she probably has gigantic trust issues. Not to mention a chip on her shoulder about doing things by herself. And then you come sailing back into her life, and as much as she loves you?—”
“She never said she did. She never told me that she loves me,” I countered.
“How could she not?” My son reached across to squeeze my arm. “You’re awesome, Pops. She couldn’t help but love you. Anyway, though, she’s probably scared to death. Turning everything that she’s come to count on upside down would be damn terrifying, I’d think.”
My forehead wrinkled. “But I don’t want to upend her life. I just want us to be together.”
“And how would that look, Pops?” Max asked. “Tell me about it. Would she move to Burton, or would you move to Savannah?”
I shrugged. “I can’t move to Savannah. Or, I guess, I could, but why would I? I have this amazing community in Burton. Peyton even told me that she loved that. She wants it for herself, or so she says.”
“Uh-huh. She probably does. But you said her daughter and her friend who’s the dickhead’s mom—what’s her name? I don’t want to keep calling this fine lady the dickhead’s mom.”
“Peg,” I supplied.
“Okay, Peg and the daughter live in Savannah.” Max paused. “So do I. When you look at things that way, Pops, it makes more sense for you to move to Savannah. Did you offer to do that?”
“No.” I was getting aggravated again. “My office is in Burton?—”
“Her store is in Savannah.”
“—and I built that house in Burton. She loves my house. I can’t imagine selling it after all of the blood, sweat and tears I poured into making that place a reality.”
“Ah.” Max sat back again, his eyes on me. “You can’t imagine turning your life upside down, huh?”
I opened my mouth and then shut it again abruptly. “Damn.”
“Yeah, I know.” Max wagged his head. “Everything seems so clear until you look at it from another angle.”
“I just wanted her to say that she’d give anything to be with me,” I mused, as clarity came crashing in. “I wanted her to prove she loves me by giving up what’s important to her—because once upon a time, I offered to do the same for her.”
“Back in high school?” Max cocked his head.
“Yeah.” I sighed heavily. “She was pregnant, and the dickhead was planning to abandon her. I went to Peyton and offered to marry her, to be her baby’s father. She didn’t want to do that to me, but finally she agreed. I thought after we graduated, we were going to talk to our parents and then get married. But instead, she left the morning before we graduated.”
“Awww, Pops.” Max’s voice was filled with genuine empathy. “I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you ever tell me about her?”
“I don’t know. It was still painful. I really loved her. And she really broke my heart, although at the reunion, I found out why. Her folks had kicked her out when they learned she was pregnant, and she went to Ryan because she was desperate. He would’ve cut her loose, too, if it hadn’t been for his mom, who insisted they had to take care of Peyton and the baby.” I thought about how frightened Peyton must have been, leaving her hometown with people she didn’t know well and a guy who’d already cast her away. Was it any wonder that she still had some trust issues?
“Geez, that’s harsh.” Max was quiet for a second. “Pops, you know, this isn’t a lost cause. It’s just a bump in the road.”
“Oh, really?” I managed a brief smile. “You think we can figure this out, huh?”
