When Sadie awoke again the sun’s rays were shining bright through the hotel suite window. Max was behind her in the bed, breathing softly as he slept, his arms around her. Could they just stay like this forever? They wereonly good when they were alone. But the rest of the world was waiting outside the window. She pressed her body against his and felt him wake. He started kissing her neck, which was all it took to ignite her desire for him again.
Her phone rang on the bedside table but she ignored it, wrapping one leg around him to keep him close as their kissing intensified. But whoever it was hung up and called back, once, then twice, until finally, a laughing Max disentangled himself from Sadie and handed her the phone.
“Hello?Mom?Is everything okay?”
Max raised his eyebrows and covered her up with a sheet.Busted, he mouthed as Sadie clutched the phone to her ear.
“I have a surprise for you,” her mom said, sounding nervous. “I’mhere!”
Sadie pulled the sheet tighter over her chest. “You’re where?”
“In Nashville. I decided it should be a surprise. Otherwise, you would have told me not to come.”
Sadie knew her mom was right. She had done a good job of shutting out her feelings this past year—and shutting out her mom, too.
“Well, anyway,” Lynn continued, “I just couldn’t face Christmas on my own this year. So, Grandpa is with your uncle Blair. And I’m here.”
It made perfect sense, and Sadie should have invited her. Of course a grieving single mother would want to come spend the holidays with her only child. Except there was the problem of nothing about their mother-daughter relationship being natural right now. And there was the problem of Sadie being in bed with Max Brody at the moment. In the mirror on the dresseracross the room, Sadie could see that her cheeks were turning pink.
“Where are you staying, Mom?”
“I’m just pulling up to my hotel in a taxi now. It’s pretty fancy—I decided to cheer myself up by splurging. And I got a big enough room that if you wanted a break from your apartment for a few days, you could definitely come stay with me.”
“Which hotel?” Sadie asked again, but she had a terrible feeling she knew exactly which one.
“The Opryland Hotel! Oh my, it’sgorgeous. Do you want to come meet me? And can you bring Max with you, too? I’d really like to meet him. Your gran had such nice things to say about your boyfriend—and I just feel like I need to get properly caught up on your life, Sadie.”
Max was idly tracing a pattern on Sadie’s bare arm. His hand then started to wander beneath the sheets, but she pulled away. “Actually, I’m staying at the same hotel as you are, Mom. I was doing a photo shoot yesterday and they gave me a room,” she lied as she turned her body slightly away from Max’s. “I’ll meet you in the lobby in twenty minutes, okay?” She hung up before her mom could ask which room she was staying in.
“Well...” she began. “My mom is here.”
“I gathered that.”
He took the phone out of her hand and kissed her gently. “I’d love to meet your mom. Do you think twenty minutes gives us enough time to...” He was moving his hand underneath the sheets again but she put her hand on his chest.
“I have to go downstairs and meet her. By myself.”
Max’s smile faded. “But I’m sure she’d also be happy tomeet yourboyfriend. Right? Why’d you tell her you were here by yourself?”
“I just figured it wouldn’t be your thing. I’m giving you a free pass!” She smiled as big as she could, trying to convince him everything was fine.
Max was silent, and Sadie wondered if she’d gone too far by shutting him out. But then he picked up his phone and started tapping, looking nonchalant. “At least let me get you two a brunch reservation at my favorite restaurant,” he said. He stopped tapping and looked up. “Hey, wait. I’m surprised your gran didn’t join your mom this time?”
Sadie’s cheeks were really burning now. She knew she should have told Max when they were getting close at the cabin—and that now she had left it too long. “Yeah, weird,” was all she could manage to say.What in the hell are you doing, Sadie Hunter?
She hopped out of bed and made a dash for the shower before Max could see the sudden tears in her eyes.
—
Lynn was standing in the lobby of the hotel, right in front of a fully decked-out Christmas tree that sparkled with lights and almost touched the high ceiling. With her dark bobbed hair and bright blue eyes, Lynn was often mistaken for Sadie’s sister. When she saw Sadie, she waved and rushed toward her.
Camera phones clicked as they hugged. “What in the world,” Lynn murmured into Sadie’s ear.
“It’s not like home. Here in Nashville, people kind of follow my every move.”
Lynn pulled back and smiled down at her daughter. “You’re famous now. It’s partly why I wanted to come here. I needed to see it all for myself.” Her expression grew serious. “And we need to talk about—”
“Right, so anything heavy we should talk about privately, okay?”
