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As Max drove a sleepy Caden home at nine o’clock, his ears were ringing from the noise, but it had been another amazing Christmas with everyone pitching in to help so Molly could enjoy the day, too.
Thankfully, Caden went to bed without much fuss, exhausted after the wild twenty-four hours with his cousins. Tomorrow, he was having lunch—alone—with Chloe, and Max had spent all day trying not to think about that. He had no concerns about them spending time together, but he would feel better when Caden was back home with him where he belonged.
He cracked open a beer and went to the sofa to call Lexi.
“Hi there,” she said, sounding sleepy. “How was your day?”
“Extremely chaotic. In other words, typical Abbott Christmas. How about you?”
“Much quieter, thank goodness. I’m exhausted.”
“I told you not to wear yourself out. I’m coming to help in two more days.” Now he wished he hadn’t planned to stay in Butler for the annual family game night on the twenty-seventh. He could’ve left for Houston tomorrow instead of waiting until the twenty-eighth.
“I’m fine. Just tired.”
Hearing her admit to being tired put a knot of fear in his stomach. Would it always be this way? Any time she mentioned feeling off, would he go right to worst-case scenario? “I should let you get some sleep. We can talk in the morning.”
“I think I’ll take you up on that. I can’t keep my eyes open, which is weird because I took a three-hour nap this afternoon.”
That information had alarm bells ringing for Max. What the hell? Why was she so tired? “Call me when you wake up.”
“Will do. Love you, Max. Merry Christmas.”
“Love you, too. Looking forward to saying Merry Christmas in person next year.”
“Me, too. I can’t wait.”
“Sleep tight.” He ended the call with a sinking feeling inside. Was she sick again? And what in the world would he do if she was?
While Caden wentto lunch with Chloe at Kingdom Pizza, Max cleaned the house and changed the sheets on both beds. The work helped to keep his mind off Caden being out with his mother and his worries about Lexi, who hadn’t called him yet or responded to any of his texts that day.
At twelve thirty, he finally texted her grandmother to check on her.
She’s still asleep, which is odd. Let me go check on her.
Max’s anxiety spiked through the roof hearing she was still asleep at twelve thirty. By the time she called fifteen minutes later, he was worried about his own health as well as hers. “Hey,” he said, grabbing the phone. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, wow. I slept like a dead woman.”
“That’s not funny.”
“Oh, sorry,” she said with a giggle. She sounded much more like herself this morning. “Didn’t mean to make you worry.”
“I was worried. Should you check in with the doctor about the sleeping?”
“Nah, it’s fine. I’ve just been pushing it lately, between the move and the holidays. I feel much better today than I did yesterday.”
“That’s good,” he said, releasing a deep sigh. “What are you up to today?”
“Just a few errands. Picking up medical records to bring with me, closing my bank account here. That kind of stuff.”
She had sold her car and would buy a new one in Vermont. It was all coming together, and she was moving home. Finally.
“I can’t wait for you to be here all the time.”
“I can’t either. These last few days have been endless waiting for you to get here.”
“I’m coming soon, honey, and then we’ll have it all.”
