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“You remember Lexi, right?” Dude asked.
“I do.” Max shifted his gaze to Lexi. “We saw each other last night at the reunion.”
“Ah, right. You were in high school together. Oh. Wait. You dated, didn’t you?”
“We did.” Max ignored the calculating look Dude gave him. “Long time ago.”
“Not so long,” Dude said.
“About that dog,” Max said. “Do you have anyone who might make a nice best friend for my boy?”
“I have quite a few options,” Dude said. “Come with me. Both of you. Lexi, you can help him decide.”
“I’d love to,” Lexi said, giving Max a look that could’ve meant any number of things.
He thought of what Colton had said about getting naked with her, and immediately squelched that lest he embarrass himself in front of her and Dude. Once upon a time, getting naked with Lexi had been his primary goal on any given day.
But like he’d said to Dude, that was a very long time ago.
ChapterFive
“I left the light on in my heart in case you ever wanted to come back home.”—Lennon Hodson
Interesting, Lexi thought, how she’d told Colton she was coming to see Dude, and then Max showed up there after having never mentioned getting a dog for Caden the night before. Was it a coincidence, or had he come to see her?
Either way, he was there now, and she intended to make the most of the unexpected encounter. He was wearing the Vermont winter uniform of flannel, denim and down with a knitted wool cap on his head that looked homemade. He probably had legions of women knitting hats for him and his little boy, a thought that made her jealous. Foolish, she knew, to be jealous of nameless, faceless women. It wasn’t as if she had any sort of claim on him after all this time.
Lexi had been truly shocked to learn he was still single. She would’ve figured one of the many girls they’d gone to school with would’ve snapped him up the minute Lexi was out of the picture. There’d been no shortage of girls who’d envied their relationship or wished Lexi would get hit by a bus or something to get her out of the way.
Little did they know shehadbeen hit by a metaphorical bus in the form of leukemia. They’d probably celebrated when she failed to return to Butler for Christmas or summer vacation or anything else for a decade. After she and Max left the reunion together last night, everyone was probably wondering if they’d picked up where they left off in high school.
Let them wonder.
Dude led them into her home, where a scurry of paws preceded a rush of animals surrounding them. There were dogs of every size and color, every breed and mixes of many breeds.
Lexi wanted all of them for herself. She sat on the kitchen floor the way she had as a teenager and let the dogs come to her. She’d wanted all of them then, too, and getting one of her own was at the top of her post-illness to-do list.
Max sat on the floor with her, smiling as several of the dogs moved from her to him.
While they petted soft heads and silky ears, Dude gave them the lowdown on each one.
“How does anyone ever choose just one?” Max asked as a brindle mixed breed with floppy ears cozied up to him.
“People often take more than one,” Dude said sadly.
Lexi recalled how it broke Dude’s heart to let them go, even when she knew her babies were going to good homes.
“Which one do you think would be best for an active seven-year-old?” Max asked as he petted a yellow Lab puppy.
“That one.” Dude pointed to the Lab, who’d already set her sights on Max. “Daisy is great with kids. Her family had to rehome her when the dad took a job in the UK. She would’ve had to spend six months in quarantine, and they didn’t want to put her through that. The mom was heartbroken to have to give her up. She raved about how patient she was with her four kids.”
“Hi, Daisy,” Max said. “It’s nice to meet you.”
As he shook hands with the dog, Lexi’s ovaries exploded with desire. Good Lord, the man was sexy and adorable and gorgeous and all the things he’d been ten years ago, only much more so now. Seeing him in dad mode made her fall right back in love with him. Or she should say deeper into love with him because she’d never stopped loving Max Abbott.
She could admit that now that she was with him again. Max had been an amazing person in high school and had become even more so since becoming a single dad to Caden.
His obvious love for and devotion to his son made him even more attractive than he’d been to her in the past—and that was saying something. Max Abbott had dazzled her from the first time she’d laid eyes on him in seventh grade.
