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“That’s a reasonable assumption after years of silence.”
“I need to talk to my parents about this,” he said, standing.
“That’s a great idea, but isn’t Caden there?”
He reached for his coat. “He is, but I can send him out to play with the dogs while I talk to them.”
Lexi got up and put her coat on, too.
“Will you come with me?”
The vulnerability in the way he asked that and how he looked at her made her breathless. “Of course I will.”
Then he seemed to think better of it and shook his head. “I’m so sorry. You’re here to have fun and relax. You don’t need to be sucked into my drama.”
She went to him and put her hands on his chest. “What did I tell you last night? I came to see you. I’m here for you, and I want to help.”
He leaned his forehead against hers the way he used to back when they were madly in love and forced to behave in school and in front of their parents. The simple gesture brought back a million memories and made her knees go weak under her. He’d always had the power to render her speechless, and to realize nothing had changed was amazing and overwhelming.
“Let’s go to the barn. Your folks will know what you should do.”
“They always do.” He took hold of her hands. “It helps to have you here, too. I’d be losing it if I was alone when this happened.”
“I’m here, Max.” Whether her rapidly beating heart could handle the influx of love and affection was certainly not guaranteed.
“How is it,” he asked, “that it feels like no time has gone by since I last saw you?”
“I’m not sure, but I feel the same way.”
“We’ll have to discuss that after I figure out what to do about the Chloe bombshell.” He released her, somewhat reluctantly—or so it seemed to her—and got Daisy settled in her crate. “We’ll be back soon,” he told the puppy.
She rested her head on her paws and gave him a sad face.
“She’s already trying to manipulate you,” Lexi said.
“She’ll have me wrapped around her paw in no time.”
“That’s the way it should be.”
Outside, Lexi moved her car to the street and then joined him in his truck for the ride to the barn. Out of habit, she reached for his hand during the ride.
When he curled his fingers around her hand, everything inside her settled. The questions that had plagued her during the long years apart were answered. She still loved Max Abbott, and if she wasn’t mistaken, he still loved her, too. Under normal circumstances, she’d laugh at the direction her thoughts were taking. They hadn’t seen each other in years, and she already had them back in love. But after living with the very real possibility that she might die before she ever got the chance to live, she refused to waste a single minute of her second chance.
If Max Abbott still loved her the way she still loved him, she was determined to make it work with him. Before she came to Butler, she hadn’t known he had a son, but that didn’t change anything for her. If anything, Caden sweetened the pot. After hearing Max talk about him, she had no doubt she would adore him.
“I’m excited to meet Caden.”
“I can’t wait for you to meet him. I’ve thought so many times that I wish you could meet him.”
“Really? You did?”
“All the time. Just because I stopped hearing from you doesn’t mean I stopped thinking of you.”
“I’m sorry I dropped off the map, Max. I shouldn’t have done that to you.”
“I understand why you did it. Who am I to say how someone should handle an illness like what you went through?”
“Still… I shouldn’t have left you to wonder where I was all that time. What’s funny is that you were the one I most wanted to tell, but I was afraid to.”
