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“I can see why you’re madly in love with him.”
“I really am. He’s like the sun, blinding out everything that isn’t him.”
“It’s very sweet to hear you talk about him. What about his mother? Are you still together?”
Max was surprised she hadn’t heard about any of this. Did that mean she’d never bothered to look him up online? “Nope. She stepped out of the picture when he was a few weeks old. It’s just been me and Caden ever since. I’m thankful for my huge family every day. My parents and grandfather have been an incredible support to me, and my siblings have, too. I haven’t been your typical single parent. We lived with my parents until he was four, but we’re on our own now. Mostly.” He laughed. “He’s with them now.”
“I’m sure you’re a wonderful father, and Caden is lucky to have you.”
“I’m the lucky one. When it first happened… When I found out Chloe was pregnant… I panicked. The relationship had been rocky from the start, and I was just about to graduate from college. We weresonot ready. Turns out she was more not ready than I was.”
“Do you ever hear from her?”
He shook his head. “Not in years.”
“God,” she said on a long sigh. “How can she bear not to see her own child?”
“I have no idea, but I almost feel sorry for what she’s missing, not that I want her back in our lives. I don’t. It’s just… He’s so amazing. Every day is like a new adventure.” Max caught himself and grimaced. “Sorry. Don’t mean to gush.”
“You’re not. You’re a proud dad and with good reason. Your little boy is adorable.”
“He really is. Anyway, enough about me. What’ve you been up to? You disappeared off the face of the earth. No one knew where you’d gone.”
She bit her lip, seeming to think about what she wanted to say. Then she looked at him with the big hazel eyes that used to wreck him back when she was his first love and he’d thought they’d be together forever. “Can we go somewhere else and talk?”
“Sure, let’s get out of here.”
Lexi had promisedherself that if she saw Max and he asked where she’d been, she’d tell him the truth. If he didn’t seem to care that he hadn’t heard from her or about her in years, then she would’ve left well enough alone. But because he’d asked, she would fill him in, even if reliving the nightmare was the last thing she wanted to do.
As they made their escape, they put up with teasing comments about rekindling their high school romance. They laughed that off and said good night and thank you to the organizers.
“Phew,” Max said when they emerged into the chill of encroaching winter.
“Smells like snow,” Lexi replied.
“Spoken like a native Vermonter.”
“You can take the girl out of Vermont…”
“Did you drive?”
She pointed to a small white car. “That’s my rental.”
“Want to come with me, and then I’ll bring you back to your car later?”
“Sure. That’ll work.”
“Right this way.”
He led her to a shiny dark green pickup truck and held the passenger door for her.
“Nice ride.”
“Thanks. I got it a few years ago.”
As soon as he started the engine, he turned up the heat.
While they waited for the truck to warm up, Lexi burrowed deeper into the winter coat she’d bought for this trip. She was always cold these days, even when it wasn’t thirty degrees outside.
