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“I love that,” she said, laughing.
“I’ll win the bet because I left before midnight, but I’m glad my mom made me go. Seeing you again is worth all the other awkwardness.”
“That’s nice to hear. I wasn’t sure you’d have anything to say to me after I disappeared for so long.”
“I’ll always have something to say to you. I never forgot you either. I wondered all the time where you were, but no one had heard from you. I figured that’s how you wanted it.”
“It was necessary at the time.”
“I understand that now, and I’m so sorry for what you went through.”
“I really can’t believe you’re still single,” she said with a grin. “I figured you’d be married with four kids by now.”
“Nah, never came close to getting married. I haven’t had an actual girlfriend since Caden’s mom, and that was a disaster, other than getting him out of it.”
“I still can’t believe she left her child.”
“I couldn’t either, but with hindsight, I wasn’t as surprised as I should’ve been. She was always a bit shallow, which didn’t bother me until it affected my son.”
“I’d love to meet him.”
“I’d love for you to meet him. How long are you here?”
“Until Monday.”
“We’re having his birthday party at the barn on Sunday if you’d like to come.”
“I wouldn’t want to intrude on a family thing.”
“They’d love to see you.”
“I’ll only go if you tell me something I can get for Caden.”
“He loves to ski more than anything. A day pass to the mountain would thrill him.”
“Then that’s what I’ll do.”
“I can’t believe you’re sitting in my house talking about what to get my son for his birthday.”
“It’s really nice to be home.”
After Max droveher back to her car and she returned to the cabin her parents had rented when they gifted her the weekend in Butler, Lexi sent a quick email—since cell service was still nonexistent in her hometown—to her parents and grandparents in Houston to let them know the reunion had been fun, she’d seen Max and had a great time catching up with him.
He invited me to his son’s 7thbirthday party at the barn on Sunday (he’s a single dad). Looking forward to seeing all the Abbotts. It’s nice to be back in Butler where nothing ever changes—except the inn! It’s been completely rebuilt after a fire a few years ago. It’s been modernized, but still retains the historic feel of the original. Today was a great day. Thanks for surprising me with the trip to the reunion. And yes, I feel FINE. Go to bed and quit worrying.
Love, Lex
Her illness had been such a nightmare for so long that they suffered from anxiety that required medication to control. Lexi took hers and pictured her four-person support team in Houston taking theirs. Nothing like a potentially fatal illness to mess up a perfectly lovely life. The five of them were suffering from post-traumatic stress as they transitioned from active treatment to what they hoped would be a long-term remission. Her transplant doctors had told her they had every reason to believe she would live a long and healthy life, but of course they couldn’t make any promises. Recurrence was always possible, and that was the reality she and her family now had to live with.
She’d be forever thankful to her parents and grandparents, who’d packed up their lives and moved to Houston to support her through years of harrowing treatments. Her parents had rented out their home in Butler, and those tenants had given notice that they were moving out at the end of the year.
Depending on how this weekend went, Lexi was thinking about returning to her childhood home for a year or so to regroup and see if there was anything left to salvage with the only man she’d ever loved. While she was thrilled to have seen him and caught up with him, she didn’t want to put pressure on him to pick up where they’d left off. A lot had changed for both of them in the ten years they’d spent apart.
She ran a brush through hair that had grown back curly, after the third time she’d lost her hair during chemo. Lexi was digging the curls and had no desire to straighten them. She was so thankful to have hair again that it could stick straight up, and she wouldn’t care.
Snuggled into old flannel pajamas she’d bought years ago at Max’s family’s store, Lexi pulled a down comforter over herself and then added the throw blanket from across the foot of the bed. The legacy of treatment was that she was always cold, which might be a problem if she moved back to Vermont. But even that would be worth spending more time with Max.
After seeing him, she couldn’t stop smiling. He was even more handsome than he’d been in high school, and that was saying something. Every girl in school had wanted to date him, but he’d shocked the hell out of her when he asked her out in tenth grade and never looked at anyone else for the rest of high school. Leaving him to go to college out West had been brutal, but she’d been determined to chase her own dreams. Getting into Berkeley had been her goal since middle school when she’d visited the campus with an older cousin, and when she’d been accepted, she’d been excited and scared and despondent over leaving Max, who’d gone to UVM.
