AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I caught my breath. “We’re just friends.”
“Uh-huh. Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “I was once friends with my husband too. Five children later, and he alternates between being my best friend and the bane of my existence.”
Five? How did she balance kids and her work? I followed after her as quickly as I could, which was staggeringly slow, unfortunately.
Susan Broadley-Finache turned out to alternate between sweet friend and drill sergeant in a heartbeat of time. She had served, as all her brothers had, in the army and was a no-nonsense therapist who I was sure would get me back to full movement. I got the impression right away I wasn’t to whine, but I was to tell her if I had true pain.
As everything hurt, it was hard to judge how much pain required notification. Still, I figured I’d eventually work it out.
“So, you and my brother?” She didn’t bring that up until we were headed back to the living room. “What do you see in that grump?”
I shook my head. “Max has been…amazing to me.”
“Yes well, they do that when they are properly motivated, don’t they?” She winked at me. “I don’t know what I expected from you, Hope, but you are very different than whatever preconceptions I had. I followed you the last few years on social media. Well, I guess I sort of followed the Redheads in general. I got the impression you were incredibly shallow. Then you go and save a kid and get yourself shot up doing it. Somehow, you got tangled up with my brother. Although that last bit hasn’t yet blown up on social media.”
I didn’t know what to say when people spoke to me so bluntly. I preferred it to a bunch of bullshit, yet there never seemed to be a good answer. “Maybe it’s possible to be really shallow and still not want kids to die. And as for your brother, there is social media involving the two of us, which I am sure you know about.”
She nodded. “I do. I appreciate you owning it like that instead of pretending you don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“Max knows I’d do anything to make it right.”
Susan put her hand on my shoulder. “When I look at the video, I don’t see you, not as I see you standing here now. I know it was years ago and people change, but I’m wondering…were you feeling okay? Obviously, you were puking. But other than that? Your eyes right now, in pain and worried about what I’m going to say next, it still doesn’t look like you in that recording.”
I swallowed. “I’m not really ready to share the answer to that with you.”
She touched my arm. “Fair enough. I’m guessing you shared it with Max and that’s why you’re here. The way he looks at you? Whatever you’ve told him is clearly good enough for him, that makes you great in my book.”
“Thanks.” I nodded at her. “And I appreciate you doing this for me.”
Susan smiled. “I know we’re keeping your presence here secret, but it’s a bit of a kick for me to know I worked with one of the Redheads.”
“There’s only one as far as I’m concerned.” Max walked toward us from where he had clearly been listening to our conversation on the porch. “Just one.” He held up a finger like he was going to illustrate that. “And the Broadleys are far too nosy for their own good. Hope doesn’t owe anyone explanations for anything. Her life story isn’t fodder for conversation on long winter nights.”
Susan held up her hand. “You know I’m not going to be the worst of it.”
His mother stepped outside, pulling her sweater around her. “Worst of what? Ooh, it is getting chilly out here. Get your girl inside, Max, before she catches a chill.”
Was it cold? Since we’d started moving around, I hadn’t noticed it. In fact, I should have paid more attention to a lot of things, like the fact that the leaves on the trees and the ground were stunning in color. Yellow. Red. Orange. I saw them change every year in Central Park, but it wasn’t like this. They were everywhere, like we were intruders in the world of the leaves.
“Are you cold, Hope?” Max walked down toward us. “Or are you just falling in love with the colors right now?”
I pointed at him. “You only read me that well because you were out staring at them yourself.”
He smirked. “I wasn’t staring at the leaves.”
“Sure you weren’t.” I patted his arm in a dramatic way, and he grinned.
“You two, you know you have to come to dinner Sunday.” Hayley smiled at us. “Since you’re here, you have to.”
Max rocked back on his feet. “I don’t know, Mom.”
“It’s my birthday.” Hayley said in a sing-song voice. “When you’re in town on your mother’s birthday, you have to come to her house for dinner. That is one of those must do things.”
He ran a hand through his hair, and I watched as a million different responses crossed his face, finally ending with him nodding and putting on a smile. “Sure, we’ll be there, Mom. But I want it clear to everyone that they are to go easy on my friend here. The last thing she needs while she’s healing is to be overwhelmed by the Broadleys.”
“Oh.” His mother came down the stairs toward us. “She is pretty tough. Made of strong material that doesn’t fall apart. I think being overwhelmed by the Broadleys might be just what she needs.”
I’d just gottenout of the shower when the first scent of whatever delicious thing Max cooked wafted into the bathroom, taking my attention from the strawberry shampoo I’d used just minutes before. I ran a hand through my hair to comb it rather than going through the process of using a brush. I put on shorts and a T-shirt before I wrapped myself in a huge bathrobe. Probably Max’s robe, based on the sheer size of the thing.
