Taking a long swig of the water, Tori willed the parts of her body his look had overheated to cool down. She’d gotten so caught up in the game they were playing, she hadn’t taken the time to consider how stupid it was to throw the word sex into the mix. She’d been thinking about that word entirely too much lately and, no matter how much she tried to imagine any of the sexy models in the stock image sites she browsed, Max’s face always ended up in her head.
“You look happier now than when you arrived,” Max said. “Not that you looked unhappy, but you looked tired. The sun and fresh air are good for you.”
“I definitely need more sun and fresh air.” She took a long swig of water and screwed the cap back on. “My dad called just before I left. I told my mom I would consider going back to Portland for Thanksgiving—even though I’ll do whatever I can to get out of it—and she told him I was going to her house and I might make time to stop in and have a coffee with him. Which is a total lie.”
“It’s wrong, the way they put you in the middle.”
“I kept thinking I’d just get out of the way until they got past it, but two years later, I’m still in Whitford and they’re still playing tug-of-war with my emotions.”
She watched him pluck at the grass. “If they did get over it and stopped trying to use you to hurt each other, would you go back to Portland?”
Wasn’t that the twenty-dollar question? She leaned back, bracing herself on her hands, so she could turn her face up to the sun. It was starting to drop now and it would start getting cold. “I don’t know. At first I thought I would. There’s so much more to do there. Stores and restaurants and nightclubs and movies.”
“But?”
She smiled. “But Whitford’s grown on me. And I have good friends here. It’s just...”
“It’s just what? I consider myself one of those good friends, so talk to me.”
“You are.” Yes, they were friends. While she may have to keep shoving back that sexual attraction, she and Max had clicked and he was her friend. “I hate what my parents have done. Do you know when I go visit Uncle Mike and Aunt Jilly, I try to look at their marriage and how much they love each other, but all I can do is wonder if or when it’s going to blow up. I picture them saying the things my parents have said to each other and it makes my heart hurt.”
“Not only does every marriage not blow up, but even the ones that do don’t always end up like your parents’ has.”
“I know that, logically. But...when it ended, my dad said he was taking the newer of the televisions and Mom said he could have it over her dead body. He told her he’d been praying for that moment for years and it hadn’t happened yet. She said if that worked, he’d have been dead a long time ago.
“Just a week before, I’d been there for Sunday dinner and everything was fine. They were normal and we were just a normal family eating pot roast. One week, Max. One week later they were screaming about how they’d been wishing each other dead for years. It was... My family was a lie.”
To her horror, tears spilled over her cheeks and she swiped angrily at them. She rolled to her stomach because playing with the grass gave her something to look at.
She was surprised when Max crawled over and stretched out beside her. “If you’d like to see me at my most awkward and socially inept, crying’s a good way to do it. I’m not good at tears and I have no idea what to say except that really sucks and I’m sorry your parents are assholes.”
The barking laugh that burst out of her mouth surprised her, though nothing about Max should surprise her. “You’re right. I haven’t said that because, you know, they’re my mom and dad. But my parents are being really selfish assholes.”
“Does it feel better to say that out loud?”
“Yes. Though now I feel bad I ruined this fun afternoon we were having.”
He leaned close and bumped her shoulder with his. “It’s not ruined. Being friends means more than laughing together.”
Awareness of how close his body was to hers and how sweet he was and the memory of that smoldering sexy look from early made her melt a little inside and a loud uh-oh alarm went off in her brain. She was getting too comfortable with him and was in danger of forgetting why their friendship had started in the first place.
“So,” she said, shoulder-bumping him back. “Have you asked out Nola yet?”
For what seemed like forever, he stared at a leaf that had escaped his rake, before shaking his head. “No. I haven’t seen her.”
“Okay, we need a plan.” She gave herself a mental shake and turned her focus to getting them back on track. “Let’s start with reasons you need to visit the town hall.”
Chapter Eight
Max was surprised to receive a summons to the Northern Star Lodge from Rose Davis. Everybody knew Rosie, of course, and her baked goods were legendary, but no matter how much he thought about it in the two hours between being invited and arriving, he couldn’t make sense of the invitation to lunch.