“I have a box for it here.” Max took the tractor, wrapped it in thin bubble wrap and set it into the foam insert he’d cut to fit it earlier. Then he put the lid on the box and handed it back to Josh.
He hadn’t been lying. Working on the Farmall had been a special experience for him. There was an underlying sense of history and nostalgia in model railroading—the capturing of a bygone day in HO scale—and quite often people modeled tableaus that meant something to them. The flag stop where the farmer’s son had brought the milk to the train. A section of the B&O where a boy had chased trains with his grandfather.
But the Farmall was different. He knew Josh and Mitch, and they’d lost their dad. He still had his and he couldn’t imagine losing him. So when he’d seen those initials crudely carved into the tractor’s belly, it had become a mission to preserve them. Seeing the look on Josh’s face had been worth it.
Once they were back upstairs, Josh didn’t immediately head toward the door. “Do you want to talk, Max?”
“About what?” He closed the basement door and reset the alarm.
“Anything?”
“The last time you suggested we talk, you were trying to win a bet with Katie. I don’t really have any more secrets.”
“People are worried about you.”
“Ah.” Max interlaced his fingers, rubbing his left palm with his right thumb. “I guess everybody knows that Tori and I had a falling-out.”
“It’s not something that’s being gossiped about over tea. But the people who care about you—about both of you—know. You haven’t been into town or the diner. You’re going back to being the mysterious recluse and we don’t want to see that happen.”
“I think it would be very hard for me to see Tori right now.”
“You want to have a beer?”
Max frowned. “At three-thirty on a Thursday afternoon?”
“Why the hell not?”
“Okay. Why the hell not?”
They went into the kitchen and Max grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge. Josh set his box on the island and popped the tab on the can Max handed him.
“Are you going to let her go?” Josh asked him.
“Since everybody’s finally figuring out I’m not really a serial killer, chaining her in my basement would be a bad move.” The attempt at humor didn’t make him feel any better.
“Have you talked to her since you...had a falling-out, as you put it?”
“No.” Max shifted the Farmall box, lining it up precisely parallel to the edge of the counter. “She was very upset and I don’t want to upset her again.”
“Maybe she freaked out and now she’s too proud or something to reach out to you.”
Hope flamed through Max. “Do you know if that’s the case?”
“No, I don’t. Husbands and boyfriends are only given the bare minimum of details. But I do know she was wrecked. You’re not the only one hurting.” Josh took a long swig of beer. “All I’m saying is don’t give up. Maybe don’t push too hard, but don’t give up.”
“I’m trying to understand the way she thinks, but I’m lost.”
“Buddy, we’ve all been there.”
*
Every time her phone rang for days, Tori’s heart would leap in anticipation of it being Max. It never was.
She should call him. She knew he hadn’t been in the diner since Sunday and she couldn’t bear the thought of him going back to staying in his basement all the time because of her. But she was so afraid she’d make things worse, she never actually brought herself to make the call.
This time when the phone rang, it was her mother. Again. As tempting as it was to ignore the call again, they were coming more frequently now. She picked up the phone. “Hi, Mom.”
“Hi, honey. I thought I was going to get your voice mail again. Do you ever check those?”
“I’ve been a little under the weather, Mom.” She winced, realizing she couldn’t use the flu excuse in case Jilly still planned to use it to save Thanksgiving. “I’m sorry.”
“Do you have any idea what’s going on with Jilly? She’s not returning my calls. You do all realize Thanksgiving is next week, right?”
“Yes, we do. And I don’t know about Aunt Jilly, Mom. I haven’t seen her lately. She’s probably busy and forgot to call you back. There’s been a lot going on with Gav—”
“I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a person to return a phone call.”
Tori sighed. If her mother didn’t care what was happening in her daughter’s life, it stood to reason she wasn’t going to care about her nephew’s, either. “If I see her, I’ll give her a nudge.”
“Thank you. It would be nice to have my sister’s support in these trying times. Your father has a new girlfriend. Did I tell you that? I should feel sorry for her. It won’t be long before she realizes what a sorry piece of—”
“Mom!” Tori felt something inside of her snap. “Do you realize that’s my dad you’re talking about?”
“Of course I know he’s your father.”