“You’re shittin’ me.”
“If I go off in a huff, as you put it, I might have a chance to get my head together so we can talk it out, not argue about it.”
“Babe, you’re not kidding anyone. You want the chance to pull away, not get your head together.”
Why was he so annoying? I was angry enough to ask.
“Why are you so annoying?” I snapped again.
“Because I’m right, you’re wrong and you know it.”
I shouldn’t have asked.
I looked to the ceiling and told God, “God, next time I want an adventure, strike me with lightning. You have my permission.”
“You know what sucks?” Max broke into my conversation with God and I looked back at him.
“No, what sucks, Max?”
“It sucks you’re so fuckin’ cute even when I’m pissed at you.”
My eyes rounded, my temper flared even as my heartbeat spiked with a weird but palpable fear.
“You’re pissed at me?”
“Duchess, you ran into a raging goddamned river and gave me attitude when I called you on it.”
“Max, I ran in after Mindy who was trying to commit suicide like my brother did three years ago and I wasn’t going to let that happen again! Not to Mindy, not to Brody and not to you!”
His face gentled but I wasn’t done.
“And I don’t get a wild hair a lot.”
“Babe,” he said low, his gentled face now looked like it was desperately trying not to crack a smile.
“What?” I snapped.
“You flew out to Colorado, drivin’ into mountains you’ve never been to by yourself and harborin’ a flu. You were alone, in a snowstorm, in the middle of nowhere in a house with a man you’d never met and you got into it with me. And, I’ll just say, you might have a mouth on you, babe, but physically I can take you. Then you took on Shauna on what amounts to our first date. Then you took on Damon, who’s a dick, could also take you and, worse, would. Then you took on Kami and then Shauna again. You took one look at Jeff, decided he was a good guy and threw Mindy at his feet. You didn’t think for even a second before gettin’ into it with your Dad, just threw back the covers, blew from the loft, ran down the fuckin’ stairs and got right in his face. And this mornin’ you acted out a hilarious but obviously practiced head to head with your Mom.” I was back to glaring silently at him since his facts made a pretty damning case but he wasn’t done. “And we won’t get into you jumpin’ on the back of an ATV a coupla days after you shied away from a fuckin’ snowmobile then jumpin’ off it like you’re a Hollywood stuntwoman.”
“All right, Max, you made your point.”
“Thank Christ,” he muttered then grinned.
“But you’re still domineering.”
“And you like it.”
“I do not,” I snapped.
“Baby, if I wasn’t you’d be at the hotel in town or worse, in Denver and you wouldn’t be right here.”
“Which is where I don’t want to be. I want to be upstairs, nursing my snit,” I shot back.
“Too bad, darlin’, because you aren’t goin’ anywhere.”
“Fine, then I’ll nurse my snit here,” I shot back, crossed my arms and transferred my glare to the fire.
After a moment Max sighed then his hand came to the back of my neck and, as he sat back in the chair, he forced my head to his shoulder. I let him do this but I still kept my eyes on the fire and my arms crossed on my chest.
We were silent awhile before Max spoke again.
“Becca told me about Mindy.”
At his tone, I pulled in breath, pushed down my irritation and asked, “Sorry?”
“She told me that she was worried somethin’ like today would happen.”
I uncrossed my arms and lifted my head to see he was also gazing at the fire.
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Max replied, not shifting his eyes from the fire. “That’s why we moved her out of her place and into Becca’s. Becca and I decided it on Tuesday. We needed to keep a closer eye on her so we worked it and got it when Damon fell into our plans, bein’ such a dick.”
Something was wrong in his tone, in the blankness of his face so I called, “Max.”
“Shoulda kept her up here with us,” Max whispered and I knew what was wrong.
I slid my arm along his belly and curled it around his side, whispering, “Max.”
“Shoulda told Brody.”
“Max.”
“Shoulda took her myself to talk to someone.”
I gave him a squeeze and said more firmly, “Max, look at me.”
Slowly, his eyes went from the fire to me and what I saw in them made me melt into him as my arm left his middle and my hand went to his neck.
“Darling, this stuff will torture you if you don’t let it go.”
“Nina –”
“I missed the signs too and I’ve seen them before.”
“Nina.”
“You couldn’t have stopped today if this was where she was heading. You can’t do that to yourself.”
“Hard not to think I fucked up when all I got in my head is you jumpin’ into that river and her floating in it.”
Yes, I was such an idiot.