“Harp—”
“Why wouldn’t I? She’s the reason I made it in the first place—” she went on blindly.
“Harper—”
“Well, technically, you’re the reason because you were the one who told me about her craving and asked?—”
“Harper.”
Finally, she heard her brother’s tone and stopped. “What?” She cocked her head to one side.
Meanwhile, all of me felt off-kilter.My craving.The familiar band around my chest tightened. Of course he noticed, but it went beyond that. He’d asked her to make this honey specifically for me. One of these days, I’d figure out if the way his thoughtfulness stole my breath was comforting or threatening, or maybe I’d accept it was both.
“Never mind.” Max’s jaw flexed. “We should probably get going. We’ve still got one more stop to make.”
“Okay,” Harper said, letting the word drag as it came out, almost as slowly as her eyes moved between her brother and me.
“Thank you for the honey,” I said and reached out to hug her.
After a warm goodbye to his aunt, who repeated her invitation from last week to dinner on Sunday, we walked out of the Stonebar store and headed for the delivery van.
The silence between us lasted until we drove beyond the border of Friendship.
“I’m sorry about Harper. I didn’t think?—”
“Don’t apologize,” I cut in. “I didn’t know…didn’t realize you knew?—”
“That you’ve been getting a blueberry smoothie every morning we stop at the Maine Squeeze or two blueberry muffins if we go to The Pastry Queen instead?” His gaze quickly flicked over to me and then back to the road, like he’d give away too much if he looked at me too long. “Or that the only groceries in your fridge are yogurt and blueberries?”
I swallowed. “I guess it was pretty obvious.”And something Todd never would’ve noticed.“Max?—”
He grimaced when he saw the screen, like he didn’t want to answer but had to. “Sorry, I have to take this.”
“It’s okay.”
He tucked his phone to his left ear. “Hey, Aria, what’s up?”
I glanced over.Who was Aria?I caught myself and pinned my attention to the window. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do not to listen.
“On Sunday? Yeah, that works for me,” Max said, and now, all I wanted to know was who Aria was and what was Sunday? “Can’t wait.” And then, “You too, bye.”
He dumped his cell back into the cupholder, giving no explanation of the conversation. But he didn’t need to because it wasn’t my business, I argued with myself. Max wasn’t my business. But he was a friend…and sometimes a fantasy.
“Is everything okay?” I heard myself ask, testing the waters.
His hand tightened on the steering wheel as he replied, “Yeah.” I almost thought that was all I was going to get out of him, but after a beat, he continued, “I’m selling my house. Aria is my realtor. Aria St. George. Her twin brother, Andre, is good friends with Nox.”
“Oh.” I swallowed down the information, wishing it satiated my curiosity.
I remembered now that Max had purchased a house down here. I wasn’t sure exactly where, but I knew it was close to his dad’s. He’d bought his house around the time things were getting really bad between me and Todd, so we’d never come to visit. I’d only ever been to Max’s apartment in Portland.
That whole time felt like a blur now. I’d felt so…distant from Todd, but I didn’t want to quit on the relationship. I wanted to give it one more honest try.I didn’t want to face the idea that I’d made a mistake. So I’d gone with Todd to his family’s beach house for his dad’s sixty-third birthday party. And one more honest try turned into two pink lines.
“You’re selling it already? You’ve only had it?—”
“A year.”
“What happened?”
