“Max.”
“Shhh, it’s okay. Let it out.”
“I... can’t... do it, Max.” Each of my words was coming out in between my breaths as I tried to get air back into my lungs. “Can’t. Do it.”
“Let’s go home, Joebug. Do you want me to drive?”
I’d nodded and gave him the car keys.
When we got home, Max made me get in the shower to warm up since I was shivering despite the relatively mild temperature. Then he’d made me a sweet tea, which was something my mom used to do for us when we were stressed about school or upset with something, and then he lay down with me in bed.
I couldn’t talk because I was trying to process what had happened. My heart was breaking, but my head was still trying to find an excuse or a reason for David’s words.
Ultimately, doubt won. I just had to accept that what had happened between David and me in the last few weeks had meant different things to each of us.
While I’d fallen completely head over heels in love with David, he didn’t feel the same way about me. Maybe he’d started to fall, but he wasn’t in as deep as I was.
Having Max with me was comforting, but I just wanted to be on my own, so after a while, I closed my eyes and tried to regulate my breaths so I looked like I was asleep. I felt him leave the room shortly after. I also hoped that focusing on my breathing would eventually bring on the elusive sleep, but that didn’t happen. Not until it was light outside and my body was too tired to fight it.
When I woke up, it was dark again. I wondered if I’d slept all day, but the clock on the bedside table showed it was two in the afternoon, so I guessed Max had come in the room at some point to close the curtains.
I found Max sitting on the sofa facing the open balcony door, staring at the outside world. I wondered how he was feeling and what exactly had happened last night, but I didn’t have the energy to revisit it all.
I sat next to him, and he put his arm around me.
“You okay, Joebug?”
“No.”
“David came here last night.”
I sat up at that. “What?”
“I’m sorry. I should have told you. You were in the shower.” Max ran his hands through his hair and then fisted them on his lap. “I was so angry with him and Isaac. I’m so sorry. I took it out on him and sent him away,”
I sat back again. “It doesn’t matter anyway. This can’t be fixed.”
“I also did something while you were asleep this morning.”
He looked a little embarrassed as though he’d stepped out of line and was afraid to say so. It almost made me chuckle, and I would have if my chest didn’t feel like I’d been stomped on.
“What did you do?”
“I booked us a few nights away. Nothing fancy, just a hotel room in a small village in the Algarve. I didn’t realize it was so far away from here, but it just looked ideal to escape for a few days.”
This was why we’d been friends all these years. Max and I knew each other so well, and no matter what happened, we came first every single time. I did need to escape from it all. Even if only for a few days.
When I’d broken up with Lance after I realized he wasn’t the person I thought he was, Max had packed my bags and taken me to my grandmother’s house in the Hamptons. We both had keys since I’d insisted that it was as much his house to use as it was mine. I hadn’t even known where we were going until I’d noticed the road signs.
There were no Hamptons in Portugal, so Max did the next best thing because he was thinking about me, something David had failed to do. The thought caused a fresh batch of tears to stream down my face.
“So, what do you say, Joebug?”
“I love you, Max. Thank you.”
“I love you, too, bud.”
Around six o’clock, there was a knock on the door. My eyes were red-rimmed from crying, and I had dark circles under my eyes, so we hadn’t left the apartment all day because I didn’t want to risk bumping into anyone I knew. We decided to pack our bags and take it easy for the day.
