“What’s that all about?” I asked, jerking my thumb in Devon’s direction. He tapped on the window again, seeming a little agitated when Renee purposefully turned her back.
“It’s no big deal,” she mimed, giving me a loaded look.
Renee fidgeted in her seat and continued to look through the course catalogue as though her ex-boyfriend, the same guy I caught her making out with only days before, wasn’t standing there, staring at her beseechingly.
“Is he just going to stand there all day?” I asked, unsettled by Devon’s stalker behavior.
Renee blew out a breath and rubbed her temples as though she had a headache. “I just want to ignore him. I don’t want to look at him. I just want to forget about him.” My friend looked tired, sad, and more than a little conflicted. Finally she got up and stormed angrily out of the coffee shop.
“Who’s that?” Maxx asked, wrapping a dish towel around his hand. We both watched Renee and Devon’s obviously heated exchange.
“He was her mistake,” I said with a clear edge to my voice. Maxx’s eyes flashed and he looked at me, picking up on the innuendo.
“Is that why you come in here three times a day for coffee you don’t really want? Because I’myourmistake?” Maxx asked, sounding angry.
“I like coffee,” I muttered, looking back out the window. Devon tried to reach for Renee, but she put her hands up, stopping him. I could see that she was crying. She shook her head violently, her red hair flying around her face.
“Aubrey,” Maxx said softly, grabbing my attention as surely as if he had shouted it. “We’re not them,” he said quietly, picking up on a thought I had mulled over more than once.
He still stood there, twisting the damn dish towel around his hand. He was gnawing on his bottom lip again, a sign he was anxious.
“We’re us. And that’s not such a bad thing, you know,” he continued quietly.
I sighed, not responding. Because, really, what could I say? He was right. We weren’t all bad. Even though there was some really messed-up stuff between us, there was also some beauty as well. Because of Maxx, I had been able to open myself up in a way I hadn’t been willing to do in three years. Because of Maxx, I started to become the Aubrey Duncan I used to be. Spontaneous. Open. Vulnerable.
I had to find a way to get past this anger I felt toward him. This bitterness was clawing a hole through my gut. “I know,” I finally admitted, watching as Renee shouted something at Devon and turned away, walking quickly down the path toward the parking lot. Devon stood there, looking at a loss. If I didn’t know what an asshole he was, I might have felt sorry for him. Because he seemed honestly heartbroken.
Serves the abusive fuckhead right!
“How about, instead of coming in here three times a day, you let me take you somewhere?” Maxx said, startling me.
“What?” I asked, my mouth gaping open like a fish’s.
“What would you say if I wanted you to spend the day with me? Out of the coffee shop, that is,” he said, his mouth curving upward in a hesitant smile.
I was hit by a wave of déjà vu that had me sucking in a painful breath.
Spend the day with me,I recalled him saying that first morning we had spent together. I remembered exactly what we were doing when he had asked me to blow off classes and be with him.
Just for today. No classes. No work. Just you. Just me. Just us together.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen, Maxx,” I said, showing both of us exactly how different things were between us now.
Because that time, all those months ago, I had done exactly as he had asked, no hesitation.
Maxx stopped twisting the towel in his hands and dropped it onto the table.
“I’m not asking you to run away with me, Aubrey. I’m just asking for a few hours. I could come by after you go to the library and take you out to the farm where I work. The stable manager said I could ride the horses sometime. That’s it. If you have a horrible time, I’ll never ask you to come out with me again,” Maxx stated.
Horseback riding? The randomness of it reminded me yet again of how much I missed that spontaneous side that only Maxx brought out in me. “You just won’t give up, will you?” I asked, feeling myself giving in. Because I already knew the answer. And I hated that the part of me that still loved him didn’twanthim to give up. Ever.
I sighed and looked up, meeting the eyes of the man who stood in front of me with his heart in his hands, hoping that I would reach out and take it.
“Okay,” I whispered. I felt as though I were standing on a precipice, ready to topple over.
“Really?” Maxx asked, his smile turning into a full-blown grin. He looked as though he had just won the lottery.
It was sort of irresistible.
