He will never recover from this. The man spends the majority of his time attempting to be happy, to show the world that he’s the guy who’s always down for a good time. But I’ve seen him, the real him. The emotional, tenderhearted man who isn’t afraid to speak his mind or show me how he feels. The one who cared enough to give up his free time to make sure I had the best couple of weeks of my life.
Max isn’t like every other man out there, and he’s certainly not a typical hockey bro. Of course, he’s full of himself, funny, and the life of any party—but he’s also selfless, thoughtful, and painfully romantic. He rescues little girls from the middle of the street, wipes ice cream off faces, plans insanely gorgeous surprises with candles and fairy lights, and loves his family so much that he’s willing to smell like fresh lobster for the better part of three days.
I’ve known for a little while that I was falling for him. I think it happened when we first kissed—how cliché. At that moment, something shifted. It was like coming home for the first time in my life, like everything from that second onward would be different. He didn’t just alter my state of being. Like an artist, he took brightly colored oil pastels and painted a new picture of my once bleak reality. I should have told him when there was still time—should have made it clear how much he’s changed my life. If this is the last breath I ever take, I’ll regret not thanking him.
"Sadie."
The sound of my name is like a whisper, so faintly hidden amongst the whirring and whooshing of the surrounding water.
"Sadie."
There it is again, a tad louder. Is this how it happens—how the undertaker calls me home? Where’s the ship? Shouldn’t there be one to ferry my soul wherever it’s supposed to go?
A strong hand grips my bicep, tugging me through the chilly water until my head surfaces. Bright light blinds me, and I clamp my eyes shut.
"Sadie!" Max’s gravelly voice overwhelms me. "Are you okay?" His calloused hand rakes down my face as water continues to slosh around us.
Prying open my eyes, I search his face as I cough up more water than should be humanly possible. "Am I dead?" I choke out.
Laughter that’s threaded with relief booms out of him at the same time I realize he’s treading water, his arm wrapped around me trying to hold me up. My legs move, working with him to support my body weight.
"Come on, we have to swim to the stern. I dropped the ladder."
He pulls me by my hand, leading us to the back edge of the boat. I clamber up the ladder, shivering so hard my teeth clank against themselves. It’s summer, but the water out this far from the coast is freezing, or maybe it’s just adrenaline. When Max joins me on the back of the boat, he pulls a couple of towels out of a bin I hadn’t noticed, along with a plush, red blanket, and wraps them around me.
"Shhh, you’re okay." He swipes my face, wiping away tears I hadn’t even noticed were falling. "I’m so glad you’re okay."
"I love you!" I blurt out, immediately covering my mouth with my hand. I didn’t mean to say that. I hadn’t planned to. It was supposed to go to the grave with me—the watery one I was just headed for.
Max rears back, and I cover my face, expecting him to be mad or maybe disappointed. Instead, he peels my hands away from my eyes, cradling my cheeks. "I love you, too. I didn’t want to, and I know it’s selfish. But I do."
My heart explodes like a butterfly wrenching itself from its cocoon.
Wrapping my hands around his neck, I kiss him. Pressing every ounce of my body into his, I tug at his back, pulling him closer. Our lips tangle, teeth clanking together as we furiously explore each other—like it could be the last time we ever do. His tongue plunges into my mouth, and I bite his bottom lip the way he’s done to me so many times before.
Max leans back, breaking the kiss. "Sade… as much as I want nothing more than to continue this." He motions between us. "I have to move us somewhere safer, somewhere that you won’t end up back in that water." His gaze is pleading, like he can’t stand the thought of me falling in again.
Nodding my head reluctantly, I let him help me to a safe spot near the cabin door. There's a cushioned seat he settles me on as he pulls the blanket tighter around me and steps back toward the knobby wheel he steers with.
As Max maneuvers the boat, my heart hammers in my chest. I shouldn’t have said it, shouldn’t have told him I love him. He probably thinks this is one of those impassioned near-death experiences—and it is. But the sentiment is genuine. I thought I’d been in love before, but nothing has ever compared to the way I feel about Max, the way I think of him every second of every day. And my heart breaks all over again—because we can’t be together.
Timing is a funny thing that way. When it’s on your side, it’s glorious. But when it isn’t, there’s no greater thief of joy. If things were different, if I didn’t have a fate to find, a job to win back, a future so predetermined and thoughtfully planned that only a true act of cosmic design could derail it, then I could have Max. And if he didn’t have to move thousands of miles away—he could have me.
"I can see the gears spinning in your head all the way from over here." Max glances in my direction, steering us closer to a small island I hadn’t noticed. Trees line the edge on all sides,rocky cliffs hanging like they could fall into the ocean at any second. It isn’t until we get a little closer that I notice a small dock leading to a path.
"I’m fine," I answer him, still scanning the space in front of the boat.
Max scoffs. "We said honesty, Sade. You promised."
He guides our vessel up to the dock, reaching out to tie some rope to the pylons before dropping the anchor.
"Do you need that?" I point toward where he just tossed the large metal shape over the edge. "I thought when you tied off a boat that was good enough."
"Just putting it in as a safety precaution." He smiles at me, and I feel it from the top of my head all the way to my toes. "In case any bigger boats come by. I’m not sure how stable this dock is, and I don’t want another overboard situation."
"Am I the heiress in this situation? Or is it like the new one?"
He rolls his eyes but can’t contain the laugh that escapes him. "I think maybe you are the rich one. It couldn’t be me… I barely have a job."
