Page 48 of Craving You

When she just continued to stare at him with those wide, shocked eyes, he continued.

“It would make sense financially too—we could buy a house that we both like and then we wouldn’t be supporting two households. You could take as much time as you need after the baby’s born before going back to work, and I’d be there to help so you can rest and recover and sleep.”

“Now he’s talking sense!” her father said cheerfully.

“Dad, please!” Hailey hissed, clearly annoyed, even as her eyes never left Max’s.

“This isn’t the place to discuss this, and I know we need to discuss it, but I wanted you to know how I felt. That’s all.”

“And you couldn’t wait until we were alone?” she asked incredulously. “You can’t possibly want my parents’ approval that badly that you’d throw out this ridiculous idea again!”

Ah…so she does remember…

She was definitely pissed, but he wasn’t going to lie to her. “I don’t think it’s ridiculous. If I thought you’d say yes, I’d get down on one knee right now.”

“Oh. My. God!” Jumping to her feet, she stared down at him in horror. “You did not just say that!”

Slowly, Max stood. “Hailey, I…”

“Just…” And with a little cry of frustration, she stormed off. Max went to go after her, but Kevin stopped him.

“Give her time,” he said, looking cool as a cucumber. “I know my daughter, and she can be stubborn. A lot of what’s happening is out of her control and she’s angry with me and her mom because of how we’ve reacted. She sees you siding with me as a betrayal. Don’t take it personally.” Then he stood and smiled. “Come on. Let’s get something to eat!”

For a minute, Max stood there and wondered what the hell just happened and what he was supposed to do about it.

But he was also slightly terrified to find out what was going to happen next.

Chapter Eight

“Just so we’re clear, you’re totally fine with us talking about you, Max, and the pregnancy, right?”

“Ash! We agreed we’d let Hailey take the lead!” Chloe reminded her.

“Oops! Sorry,” Ashlynn said before grinning at Hailey. “I’m just so psyched to be hanging out with you and hopefully not having to awkwardly avoid those topics.”

After storming away from Max and her father, it was such a relief to have her cousins lovingly rally around her as they grabbed some snacks and headed up to her guest room.

“Yeah, sorry about all the secrecy,” she said with a slight cringe. “It was really important for me to talk to Max first and then we sort of extended what was supposed to just be a day out by a couple of days.” She felt herself blushing. “Then I wasn’t sure how today was going to go if it was just us hanging out. My parents showing up sort of threw a giant monkey wrench into everything.”

“You were probably so overwhelmed,” Chloe said sympathetically. “It must have been so scary to find out you were pregnant when you barely knew Max. Luckily, he’s such a good guy. We all love him.”

“It’s true,” Jade said as she placed a platter of assorted snacks down on the bedside table. “We were all trying to think of people to fix him up with! That was mostly before the wedding. Once Billie got the pictures back and we saw the two of you in them, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we were all hoping you’d come to visit so you could reconnect.”

Putting a handful of chips on her plate, she chuckled, “Really?”

“Oh, definitely,” Ash agreed. “You were already talking a lot about wanting to move here—or someplace close to here—the last few times we’d seen you. After we saw the pictures of you and Max, we just figured it could happen.” She helped herself to some chips. “I’m just glad that you decided to come here instead of Max moving down to Florida.” She paused. “Wait. Was that even an option?”

“He offered, but, like you mentioned, I was really looking to move here. The baby just made it happen a lot sooner.”

“Aww…a teeny, tiny nudge!” Ash said with a grin. “With teeny, tiny fetus feet!”

“Oh, good grief,” Jade murmured. “Knock it off.” Then she faced Hailey. “So, how are you doing? Are you okay? Are you guys planning on getting married? I thought I heard Max saying something about that before you joined us in the kitchen.”

There was a collective gasp as all eyes turned toward her.

“Um…Max has mentioned it. Twice. The first time, I threw up, and then today…well…you saw my reaction.”

You could have heard a pin drop.

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