Page 5 of Craving You

Her laughter filled the stairwell. “Pfft, like I’d come without it!”

“Then come on up!”

She appeared at the top of the stairs and Max immediately walked over and took the giant pink bakery box from her. The expression on her face spoke volumes.

“It’s a lot of boxes,” he blurted out. “I know.”

“Wow. It really is.” Slowly, she stepped farther into the space. “I’d ask if you need help unpacking, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a process. And maybe…”

“I think some of it’s going to have to go back into storage. I was cluelessly optimistic.” Laughing softly, he put the box down on the small kitchen counter. “Thanks for the treats. How are you doing? I’m guessing you went back to work full-time today.”

Turning, she nodded. “I did. It was good to be back, but I think I’m going to cut back on my hours finally. Everyone’s been encouraging me to do it for a long time, but there wasn’t ever a reason to. Now that we’re back from our honeymoon and settling in to married life, I realized I have a lot of living to do. Marcus and I lost out on a lot of time together, and we want to make up for it.”

“My brother’s a lucky man,” he said. “You have no idea how happy I am that the two of you found your way back to each other.”

Her smile was serene as she walked over to him. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever thanked you.”

Frowning, he asked, “For what? Watching the dogs while you guys were on your honeymoon?”

Billie shook her head. “No. For being the one to bring Marcus back to Sweetbriar Ridge. If you hadn’t interfered…”

Max held up a hand to stop her. “It wasn’t a big deal. My initial reason for forcing him to come home was really for Dad—and a little selfishly for my sake. I needed help after being the only one around for so long. But once we knew he was coming, it was a joint effort.”

“Really?”

“Yup. From the first time my father walked into Books & Beans and saw you, it was all he could talk about—how he wished you and Marcus would get back together. So really, if you need to thank anyone, thank him.”

“Tomorrow night at dinner, I will. Plus, I’ll bake him his own box of goodies too.” She turned again and looked around. “You’re coming too, right? Six o’clock? I’m making a lasagna.”

“Heck, yeah! I’ll bring the wine. Any requests?”

“That is your brother’s specialty. Ask him. You know how snobby he can be,” she said with love and a hint of laughter. “So, what can we do to help you? Anything?”

“Um…no, but thank you. I need to figure it all out. It’s not going to be pretty up here for a while, but hopefully it will be functional while I get it all organized. Right now, all I need is my laptop and Wi-Fi. By next week, hopefully, I’ll have the rest of my office set up. I’ve been working out of boxes for far too long.” Walking over, he slung his arm around her shoulders. “And in case I haven’t said it, thank you for letting me live here temporarily.”

“Max, stay as long as you need to. The house is far too big for Marcus and me right now. I’m glad someone could use the space.” She paused, looking up at him. “And in case I haven’t said it, thank you for taking care of the dogs. I can already tell that you did some training with them.”

He laughed again. “The little guys are wild, but I had a lot of fun with them.” He was about to say more when Billie’s phone rang.

Glancing at her phone, she sighed happily and held it up for him to see. “That’s your brother. I’m sure he’s wondering why I came up here to see you before going into the house and seeing him.” She gave him a hug before heading down the stairs. “I’m on my way, Marcus,” she said with a giggle.

As soon as Max heard the door downstairs close, he knew he needed to get to work.

After having a snack.

The boxes could wait, but he wasn’t willing to take a chance on a brownie or piece of cake getting stale.

By the following evening, he had only managed to unpack about a half dozen boxes. And, if anything, it made more of a mess than it should have. Knowing he had to drive into town to pick up wine was the perfect excuse to call it a day. Glancing around as he grabbed his keys and phone, he grimaced.

“This is never going to be organized.”

Still, he made his way down the stairs and out to his car.

“Max!” his brother called out, jogging toward him. He was smiling, and seeing him so relaxed was still a bit of an oddity. “Where are you off to?”

“I told Billie I’d bring the wine. Then I sort of lost track of the time today, so I’m running into town. Need anything?”

“It’s a good thing I caught you then,” Marcus said. “I already took care of the wine, so you’re off the hook.”

---