Page 52 of Craving You

“Okay, now that everyone’s gone, let’s hash this out,” he said, trying to sound logical. “Clearly you’re upset and didn’t feel like we could talk freely with everyone here, so…let’s talk.”

Hailey took a moment to finish her mouthful of brownie before looking around. “Where’s Marcus?”

“He left for D.C. this morning. He’ll be home Sunday night.”

“And Billie’s at the coffee shop?”

He nodded. “And she’s going over to Chloe and Tanner’s.”

“So no one’s going to interrupt us?”

“Not unless your parents and Sloane come back.”

Staring at him, she let out a shaky breath. “Okay, then. Here it is. I don’t understand why you would tell my father that you would marry me when we never even talked about it!”

Was she serious?

“Yes, we did, Hailey. I mentioned it, and then you promptly went and threw up,” he reminded her. “And the second time…you know what? I said it to him because he was kind of harping on that one thing! I wasn’t going to lie to him, and I’m not going to lie to you—I want to marry you! I’ll say it to you, your parents, your family, and anyone who asks! I get that you’re overwhelmed, but so am I!”

“And you think adding marriage to the mix is going to help anything? Seriously?” And yeah, she was heavy on the sarcasm.

For a moment, Max allowed himself to find the right words to explain why he felt the way he did.

“Hailey, you are going to be uprooting your life in the next few weeks. You’re going to move a thousand miles away from your family, your friends, and your job. Then you’re going to be here and have to find a job, a doctor, and a place to live. And during all that time, your body is going to be changing, your hormones are going to be going a little wild, and you’re going to be overwhelmed. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was someone right there beside you who could empathize? Share your accomplishments and your worries?”

“You can do all of that without being married,” she said flatly.

She’s got me there…

“I realize that,” he slowly agreed. “But…would you consider moving in with me?”

Her mirthless laugh didn’t give him much hope. “In the room over the garage? Max, you and all your things barely fit in there!”

“We both know I’m not planning on staying there. I’ve been looking at some places, and—as your father mentioned—your cousin Patrick is going to be reaching out this week and I’m going to talk to him about that.”

“And why is Patrick calling? For the bar?”

He nodded. “Yes. Ronan found a space downtown that has potential for the bar, but we’re not sure if it’s zoned for it. That’s not important right now. Every night when I’d go up to my apartment this week, I would look at all the real estate sites. If I’m going to buy something, I’d like it to be something we both like.”

She eyed him warily. “Why? It’s your house.”

“God, are you always this stubborn?” he snapped. “I mean…jeez, Hailey, meet me halfway here! I get it. You’re pissed. I said something without running it by you first, but I’m not going to apologize for being honest!” Standing, he stormed over and grabbed himself a brownie from the box because he was just so freaking frustrated and needed a minute to calm down.

“Max, I…”

“I’ve done nothing but be honest with you, and I’ve promised from the moment you told me about the baby that I would be there with you no matter what!” he went on, shaking the brownie and scattering crumbs everywhere with each word. “I’m not going to beg you, and I’m not going to argue with you every day! We hit pause for a few days, but you know what? This situation isn’t going away! We need to make some decisions, and we need to get on the same page! You don’t want to marry me? Fine. I don’t like it, but I’ll deal with it.” Using his free hand, he raked it through his hair. “Right now, I guess we need to deal with logistics. We can go upstairs or I can bring my laptop down here and I can show you the houses I’m looking at. Or you can tell me what your plan is for moving and we’ll go from there.”

Stuffing half the brownie in his mouth, Max closed his eyes and tried to focus on the sugar high while pushing his own disappointment aside. If she wanted to just be roommates, fine. If she didn’t want to live with him and just wanted to co-parent, fine. Never in his life did he have to resort to begging, and he did his best to never lie. If Hailey didn’t want to hear the truth, that was on her. He wasn’t about to start lying to everyone just so she could feel better. He was willing to turn his life upside down just to make hers easier in a lot of ways, but he wasn’t going to compromise who he was.

When he finally opened his eyes, she was staring at him, her expression completely neutral.

“Could you sit back down?” she asked quietly. “Please?”

With a curt nod, he did just that and then waited to hear what she had to say.

“I don’t have a plan, Max. The only thing I was focused on was getting my parents out of here so I could try to figure out what came next. Every day while you were at work, all I would hear was how wonderful you are, how great you are, how lucky I am that someone as awesome as you wanted to marry me.” She groaned. “My father reminded me every chance he got how you wanted to marry me, and when he wasn’t around, my mother picked up the ‘I heart Max’ campaign.” Pausing, she rolled her eyes. “My dad and Uncle Ronan spent a lot of time scouting out potential locations for the bar, and that left me alone with my mother and Sloane. We’d go to lunch and visit with everyone, and she’d talk about all the great houses we could buy when we’re married, and how we could have a beautiful wedding just like my cousins had.”

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this? We’ve seen each other every day and not once did you even let on that they were pressuring you like this.”

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