Page 83 of Craving You

“Aww…I’m glad you did.” They made sandwiches and Max asked how she was feeling and reminded her to keep drinking water and the importance of taking a few days to rest. He was being sweet but firm and it just made her fall in love a little more with him.

What am I waiting for? What’s wrong with just telling him how I feel?

The sound of her phone dinging with an incoming text brought her out of her reverie and she already knew it was going to be her sister, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear her advice after all.

Tell him! Tell him now!

The phone dinged several more times and she caught Max watching her curiously.

“Aren’t you going to see who that is?”

Sighing softly, she nodded and walked across the room to look at her phone.

Sloane: I’VE GOT IT!

Sloane: Follow these instructions EXACTLY and then tell me how amazing I am afterwards!

Hailey let out a shaky breath and glanced at Max before she scrolled down to see what her sister had come up with. A slow smile spread across her face as she read. When she was done, there was only one thing she could say.

Hailey: Holy crap, Sloane! It’s PERFECT!

For three days, work had been a beast. His father, Ronan, and Kevin kept bugging him about going and looking at the spot they were considering for the bar, but Max just couldn’t find the time. Every day when he could finally step away from his desk, all he wanted to do was spend time with Hailey and make sure she was doing okay. There had been no other issues, and she had set an appointment with the OB-GYN for the end of next week.

It was late Friday afternoon, and he was beyond ready for the weekend. Hailey said she had dinner under control for tonight, and he kind of felt bad about that. She was supposed to be resting and even though he knew cooking wasn’t strenuous—nor was she on bed rest—he just felt like he should be taking better care of her.

When he stepped into the house, he found Hailey standing in the kitchen with a small suitcase at her feet. His heart dropped. Was she leaving him?

“Hey,” he began slowly. “What’s going on?”

She was fully dressed in a pair of dark jeans, a deep red sweater, and boots. Her hair and makeup were done, and she looked ready to go out. “Your father is coming over to take care of the dogs tonight,” she told him. “And you and I are going up to Summit Ridge for the night.”

He knew his eyes went comically large. “We are? Shouldn’t you be…”

“I don’t need to rest, Max. I’m not fragile, and the baby and I are fine. But just to put your mind at ease, I already spoke to the nurse at the OB-GYN’s office and ran it by her.”

“And? What did she say?”

“You mean after she laughed?” she asked with amusement. “Um…she said to tell you to relax. I’m not made of glass and as long as I don’t try to climb a mountain or anything crazy like that, we’re totally fine to go away for the night.”

He couldn’t help being overly cautious. This was all new to him, and he didn’t want to do anything to hurt her or their baby. “Oh. Good. Okay.” Forcing himself to relax, he asked, “Do we have time for me to run upstairs and change? I think I’m dressed a little too casually for dinner. I won’t be long.”

“Our reservation is for seven o’clock, so you have a little bit of time to do what you need to.”

Walking over, he gave her a quick kiss. “Fifteen minutes!” And then he dashed up the stairs. It was kind of cool that she was initiating a date night for them. They were clearly over that awkward stage of their relationship, and even though they still weren’t where he wanted them to be, this sort of thing was a positive sign that they were moving in the right direction. So he quickly washed up and changed into something a little more business casual, and wondered if that suitcase she had was for both of them or just her.

“Hey, Hales?” he called out.

“Yeah?”

“Do I need to pack anything?”

“Already taken care of! Hope you don’t mind!”

He was grinning like a loon. She had cared enough to go through his things and pack for him. It was such a silly yet intimate thing and he’d never been so happy to have someone invade his privacy.

Glancing around, he made sure he had everything before heading back down the stairs. He was halfway out of the bedroom when he turned back and grabbed one last thing that he hoped Hailey didn’t find while rifling through his drawers.

In the distance, he heard the dogs barking and figured his father must have arrived. When he walked into the kitchen, the dogs were going wild, running and jumping on him.

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