Page 23 of Lines We Cross
Maybe it was the beginning of my new one.
9
Skylar
Mom:You shouldn’t be so rude to Max. He was your brother’s best friend. He was YOUR friend. He’s going through a rough time, so cut him some slack.
I snorted. Yeah, weren’t we all.
Skylar:Okay, Mom.
Mom:Don’t you “okay” me, missy! I can see you rolling your eyes and I don’t appreciate it. You went positively Ice Queen on him at the festival. Remember: you never know what someone else is going through, so don’t be mean. Which is what I told your father yesterday when he got snippy about dinner. He had no idea what kind of hangover I was dealing with.
Skylar:Jeez, Mom. I don’t need to know about your over indulging. Max just…he let me down. That’s all. I can’t trust him.
Mom:Wait until you get older and we’ll see if you can drink beer without repercussions.So tell him how you feel. He’s a big boy. I’m sure he can take a little truth thrown at him.
A new text came in, the chat group we’d created years ago when Lacey moved to town and became one of us.
Lacey:Holy hotness, those boys inspired an entire song, y’all!
Kadee:I always thought Max was the hottest of all of them, despite the fact I dated Heath, but did you see how big Heath got? And that dark-eyed smolder?? He did NOT have all that back in high school. *Flames emoji*
Ava:All four of them are crazy hot, but good luck trying to pin one of those boys down. They’re like the “it boys” from high school. They’ve seen the world and we’re just small-town girls that never left home.
Skylar:What do you mean “just some small-town girls”? Why leave when you have everything you could ever want right here in Nickel Bay?? And major eyeroll, Ava. You’re gorgeous. Any one of those boys would be lucky to have you.
Ava: *blushing emoji*
Lacey:I know one of them certainly had his eye on you, Skylar…
Skylar:Nope. Not going there.
I tossed my phone down and finished getting ready for work. It kept vibrating, but I honestly couldn’t deal with any of them anymore. Everything circled back to Max. It was like my adolescence repeating itself all over again. Back in the day, everything revolved around Max. He used to own my thoughts, my plans, my decisions. And look where that got me. One lousy kiss and ditched the next day.
Now he was back in Nickel Bay and trying to get back in my head. I was older and wiser now which meant I couldn’t let that happen. He’d shown me twice what kind of man he was and I certainly wasn’t interested in that. I deserved better, even if my lousy heart seemed to have itself set on the smiling, blond baseball player.
When I got to the clinic, I flicked on the lights and got the place set up for a full day of clients. I checked my appointment book as I’d been too distracted over the weekend with the festival to remember what this week looked like.
“Well, crap,” I muttered to my empty office. I had Max first thing this morning for an hour session. Maybe he wouldn’t show. I’d yelled at him twice. You would think he’d get the message and stay away. I was certain there were other PTs in the area he could rehab with.
The bell over the door rang out and I assumed it was Dee, my assistant. She was always on time, which was one of the things I liked most about her. While I scanned the rest of my appointments and tried to ignore the first name on the schedule, I heard Dee laughing. That was definitely odd. Dee almost never laughed and it was one of the things I liked least about her. Her lack of smiling for such a young person was worrisome.
Leaving my office, I went down the hall and turned right to head to the front desk. If Dee was still chuckling, I needed to see what was so funny. I tried repeatedly to get her laughing and almost always failed.
“So you can see why I couldn’t wear those pants ever again, right?” Max leaned against the desk, his face bright and happy as he regaled my assistant with a doozy of a story. Knowing Max, it was probably more truth than story.
“Good morning, Rae!” Max turned his radiant smile to me, the joy not dimming even in the face of my frown.
“Morning,” I responded cautiously. Not only had Max shown up for PT, he was genuinely happy to see me despite my bad attitude whenever he was around. Had it been anyone else, I would have felt guilty. Max had it coming though. “Ready to work?”
He winked at Dee and followed me into the main gym area. That little wink set off a squeezing sensation in my gut. It was official. I was now jealous of my own assistant. Max got settled on the mat and eyed me the whole time I applied electrodes to his knee for some electric stimulation meant to wake up the surrounding muscles.
“Rae. I’m sorry for pushing your buttons since I’ve been back. I just want to talk to you. That’s all.” His words flowed like syrup, super sweet and sticking to me when I just wanted them to bounce off my Teflon armor.
I turned on the machine, seeing my hands tremble. I could feel his gaze tracking my movements and I knew he wouldn’t let me hide from the conversation. What I didn’t expect was a burning sensation behind my eyes. It would be so easy to say yes, to let us talk without my guard up, to say the things that I yearned to say. But what then? Would I let myself fall for him all over again? That would lead to disaster, I was certain.
“Please, Rae. Just talk to me.”
