“Max,” I repeated, and when he licked his lips, I was filled with the urge to kiss him.
“Dominic, I—”
Suddenly, my phone began to ring. It was Hal. “Shit,” I muttered, pulling the phone out of my jacket pocket and taking the call. “Hey.”
“Did you fuckin’ find him or not?” Hal demanded. “I can’t call the cavalry until I know, and I’ve got three of my guys on hold ready to head out if he’s still missing.”
“I found him,” I said, looking up at Max, who hadn’t moved an inch yet still felt as though he’d pulled back somehow. Damn it. “We’re heading home.”
“Good. Tell him not to drive like a fucking maniac.”
I ended the call. “Hal says to drive safe.”
“Yeah, sure he does.” Max smiled, but it didn’t really reach his eyes. He chafed his upper arms with his hands. “Wow, it’s cold. I didn’t notice before…”
I put the phone in my pocket and turned my flashlight down the hill. “We better get back. Oh, here. It was pinging a lot earlier.” I pulled his phone out of my pocket and handed it over.
He turned it on and took a quick glance at his messages, biting his lip—something from work, then? Something good, something bad? I couldn’t tell, and I didn’t have the guts to ask a question so personal yet, not after how I’d behaved.
It took less than a minute to reach the trailhead—not nearly long enough for me to figure out how to get Max and me back to where we’d almost been, but also too long. Max was shivering hard now, and I handed him the keys to Hal’s truck, which was warm inside. “I’ll follow you home.”
Max smiled kind of wistfully. “Okay, Dominic.”
This time, my name falling from his lips had no warmth behind it.
…
At home, the girls were waiting for us, and they jumped on Max as soon as he walked in the door. Hal hung back a bit, watching with a worried expression. “Where have you been?” Marnie demanded. “We’ve been waiting for you all day.”
“I’m sorry,” Max said, ducking his chin as he looked at them and smiling abashedly. “I lost track of time while I was out.”
“You didn’t even get to play with Baby! Look, we taught her a trick.”
To my surprise, it was Steph who said, “Sit, Baby!” The little dog sat down so rapidly that I figured it was a command she already knew, but the girls were in raptures at how good they were at teaching her.
Max smiled at them and gave the dog a pat. “That’s really good,” he congratulated them. “You guys will have her rolling over and playing dead in no time.”
Marnie wrinkled her nose. “Why would you want a dog to play dead? That’s just sad.”
“Yeah,” Max agreed. “Maybe it is.” He took his cold-weather gear off and sat down on the couch in the living room. “Want to play one of your new games?”
It looked like our apology would have to wait. Max had outmaneuvered us by bringing the girls into it. There was no way they didn’t want to play the old-school board games their dad had bought them, and so it was Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land until bedtime. Max excused himself as well, letting us know he’d be right back down.
I stared at Hal. “What’s going on with him?”
“Avoidance,” Hal said with a sigh. “Max is a pro at it. You’d barely have known his father was such a shit, the way Max acted when he stayed with us before he left for college.”
Fuck. “I told him I was sorry.”
“And what did he say?”
“Nothing, that was when you called.”
Hal made a face. “Maybe—”
“Daddy! You need to brush my hair!”
“Go.” I waved him on. “Go be a dad. I’ll…I don’t know, make some coffee or something.”
“Tea,” Hal suggested. “Or at least decaf. Otherwise, I’m not gonna sleep a wink all night, and I need to after today.”
“Sure thing.” I went into the kitchen and brewed a pot of decaf on autopilot, my hand working smoothly although my mind was completely occupied elsewhere. I listened to the thumps and bumps upstairs, the girls talking in their high-pitched voices and Hal’s soothing bass-baritone.
I listened for Max, too, and heard a low murmuring meaning he was probably on the phone. Who was he talking to? What was he thinking about? I didn’t want him to think that we didn’t care. My apology had sucked, so I’d just have to try again.
Max and Hal came down at the same time ten minutes later, Hal finished with his bedtime stories and Max clearly fresh from the shower. “Ooh, coffee,” he said brightly as soon as he saw my cup. “I’ll be right back.”
Hal followed him into the kitchen. I heard a brief murmur, then Max was back, sitting in the recliner to the other side of the Christmas tree. It stung because I’d expected him to sit on the couch with me. Hal was right. Max was distancing himself. Shit.
Max sipped his coffee and, as soon as Hal sat down beside me, said, “So I’m going to leave tomorrow morning.”
My heart stopped for a moment, freezing in my chest as Hal made an unhappy sound in the back of his throat. “You said you were staying through Sunday.”
“I know, but I got a text that my car is finally done.” Max looked down at his hands for a moment. “I also got a call from Marcus. Our newest client has some more work he’s thinking of bringing our way, and Marcus wants me to evaluate it as soon as possible, so…”
“Surely that can wait one extra day,” Hal insisted, leaning forward and taking the reins of the conversation. I let him because my hands were trembling, and my mouth was dry enough that I didn’t think I could speak. “Is this because of this morning? Max, it was a miscommunication, that’s all. You don’t have to go.”
“It could have been bad for the girls.” His voice was hard, but I knew it was directed more at himself than at us. “I didn’t stop to think about what kind of expectations it could set up. I put you in a bad position, and I didn’t even remember to tell you about it until it was already happening.”
“It was an accident,” Hal pointed out. “And maybe it wasn’t the worst thing that you didn’t tell me about it, because I’m not sure I would have let it happen otherwise, and Steph’s been talking more today than she has for the past month.”
“Still.” Max looked down at his coffee then over at me. “I should have put you first. I forgot to do that. I’m just…” He sighed. “I think I need to go home for my own sake, honestly. I need to get back a sense of normality at work, and the only way to do that is to actually work. I brought this client in, and I need to do well by them if I’m going to make partner.”