“What kind of job?”
“I’m a kindergarten teacher. Or at least I want to be.”
“Where are you looking?”
“All over.”
“You should check out Vermont.”
“Really?” she asked with a flirtatious smile. “What goes on up there?”
“Lots of stuff—snow and ice and mud and maple syrup and moose. It’s awesome.”
“Sounds like it. How much snow are we talking?”
“Uh, like you want a number of feet?”
Her dark brows furrowed adorably. “The fact that you measure it in feet is a concern.”
Max laughed. “There’s a lot of it.”
“What do you do up there?”
“I work for my family’s business, dividing my time between the sugaring facility and the Christmas tree farm.”
“What goes on at the sugaring facility?”
“That’s where we make maple syrup. I work with my brother Colton there and my brother Landon at the farm.”
“Do you like working with your family?”
“I love it. I get along great with all my siblings.”
“You’re lucky to have them.”
“As the youngest of ten, there’ve been times when I would’ve disagreed with you, but those days are long over now. Do you have siblings?”
“Nope, just cousins I was close to when we were young, but we drifted apart as we got older.”
“You’ll find your way back to each other when you get more settled.”
“Maybe.” Ringing laughter had her glancing across the room to where her uncle Cabot had his arm around Mia as they talked with Wade, Molly and Linc. “My uncle is so happy. He’s like a whole new man since he found his daughter.”
“I can’t imagine what he’s been through.”
“It was so awful. My whole life, I heard about my missing cousin. The day he found her was one of the best days of all our lives. He’s such a good guy. What was done to him…” She shook her head.
“Shouldn’t happen to anyone. I have a whole new perspective having a child of my own. I’d kill to protect him.”
“That’s kind of hot,” she said with a wink and a smile that rendered him speechless.
“Is it?”
“Hell yes.”
He discovered that laughing involved her whole body.
“Like you didn’t know the protective-single-dad thing is hot.”
“Uh, I didn’t. I’ve been all about diapers and bottles and pacifiers for the last seven months. If being a single dad is hot, that’s totally news to me.”
“Well, I’m glad I got to be the one to break it to you.”
Landon thought the ball game would never end. Today had been a blast, but he was ready for some time alone with Amanda, which meant, of course, the game had to go into extra innings before the Sox won with a thrilling walk-off home run. Then everyone had wanted to go out for drinks, but since Landon had technically “worked” the night before, he begged off. While the others sought out after-hours fun, Landon and Amanda walked back to the hotel with Lucas, Dani, Savannah, Max, Caden, Will and Cameron, who was exhausted from being, as she called it, “extra pregnant.”
Caden was sacked out on Max’s shoulder, his little hand grasping Max’s shirt.
“You seemed to have a good time tonight,” Landon said quietly to his brother while Amanda chatted with Dani as she pushed Savannah in a stroller.
“I did.”
“Call me crazy, but Caroline seemed to be digging my little boy.”
“Everyone digs him.”
“I meant you,” Landon said with a laugh. “Idiot.”
“Oh. Maybe. We had a nice time hanging out.”
“Are you so far removed from the game that you can’t tell when a girl is into you?”
“Possibly.”
Landon laughed again. “Well, I’m not, and I know what I saw. She likes you.”
“I like her, too. It was nice to meet someone who never knew me without Caden, you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“People I knew before expect me to be the same, but I’m not. Everything is different now.”
“Huh, I hadn’t really thought of that.”
“My friends give me a lot of shit because they never see me anymore. I’ve stopped responding to their comments about how I’ve turned into a priest since I had a kid.”
“They did not say that.”
“They did! I know they’re just joking. Kind of.”
“Max, come on. Don’t let that shit get you down. Of course everything has changed for you. Someday it will for them, too, and they’ll get it.”
“Yeah, but for now, they just think I’m a priest.”
“Eh, fuck ’em. What do you care what they think?”
“I don’t, it’s just that sometimes…”
“What?”
“I don’t want you to think I’m complaining about having Caden. I love him more than anything in the world.”
“I know that. Everyone knows that.”
“I’m only twenty-three, but sometimes I feel like I’m forty or even older. Like tonight… I really like Caroline, but what’s the point? She lives here. I’m hours away in Vermont. Even if I wanted to come here and see her, I can’t.”
“Whoa, Maxi-Pad, take a breath.”
Max’s thunderous expression was no surprise—it happened every time he and Lucas trotted out the nickname they’d come up with for Max after middle school health class. “I can still punch you in the face with a baby in my arms.”
“Easy, killer.”
“You and your brother are still assholes.”
“My brother and I are offended.”
“Whatever.”
“About Caroline,” Landon said. “If you like her, don’t go straight to hopeless. Anything is possible if you want it badly enough.”
“Are you talking about me or yourself?”
“Both, I guess. For a long time, it seemed like nothing was going to happen for me and Amanda, and once I found the courage to be truthful with her about what I wanted, it’s been… incredible.”
“I’m glad for you. She seems like a really nice girl.”
“She’s the best.”
“So this is it for you?”
“I think so.”
“Wow. I’m going to be the only single one standing.”
“You won’t be single for long. Despite what we think, people of the female persuasion seem to find you less revolting than we do.”
“Gee, thanks,” Max said, laughing. “That’s one hell of an endorsement.”
“You’re a hell of a guy, Max Abbott. Don’t let what one woman did make you give up on all of them. That’d just compound the tragedy.”
“I hear you. Look at you becoming wise in your old age.”
“Shocking, right?”
“I always knew you had it in you.”
“I’m glad you did, because I had no clue.”
He followed Max into the hotel lobby and caught up to Amanda. As they walked to the elevator, he put his arm around her and kept her close for the ride to the fifth floor, where most of the rooms were occupied by family members. They said good night to Will and Cam and then waited for Max to fish his keycard out of his pocket while balancing Caden.