Lovers at Heart (The Bradens, Book One: Love in Bloom Series)

Chapter Eleven, Lovers at Heart

MAX BANGED HER head on the steering wheel. Thanks for telling me? What the hell was I thinking? He’d poured out his heart to her and she’d thrown away his raw emotions like they’d meant nothing. Didn’t she believe him? She pondered the thought, replaying the evening in her mind. She’d seen his eyes change in the restaurant, heard the vulnerability in his voice. She hadn’t even meant to say Thank you for telling me. She didn’t know why she’d said it. All she remembered was trying to keep herself from admitting to him how hurt she’d been by…that guy. She didn’t want to have to try to explain how someone else had called her names and that she’d stayed with him anyway. Sure, she was much younger then and she should have gotten past it, but the hurt had cut her to the core, and that flash of a look from Treat had come with the same sharp edge.

She’d believed every word he said as he poured his heart out on the table for her to see. And then she’d broken him. She’d goddamn broken him. She saw it in the way he walked with his arms closer to his body, his pace quicker than on their way into town. She knew it from the silence that separated them like a barrier. And if she had to do it all over again, she might just do it again, because she was broken, too.

She pulled into the apartment complex and her cell phone vibrated with an incoming text. This time she picked it up quickly, hoping it was Treat.

So? Everything okay?

Kaylie. She debated not texting back as she walked toward the stairs, but the words that Chaz had parroted back to her floated into her mind. She stopped walking and texted, Nope. Couldn’t B worse. Going 2 bed. Alone.

She climbed the steps feeling twice as exhausted as she had ten minutes earlier. Her phone vibrated again. She stopped on the second floor to read the text.

Sorry. Want me 2 come over?

She smiled, wishing she hadn’t given away the chocolate cake. A sweets coma might just make her feel better. She texted, I’m okay. Thx tho.

A small gift bag hung from her apartment doorknob.

“I was coming to get that.”

Max jumped. “Jesus, Treat. You scared the shit out of me again.” She put her hand over her heart and leaned against the wall, trying to calm her racing heart.

“I’m truly sorry. I thought I could beat you here.” He reached for the bag.

“What’s in that?”

“Nothing. It was stupid,” he answered.

Standing close to him again brought a different kind of rush through her body. She reached for the bag, brushing his hand. He glanced down, as if longing for the touch, then released the bag to Max.

She peered inside and removed two envelopes. She looked up at him.

“I’m gonna go.” He held her gaze and reached out, gently touching her cheek in a way that sent a million naughty thoughts through her mind, chased by one overwhelming feeling that was bigger than anything she’d ever felt.

“Goodbye, Max.”

She watched him descend the stairs, and when his footsteps faded into the night, she opened the small envelope marked “1” and read the handwritten note.

Dearest Max,

If I chicken out tonight and do not tell you why I was such an ass in Nassau, just read the other note. If I do tell you, toss the bag away and kiss me.

Yours, Treat

She smiled. He had told her. Toss the bag away and kiss me. She looked at the empty stairwell, then quickly tore open the other envelope with trembling hands. Hurry! Hurry! Her heart pushed her to move faster.

Dearest Max,

I never believed in love at first sight until I met you, and it scared me so badly that I didn’t have a clue about what to do. I’m sorry, Max. I wanted to take care of you, but if I’ve failed you, I’ll leave you alone to heal.

Love, Treat.

 

She pressed the notes to her heart and opened the door. She thought about chasing after him, but she’d made a mistake once, and her heart wasn’t ready. She had to be sure this time. Her mind was dancing with happiness as she read and reread the note over and over during the next two hours as she lay on her bed thinking of the evening and letting the words in his note sink in. Every hour that passed brought more surety. Treat had gone to great lengths, romantic lengths, to let her know how he felt, and she’d been cold. As her heart opened to him, she thought of how she’d apologize for the way she left things. Thank you for telling me. Sure, she hadn’t handled things well in the restaurant, but wouldn’t he understand? Any man who could reveal such personal turmoil would certainly understand being wounded by a past love.

Max fell asleep with the letters in her hands.