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Sweet dreams, kitten
CHAPTER 9
INFERNO
Friday
Max was a mess the next morning – which caused his brother to laugh in awareness. He’d always had a sensitive stomach and when he got stressed or nervous, it went straight to his gut.
“You are a gastroenterologist’s dream,” Eileen chuckled as he got up to leave the table once more, feeling weak as his stomach lurched and his intestines rolled.
“Max, did you take something?” Reese asked from his seat worriedly.
“Yes…” he called out and narrowly made it to the restroom. Ten minutes later, brushing his teeth for the fourth time and flushing the toilet, he walked out into the dining room and collapsed in the chair – again.
“Drink,” Eileen said – pushing a Gatorade in his hand. “Skip the coffee and get some electrolytes in you. I really don’t want to start my day with my brother-in-law on a gurney because he’s scared.”
“I’m not scared,” he retorted weakly and chugged some of the orange fluid as they watched him with sympathetic eyes. “I’m not!”
“Max, you look completely freaked out… why don’t you wait to do this and think about it?” Reese said gently. “If she loves you then…”
“She doesn’t,” he rasped, putting a hand on his stomach again as he looked at his brother. “I’m crazy about her, but I don’t think she feels the same… yet.”
“You can’t make someone love you,” Eileen said warily, glancing at Reese. “If you aren’t in love, then why are you tearing yourself up over this.”
“I didn’t say that I wasn’t in love…” Max began and felt his stomach roll again. “Excuse me.”
And he ran for the bathroom, skidding in his socks on the floor and slamming the door shut before collapsing in front of the toilet as he threw up again.
“All right now,” Reese said from the doorway. “Tough love time – I’m going to tell you right now that this is a mistake if you are this scared and nervous about marrying Elana, and I warned you that it was a mistake to go after her. I’m not an idiot, and you should have listened…”
“It’s not a mistake,” Max interrupted weakly, looking at his brother as he blurted out everything. He had always been able to trust Reese and lean on him, and desperately needed to hear that this was going to be okay. “I love that woman, and she scares me to death because she doesn’t need me at all – not like I need her.”
“Now that,” Reese chuckled softly, kneeling and taking a seat on the tile beside Max, rubbing his shoulders like he was a boy. “That is something I can understand and appreciate. Eileen is independent and stronger than any woman I know, but there’s something that is completely appealing in knowing that she chose me.”
“Exactly,” Max nodded. “Elana might be scared or slightly unsure, but she’s confident enough to get my name tattooed on her arm.”
“What?”
“We got tattoos last night together and…”
“You’re kidding me – Elana Cole got a tattoo… with your name?”
“My call sign,” Max nodded. “I didn’t ask her to, but she got a plane and my name on the inside of her wrist – and I was a goner. I’m so stupidly in love with that woman, and… where are you going?”
Reese was already up and pressed the handle on the commode, flushing the water and giving them both a reprieve from the sour smell that had been there moments before.
“Well, I guess I need to go change so I can meet my new sister-in-law,” Reese smiled, bent over, and patted Max on the knee where he sat. “Cause I’m pretty sure things are serious if she’s done that. Heck, even Eileen didn’t tattoo my name on herself, but now I’ve gotta talk to my wife.”
“Noooo…” Eileen sang out, laughing. “Are you done puking in there yet? Brush your teeth, come take some Dramamine and some Imodium, and buck up, Max. This is not how a Carpenter reacts to stress. You charge in, get the job done, and then freak out later.”
“True,” Reese chuckled, extending his hand. “Pretend you are going into battle, brother… because you kinda are.”
“Thanks,” Max groaned – and reached for the toilet once more.
Three hours later, Max was starting to panic because Elana hadn’t texted him, or called, and it was getting close to two o’clock in the afternoon. They still needed to get wedding rings, plus do the paperwork at the courthouse, and he was running out of time.
Twenty minutes later, amidst the rumbling of his intestines, he was focusing and staring at the wedding rings in the case.
