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Maxcould seethemomentwhen Chelsea accepted defeat. Sheturned awayfrom him,rolled her shouldersbackand sauntered backthewayshe’d come. Hestayedin thehallwayfor a few more minutesbeforere-emerging.
“WasthatwhoI thoughtitwas?”Samasked,handing hima glassofscotch.
Maxdrained the glassbeforeanswering. “Yep.”
“What did shewant?”
“Totalkaboutthe divorce.”
“So you’regoing through with it?”
“Yes. I’veforgiven her too manytimesbefore.”
Samraised his glassto him.“Aboutfucking time,” hesaid,taking a drink. “Doyouwanttogooutside for a bit?”
Henodded.“Letme getarefill first.”
“I’llmeetyououtthere.”Samwalkedtowardsthefrontdoor whileMaxheaded in thedirection of thekitchen. Using thesameglassasbefore,hefilled itup then joined his bestfriend outside.
“So,you’rebackfor goodthen?”Samasked,hiseyeson thestreetin frontofthe house,onthe carslined upon both sides.
“I wassupposed tostartworkon Friday night.”
“Evangelinegiveyousometimeoff?”
“I havetobein onMonday.”
“Tough,brother.”Maxcouldn’tagree more.“Whathappened tothatNewYorkgirl youwere seeing?Gigi,wasit?”
Pain lancedthrough his heart. “She’sstillthere.”Hecould feelSamstudying him,buthedidn’t turn his face.
“Thingsgotserious,didn’tthey?”
Maxtooka sip fromhis glass,balancing iton thearmrest ofthewooden deckchairhewassitting in. “Moreseriousthan Iever thoughttheywould.”
“Isshe going tocome to LA, orare you doing long-distance?”
“I don’tknow,”herepliedhonestly. “Wedidn’t getaround to discussing it,”hesaid with ashrug. “Weweresupposedtohavetwo moredaystogether,butbecauseIhad tocome homesoquickly, wedidn’ttalkaboutit.I justsaid goodbyetoheroutsidemyapartmentasIwasgetting intoacab.”
Samshookhishead.
“What?”Max demanded.
“This isthefirsttimeI’veever seenyoutorn up abouta girl.”
“So?”
Samputdown hisglassand turned hisbodytoproperlylookathim.“Sheobviouslymeansalot moreto you than you’reletting on.Let measkyou this:do you wanttohavearelationship with her?”
“Yes.”
“Then haveone.”
He madeitsound soeasy.“It’scomplicated,”Maxreplied.
“Uncomplicateit,Max. Ifyou want her,tell her. Shecan’treadyourmind.”
Being spoken tosobluntlymadehimrealizehehadn’treallyevertried tohaveaserious conversation with Gigi aboutwhatwould happenwhen heleft. Allhehad everdonewaspredict whatwould happen. Helookedathiswatch. Itwasthreep.m.,whichmadeitsixp.m.in NewYork. Leaving hisglasswhereitwas,Maxreached intohispocketand pulledouthisphone. Therewasa textthere hehadn’tseen;itwasfromGigi.
Just lettingyouknowI’m thinkingaboutyoutoday. Ihopeyougettosaygoodbye toyourfathercomforted byfamily andfriends.Callmeif youneedtotalk.Iloveyou. xxx
He got up, took a fewstepsawayfromSam, and dialed Gigi’s number.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Hey.”
“Howare you? Howwastoday?”
“Itwasnice—sad,butnice.”
“Howwasthewake?”
Heturned around and looked through thefrontwindow,seeing all hisfamilyrecounting different storiesabouthis dad. Thescenemadehimsmile. “It’sstill going.”
“Oh…Wecan talklater—”
“No. It’sfine. Iwanted tospeaktoyou aboutsomething.”
Therewasasqueakinthe background,and hecouldpicturehersitting downonthe endof her bed. “Okay.”
Hebreathedin deeplyandletitout.“I leftpretty quickly,huh?”
“You had a good reason,”shereplied cautiously.
“I didn’twanttoleaveyou,Gigi. Asthatcab wasdriving away,all Iwasthinking aboutwashowI wantedyousitting nexttomeon thebackseat.”
“Max,you don’thavetosaythat.”
“I wantto. I said Icouldn’tliveinthesamecitywithouttouching you. Thetruth is,I can’tlivein thesamecountrywithouttouching you.”Heheard her sharp intakeofbreathonthe other endof theline. “I knowIhave norighttoaskyou,butwould you consider moving toCalifornia to bewithme?”
Thebeatofsilencethat followed hisquestionmade himsweat.Heknewhewasasking a lotof her,buthislifewason thewestcoast.
“Max,”shestarted.“I heard backfromtheAMNH. I got a placeon theinternship program.”
“That’sgreat.”Heonlyjustmanaged tocough up thecongratulationswithin thesocially acceptabletimeline.Thetruth was,hesawtheannouncementasanother hugewedgebeing driven between them.
“I didn’twanttotellyou likethis. I should havewaiteduntil you’d had a bit moretimetogrieve.”
“Believe me,thedistraction isgood,but...”
“Wheredoesthisleave us?”
“Yeah,”hesaidon a sigh.“Imean,I knowwhatIwant...”
“I want you,Max,justlikeIalwayshave. Thething is I’vewantedto geta job atAMNH sinceI startedstudying. NowI actuallyhavea chanceof getting one. I can’tgiveitall upto moveacross to the othersideof thecountry.”
“And I’m notaskingyouto.”
“Yes,you are.”
“You won’tcome here,andI can’tleave,”Maxreiterated. Hetried nottosound contrite,buthe heard itin hisvoice.
“I don’tknowwhat you wantmetosay.”
I wantyou tosay,“I chooseyou, Max”. Chelsea had never donethat. Itwasallaboutwhatshe wanted andwhatsheneeded. Thatwasthereasontheyhadmoved toLAin thefirstplace.Thatwas thereasonthey got married. “Then I can’ttellyou,either,”heeventuallysaid,his words clipped. “Perhapsour relationship onlyworked in NewYorkbecauseweknewtherewasan end date.”
“You can’t mean that,”shereplied. Heheardthehurt,could almostseethewaytearstrembled on her lashes,threatening tofall.“Wecantry havinga long-distancerelationship,”shereasoned.
“I’m notsurethatcouldwork,”hemurmured,realizing whathewassaying—whathewas doing—butbeing powerlesstostop it.“Maybeweshould justpartasfriendsandleaveitatthat.I still love you,Gigi. I doubtI’ll ever stop.Butwe bothknowit’snotgoing toworkouthowwewantit to.”
Heexpectedto hear herfightforthem,instead shesimplysaid,“You’reright. Wejustmetatthe wrong time.”
Remorsefloodedhim,mingling with thesorrowofthelossof his father. Together,theywerea potentmixof emotionsthathefeltweretryingto drown him. He sucked in a breath. “All right.Well,Iguessthisisgoodbye then.”
“No,not goodbye—justtalktoyou later.”
Maxsmiled despite himself. “Talktoyou later,Gigi. I loveyou.”
“I…”shehesitated,thesound of a clickending thecall. Hepocketed hisphoneand turned backto Sam.
“Bythelookon your face, thingsdidn’tgoasyou’d planned.”
Collapsing backintothechair,hepicked up hisglassand drained it. “It’sover.”
Hisbestfriend arched abrow.“I thoughtyouwere going totell heryou wantedher.”
“I did. Butshe gotan internship atthemuseumthat could leadtoa job whenshefinishes studying. Itwould beselfish ofmetowant hertocomehereand give up on her dreams.Maybeit’s justlikeI said toher—weworkedin NewYorkbecauseweknewtherewasan enddate. Herein the real world,thingsdon’talwayswork outhowwewantthemto.”
Samwasstudying him. Hewassure hewasgoing totell himhewasa fucking idiot,butinstead he said nothing—hejuststared. “I know you can’tjustwalkawayfromher,soforyour sakeI hopeyou sortitoutbefore you lose herforgood.”Andwith that,hisbestfriend gotup and disappeared back intothehouse.
