Ditched (30 page)

“We’ll reschedule.”

“When?
When
?” he demanded. “This is it. If you go back now, our summer is over! This was our last weekend together and you’re choosing him over me.” He threw his hands up in frustration. “
Why
am I not surprised?”

“Max—”

“How convenient that with all of the crazy little fears you have, flying isn’t one of them. I mean, you’re afraid of the dark but you’re not afraid to fly?! What the hell?! Guess that means you can get back to Collin by tonight,” he fumed.

Crazy little fears
?

“Why are you being so mean?” I shot out.
“I don’t want to fight with you. Especially not now.” I reached out to grab his hand but he took a step away from me. “I need to go home anyway. I—”

He cut me off, not letting me explain there were things
I needed to take care of. As long as I was going home anyway, now, in the midst of this emergency, it seemed best not to wait.

“Fine,” he said as he threw up his hands
up again. “Go.”

“Come with me?” I suggested.

He shook his head and shot me an angry, disgusted look. “No.
No way
. Why the hell should I?”

“Are
you
mad
at me?” It was a rhetorical question but Max didn’t get mad.

He looked at me and clenched his jaw.

“Will you at least drive me? I can send the taxi away. We can talk on the way to the airport. It’ll give us a few more minutes.”

“Drive you to the airport so you can go running back to your ex?
” he yelled. “Yeah, no, I think I’ll pass on that one.” He turned and stormed toward the house.

I called after him but he ignored me. I didn’t have time to chase after him. I was barely going to make my flight as it was. I heard the house door slam and I rushed to the waiting taxi.

***

I’ve never claimed to be good under pressure. Nor have I ever claimed to make the most logical decisions. As I sat on the well-worn chair at the airport, I took a moment to finally catch my breath.

Now that I wasn’t in the midst of nearly having a nervous meltdown, now that I wasn’t running around trying to buy a ticket, pack my suitcase and track down Max, I had a few moments to think.

I realized a few things.

The first, Collin had tripped over that damn dog and he may have done it even if he wasn’t talking to me. Muffin was persistent. When she wanted someone’s attention, she was determined to get it.

The second, no matter if I went back to Chamberlain tonight or never,
Gwen was still going to blame me.

I briefly contemplated calling for an update. But that would only invite another round of blame to be thrown my way. I watched the minute hand ticking round and round. Funny how now it seemed to be speeding by. When I’d been at home, not that long ago, the passing of minutes had been torturously slow.

Now, we’d be boarding the plane any minute.

My stomach twisted at the thought of how I’d lef
t things with Max. He was right. I shouldn’t be running off because my mom laid on the guilt. On the other hand, if Collin was seriously injured—despite everything, my heart squeezed painfully at the thought—then I did owe it to him to be there for him. Even if things were nowhere near the same for us, I owed him that much. Didn’t I? My phone rang in my hand, startling me.

“Mom,” I said by way of answering. “Have you heard from
Gwen?”

“I have. That’s why—”

“Is he okay?” I interrupted.

“He has a concussion and a few broken bones. Nothing life threatening but he is in pretty bad shape.”
Her voice sounded shaky. “Apparently he was carrying a very large load of laundry. They think it may have helped to break his fall.”

I let out a breath of relief. That was all I really needed to know.

“You’re positive though, that he’s going to be okay?”

“Yes. They’re still running tests but he is conscious now, so that’s something.”
She continued on. “Gwen is understandably beside herself.” I braced myself, knowing what was coming. “I am so relieved you’re on your way home. Collin is going to be so happy to see you.”

“Actually,” I said as I rose from my seat. “I’m not
on my way.”

Max was wrong about one thing. I
did
need to go back to Chamberlain. I needed to go back to get some closure and to tie up some loose ends. But he was right about the rest. That didn’t mean I had to do it now. I didn’t have to do it because my presence was
commanded
of me. I surely didn’t have to do it if it meant leaving things in such a horrible place with Max. We had never fought before. Not even as friends and it left me with a hollow ache that raged inside of me.

After all he’d done for me, I owed him at least that much. Because he meant the world to me, I owed him that much. I needed to go back and fix things before they got any worse.

I was met with silence. I grabbed the handle of my small suitcase and began wheeling it toward the door. Finally she said, “Holly, I really do believe you should come home.”

“I will. Next weekend.” There was so much more I needed to say to her. So many things about my future that I needed to explain. Right then was not the time and certainly not the place.

“Holly,” she said firmly, “you owe it to Collin to come home.”

“No, Mom, I don’t. I owe it to Max to stay. I’ve got to go but I’ll call first thing tomorrow morning for an update.
Or if anything changes with Collin’s condition, call me.” She tried to interrupt but I spoke over her. “Love you!”

I disconnected and
clicked on my last call placed. It was to the taxi company. I immediately redialed the number, knowing the best thing for me to do right then was to go home.

Chapter 23

On the way back to the beach house, I realized I thought of it as home. The house Max and I shared felt like home to me now. Not my parents house, not even the town of Chamberlain. Sapphire Bay was home to me now because that’s where Max was. And I wanted to be wherever he was.

When the taxi dropped me off, the first thing I noticed was that Max’s car was gone. I dialed his number as I let myself into the house. I heard the ringing of a phone as I opened the door. I let out a little whimper of disappointment when I realized that he
still hadn’t grabbed it before he left.

I rolled my suitcase back to my room. Then I came back out and sat at the kitchen table. My jewelry was still spread out, taking up the whole area. I listlessly tried to work on a pair of earrings. It was a simple task and yet, I couldn’t manage to concentrate on it at all. I finally gave up and just sat there,
staring out at the waves rolling in.

Time began playing
its cruel game once again. Each second passing at a rate so slow it shouldn’t be possible. After a few hours had passed by, my whole body was vibrating with nervous energy. It was so intense it was making me ill. I had assumed he’d be back right away and I couldn’t imagine where he’d gone.

Lanna called while I was listlessly poking through the fridge, looking for s
ome strawberry syrup to squirt in my milk. She had heard about Collin from a friend who was friends with one of his neighbors. A neighbor who had seen the ambulance pull in and Collin rolled out.

“But he’s going to be fine, right?” she said.

“Yes, as far as I know.”

“So,
since he’s going to be okay,” she said, “I feel like I have the right to ask what kind of an idiot falls down his own stairs?”

“One that was too busy arguing
with me to be paying attention,” I admitted with a grimace. “He was also in a hurry, talking on the phone, carrying a huge load of laundry
and
trying to get past the dog.”

“
Then it’s possible it had nothing to do with you. That dude had a truckload of bad karma headed his way,” she grumbled. Then she shifted topics. “I just wanted to check in with you but I’ve got to get going. I met this guy, his name’s Connor—”

“What happened to Mr. Touchy Feely?” I asked.

“Oh,” she said, “he’s long gone. I went to a party with Dani the other night. Connor is a friend of Todd’s so the four of us are going out. What are you and Max up to?”

“Um,” I started and had to take a breath to continue. “Actually, I’m not sure.” I told her about my evening.

“So you came back and he was just gone?”

“Looks that way and I really thoug
ht he’d be back by now. I’m kind of freaking out because I really hate how we left things. I mean, that’s why I came back,” I said.

“I’m sure everything’s fine,” she said soothingly. “But if you need anything, or just need to talk, give me a call.”

I thanked her and hung up. I knew I wouldn’t be calling. She was always so willing to give up her time for me. There was no way I was going to call while she was on a date. I glanced at the clock yet again. For the first time since my arrival I cursed not having my own car here. I felt so trapped. If I had my car, I could go look for him. Not that I would have any idea where to start.

Maybe he’d gone back to work?

Or to visit his grandparents?

He still didn’t know that many people in town but he was close to
Villette and Charles. I debated awhile, even told myself I really shouldn’t bother them with this. But as those minutes continued to crawl past, and then those minutes turned to a few more hours sneaking by, I finally broke down. I felt so helpless and I didn’t know what else to do. I was grateful that we’d exchanged numbers the day we’d gone out to lunch.

His grandma answered on the third ring.

Please, please let him be there
….

“Hi, Villette, it’s Holly.” I tried to keep my voice even. “Have you seen Max?”

“Not since
this afternoon when I dropped by the winery.”

“
Do you think there’s a chance he’s there?” I doubted it but I had to ask.

“Just a moment.” I heard scuffling noises and hushed voices. “No, Charles is just coming in. He s
tayed late, like he always does, but he said Max left at his normal time.”

“And he didn’t go back?” I pressed.

She paused for a beat. “I take it that means he’s missing? Has he not come home yet?”

Her voice was heavily laced with concern and I instantly regretted calling her. I didn’t want to admit to her that we’d had a fight. Yet, his grandparents’
house was one of the few places I thought that he would go. I hesitated, unsure of what or how much to tell her.

“My goodness, Holly, it’s getting awfully late. He’s not home yet?” Her tone was no longer tinged in concern. It was positively drenched in it.

I didn’t want to dump my problems on her but I didn’t know how to get out of this conversation without telling her. So that’s what I did.

She listened without interrupting. When I was done, she sighed. “Holly, that grandson of mine has been smitten with you for years. Chamberlain never did grow on that boy. I
can’t tell you how many times he’s said the only good thing about Chamberlain was you. I think he would’ve moved back last summer, right out of high school. But I think he had this hope that he’d finally get his chance with you.” She paused and her voice became softer. “I probably have no business telling you this, but we were just sitting down to a family dinner the night he got your message about your engagement. Holly, that boy turned white as a snowflake. He excused himself and rushed out of there. I couldn’t tell you where he went but we didn’t see him the rest of the night. The next morning, he showed up at the winery before Charles had even unlocked the doors. He shocked our socks right off when he said he wanted to come back to help run things.” She paused, “Now, you know as well as I do what that boy was thinking.”

I felt a little sick because
now
I knew. At the time, I’d had no idea what I’d done to him. He was planning to move to California to get away from me.

“I’m only telling you this because I want to make it perfectly clear that my grandson has been pining after you for years. Now that he has you, he isn’t going to let something like a tiny little fight come between you.”