Chapter Twelve

Haley hung the miniature icing lights on the Christmas trees she’d set around the finished Bowman’s building. “It’s the best display here. I love it.” She beamed up at Max, who was smiling down at her. He had traces of chocolate at one corner of his mouth.

“I knew you were eating the goodies. You have…” She started to touch his lips to wipe away the smudge but thought better of it. For some crazy reason, the idea of touching Max made her feel weird. Like she couldn’t breathe right and all her thoughts were running together.

“What?” Max touched his fingers to the wrong side of his mouth.

Haley took a napkin and handed it to him. “Other side.”

She wanted to press a kiss where he put the napkin. Great. The lying-to-herself gig was up, and she’d been doing just that for weeks now. She was, without a doubt, definitely attracted to Max. This is not good.

Whirling around, she bumped the end of the table in her hurry not to say or do something she’d regret. The gingerbread house wobbled.

“Careful.” Max surged forward to put a steadying hand on it.

Haley was relieved when Wynne and Lonnie approached. She needed a buffer between her thoughts and Max. Having others around would distract her.

“My favorite little girl.” Max went to pick Lonnie up. She laughed with delight and sank against him, the love for her uncle clear to see. “Want to see the house?”

She nodded.

He knelt in front of the table, and as he pointed to the pieces he’d added, he explained to his niece how Bowman’s operated. He showed Lonnie the miniature saw and hand tools he’d carved from a block of chocolate and the marshmallow snowman by the door.

Lonnie asked question after question, and Max patiently answered.

“He would be an amazing father,” Haley said as she watched them interact.

Wynne gave her a strange look. “He would.”

Embarrassed that she’d spoken her thought aloud, Haley quickly offered to buy his sister a hot chocolate to change the subject.

“One second. Do you have her?” Wynne put a hand on Max’s shoulder.

“Always,” Max said as Lonnie let loose a flurry of giggles.

“Can I bring you something to drink?” Haley looked down at Max, then up as he slowly stood.

“Anything other than one of your potions.” He winked. Same old barb.

Except she blushed and couldn’t meet his eyes. Pressing a hand to her cheeks in case he noticed them turning pink, Haley said, “Whew. It’s warm in here. I’ll bring you a hot chocolate.”

“Don’t forget the marshmallows,” he called after her as she and Wynne walked to the refreshment booth.

“Is Max going to spend Thanksgiving dinner with your family?” Wynne asked quietly while they waited for their drinks.

“I don’t know.”

“But you do know Hugh is in town.”

Haley hesitated, then nodded.

“I’m caught between two brothers,” Wynne said abruptly. “I love them both. And of course I’m angry with Hugh for what he did. Angry at my parents for constantly telling Max to be the bigger man. They don’t get it.” Wynne accepted the cup of hot chocolate handed to her. “It’s not that easy to pick up the pieces when someone breaks your heart.”

“I’m so sorry,” Haley said, wishing there was something she could do or say to fix things. But if she had that kind of power, she’d fix her own life.

Wynne glanced toward Lonnie. “Thank you for that, but I’m fine. I’m a grown-up, and I’ll move on. My fear is that my little girl will grow up thinking she’s not enough because of how her father behaved.”

“Oh, your brother will make sure she knows she’s enough.”

“You think so?”

“I do.” Haley took the rest of the drinks, carefully balancing them in the cardboard cupholder.

As she and Wynne passed by the three judges in conversation, Haley overheard one of them say the winning entries were down to two choices: the one she and Max had made or the town’s businesses along Cherry Major that Wynne and Lonnie had created.

“We’ll take another look at both,” one of them said, and the trio headed toward Wynne and Lonnie’s table.

Haley quick-stepped back to Max and passed him the hot chocolate. Then she pried one of the walls off their creation, letting it fall flat onto the table.

“Watch out!” Max said, reaching to fix it.

“Wait.” She took his hand, intertwining her fingers with his to stop him.

The judges approached and saw the downed wall, which Haley fake-gasped at when one of them pointed it out.

“Why’d you do that?” Max grumbled after the judges walked off. He set the wall back up and fixed it with icing.

“It was a tie,” Haley whispered.

The judges announced Wynne and Lonnie as the winners, and the little girl squealed with delight. “I win. I win,” she said, raising her fists in triumph.

Max’s eyes searched Haley’s, an expression on his face she had never seen before. “You deliberately sabotaged…” He swallowed hard. “For Lonnie.”

Haley wasn’t comfortable with Max the Grateful. She was used to Max the Disapproving. Or Max the Sarcastic. Those were the sides of Max she expected to see. “I don’t have anything against your sister or niece. I save all my hexes for you.” She began to gather up the leftover items and put them in a bag.

Max picked it up when she was finished. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

Haley put her coat on and headed outside into the biting night air. “I love this time of year. I can smell the scent of wood burning in a fireplace somewhere.”

“My grandparents used to cook on an old wood stove. Now every time I catch that same scent, it takes me back there.”

“I know the feeling,” Haley said, blowing on her fingers before she inserted the key into the door and unlocked her car. “When I was in California, I’d smell freshly mowed grass, and it always made me think of home. The summers here were incredible.”

“They still are.” Max swung the door open, holding it as Haley leaned in to put the bag on the passenger seat. Once she sat, he said, “I’ll call you tonight and let you know how it goes with Will.”

“Hopefully he’ll want to go out or at least meet with me.”

“If he’s smart, he will. Drive safe.” Max closed the car door without giving Haley a chance to respond to his compliment. He walked off, hands in the pockets of his jeans, shoulders hunched against the cold.

Leaving Haley watching and wondering what was happening between Max and her. She shivered as she waited for the car to heat up, but it wasn’t from a lack of warmth. It was because she’d realized she no longer found it a chore to be in his company. Instead, she wanted to be around him. Looked forward to it, in fact, and that bit of excitement, of anticipation, left her more than a little worried.

Her brain and heart were beginning to agree that Max just might not be the annoying man she’d always thought he was. He might be one of the good guys. A man to be counted on. One whose word was good.

Max the…Desirable. “Oh, this is bad. Very bad,” Haley muttered as she carefully navigated the roads home. She went through the rest of her evening on autopilot, still trying to come to terms with this new way of thinking about Max.

Right after she got off the phone with Suzie and started getting ready for bed, Max called.

“It’s on with Will tomorrow. Lunch is set at the pizza parlor on Cherry Minor, since they have the taco pizza you like.”

Haley took a fleece snowman-pajama set from her dresser and put it on the bed. “I don’t think Will ever knew I liked that place.”

“He didn’t. I heard you talking about it with your mom once.”

“You remembered?” The thought caught her off guard, and she forgot what she was doing.

“I was a teenage boy who loved pizza. I paid attention whenever the word was mentioned. Especially after Ripley and I went camping in Rock Hill and he dared me to eat a Carolina Reaper pepper after having pizza.”

“Is it worse than a ghost pepper?”

“Oh yeah. The Carolina Reaper is the hottest pepper in the world. It’ll make you want to curl up and cry. I thought my ticket had been punched. Eating that was probably the dumbest thing I ever did.”

Backing up, Haley sat on her bed and covered herself with a patchwork quilt her great-grandmother had made. “You were always up for a dare. I remember when your friends dared you to pop wheelies with them on the steep hill behind Cherry Minor right before school photos were taken.”

Max chuckled. “I won that race. That busted lip and cut on my forehead were badges of honor.”

“I don’t think flying through the air and landing against a curb can technically be counted as a race.” Haley reached behind herself and stacked pillows to lean back on up against the headboard.

“Sure it can. The only drawback to that accident was the scar from the forehead cut made my stupid cowlick more noticeable. Drew everyone’s eyes right to my hair.”

“I always liked the cowlick,” Haley said. “It was the only imperfection on the otherwise perfect Max.”

“Perfect?” He snorted. “Are you being sarcastic?”

“No. I always thought you were cute.”

“Yeah. I guess you win. I was cute and grew up to be an incredibly handsome man.”

Haley laughed. The conversation flowed for almost an hour, and she was reluctant to call it a night when Max said he had to go. She should have been happy that the meeting with Will was going to take place, but all she could think about was Max. Seeing the haunted look in his eyes when he’d talked about his brother had made her wish she could ease his heartache.

The next day, when she met Will for lunch at the pizza parlor, she tried to concentrate on the conversation with her ex. Will was the perfect gentleman. Handsome, interesting.

“Considering everything, I was surprised you wanted to see me,” Will said gently, disrupting her thoughts.

“Considering everything?” Haley frowned, frantically searching her brain for any clue that things between her and Will had ended badly and she’d forgotten. “Um…why wouldn’t I? Did I do something stupid in the past? Did you?”

He laughed. “Nothing like that. I’m surprised because I didn’t think I’d get a second chance. If you’d like to give it another try, I’m more than willing.” He smiled.

He has a beautiful smile. He’s kind and interesting. He always was. And this is the moment I’ve been waiting for, everything I’ve been wanting. A soul mate. A happily ever after.

Except…he isn’t Max.

“Max?” she said aloud, almost choking on her sip of iced tea.

Will frowned. “Pardon?”

“Erm…sorry. I was thinking out loud.”

“About Max?”

“Well…” Like it or not, Max was her opposite, her magnet, and the two of them had been pulling toward each other for years. Fighting it every step of the way, but the pull was still there.

Haley set aside her napkin. “I’m sorry. I made a mistake. You and I…”

Will let out a sigh. “Let me guess. Friend zone.”

“I’m sorry,” she said again.

“It’s fine, Haley, really. My girlfriend and I broke up a month ago and…I’m probably not really ready to get back into dating anyway. I shouldn’t have agreed to this date, but it was nice seeing you again.” Will scooted back his chair and stood.

His leaving barely registered, and Haley let out a breath she’d held since realizing Max was all she’d been able to think about. Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine the two of them in the future she’d always painted for herself.

A roomy country house like the one she’d grown up in. Children laughing. A dog or two bounding after the kids. The chaos of a happy, busy family. She and Max doing life together. Chores. Working at Bowman’s. Taking vacations. Making love. Making memories. Making a home.

Her eyes shot open and she rushed to her feet, breathing fast. No, no. That picture was all wrong. It has to be. Her chest rose and fell rapidly. Max didn’t fit into her life that way. Did he? Could he? Haley hurried to leave the restaurant. There couldn’t be any happily ever after feelings for Max. Could there?

No, she had to squash them. Even if she allowed herself to explore that direction, she could only picture the two of them arguing, and even if their sparring was something she looked forward to, Max would never, in a million years, feel the same.

…

Max passed a platter of turkey to his left where Haley sat. The Bowman house was packed with Suzie, her fiancé, and his family, along with Haley’s relatives. He shouldn’t have felt more at home here than with his own family, but he did. Here he was accepted as is by Craig and the rest of the Bowmans. No one trying to change him or tell him to get over what had happened.

Haley took the platter, and before he let go of it, Max said, “I’m sorry it didn’t work out with Will.” He said the words, but he didn’t mean them. He wasn’t sorry because he didn’t think the guy was the right one.

She didn’t seem that concerned, because she just shrugged. But the look she gave him was one of questioning. Frustration.

“You want to talk about what’s bothering you?” he asked quietly.

“Not with you,” she muttered.

From across the table, Suzie said, “This is delicious, Haley.” She dabbed her mouth with a napkin decorated with a turkey and scarecrow.

Max sensed the air crackling. Like lightning, Suzie was about to strike, and Max hated the thought of one of her barbs hitting Haley. He tensed. Ready to jump in if Haley needed him.

Lowering her voice, Suzie asked, “So, Haley, should I just write ‘soul mate’ on your plus one for the wedding, or do you have a name for me yet?”

Haley’s smile was impish. “I have a name for you, all right.”

Max had to duck his head to hide a smile of his own at the verbal dig that went over Suzie’s head.

“Well?” Suzie demanded.

“You’ll see at the wedding.”

When Suzie hmphed and turned her attention to her fiancé, Haley whispered to Max, “And then she and I will both learn who he is. Maybe I can scrounge up a date at the wedding.”

Max laughed. “Why don’t you tell Suzie to mind her own business? Stop putting up with the way she butts into your life.”

Annoyance flared on her face. “Pot calling out the kettle, wouldn’t you say?”

“My situation is more complicated.”

“No, it’s not. You don’t say anything to your parents about them pushing for a reconciliation between you and Hugh because you don’t want to deal with family drama any more than I do.”

Max started to deny it but thought better of it. Because it was true. He didn’t want to deal with the messy emotions and expectations. “You’re right,” he acknowledged grudgingly.

Haley lolled her tongue out and closed her eyes, letting her head dip to one side.

“Are you okay, hon?” Celeste asked.

Haley straightened. “Max almost gave me a heart attack. He said I was right about something.”

Her father and Celeste laughed.

“Come with me to choose the Christmas tree,” Haley said, nudging Max with her arm.

He rubbed his side when Haley nudged him again. “Watch the pointy elbows.”

“I’m bestowing a great honor upon you. Only a few are ever chosen to help select the Bowman tree.”

Max took the final bite of his dinner roll. “You need someone for the grunt work.”

“Your powers of observation have grown, young Jedi.”

He thought for a few seconds. “Throw in a plate of leftovers and a slice of the pumpkin pie for me to take home, and I’m yours for the night.”

Heat stained her cheeks. Max realized where her thoughts had traveled. Hers for the night? The turkey turned to lead in his stomach. He hadn’t meant… But he wasn’t opposed… His gut clenched in a grip tighter than a vise. Surely he was sick. Ate something bad. That was why his brain was scrambling for a foothold onto something that made more sense than him thinking about Haley and the two of them spending the night together.

Haley cleared her throat. “Perfect. Leftovers and pie it is.” She pushed her plate back. “You want to come with us to get the tree, Suzie?”

Disappointment hit Max. He didn’t want to traipse through the tree farm at Bowman’s with anyone except Haley. When Suzie declined with a little curl of disgust on her lips and said she didn’t “do outdoors,” heat radiated through him and his heart hammered. Alone with Haley.

“Get a tree for Celeste, too, will you?” Craig asked.

“You don’t need to do that,” Celeste protested. “I can buy one.”

“I know you can, but this is a gift.” Craig nodded at Max. “I have some extra gloves in the closet.”

Haley went to get them and came back to the kitchen with the ugliest bright yellow winter hat he’d ever seen. A set of googly eyes was glued above the brim, and the earflaps were rounded, sticking out like balls of yarn. She handed it to him and then turned away, but he caught the ghost of a smile.

“I’ve got the truck keys. Love you, Dad,” she called as she shrugged into a thick coat.

Max followed her outside, still studying the monstrosity she’d given him. “Bear-deterrent hat?”

Haley climbed into the truck before she answered. “I bought that special for you.”

He turned it over in his hands. “I don’t know whether to be touched by the thought of you wanting to keep my ears warm or horrified that you expect me to wear this.”

She put the truck in gear and drove away from the house. “I found it in the clearance bin at Tilton’s. When I saw it, I thought of you.”

“You’re joking.”

“No, seriously. It reminded me of your personality. So cheerful and whimsical.”

“You are an ever-bubbling stream of snark-asm.” Max put the hat on. “Feels like I have two kittens clinging to my ears.”

She reached across the space between them and tweaked his cheek. “You look adorable.”

“I always look adorable.”

The truck slowed. “Is that…Wynne and Ripley?” she asked, squinting through the windshield.

Max craned his neck to see his best friend and his sister standing in the doorway of the bakeshop, obviously having a heated discussion.

Haley left the center of town behind as she headed toward the family business. “I wonder what that was about.”

Max shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“I hope your sister finds love again,” Haley said wistfully.

“I do too. I’m not against that for her, even though it’ll never work out for me.”

“What?” Haley looked taken aback. “How do you know it won’t?”

Max decided he’d tell her the truth about his fear. “I could never trust anyone enough to risk my heart again.”

Haley pulled into the parking lot at Bowman’s and shut off the truck. “That’s too bad, because somewhere, a woman will be robbed of being loved by an amazing man.”

Max’s eyes widened. She thinks I’m amazing? He couldn’t get his voice to work.

The slamming of the driver’s side door jolted him out of the shock. He joined Haley, trailing behind her as they trekked around to the back of the building toward the rows of trees. The more mature ones were at the back of the lot, and that meant a good fifteen-minute jaunt in the cold. He was glad for the sharpness of the air. It helped clear his head. Put things into perspective. There was surely nothing more to what Haley had said than the fact that they were developing a friendship. He’d have guessed an alien invasion before he’d have thought that was a possibility, but there it was.

Though it made him hesitant to admit it to himself, he liked the idea of being friends with Haley. What he didn’t like was the nagging voice inside telling him he had a yearning to become more, that he felt more for her. If he let himself act on that, it would stir up a whole lot of past junk for him.

He needed to shut these feelings down. Withdraw because that was his default setting after having his heart broken. He couldn’t stand to get hurt again—or worse, hurt Haley—when they would inevitably start bickering and then go their separate ways.

They were oil and water. And he’d rather be alone than cause her pain.