"I get that you have problems you're running from. But the thing is: those are your problems. You made them. It's not fair to dump those all on Axel. He works hard and he deserves success; he doesn't need your added drama. It's only going to ruin him. I think you need to take care of your own house before you go getting involved with other people. Those problems aren't going away. They're going to follow you and then what are you going to do? Just keep ruining lives until you finally end things with your ex for real?"
Marie fought back tears. He was right. That was the worst part. She was ruining other people's lives. She had run away from her problems instead of dealing with them and now they were coming to get her. But not just her. Axel, too, Axel who had been so good to her and Cate, so kind. She didn't want to ruin him. She didn't want to be the thing that undid him. She could never live with herself if she was. This man was right; she would have to leave.
"Your boyfriend doesn't know where you are – yet. But he's going to find out. I suggest you leave town before he does."
Hayden turned and walked away. Her mouth hanging open Marie watched him retreat. The wind picked up and lifted Marie's hair off her neck as a car drove slowly past her. From the driver's seat an unknown man stared her down. Austin was coming for her and Cate. Hayden had just said that. He was coming and every instinct in Marie's body was telling her to run.
Marie couldn't depend on Axel for this. It wasn't fair to him. This could ruin his career and any chances for future success. Axel wasn't the one who had got himself involved in some crappy relationship – Marie was. He wasn't the one who should have to deal with this. It was Marie's problem. Marie looked up and down the street and at that moment she knew she would have to leave. She loved this town and Axel and she couldn't let herself bring danger to them. She would have to leave to keep everyone else safe.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The garage was almost done. Contractors had come in and completed the work Axel couldn't do on his own. Now it was clean and empty and structurally sound and his mother could actually park her car in it. Axel watched as she carefully and slowly drove her old Honda into the garage. She seemed nervous – as if she didn't trust it or herself, but she finally managed to park the car and then stepped out and looked around.
"It certainly is larger in here than I remember," she said, fidgeting nervously with the hem of her shirt.
"I know," Axel said, a hint of exasperation in his voice. "That's why I cleaned it out. Now you have all this extra space in here for storage."
"It seems strange after all these years to have those old cars gone," she said walking around the empty space as if she had never really seen it before. "I was so used to seeing them. Not that I'm not grateful for all of your help, I am, but it's just going to take some getting used to." She looked around with a sigh and then smiled up at Axel. "Come on, I'll fix you something for lunch."
Once inside Axel sat down at the old, chipped kitchen table as his mother busied himself behind him. Plates and silverware clattered on the counter and she made him a sandwich. "Haven't seen you as much," she said slyly over her shoulder. "Something been keeping you away? Or should I say, someone...?"
"I hate living in a small town," Axel said as he scowled down at the table.
"I'm not chiding you. I'm happy. I just want to know when I might get a chance to meet the lady."
"Soon, Ma," Axel said as she presented a sandwich to him. Ham and cheese with mustard and mayo. His favorite. He bit into it hoping it would stop the conversation, but his mother just sat down across from him and patiently waited for him to finish.
"What's she like?"
"Funny, smart, beautiful, but also a little shy. She's just getting out of a bad relationship."
He looked up at his mother who was looking away from him now, the mention of a bad relationship sending her down into her own memories of her late husband. There were a lot of unsaid things between the two of them. There were things about Axel's father he had never wanted to bring up. He knew talking about these things was too painful for his mother.
"Why didn't you leave him, Ma?" Axel asked.
His mother fretted with the hem of her shirt and looked away from him for a moment before finally speaking. "I was scared. I didn't have a job or money or any skills to make money and I had you. Things were different back then. Your father would have won custody if I had fought him over it and I couldn't leave you alone with him. I thought about it, dreamed about it, but I couldn't do it. It takes a lot of strength, courage, and luck to walk away from something like that. I was never very lucky. And then he passed and I didn't need to leave. Had he lived longer..." She let the possibilities linger in the air.
Axel reached across the table and took her hand, giving it a light squeeze before withdrawing. "It was better when he was gone," Axel said.
"It was, wasn't it?" his mother agreed with a secret smile. "Your girl have a guy like that in her past?"
"She does. A real son-of-a-bitch."
Mrs. Connelly shook her head sadly. "It's good, then, that she has you. It's good she has someone to lean on. I couldn't imagine walking away from that all alone. It would be too hard."
"She's stronger than she looks."
"My sweet boy, are you in love for the first time? My, how I've waited and prayed for this day."
"Hayden's not happy about it."
"Oh screw Hayden," his mother said, waving her hand as she released a rare profanity. "He is your coach, not the boss of your life. What does he know anyway? That man has never had a woman or been in a real relationship. Why would you listen to him? You should listen to your own heart. This is your life and you can't let anyone else run it for you."
Axel couldn't help but smile. It was always funny when his mom got all riled up like that. She was normally serene and little sedated. Until it came to love. Then she was like some unstoppable relentless force that wouldn't stop until everyone she knew was happily married.
"I think I might have to let Hayden go," Axel said. It was the first time he had said the words out loud and they sounded wrong to him. "I don't like the thought of it. He's been with me since the beginning, but he refuses to see my side on this issue. He's become so rigid; he won't allow any changes in my training regime even when they're good for me."
"Well, it would be a shame for you to let him go. But you've always had good instincts and you should trust them now. It's possible you've outgrown Hayden; it happens in life."
Axel sighed and nodded. He didn't know how he would even begin to extricate Hayden from his life. Not only was he Axel's coach and manager, but they were also close friends and had been since they were just a couple of kids. If only there was some way he could make Hayden come around on Marie. Maybe it wasn't too late to fix everything.
But to do that he would need to get Hayden in the same room with Marie and the other man refused to do it. He refused any conciliatory gesture from Axel. His stubbornness was going to ruin him as Axel always knew it would. They say in fighting that you have to be willing to bend. You sometimes have to lean into a hit and change strategies mid-fight. Remain rigid and you'll break. Bend a little and you can last long enough to stand back up straight.
His mother's phone rang and she stood to pick it up. "Yes...hello?" he heard his mother's voice say from the next room. "Yes, he's here, just give me one moment." She came into the room with a cordless phone in one hand. She stretched it towards Axel and said, "It's Ingrid, she wants to talk to you."
He stood and lifted the phone to his ear. Panic coursed through his veins followed by the icy calm of his training. There was no point in panic. It did nothing. It only slowed you down. Panicked people made poor decisions. "Ingrid?" Axel said into the phone.
Her voice was a hurried rush, words were tumbling over each other in her haste to get them out, "Now I don't mean to pry into private affairs, Axel. But I know you and Marie have become very close recently and I'll be honest, I was glad to hear it. She's a sweet girl and I know that at heart you're a good boy-"
"What's going on, Ingrid?" Axel said cutting off the old woman.
"Well, I was just wondering - but not prying, mind you- if something had happened between you and Marie. She just called in a hurry saying she was awful sorry, but she had to leave. No notice or anything. She said it was an emergency back home, but I had sort of gotten the feeling she didn't have anyone back home. No family, if you get my meaning. She looked upset and I'm worried about her. She's packing as we speak and I just wondered if maybe you and she had got into an argument-"