Wanting to Remember,Trying to Forget(14)

That knowledge upset her. He drove so far just to make sure Sofia got home safely. The gesture was as thoughtful as it was infuriating. Or maybe it was infuriating because it was so thoughtful. She couldn’t decide.

Max opened his apple juice and gulped down half its contents. “It’s not that far. And since when do you read?”

“I read all the time. It’s kind of a gigantic part of my job. Since when do you follow your business associates home?”

Max seemed slightly annoyed with the interrogation. “Okay, fine,” he admitted. “It was a date. Is that what you want to hear? I went on a date with one of my clients and I had a damn good time.”

Danny stood there, stunned. Her mouth opened and yet no words seemed to formulate. That was not what she wanted to hear at all. She wanted to hear that the date had been dreadful, that Sofia was boring, a pretty face with no personality.

“You do realize that dating one of your clients is…unethical?”

Max leaned back against the fridge and smiled. “Unethical? How’d you figure that?” He took another sip of juice and pondered a bit. “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen you read anything other than text books and fashion magazines. Reading books as a hobby is something you don’t do.”

“She is one of your clients, Max,” she scoffed irritably. “You’d think that you’d be able to figure that one out by yourself. And I studied English. Our text books are reading books for normal people. That counts as leisure-time reading.”

“No, it doesn’t. Normal people don’t read Shakespeare at their leisure.” He tossed his empty juice bottle in the bin and resumed his previous position, leaning against the fridge. “Need I remind you how you met Richard in the first place? You were doing an article on him for your blog, remember? But that didn’t stop you from dating him.”

“That was different,” Danny countered quickly.

“I don’t see a difference at all. I think you should come out and admit it.”

“Admit what?”

“You weren’t reading and you’re jealous.”

“Jealous?” She laughed to show him just how absurd she thought that idea was, but it took quite a bit of effort because she had not been reading and she was in fact jealous. “Why would I be jealous?” she asked with her most unperturbed expression.

“Oh, come on, Danny. You did the same thing with Heather.”

Danny thought back on the over-exuberant blonde Max had dated three years ago. She was the only woman he had dated for more than a month. An eccentric drama queen, but there was something about her psycho tendencies that had appealed to Max. Eventually after six months, their relationship came to an end. He had only mourned and moped for about a week because even though he had cared about her; deep down he knew that he could never grow to love someone who thought Brazil was a European country.

“Heather had sawdust for brains,” Danny said.

“I’ll admit; she had her flaws but she was a kind and caring person, which is more than I can say for your gigolo boyfriend. He’s all brawn and no brains.”

“Richard,” Danny said, trying to keep her tone even, “is perfect. He’s gorgeous, he’s sexy, he has a great job—”

“He’s a model, for God sakes.”

“And he’s very good at what he does.”

Max shook his head. “Are all Leo women so superficial?”

“Are all Aries men so obnoxious?”

Max walked to the center of the kitchen and spread his hands on the island counter. “Richard has the personality of a cardboard box and if you would just open your eyes—”

“You don’t even know him.” Danny moved to stand opposite him. “And stop changing the subject. You still haven’t answered my question. Why would I be jealous?”

“You’re jealous because you think that if I get a girlfriend, you’ll be replaced. You see, I am mature enough to accept any relationship you have with any jerk you choose to have it with, but you can’t afford me the same courtesy.”

Her mouth dropped in shock. He couldn’t be serious. He couldn’t even stand hearing Richard’s name and here he was talking about maturity. “I’d like to point out two things. One, just because you’re four months and twelve days older than me, it does not make you more mature and two, don’t think for a second that I don’t see how you get every time the topic of Richard comes up. You become a snarling beast…way too overprotective! And it didn’t just happen with Richard. You did the same thing with Steve, the same thing with Rolind, the same thing with Ant—” Danny stopped herself short of saying Anthony Townsend’s name out loud. That was a road they would both prefer to not go down again. “You did the same thing with all my boyfriends,” she said instead.

“That’s because I was trying to look out for you and all of them were jerks. But I’ve gotta hand it to you, you’ve really outdone yourself with Richard.”

Danny sighed and shook her head. This argument would go on forever if she did not end it now. Max could argue things to death and she did not have the stamina at this time of the morning.

They both fell silent for quite some time until she eventually looked at him again. “So,” she began, her tone a mixture of apprehension and curiosity, “you followed Sofia home?”

He simply nodded.

“Like to her door or inside?”

Max fought a smile. “To her door.”

“And at her door…” She squished her lips together and debated with herself. “Did you kiss her?”

His mouth twitched, but he bit his lip and stopped it from developing into a smile. “Well, it is Valentine’s Day.”

“It was Valentine’s Day…yesterday.”

“That’s a minor technicality.”

He smiled, deepening that cute little dimple on his cheek. An overwhelming urge to throw something at him rushed through her. “You’re such a jerk, Max,” she said before she walked out of the kitchen.

She closed her bedroom door and tossed onto the bed. She didn’t know what to think. She knew he was lying about kissing Sofia, that was a given. She had noticed the way he nipped his lip and she knew that Max did not have enough game to kiss a girl on the first night but it angered her to know that he was intentionally trying to annoy her. The only problem was annoyance wasn’t the only thing she felt.

He went out with another woman and he had a great time. There was no doubt in her mind that it would happen again and the next time there could very well be a kiss.

She reasoned with herself to stop being childish. Max was a grown, single man and he could date whomever he wanted. But that was as much reasoning as she could muster.

She was more than jealous. She was more than insecure. There was something about Sofia that made her believe that this one date could possibly develop into a relationship. Or maybe it was a change in Max. She sensed that there was something different about him. It wasn’t anything he said or did, but there was a subtle change in him and somehow she felt as though she was going to be replaced.

Soon Sofia would be the one heading up to Montana to spend Christmas at the Shepards. She would be the one he called when he had a bad day. She would be the one dancing to Timbaland with him. She would be the one he laughed with and had pillow fights with.

If this turned into something more, Danny knew it was only a matter of time before Max completely forgot about her and their six-year friendship. The thought of losing him was something she could not bear. His friendship meant everything to her. It was more than just friendship. It was a bond, a connection, an understanding.

He knew her better than she knew herself. He saw her insecurities even when she presented confidence to the rest of the world. He saw her weaknesses because he was the only person she had ever shown them to. He saw everything that was bad and good inside her and accepted her just the same. That sort of thing didn’t happen overnight. That was something only time could perfect.

But now, for the first time in so many years, she was presented with the possibility of losing him and she hated it, because she knew that if Sofia replaced her there would be a gaping hole in her life that Richard could not possibly fill.





March





Charlie walked into Max’s office wearing a navy blue T-shirt, a white pair of shorts, and a sweatband over his right wrist. He twirled his squash racquet in his hand and looked at Max expectantly. They had developed an effective gym routine since the implementation of the late New Year’s resolution. They did cardio on Monday, weights on Tuesday, squash on Wednesday, weights again on Thursday, and tai-bo on Friday. Although they felt a little out of place in a class full of forty-something women learning how to do a roundhouse kick, their commitment had not faltered.

“You ready?” Charlie asked.

“Give me a minute,” Max replied, his eyes not leaving the computer screen.

After a minute, Max still had not moved and Charlie decided to take a seat.

“Are you done yet?” Charlie asked when they passed the two-minute mark.

“Almost.” Max sighed heavily. “That woman is gonna get me fired.”

“Who?”