“And how are things between you and Max?” came Amber’s voice from the other side of her.
“Great,” Danny replied almost instantaneously. “He’s amazing, Amber. He’s so patient. He answers all my questions. He holds me when I cry. He makes it easier to deal with everything. He puts me at ease and I feel…comfortable around him. I like him. I…really like him but—”
“But what?”
“I just have this weird feeling that he’s hiding something from me.”
“What could he possibly be hiding, dear?” Although Lauren’s tone was light, she sounded a little nervous.
Danny sat up, removing the cucumbers from her eyes. “I don’t know. He seems very guarded.”
“That’s just how Max is,” Amber offered. “He has to start from scratch again and at the moment he has a lot more invested in the relationship than you do. He’s probably just a bit skeptical about how all of this is going to play out.”
Danny nodded. “I guess that makes sense.” She laid back again but did not replace the cucumber slices back on her eyes. “Sometimes it feels as though our relationship is completely platonic.”
Her statement made Amber snap up on the bed. “What makes you say that?”
“He’s very affectionate,” Danny explained, “but I have been living with him for three weeks and he hasn’t even…tried to…kiss me yet. I mean, I’m not really sure if I’m ready for that but…he hasn’t even tried.” She shrugged. “Maybe he doesn’t find me attractive anymore. I don’t blame him. Look at me. I’m hideous.”
Lauren sat up then, too. “You are not hideous, Danielle.”
“Trust me, Danny,” Amber said. “That isn’t the reason why he hasn’t tried to kiss you yet. He will wait as long as it takes until you feel ready to move forward. I’m not sure how you’re going to take this, but if and when you do feel ready, you’re going to have to make the first move.”
Danny was not sure what she was feeling. All she wanted was to restore some sense of normality, but nothing was normal to her. In which normal scenario could a woman ever say she was crushing on her boyfriend? And she was crushing in a big way.
She hadn’t lied to Amber when she said she really liked him. He was a very likeable guy, but that’s what it felt like. A crush. Their light hand holding had progressed to hugs and a casual arm around her shoulder, but nothing more. There was a boundary he didn’t overstep. There were times when she thought he might cross the line, but he never did and she was at a point where she didn’t know what she really wanted anymore.
A part of her wanted to move forward with Max, while the other part of her was still too scared and insecure. She was definitely too insecure to make the first move but allowing her relationship with Max to progress would be another small step to getting her life back to what it used to be. And maybe that’s what she needed to do.
* * *
“Max!” Danny called urgently. “Come here! I think I burnt it.”
Max paused his video game and raced to the kitchen, which was completely clouded with smoke. He coughed and tried to fan the smoke away with his hand. “You sure it’s burnt?” he asked sarcastically.
“I know. I know. I should be banned from all kitchens.”
He smiled. He no longer made her aware of things she said which were actually recollections of their past conversations. He lifted the lid of the pot and more smoke erupted. Again, he fanned it away with his hand. What he saw could have been the charred remains of chicken breasts, but he was not entirely certain.
He sighed. She had forgotten the little progress she had made.
“Don’t worry,” he said reassuringly. “They’re in a better place now.”
She giggled as he opened the small window in the kitchen.
“Let’s go out to dinner,” he suggested. “You’ve been cooped up in this apartment for long enough and the doctor said I should surround you with familiar things.”
Max opened the front door and stepped out.
“Hang on a sec,” She dashed back inside and returned with a gray woolen cap. “Can’t go out looking like I just survived an encounter with Freddy Kruger.”
“Really?” Max asked, taking the cap from her hand and carefully pulling it onto her head. “You remember Freddy Kruger and not me?”
She shrugged. “He’s just better looking.”
“Ouch!”
He wrapped his arms around her waist and she tilted her head up. Her lips parted and her hazel eyes were filled with anticipation. For a moment he almost lost focus. Another second of her looking at him like that and he would have given in to the temptation. But if there was one thing he had learned over the years, it was how to control urges like these. With a heavy breath, he released her, casually slung his arm over her shoulder, and began walking to the stairwell.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“You’ll see.”
* * *
“Max! Danny!”
Max looked over at Danny, who was smiling at the tall man who greeted them with a thick Italian accent. She seemed excited to be there.
“Welcome to Rocko’s Pizza and Pasta,” Max said. “That’s Rocko.”
They walked across the wooden floors, passing a few tables covered in red and white checkered table cloths, until they reached their usual seats in the far corner of the restaurant. It was a quaint little place, easily bringing together all the warmly comforts of home. The smell of burning wood and melted cheese floated through the air. Rocko followed them, carrying two menus.
“You guys haven’t been here in months,” Rocko said, placing a menu in front of each of them. “Mama,” he called, “they’re here!”
“Brace yourself,” Max whispered to her when he saw the very large Italian woman scurrying out of the kitchen as fast as her stubby legs could carry her.
Maria stomped towards them, murmuring in Italian. When she got to the table she took Danny’s face in both her hands and kissed her on each cheek, then did the same to Max.
“You no come for so long,” she shouted, looking from him to Danny again. “And why you cut your hair? You look so thin. Why?” Before Danny could respond, Maria turned to Max and slapped him across the face. “You no take care of her.”
Max adjusted his jaw slightly before he spoke. It was not the first time Maria had slapped him and he was sure it would not be the last. He knew she had not meant for it to be hard, but her fat hands caused it to sting a bit. “Mama, Danny was—”
Another slap silenced him. Clearly no excuse was going to be good enough for her. Maria lifted Danny’s hand and studied her arm. “Thees no good,” she said with disgust. “So frail, no meat. Rocko, bring thee pasta. Alfredo for Danny.” She turned to Max, leaning closer to read his mind the way she always did. “Chorizo…yes, chorizo for Max. You eat. You eat,” she said before bustling back to the kitchen.
“Friendly crowd,” Danny said with a giggle as she perused the menu. “That’s odd.” She lifted her head slightly to look at him “It doesn’t look like they serve piping hot slaps.”
Max laughed. “I’m a special customer. She only brings that out for me.”
“Did she just order for us?”
“Yeah. She’s been doing it for years. She can take one look at us and know exactly what we want and, trust me, she’s never wrong.”
“That’s pretty cool.” She leaned back in the wooden chair and crossed her arms. “Tell me about your family, Max.”
Max smiled at the thought of his exuberant family and the large country-style house he had grown up in Great Falls, Montana. “Well, my parents are still madly in love even after thirty-two years of marriage. I have four siblings. Dominic Thadeus, my oldest brother. He’s thirty-one.” He laughed when he noticed how her face scrunched at his brother’s name. “I think my mom was in a Harlequin phase when she had him. Then there’s Shane Eldrick, twenty-eight.”
“I think that’s actually worse,” Danny said, her face contorting once again.
Max chuckled as he continued. “It was Shane’s birthday party that I invited you to. Anyway, I came next, Maximillian Augustus. After me is my sister, Jordan Alberta. We’re exactly ten months apart. Her birthday is the sixth of Feb.”
“Gosh, your parents were busy.”
Max ignored the comment because he didn’t want to have thoughts like that about his parents. “She says we’re Irish twins even though technically we’re not. And then there’s Kevin. He’s twenty.”
“Just Kevin?” she inquired with a cute little twitch of her eyebrows.
“Yeah, we have a theory. We think that by the time he was born, our parents were tired of thinking of such ridiculous names, so yeah, it’s just Kevin.”
Rocko walked to the table and placed a hot plate of pasta in front of each of them.
“Oh, one more,” Max said, sticking his fork into his pasta. “Perry. He’s not blood, but he’s definitely family. He’s been Kevin’s best friend since kindergarten. I don’t think he ever leaves my parents’ house except to shower and change.”