the best of me and I really can’t read a room.
You read the room right. I didn’t have the chance to tell you that I miss you, too. I wish for you all the time too, Max.
I hope you’ll call me when you’re in town. I promise, no more awkward declarations.
Twenty-Eight
Two Months After That
Austin, Texas
It was another dull Friday at work. Max had Bonnie the Wonder Dog in the lab today, and the students were working with her while he supposedly entered data. But in truth he was staring out the window at another dreary rainy day.
It seemed to him like every day felt dreary of late. He’d given his dossier presentation to the campus tenure committee in a torrential rain. That group had enthusiastically recommended him forward and now his application was with the university provost. According to O’Malley, it was a done deal.
On a day that was bitterly cold, O’Malley told Max about the endowment that would allow him to significantly increase the scope of his work. Not to mention give him a fat pay raise. And on a day where the clouds hung low over campus, he got word that some German scientists planned to visit in a month, intrigued by what he was doing.
Everything was working out in spite of weather doldrums. So why did he feel so glum?
When the lab was over, and the ACC volunteer had picked up Bonnie, and the students wandered out talking excitedly about the work they were doing, Max gathered up his things and headed home.
Baxter and Hazel were waiting for him at the door. They always seemed to know just when to position themselves there. Max sighed at the sight of their bright brown eyes and tails wagging in perfect unison. Today was not a Fabian day, and they were eager to go out. He supposed he ought to be grateful they would make him walk. Otherwise, he suspected he’d end up on his couch with a couple of beers and a bag of chips. Again.
The thing was, Max had ended relationships before, and after a couple of weeks, he generally bounced back from them. He’d even bounced back from Flavia fairly quickly. But he couldn’t seem to bounce back from Carly. It had been what, three or four months? And with the exception of his outburst in New York, he’d worked hard to put it behind him. From a scientist’s perspective, he thought his emotional state was weird—they hadn’t been together that long. But they had connected in every way and in some dusty corner of his mind, he knew that she was the one who got away. He couldn’t explain it. His brain was a bunch of sluggish neurons, whatever. It could be the unscientific, indescribable broken heart. But he lacked all motivation to figure it out.
He stuffed a knit cap on his head, leashed up the dogs, and said, “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”
They didn’t care if he was happy or sad. They eagerly pulled him down the street to the entrance to the path along the creek.
Everyone’s life was rolling along, but Max was stuck in a rut. He’d lost his footing and had slid off into this ditch and now he couldn’t get out. He thought about Carly too much. He’d finally logged on Instagram just to see what she was doing. She posted a lot. She looked happy and beautiful and living her best life in New York. He saw pictures of her at a party. Pictures of her with her friends, always laughing, always out and about. There were pictures of her workspace and the food she ate. As much as he hated to admit it, she looked like she belonged there.
Not here. Not with him.
He had to figure out how to accept that.
He’d done a complete circuit with his hounds and was letting them lead him home. They were nearing the entrance to the street where the trees cast a long shadow in the gray light. There was a park bench there, next to a posted warning about entering the greenbelt during a flood. Someone was sitting on the park bench, tying a shoe. One of the dogs started to whimper as they walked past.
“Well, hel-lo, Handsome.”
Max’s heart seized. He stopped walking. He turned back to the woman on the park bench. She was not speaking to him, but to Baxter. Both dogs leapt up at her, and she leaned over them, laughing with delight and accepting their kisses.
“Carly?”
She