Falling for Max: Book Nine of The Kowalskis Read online

  It was time to shake it up a little. She pulled another card, but ignored the benign suggestion written on it. “I like to have sex in public places.”

  Max opened his mouth. Closed it again. Then he shifted his gaze to something over her shoulder for a few seconds before looking back at her. “Is this public enough or would you like to step out to the sidewalk?”

  It was the last thing she’d expected him to say, having anticipated a recap of town ordinances and decency laws, and she almost choked. “You would not say that.”

  The grin he gave her was pure naughtiness. “You said yourself it’s the quiet ones you have to watch.”

  She laughed and set down the cards to pick up her water bottle. “I guess I did.”

  Taking a long swig of the water, Tori willed the parts of her body his look had overheated to cool down. She’d gotten so caught up in the game they were playing, she hadn’t taken the time to consider how stupid it was to throw the word sex into the mix. She’d been thinking about that word entirely too much lately and, no matter how much she tried to imagine any of the sexy models in the stock image sites she browsed, Max’s face always ended up in her head.

  “You look happier now than when you arrived,” Max said. “Not that you looked unhappy, but you looked tired. The sun and fresh air are good for you.”

  “I definitely need more sun and fresh air.” She took a long swig of water and screwed the cap back on. “My dad called just before I left. I told my mom I would consider going back to Portland for Thanksgiving—even though I’ll do whatever I can to get out of it—and she told him I was going to her house and I might make time to stop in and have a coffee with him. Which is a total lie.”

  “It’s wrong, the way they put you in the middle.”

  “I kept thinking I’d just get out of the way until they got past it, but two years later, I’m still in Whitford and they’re still playing tug-of-war with my emotions.”

  She watched him pluck at the grass. “If they did get over it and stopped trying to use you to hurt each other, would you go back to Portland?”

  Wasn’t that the twenty-dollar question? She leaned back, bracing herself on her hands, so she could turn her face up to the sun. It was starting to drop now and it would start getting cold. “I don’t know. At first I thought I would. There’s so much more to do there. Stores and restaurants and nightclubs and movies.”

  “But?”

  She smiled. “But Whitford’s grown on me. And I have good friends here. It’s just...”

  “It’s just what? I consider myself one of those good friends, so talk to me.”

  “You are.” Yes, they were friends. While she may have to keep shoving back that sexual attraction, she and Max had clicked and he was her friend. “I hate what my parents have done. Do you know when I go visit Uncle Mike and Aunt Jilly, I try to look at their marriage and how much they love each other, but all I can do is wonder if or when it’s going to blow up. I picture them saying the things my parents have said to each other and it makes my heart hurt.”

  “Not only does every marriage not blow up, but even the ones that do don’t always end up like your parents’ has.”

  “I know that, logically. But...when it ended, my dad said he was taking the newer of the televisions and Mom said he could have it over her dead body. He told her he’d been praying for that moment for years and it hadn’t happened yet. She said if that worked, he’d have been dead a long time ago.

  “Just a week before, I’d been there for Sunday dinner and everything was fine. They were normal and we were just a normal family eating pot roast. One week, Max. One week later they were screaming about how they’d been wishing each other dead for years. It was... My family was a lie.”

  To her horror, tears spilled over her cheeks and she swiped angrily at them. She rolled to her stomach because playing with the grass gave her something to look at.

  She was surprised when Max crawled over and stretched out beside her. “If you’d like to see me at my most awkward and socially inept, crying’s a good way to do it. I’m not good at tears and I have no idea what to say except that really sucks and I’m sorry your parents are assholes.”

  The barking laugh that burst out of her mouth surprised her, though nothing about Max should surprise her. “You’re right. I haven’t said that because, you know, they’re my mom and dad. But my parents are being really selfish assholes.”

  “Does it feel better to say that out loud?”

  “Yes. Though now I feel bad I ruined this fun afternoon we were having.”

  He leaned close and bumped her shoulder with his. “It’s not ruined. Being friends means more than laughing together.”

  Awareness of how close his body was to hers and how sweet he was and the memory of that smoldering sexy look from early made her melt a little inside and a loud uh-oh alarm went off in her brain. She was getting too comfortable with him and was in danger of forgetting why their friendship had started in the first place.

  “So,” she said, shoulder-bumping him back. “Have you asked out Nola yet?”

  For what seemed like forever, he stared at a leaf that had escaped his rake, before shaking his head. “No. I haven’t seen her.”

  “Okay, we need a plan.” She gave herself a mental shake and turned her focus to getting them back on track. “Let’s start with reasons you need to visit the town hall.”

  Chapter Eight

  Max was surprised to receive a summons to the Northern Star Lodge from Rose Davis. Everybody knew Rosie, of course, and her baked goods were legendary, but no matter how much he thought about it in the two hours between being invited and arriving, he couldn’t make sense of the invitation to lunch.

  He walked up onto the big farmer’s porch that surrounded the lodge, admiring the big, old house. It had been in the Kowalski family for generations, and he was impressed with the level of care the renovations were given. Obviously they loved their home and had worked hard to bring it back. He knocked on the door and waited until Rose opened it.

  She had a baby on her hip and, even if he didn’t know Sarah was Mitch and Paige’s daughter, the bright blue eyes and the dark hair would have marked her as a Kowalski.

  “I’m so glad you could come today,” Rose said, leading him in to the kitchen.

  “You have a beautiful home,” he responded, since he still had no idea what was going on and that’s what people always said on television.

  He knew Josh and Andy—who was Drew’s dad and Rose’s boyfriend—worked at the lodge full-time, but he hadn’t seen them anywhere. As far as he could tell, it was him and Rose for lunch. And Sarah, who was being strapped into a high chair and didn’t seem happy about it.

  “Have a seat at the table. Make yourself at home.”

  He could tell that, as in his parents’ home, the kitchen was the heart of this house. It was warm and inviting, and the baby calmed when Rose gave her a toddler cup of juice and a handful of Cheerios.

  “I bet you’re wondering why I invited you over for lunch,” Rose said as she set a bowl of chicken stew in front of him, along with a plate of freshly sliced, homemade bread. The smell alone was enough to make his mouth water.

  “I am curious, yes.”

  She set down a bowl for herself and sat across the table from him. “You’ve lived here a long time, but nobody really knows a lot about you.”

  Max dipped his spoon into the bowl, stirring the thick broth. So that was it. She and Fran were good friends and loved to one-up each other with gossip. Rose was obviously going to pull out all the stops to find out what he did in his basement.

  “I’ve been spending a lot of time with Paige lately,” she continued. “You know, with Mitch traveling a lot and little Sarah Rose to visit with.”

  Those two things didn’t seem to go together, but Max just waited quietly. Obviously Rose was going to take her time getting to her point and, rather than be thought rude if he interrupted, he’d wait for a question.

  �
��Paige happened to mention you and Tori Burns have been spending time together lately.”

  When she paused, he realized she was waiting for confirmation from him. “We’ve become friends, yes.”

  “Tori can seem like a tough nut at times, but she’s not really. And Paige looks out for her, of course. She’s not just her boss. They’re friends, too. And she’s a little worried, which makes me a little worried.”

  He paused with his spoon halfway to his mouth and looked her in the eye. “I’m not a serial killer, Ms. Davis.”

  “Call me Rose or Rosie. And I know you’re not a serial killer, though we do have a lot of fun making up stories. I think Josh and Katie know what you do, based on a bet I’m pretty sure Josh lost, and Drew probably knows. If you were up to something criminal, you’d be gone already.”

  “Then there’s no reason to worry,” he said after swallowing a mouthful of the best chicken stew he’d ever had.

  “You’re a puzzle with a lot of pieces missing, Max Crawford. Just because you’re not going to hack Tori into pieces and shove her in a freezer doesn’t mean we don’t have to worry.”

  Sarah threw a Cheerio at Max, as if to show her agreement with Rose. It landed near his bowl and he looked at it for a moment, wondering if or how he should react. Then he picked it up and reached over to set it back on her tray. She threw it at him again. Since his first reaction hadn’t seemed to satisfy her, he ate it.

  And she cried. Or screamed, actually.

  “I’m sorry,” he said as Rose got up. “I assumed she wanted me to have it.”

  “No, she wanted you to throw it back at her like her uncle Josh does when he thinks I’m not looking.”

  Rose cut a banana into chunks and added those to the pile of Cheerios on the tray. Sarah stopped screaming and mashed a piece into her mouth. And her nose.

  Max turned his attention back to his stew, wanting to eat as much as he could while Rose was fussing with the baby. All too soon, she was back in her chair and ready to resume the conversation.

  “I know you like to have your secrets and, believe it or not, I keep the ones that need keeping, but I’m asking you straight out what you do for a living.”

  He set down his spoon. “I custom-paint brass engines and rolling stock for model railroaders. My work space is in my basement because it offers space and was the easiest way to manage climate control and ventilation. It has its own security system due to the value of the models and my equipment and maybe a slight degree of paranoia on my part. Drew, Josh, Katie and Tori all have been in my basement and can confirm that.”

  “Really? Now isn’t that interesting.” She leaned back in her chair. “My uncle had some model trains. What were they called...garden scale?”

  “Yes, ma’am. G scale is significantly larger than what I usually work with, but I’ve done a couple of engines and a boxcar in the past.”

  “Thank you, Max. I feel better now. We all care about Tori, and this friendship seemed to come up rather suddenly...”

  While she might have been direct in asking about his business, the way she trailed off now let him know she wanted him to fill in some details about their friendship. “I’m not sure sudden is the right word. I simply hadn’t crossed paths with her before. We met at the diner and we enjoy each other’s company.”

  “That’s good.” She ate a few bites of stew, giving him a brief reprieve.

  It was tempting to tell her that Tori was helping him in his quest to go on a date. She would be reassured that he had no nefarious intentions toward Tori and it would explain why she’d been spending time with him all of a sudden.

  But he’d heard about Rose Davis and he was definitely familiar with Fran Benoit. He suspected if he said he was wife-hunting and those two women put their heads together, he’d be subjected to a matchmaking campaign that would steamroll over him and he’d end up married to somebody’s cousin’s daughter’s best friend before he knew what hit him.

  He figured this was best treated like a police interrogation. Answer only the questions asked of him and, if it looked like it was going south, run like hell.

  The door opened and Josh walked in. He’d taken off the thick sweatshirt he was wearing and his boots before he saw Max. When he frowned, Max just waved and went back to eating his stew. It was almost gone, so he picked up the bread and starting sopping up the broth.

  “Rosie,” Josh said, “I told you to mind your own business.”

  “And I told you to not to have food fights with Sarah. I guess neither of us listens worth a damn.”

  Josh looked at the baby as if she’d ratted him out and Max chuckled. “She threw a Cheerio at me and I ate it.”

  “That pisses her off.”

  “I know that now.”

  “Paige is the sweetest woman I’ve ever met, but that child right there is a mini-Liz. We’re all going to lose sleep during her teenage years.”

  “You all turned out fine,” Rose said. “And she will, too. Won’t you, pumpkin?”

  Sarah squealed and threw a Cheerio at Josh.

  “What she needs,” Rose said, “is a pack of cousins to help her run off the excess energy. Liz is doing her part, but she can’t have a whole pack.”

  Josh shook his head and picked up the Cheerio which, under Rose’s watchful eye, he threw in the garbage can. “Your daughter’s not having a whole pack, either. Not with me, anyway. Unless one or two is a pack.”

  Max licked the last of the bread crumbs from his fingers and knew he’d made the right decision not to tell Rose he wanted a wife. This was not a woman who knew how to watch from the sidelines.

  “Thank you for lunch, Rose,” he said. “It was delicious, but I really should get back to work.”

  “Of course you should. Those bodies won’t bury themselves.” He was surprised when she kissed him on the cheek. “You’re welcome to stop by anytime, you know. There’s always something in the goody jar.”

  He said goodbye to Josh and Sarah, then escaped to his car. Once he was on the road home, he laughed. Rose was quite a woman. It would be easy to be offended by her, except he suspected, since he was a member of the community and a friend of Josh and Katie, that she’d be just as quick to rush to Max’s defense if she thought he needed her.

  It wasn’t a bad feeling.

  * * *

  Tori had always liked her aunt and uncle’s home. It was nothing special—a small ranch on the outskirts of town—but it was a house full of love and laughter. Or so it had always seemed during childhood visits.

  She stopped by early Wednesday afternoon when she knew Uncle Mike and Gavin would both be working. Todd would be getting out of school soon, but he had a part-time job helping out at the hardware store and wouldn’t be home until later in the evening.

  “This is a nice surprise,” Jilly said when she answered the door. “I was just going to brew a cup of tea. Do you want one?”

  It wasn’t her favorite drink, but it was Aunt Jilly’s thing, so she nodded. “That would be great.”

  Tori sat at the kitchen table while Jilly put more water in the kettle and prepared another cup.

  “There’s been some talk about you around town lately,” her aunt said.

  “If it’s scandalous, it’s not true. I’ve done nothing scandal-worthy. Not in public, anyway.”

  Her aunt laughed. “No, nothing scandalous. But interesting, I guess.”

  “About Max Crawford and me?”

  “That would be the talk.”

  “I’ll tell you why, but you have to keep it to yourself. I don’t want Max to be embarrassed.”

  “And it gets more interesting by the second. I’ll keep your secret.”

  Tori told her aunt how Max had come into the diner and about his botched attempt to talk to Jeanette. She chose not to mention her growing attraction to the man, focusing instead on their mission to find a lovely woman for him to marry.

  “I think it’s wonderful,” Jilly said, setting a mug of tea in front of her before takin
g a seat. “I was starting to worry about you, so I’m relieved you still believe in love and marriage.”

  Tori shook her head. “How I feel about it hasn’t changed. But if that’s what Max thinks he wants, I’m going to help him get it. He’s a sweet guy and the least I can do is help him find a woman who’s the least likely to turn into a shrieking harpy.”

  Her aunt winced. “I’m sorry that’s become such an accurate description of your mother since they split up. I try to be supportive because she is my sister, after all, but sometimes I don’t pick up when she calls.”

  “That’s actually why I stopped by.”

  “Tell me she didn’t call you to complain that I didn’t answer my phone.”

  “No, it’s worse.”

  Jilly held up a finger, motioning for her to hold on, and went to rummage in the cabinet under the sink. From behind packages of napkins and paper towels, she took a plastic container, which she set in the middle of the table. When she took the lid off, Tori smiled at the sight of chocolate chip cookies.

  Jilly took a bite, then motioned for her to continue. “Okay, hit me.”

  “She called about Thanksgiving. You know, the same drama we’ve gone through every year. And I told her I was coming here.” Tori reached into the bucket for a couple of cookies. “She got pissy about it and said she might call you and see if there was room at your table.”

  “Oh.” Jilly started shaking her head, slowly at first, and then with vigor. “There isn’t.”

  Since they were sitting at a butcher-block table surrounded by six chairs, Tori laughed.

  “I need to go buy a smaller table,” her aunt said. “How the hell am I supposed to tell her no?”

  “Without setting her off? I don’t know. That’s why I wanted to give you the heads-up.”

  “I can’t do it, Tori.” The amusement faded, and Jilly looked tired all of a sudden. She looked a lot like Tori felt whenever her mother called or came up in conversation, she thought. “She’s my sister. She’s your mother. She should be welcome in my home, but she’s so...”