Making It Through (6 page)

“Uh huh. Okay, if that’s the way you want to play it.”

Max stood to grab some books from his bag by the door, and my mind turned to mush. I couldn't help but watch his movements. Of course, on his way back, he caught me staring.

“See something you like, sweetheart?”

I scowled at him. “Couldn’t you put a shirt on or something?”

“And why would I do that?” He winked at me, and my cheeks heated. It was so unfair how much his teasing affected me.

“You are... distracting. Come on, shirt.”

Max sighed and left the room, returning with a shirt in hand. He slid it over his head and down his torso. I was disappointed to see his perfectly chiseled muscles being hidden, but in the long run, it would be for the best, for both of us.

”All right, Mady, so show me what kind of notes you've taken over the last few days.”

We poured over my notes and spent the next three hours with our noses to the books. Only when my eyes were beginning to hurt, did I break for a stretch.

“You've done great tonight, Mady. Especially with those drills, I’m impressed.”

I looked over at him and smiled. “Yeah, thanks to you.”

He shook his head. “Nah, you’re a smart cookie, you just needed someone to help you get back to it. I’m glad I've been able to help.”

“I was looking forward to our study session,” I admitted as I stared at the ceiling. “
I'm
sure you have so many other things that you could be doing, rather than spending hours going over stuff you probably already know. Maybe only a couple of sessions more, and you can be rid of me.”

Max turned to face me. “We don’t have to stop studying together, just because you get caught up. I enjoy having someone to work with, too.”

I closed my books and put them away. “
I'm
done for tonight. Okay?”

I watched Max nod in agreement and thought about just how little I really knew about him.

“You know so much about me, but I know almost nothing about you.”

“What would you like to know?”

I had to smile as we rolled in unison onto our stomachs, each of us taking up one side of the u couch.

“Okay, how about we start with where
you're
from?”

Max put up a finger to pause me. He hopped off the couch and went into the kitchen. I could hear rustling, cupboards shutting, and what might have been ice landing in a glass. After a couple minutes, he returned with a plate of goodies and two drinks with straws.

“So you don’t have to get up,” he said, pointing at the straw. “It seemed like a good time to reward ourselves for all our hard work tonight.”

One side of the plate was filled with sliced meat and cheese, the other side with brownies and mini butter tarts. My mouth began to water at the sight of it.

“Max, you didn’t have to go through all this trouble, but thank you.”

He raised his glass to me. “Here’s to you, Mady, a beautiful person inside and out.
I'm
glad I met you that day on the bridge.”

I returned the cheers. Whatever it was he had prepared for me was good... and strong. I settled back in the cushions for the little game of twenty questions that I had decided we were going to have.

“You never answered my question.”

“Ah, yes. Well,
I'm
from Toronto, actually. My parents live in an older neighborhood just north of here. Originally, my mom is from St. Lucia, and my dad is from St. Vincent. They met on the trip to Canada. Growing up, our household consisted of my mom, dad, and my four siblings.”

“Four siblings?”

Max laughed. “Yeah, and we all lived in a tiny, three bedroom house. But, it was my mom’s dream to have a white picket fence. My pops surprised her with her dream house just after they were married, and there was no way we would ever be able to convince her to move from it. My aunt, whom you've already met, lived next door to us with her four kids. In fact, she still lives there.”

His words were filled with such affection, it sounded wonderful. “Why did you move out?”

He wrinkled his brow at me. “Really? I love my family, I do, but as we all grew up, the house seemed to get smaller and smaller. I knew it was time to get out on my own. Besides, it’s hard to study in a house that is never quiet.”

“How did you find your roommates?”

“We've been friends since our first day of high school. When we all decided to go to the same school, it just seemed to make sense to live together.”

“Tell me more about you growing up. It’s nice to hear you speak so fondly about that time.”

“There really isn’t much to tell. We've always been all about family, so we had countless gatherings. Growing up with my cousins was fun. We played ball hockey in the street, and any other sport that we could get into, but my momma always made sure we had balance. I learned to play piano. And before you ask, I haven't played in a good many years, so I will
not
be putting on any concerts for you.”

I laughed; that had been exactly the next question on my tongue.

“You aren’t eating. What are you waiting for?”

“I've been eating, but I was trying to be a lady and not stuff my face.” I smiled.

“Bah, I like a woman who isn’t too shy or too afraid to enjoy food in front of a man. Such a waste of time being bashful.”

I grabbed a bite of something and was waiting to clear my mouth so I could ask my next question, but Max beat me to it. “So what about you? Tell me about your childhood.”

I shook my head. “Nope, not tonight. This has been a great evening, really the first one in a long while, and I don’t want to ruin it. So tonight is all about you.”

“Fair enough. So, more about me huh? All right. I loved school throughout and was, of course, thrilled to be accepted into university. I did one year in residence outside the city, but I missed my family, and the cost of living away from home was ridiculous, so I transferred.

“Which brings us to the present. I fill my days in class, at football practice, and at my games. I also tutor this beautiful girl, and boy, if you could see the
gray
in her gorgeous eyes. But she’s also stubborn.” I stuck out my tongue at him. “Yup, stubborn. I haven’t known her all that long, but I can tell she is a handful. The best thing about her, though, is that she's really intelligent, and I genuinely like spending time with her.”

I felt the blush sweep across my face. “No one could be that fabulous.”

“You'll have to take my word for it.”

I sat up and polished off the rest of my drink. I could feel the dull buzz setting in.

Max had copied my movement and watched me with a smile on his face. “Are you all out of questions?”

I nodded. “For now. It’s getting late. I guess I should head home.”

“You could always stay tonight,” he suggested.

My eyes widened at his words. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“Feeling too much temptation, Mady?”

“Ha, yeah, something like that,” I admitted, lowering my gaze to work on getting my books into my bag.

“Is that a bad thing?” Max asked, leaning closer to me.

“Yeah, it is.” Max leaned back immediately, looking hurt. Shit. How could I possibly make this better? “I did
not
mean for it to sound like that.”

“Don’t worry, I get it,” he muttered.

“No, you don’t. The thing is, I like you. I can tell
you're
a good guy,
you're
always so nice to me, and
you're
a great tutor. I already consider us to be friends. God, I’m rambling. Sorry. Anyway, the point is, I've been neglecting my best friends, and my last boyfriend dumped me because I was ignoring him. My moods are a constant roller coaster, and I don’t want to start anything until I can invest myself in it. So, it doesn’t matter that you have an incredibly sexy body. I feel
there's
a spark there, I’m not completely oblivious. I just don’t want to ruin a friendship by caving in for a night.”

“Mady, take a breath, babe. I get it. I’m fine, I promise. I was having fun flirting, and I guess I didn’t expect your initial response.”

“I’m sorry.”

Max stood and pulled me into a hug. “Don’t apologize anymore. I’m not going anywhere. I can understand where
you're
coming from. All right, so now that we're good again, you mentioned wanting to go home. Come on, let’s get going.”

I was going to protest, but Max gave me a silencing look.

There was nowhere to hide when divorce mediation began between my parents. Communication in our household had ceased almost entirely. I knew Mom and Sam had been looking for a place to move to. Dad still officially lived at home, though he had leased an apartment short-term, until this mess was all over. Unfortunately, Mom and Dad running into each other at the house happened often, and it was always painful.

One night, Dad and I found ourselves sitting in the living room during a rare, quiet moment in the house.

“How are things going with you Mady-Mae?” He examined me with poorly-masked concern on his face.

He looked tired. I gave him a small smile of reassurance.

“Things are going okay, Dad. You don’t need to worry about me, you know.”

“Sure, I do. How is school going?”

I sighed. “It’s been hard. I owe a lot to my assigned study partner. I’m still not sure I'll ever be completely caught up, but I am trying.”

“How are you coping with all the family stuff, honey?”

“Dad,” I started, “I worry about you more than anything. I know none of this can be easy for you.”

He nodded at me. “All right,
I'm
just checking in. We haven’t spoken much lately.”

I snuck over beside him and curled into his side. “I love you, Dad.”

“Likewise, kiddo.”

The doorbell broke our peaceful moment. I hopped up reluctantly and opened the door. Surprisingly, Max stood there with a huge grin on his face. “Hi,” he said.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Had I forgotten I was supposed to meet him or something?

“Impromptu visit, don’t worry. I just had a little time and thought I would stop by.”

I heard Dad’s shoes click on the floor behind me. “Who do we have here, Mady?”

Why did this situation make me feel uncomfortable? “Dad, Max. Max, Dad.”

Max smacked on one of his megawatt smiles. “It’s nice to meet you, Sir.”

They shook hands. “Mady, why didn’t you tell me you had a new boyfriend?”

Oh no.
“No, no, Max’s not my boyfriend, Dad. We're just friends. He's the study partner I mentioned.”

Dad was about to add something, when the door behind Max swung open, and in walked Mom. This would be bad. I stepped to Max’s side and tried to gesture for him to get moving, but he wasn’t paying me any attention. His eyes were focused on my parents and the looks being exchanged.

“What are you doing here, George? We agreed you would not spend
any
time here,” Mom said angrily.

It was like watching an accident as it happened—you couldn't quite take your eyes off it.

Dad sighed. “I’m sorry, I came to get some stuff from my office. Besides, I haven’t seen the girls in a couple of days.”

“Surely, you can wait until
I'm
not going to be here!” Mom shouted.

“Don’t yell at me! This house is partially mine, as well, and I have just as much right to be here as you do! Besides, how the hell am I supposed to know when
you're
going to be around?”

I tugged on Max’s arm, gesturing towards the door. When we reached the safety of the front steps, I turned to face him.

“So, what did you say you were doing here?”

“I just got off practice and thought I'd stop by to see if you might like to get in an hour of study.”

I nodded sadly. “Sure, at your place. Wait here.”

I slipped back inside, past the war that was raging in the previously-quiet living room, and up to my room to grab my bag.

I rushed down the stairs and happened to meet Dad's eyes. He nodded slightly at me, and I continued with my escape.

“Are you okay?” Max asked as we walked down the path to his waiting car.

I nodded. “Things are getting nasty between them. I am happy to leave here for a little while.”

“Escape in the form of studying?” He chuckled.

“Yup. I’ll take it.”