Hi, Everyone: I've written stories before but always seem to have a hard time finishing them. This time, I decided to finish it before posting. I've only got about 1 or 2 more parts to go. So I'm hoping I'll be able to finish it this time. Anyway, let me know what you think. If you like the first couple of parts, I'll post more; otherwise, I won't bother.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Roswell characters, but the idea for this story is all mine.
Rating: Teen
Pairings: Primarily M/L. Will only briefly include Tess, Maria, and Max's father.
Summary: Max and Liz were in high school together, but didn’t know each other very well. Max was dating Tess. Both Max’s and Tess’s families are very well off. Liz wanted to go to college, but her family didn’t have the money for college. It starts off while they're in their senior year of high school.
Here goes:
AN UNKNOWN FAMILY
Part 1
“So, Liz, you going to the prom?” Maria asked in her bubbly manner.
“No, Maria. Number one, no one’s asked. Number two, I wouldn’t have the money to buy a dress anyway. And number three, parties really aren’t my thing. You know that.”
“Yeah, I know. But I thought you’d at least like to have the memory of going. After all, it is our last year of high school. Who knows? You might even have one last chance to talk to Max.”
“After four years of high school, if it hasn’t happened by now, Maria, I think I can safely assume it isn’t going to. Let’s face it. I wasted the last four years of my life hoping for something that I knew was never going to happen. Every time I see him and that cheerleader Tess he’s dating, I feel sick. It really is a waste. As smart as that guy is, I can’t believe he’d be interested in someone like her.” The last sentence Liz said almost to herself.
“Well, you know how guys are. They don’t think with their minds when they date girls like her.”
“Yeah, I know. Besides, both their families are rich. So I guess they really belong together anyway. You know what. I don’t want to think about this anymore. I’m going home. I’ll see you later, Maria,” Liz said, as she headed home to finish up homework, and to prepare for exams that would soon be looming over her head.
Liz didn’t live too far from school, especially since she lived upstairs in the Crashdown, the hangout where all the kids went for lunch and dinner, and after games. So she began her walk home.
*****
“Thanks for waiting for me, honey,” Tess said, as she jumped into Max’s SUV and tried to give him a passionate kiss.
“Tess, please don’t do that. You know I don’t like to be public with that kind of stuff,” Max said, pushing Tess aside.
“I can’t believe you, Max. We’ve been dating for years, and you’re still such a prude. I’m getting pretty fed up with you, you know. Any of the other guys would be jumping at the chance to show me more affection than you do, Max. If you’re not careful, I might just go looking for it from someone else.”
As Tess was giving her ultimatum, the rain began pouring down hard. Max had only been hearing her subconsciously because he’d been distracted by someone walking down the sidewalk. It finally dawned on him it was Liz Parker, the girl he was certain would be valedictorian when they graduated. He noticed how, as usual, she was loaded down with all her books, apparently heading home. He also noticed, when it started raining, she didn’t appear to have an umbrella and was getting soaked to the skin.
Without even responding to Tess, he pulled over and rolled down the electronic window. “Liz, can I give you a ride?” he asked.
Tess could not believe his nerve.
“No, thank,” was Liz’s quick response. She couldn’t believe Max Evans was asking if she wanted a ride.
Tess couldn’t resist the chance to belittle anyone that Max seemed to take an interest in. “Of course, little miss braniac doesn’t want a ride, Max. She’s too good for the likes of us.”
Liz had watched Tess from afar as she’d always said hateful things like that to others she felt were beneath her, and something in Liz snapped. “You know what, Max. I changed my mind. I’d really appreciate a ride.” As she spoke, she reached for the handle of the back door, opened it, threw in all her books that were by now soaked, and climbed up and into the SUV.
The ride to the Crashdown wasn’t very far, but it seemed like an eternity for everyone inside the SUV, each for their own reasons. Needless to say, for the next few very long minutes, there was a very long silence.
As soon as Max pulled up to the Crashdown, Liz started collecting her stuff together and jumped out of the SUV. “Thanks for the ride,” she said, before running quickly into the Crashdown.
After Liz had left, Tess said, “What did you do that for? You know she’s beneath us, Max. What were you thinking?”
“Tess, I’m really getting tired of you saying that. Liz may be beneath us, as far as you’re concerned, but I admire her intelligence. That girl won’t have to worry about her family money. She’s going to be able to make a life of her own, without having to worry about mommy and daddy to take care of her.”
Tess didn’t utter a word in response. She was shocked to see that Max had any kind of an opinion at all about that mousy girl. It occurred to her that maybe Max’s eyes were straying where they shouldn’t, which meant she was going to have come up with a drastic idea to get Max’s thoughts back on track, thinking only of her and him.
“Okay, Tess. We’re here,” Max said, pulling up in the driveway of the Harding mansion.
“Don’t you want to come in, Maxie?” Tess purred.
“No, Tess. I have to go study for my finals coming up. I suggest you do the same,” he said, as he began to leave.
Now more certain than ever that Max’s mind was not on the fact that his family and hers had planned years ago for them to get married, Tess once again decided she’d have to take drastic action to get his mind back on track. With that, she stomped up the stairs to her room and began working out her little plot.
*****
As Liz was sorting through her books, preparing to sit down and study, she suddenly had a knot in her stomach. She frantically looked through them a second time, this time specifically looking for her journal, but it was nowhere to be found. Instantly, she knew where it must be, lying on the floor of Max’s SUV. She couldn’t bear to face the possibility that Max would read through it. If he did, she’d never be able to show her face to him again, because then he’d know that she’d had a crush on him for the last four years. She started hyperventilating and was about to call her friend Maria, but then she remembered what a big mouth her friend had. If Max hadn’t already read her journal, she knew it would be all over school the next day if she breathed a word to Maria about her worst fear. No, she thought, setting the phone back on its cradle, this was one embarrassment she’d have to keep to herself for as long as she could, until Max began gloating about her naïve affection for him.
*****
(Prom night)
“Tess, I’m fed up with you trying to push me into a relationship. After tonight, as far as I’m concerned, you can look for another match. I have no intention of fulfilling the match our parents made when we were children.”
“But, Max, it’s our destiny. You know that,” Tess sobbed.
“We make our own destiny, Tess.”
“But your father will disown you for this.”
“Maybe so. But I’d rather have that than to be stuck with you for the rest of my life.”
Suddenly, Tess changed her tone. “It’s all because of that Liz tramp, isn’t it?”
“What? I have no idea what you’re talking about, Tess.”
“That day you picked her up and took her home. You’ve been planning to break up with me ever since then. I know it.”
“This has nothing to do with Liz, Tess. We’ve been heading in this direction for a long time.”
Once again, Tess’ expression changed. Calmly, she said, “Very well. If that’s the way you want it,” and then asked, “but can we at least wait until after graduation before we go public about our breakup?”
Max thought about it for a moment. “Very well. I’ll agree to that. But remember, Tess, this is our last date.”
“Okay.”
(One month later)
“Liz, your mother and I need to speak with you.”
“Sure, Dad. What’s going on?” Liz asked, just finishing up her studies for the final exams.
Part 2 (Five years later)
“Max, thanks for meeting me. I have some business that needs to be taken care of in New York, and I’d like you to take care of it for me,” his father said.
“But, Dad, I’m in the middle of a project you put me on a month ago.”
“Yes, I know, Son. But this business takes priority right now.”
“Well, all right. If you’re certain my current project won’t suffer in the process.”
“I’m really proud of you for taking your responsibilities so seriously, Son. You’ve really proven yourself in the last five years. That’s why I’ve personally selected you for New York. As far as your current project, don’t worry. It will keep until you return.
“You’ll be meeting with the acting vice-president and going over some financial issues that have arisen with the company. Here is the file, so you can look it over during your flight.”
“When I do leave?”
“I’ve got you on a flight that leaves tonight.”
“So soon? I thought you were thinking in a week or so.”
“No. As I said, this business takes priority right now. The sooner it can be taken care of, the better.”
“Whatever you say, Dad. I guess I should go home and get packed, then.”
“Yes, why don’t you do that. I’ll close up the office tonight.”
“How long do you expect this business trip should take?”
His father stood, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, and finally said, almost cryptically, “I’m really not sure, Son. You’ll have to be the judge of that.”
“Okay. I’ll call you and let you know my timeline once I have a chance to review the file and meet with the vice-president.”
As Max closed the door behind him, his father said to himself, ‘I sure do hope I’m doing the right thing.’
*****
Liz was having a wonderful dream. She was just getting to the point of giving her high school valedictorian speech when she heard, “Mommy!”
“Yes, honey,” Liz said, pulling herself up out of her sleep, as her little boy came jumping onto her bed.
“I’m hungry.”
“I’m sure you are, little man, but can you wait just a little longer. Mommy didn’t sleep very well last night.”
“Why?”
“Oh, I just had things on my mind.”
“What kind a things?” he innocently asked.
Liz knew his young mind wouldn’t comprehend even if she tried to explain. So she said what she knew he’d understand. “About monsters and stuff.”
“Scary things?”
“Yeah, scary things.”
“Don’t worry, Mommy. It’ll be okay,” he said, as he rubbed Liz’s back.
“I know they will, sweetie,” she said, giving him a hug.
“Okay. Let’s go get you some breakfast.”
“Yippee.”
Liz sat almost in a daze, as she watched Phillip eat his breakfast. It had already been four years since her parents had died, leaving her to take care of their young son. Liz still couldn’t get over her mom having gotten pregnant so late in life. As far as Phillip knew, Liz was in every way his mom. He had no way of knowing that Liz’s mother was his real mom. But she thanked God every day that her mom had had him so late in life; otherwise, she would have been left all alone when her parents had been so unexpectedly taken from her in a car accident shortly after his birth four years ago.
There was so much Liz had to take on her shoulders when her parents had died. First of all, she’d been ready to begin her second year of college when they’d died. She had hoped to major in biology, but their untimely deaths had forced her to change her major to a business degree.
After selling the Crashdown and moving to New York, her father and mother had somehow made contact with a company in which they had become the president and vice president. When they’d died, it left a gaping hole in the company. Liz still didn’t know how it had all come about, but she had immediately been asked to become an acting vice president until other arrangements could be made to appoint another president and vice president. That had been four years ago, and that task still was yet to be done. Because she’d had to literally hit the floor running with the job, she found it vital to change her major, so she could effectively put everything into practice as she continued earning her degree. How many people could say that, she wondered.
But Phillip would be starting school soon, and Liz wanted desperately to be able to spend more time with him. He was growing up before her eyes, and she was afraid she’d miss it altogether if she didn’t find a way to cut back on her hours. Which was what she’d been thinking about when Phillip had thought it was about monsters. She hoped today would be the beginning of making that arrangement, since she’d been told about a special meeting that had been arranged. She had received an email from one of the major stockholders of the business that the owner would be sending out a representative to speak with her and resolve some financial issues.
Liz was so grateful that Maria had moved out to be with her four years ago. Maria had been Liz’s rock of strength, with all the periods of stress that had entered her life since her parents’ death. Most importantly, Maria had helped Liz out of many scrapes when it came to needing a babysitter. And she’d needed one many times, what with splitting her time between schoolwork and her job with the company. Once again, Maria would be her savior today when she had her meeting with the owner’s rep.
“Mommy’s got to get ready for work, sweetie,” Liz said, as she kissed him on the cheek and was ready to leave the room.
“Again, Mom? Can’t you stay home with me instead of Aunt Maria?”
“You know I’d love to, sweetie, but I can’t.”
“That’s not fair.”
“I know. But it won’t be forever. You’ll see.”
“All right.”
“Love you, my little man.”
“Love you too, Mommy.”
With that Liz finally went to take a shower and get dressed. It was killing her to look into those beautiful amber eyes and have to tell him she couldn’t stay with him. She hoped and prayed she really would be able to spend more time with him soon.
“Okay, Maria. You have my cell phone number and” –
“Liz, you tell me this every single time. I have your numbers tattooed to my forehead. Go already.”
“Thanks again, Maria. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Liz said, with just a little too much emotion in her voice.
“Liz, snap out of it. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were pms’ing.”
“No, I can’t be. I just had my cycle a couple of weeks ago.”
“Well, you’re just being way too emotional, girlfriend. Just go, and don’t worry about anything. You know I’ve got your back.”
“I know. And thanks again. I’ll call you later,” Liz said, as she slowly closed the door behind her.
tbc - ???
An Unknown Family (ML,TEEN) COMPLETE 2-10-06
Moderators: Anniepoo98, Rowedog, ISLANDGIRL5, Itzstacie, truelovepooh, FSU/MSW-94, Erina, Hunter, Forum Moderators
An Unknown Family (ML,TEEN) COMPLETE 2-10-06
Last edited by cravar on Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:14 pm, edited 19 times in total.
12-20-05 - "An Unknown Family" - Parts 3 & 4
As always: I do not own any of the Roswell characters.
Rating: Teen
Parings: Primarily M/L. Will only briefly include Tess, Maria, and Max's father.
Summary: Max and Liz were in high school together, but didn’t know each other very well. Max was dating Tess. Both Max’s and Tess’s families are very well off. Liz wanted to go to college, but her family didn’t have the money for college. It starts off while they're in their senior year of high school.
Hi, Everyone:
Thanks so much for your comments. Hopefully, the next 2 parts will answer most of your questions. Even so, let me know what you think. I really appreciate hearing your feedback.
Now, here are the next two parts:
"An Unknown Family"
Part 3
Max had been waiting for the vice president for over 45 minutes. If there was one thing he could not stand, it was people who could not be punctual. He was just about ready to call his dad and tell him the vice president never showed up when the door finally opened.
Max was not looking up, but instead began once again going over the file his father had given him the night before – although, in truth, it hadn’t really provided much information at all. But he was so irritated with the thoughtless person that he was trying to calm down his anger before looking up to meet them. “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming,” he said in a clipped tone, still looking at the file.
“Yes, I’m so sorry. It’s been a horrible day. I” –
“Look, I don’t want to hear any excuses,” Max began, as he finally looked up from the file, and that was all he got out.
When he first looked up, he saw what appeared to be a young woman. But her hair was in her face and all matted, and her clothes were soaked and dirty.
The young woman slowly pulled her hair away from her face and began wringing out the excess water.
As she did so, Max suddenly felt there was something so familiar about the young woman. So he quietly walked up closer to her to get a better look. Finally, it dawned on him.
“Liz?” he asked, feeling uncertain of himself.
The young woman looked up at him and stared for what seemed to Max to be ages. Finally, she spoke. “Max? Max Evans? What are you doing here?” she asked, forgetting about her appearance.
“Well, I – I’m my father’s representative. He’s the one who set up this meeting.”
“Your father?”
“You didn’t know that?”
Liz was so stunned to see Max after all these years, it was all she could do to shake her head in the negative.
Suddenly, Max once again became aware of her appearance, and he felt bad that he had been so harsh to her when she’d arrived. “You know what. We can do this another time,” he said.
“No, I’ve never cancelled a meeting since filling my mother’s shoes. I’m not about to start now. But I really would like to freshen up first, if that’s all right with you,” she asked.
“Sure. But don’t you” –
“I have extra clothes that I leave here. It’s not the first time I’ve had to take a shower here. After all, what good is a shower in an office if you never use it?” she stated.
It hadn’t even occurred to Max that this was Liz’s office he’d been asked to wait in. But suddenly, when Liz mentioned taking a shower, Max felt himself flush at the thought.
Liz didn’t see Max’s face turn red. She was too concerned about looking presentable to see it. She knew, once she could get herself cleaned up, she’d feel better; and she’d be able to think more clearly, especially after this unexpected turn of events. She definitely had a lot of questions for Max, but she couldn’t ask them looking the way she did right now.
“Listen, I’ll be out in about 10 minutes. I can order some refreshments, if you like. Or you can make yourself some coffee. I won’t be long,” she said over her shoulder, before disappearing into the bathroom.
Max sat in stunned silence as he waited for Liz to return. He couldn’t believe how good it felt to see Liz. He remembered passing her in the hall at school from time to time. And he remembered how intelligent she was. Then he remembered that one day so long ago that he’d given her a ride to her home when it had been pouring rain. Suddenly waves of regret began hitting him. It seemed that after that fateful day, everything began spiraling down around him with Tess. Not that Liz was to blame by any means. If anything, her unknowing participation in the breakup between Max and Tess had been a blessing in disguise, although Max hadn’t had time to dwell on that little matter or even realize that fact at the time.
Max continued sitting, lost in his thoughts, until he heard his name being called. “Max, are you all right?” Liz asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I was just reminiscing,” he said, as he slowly looked up to where the voice came from. What he saw made him flush all over again. Liz was only dressed in a terrycloth robe, and she was in the process of drying her long mane of brunette hair.
Liz saw him flush this time. So she looked down at herself to see what could be the problem. Then she herself blushed outright. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. It’s just that I thought I had some extra clothes here, but I must have taken them home. So I had to have my secretary send my dress out to be cleaned. It’ll take a couple of hours to get it back,” she finished, as she held the robe more tightly around her, suddenly feeling extremely vulnerable.
“No, don’t apologize,” Max responded, regaining his composure.
“You know what. It’ll be time for lunch soon. How about I have an early lunch delivered here. If you don’t mind, we can begin our discussion right here; that is, while I wait to get my dress back.”
“Sure. That would be great.”
“Okay. I’ll be right back.”
While Liz was gone, Max suddenly realized he had so many questions he needed to ask her, or at least to somehow resolve for himself. He’d originally thought he’d have his business concluded in one day and would be flying back home immediately. But seeing Liz for the first time in five years, he found himself thinking back to a part of his life he’d tried to forget about. So many things had happened at that time, and he’d never allowed himself the time to come to terms with some very difficult decisions he’d had to make at such a young age. Some of those decisions he’d regretted almost instantly after making them, but things had been set in motion that made it impossible to reverse them. Before he could talk himself out of it, he quickly got on his cell phone to call his dad.
“Hi, Dad. Look, something totally unexpected has come up. I think I’ll need to stay for at least week to get the business matters taken care of. I hope that’s all right.”
“That’s fine, Son. Remember, I left the decision up to you as to how long it would take. If you find that for some reason it will take longer, just let me know.”
“No, a week should do it,” Max responded rather quickly.
“Okay. But remember what I said. If you need more time, don’t hesitate to let me know.”
“Okay, Dad. Thanks.”
As Mr. Evans hung up the phone, he hoped and prayed that Max would realize he’d definitely need more than a week; that is, if things turned out the way he hoped they would for his son.
*****
Max was just getting off the phone when Liz returned. “I ordered Chinese takeout. I hope you don’t mind,” she said, as she began once again drying her hair.
“No, I don’t mind at all. I love Chinese.”
As Liz continued drying her hair just a little while longer, Max found himself wondering if her hair was as soft as it looked from where he sat. Suddenly, though, he caught himself wondering where that thought had come from; and he once again tried to get his mind on track.
“You know, I just got off the phone with my father. I thought we’d have our business concluded today, but I just let him know it might take a little longer (of course, he didn’t tell her how long he’d told his dad). So we don’t have to take care of it right this minute, under the circumstances.”
“I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to delay your plans,” Liz began apologizing.
“No, it’s no problem. I kind of needed a break anyway. I came in on the ‘red eye’ this morning,” Max said, letting out a yawn.
“My goodness. You haven’t even had a chance to sleep, then.”
“No, I guess I haven’t,” he said, yawning yet again.
“Why don’t you lie down and take a nap until the food arrives,” Liz said, as she pulled a pillow and a blanket out for him.
“I don’t normally take naps, but I can’t seem to keep my eyes open. Maybe just until the food arrives,” he said, as he went to stretch out on the sofa he’d been sitting on.
“Don’t worry. I’ll let you know when it gets here,” she said, as she returned to the bathroom to finish drying her hair, and then to apply makeup.
Within only 15 minutes or so, the food had arrived. Liz felt bad that Max wouldn’t get to have a longer nap. After she paid for the food, she went to wake him. But as she watched him lying there, she heard him begin to quietly snore. Suddenly, she didn’t have the heart to wake him. Instead, she ate by herself, as she sat in a chair near him.
Liz could not get over how amazing it was that she had Max Evans sleeping in her office. As she continued watching him sleep, she reflected back on that day so many years ago when he’d offered her a ride home in the pouring rain. She also remembered it was that day she’d lost her precious journal, and had never found it. She could only assume that Max must have found it.
Suddenly, just the thought of Max reading her journal made her turn every color of red imaginable. She could only imagine what he must have thought about the childish schoolgirl crush she’d had on him. And now she was supposed to be having a business meeting with him? She wondered how she was going to pull it off. Finally, since it had now been five years since she’d lost it, she decided she wasn’t going to say anything about it unless Max mentioned it first.
She also remembered how disappointed she’d been when her family had told her they’d have to move before she could give her valedictorian speech. She knew everyone at school had thought of her as a geek, probably even Max. But she’d earned the right to give that speech, and it had been taken away from her. For some reason, her parents had unexpectedly decided they were selling the Crashdown and moving to New York, never giving her an explanation that made sense as to why she’d have to give up that honor. She wondered who had been given that honor instead. She was almost afraid to ask Max any questions about high school, in case it reminded him of the journal. But she found herself feeling she needed answers, if for no other reason than to finally close that chapter in her life that had always felt somehow unfinished.
As Liz sat there, watching Max sleep, she too became drowsy and drifted off into a restless sleep.
Part 4
A couple of hours later, Liz’s secretary came into the office, holding Liz’s now clean dress. Nudging Liz gently, she said, “Miss Parker, your dress has been cleaned.”
“Oh, thank you so much, Serena.”
“You’re welcome, Ms. Parker,” Serena said, as she left the office, closing the door behind her.
Liz could see that Max was still asleep. So she decided to get properly dressed before waking him.
Several minutes later, after satisfying herself that she was presentable enough, she went to wake Max. “Max, I’m ready to have our meeting,” she said, gently trying to wake him.
When Max awoke, he felt extremely disoriented, not remembering where he was, until he heard Liz’s voice. Then everything came back to him.
“You know what. I’d really like to do that later. I’m starved.”
“Oh, you never ate the Chinese food I left?”
“No, I didn’t. I’ve been asleep the whole time. How about I take you to dinner, and you can save the Chinese food for tomorrow instead?”
“That’s really nice of you, Max, but I really need to get home to my little boy.”
“You – you have a little boy?” he asked. He couldn’t get over how sad it made him feel to hear that, for a number of reasons.
Liz was surprised to see the look of sadness on his face. She didn’t have a clue why, but she couldn’t bear to be the cause of it.
“I know what. Why don’t you come back to the house with me, and we’ll order pizza,” she suggested.
“You don’t think your husband would mind if I came?” he slowly asked.
“My husband?” It took a minute for Liz to grasp why Max would think there was a husband. Then it dawned on her. “Oh, I’m pretty sure he won’t, since there isn’t one.”
“You’re not married?” he asked, wanting to make sure he’d heard her right.
“No. But I guess I can see why you thought I was. Come on. I’ll explain on the way.”
“You don’t owe me an explanation, Liz.”
“No, I don’t mind. I’d rather you know anyway, since it will have an effect on some of the business decisions we’ll be discussing.”
So on the drive over to Liz’s, she began explaining to him about her mother’s pregnancy, and then their untimely death. “So, you see, even though Phillip isn’t my son by birth, I’m the only mom he’s ever known. He’s the best thing that ever happened to me. I count my blessings every day for having him. I don’t know how I would have handled the loss of our parents if I hadn’t had to take care of him. And it’s because I love him so much and want to be the mother he needs as he grows older that I need to adjust the amount of time I’m spending with the company.”
Max listened in silence to the story Liz was telling him. He couldn’t help but feel guilt that he had not been able to make the right decisions in time to be able to keep his own son. He’d been kicking himself for five years for agreeing to give his son up for adoption. In the end, he knew it was the best decision, considering the complex situation he’d been in. But he’d regretted it every day of his life since then. As he continued listening to Liz’s story and how she so desperately wanted to spend time with her son, he decided then and there he would help her in any way he could to make sure that happened. Even if he couldn’t be with his son, he was going to make sure that Liz would be able to. As he was learning more about Liz, it was becoming more and more clear to him that one week probably would not be enough time. But he decided to learn more about Liz’s situation before he called his dad again about extending his visit.
“Well, here we are,” Liz said, as they pulled up to a modest four-bedroom house.
As Liz was getting out of the car, the front door opened, and a little dark-haired boy came running out to Liz. “Mommy! Mommy! You’re home. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too, sweetie,” Liz responded, as her little boy took a jump into her arms.
Max quietly observed the amazing connection the two had with one another, and once again he was mourning his own loss. The little boy was so cute. If Max hadn’t just learned the little boy was her brother, he would have never guessed it. He looked like he could be her son.
After showering Liz with kisses, Phillip finally noticed the man standing nearby. “Hi. What’s your name?” he asked.
“I’m Max. What’s your name?”
Suddenly, Phillip became very quiet.
“Did I say something wrong?” Max asked.
“No,” Liz answered. “He just realized he spoke to a stranger, and he knows I’ve told him never to talk to strangers.”
“It’s okay, sweetie. You can talk to Max. He’s a friend of mommy’s.”
Once again, the little boy smiled. “My name’s Phillip.”
“Phillip, huh? That’s my dad’s name too.”
“You have a daddy?”
“I sure do.”
“Is he as big as you?”
“Yeah, he sure is.”
“Come on, Phillip. Let’s go inside. We’re going to order pizza. Are you hungry?”
“I love pizza.”
“I know you do, little man. That’s why I’m ordering it.”
“Come on in, Max. It’s not a mansion, but it’s our little palace,” Liz said, as they walked in.
Just as Liz was walking in, Maria was beginning to come out and caught a glimpse of Max. Max didn’t know her. So she didn’t say anything to him. But she quietly mouthed to Liz, “Is this Max Evans?”
Liz silently nodded.
Maria motioned to have Liz call her, and Liz again nodded.
“I’ll see you later, Chica.”
“Okay, Maria. Thanks again for getting me out of a jam.”
“Any time. Call me later.”
“I will.”
Max watched as Maria left. “She sure does seem familiar,” Max said.
“Well, she did go to the same high school as us,” Liz offered.
Then it clicked. Max had always seen Liz with a blonde girl, who must have been Maria. But Max didn’t want to spend his time learning about Maria right now. Instead, he wanted to focus on getting to know Liz and her situation better.
*****
TBC -- Leave your feedback for the next parts.
Rating: Teen
Parings: Primarily M/L. Will only briefly include Tess, Maria, and Max's father.
Summary: Max and Liz were in high school together, but didn’t know each other very well. Max was dating Tess. Both Max’s and Tess’s families are very well off. Liz wanted to go to college, but her family didn’t have the money for college. It starts off while they're in their senior year of high school.
Hi, Everyone:
Thanks so much for your comments. Hopefully, the next 2 parts will answer most of your questions. Even so, let me know what you think. I really appreciate hearing your feedback.
Now, here are the next two parts:
"An Unknown Family"
Part 3
Max had been waiting for the vice president for over 45 minutes. If there was one thing he could not stand, it was people who could not be punctual. He was just about ready to call his dad and tell him the vice president never showed up when the door finally opened.
Max was not looking up, but instead began once again going over the file his father had given him the night before – although, in truth, it hadn’t really provided much information at all. But he was so irritated with the thoughtless person that he was trying to calm down his anger before looking up to meet them. “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming,” he said in a clipped tone, still looking at the file.
“Yes, I’m so sorry. It’s been a horrible day. I” –
“Look, I don’t want to hear any excuses,” Max began, as he finally looked up from the file, and that was all he got out.
When he first looked up, he saw what appeared to be a young woman. But her hair was in her face and all matted, and her clothes were soaked and dirty.
The young woman slowly pulled her hair away from her face and began wringing out the excess water.
As she did so, Max suddenly felt there was something so familiar about the young woman. So he quietly walked up closer to her to get a better look. Finally, it dawned on him.
“Liz?” he asked, feeling uncertain of himself.
The young woman looked up at him and stared for what seemed to Max to be ages. Finally, she spoke. “Max? Max Evans? What are you doing here?” she asked, forgetting about her appearance.
“Well, I – I’m my father’s representative. He’s the one who set up this meeting.”
“Your father?”
“You didn’t know that?”
Liz was so stunned to see Max after all these years, it was all she could do to shake her head in the negative.
Suddenly, Max once again became aware of her appearance, and he felt bad that he had been so harsh to her when she’d arrived. “You know what. We can do this another time,” he said.
“No, I’ve never cancelled a meeting since filling my mother’s shoes. I’m not about to start now. But I really would like to freshen up first, if that’s all right with you,” she asked.
“Sure. But don’t you” –
“I have extra clothes that I leave here. It’s not the first time I’ve had to take a shower here. After all, what good is a shower in an office if you never use it?” she stated.
It hadn’t even occurred to Max that this was Liz’s office he’d been asked to wait in. But suddenly, when Liz mentioned taking a shower, Max felt himself flush at the thought.
Liz didn’t see Max’s face turn red. She was too concerned about looking presentable to see it. She knew, once she could get herself cleaned up, she’d feel better; and she’d be able to think more clearly, especially after this unexpected turn of events. She definitely had a lot of questions for Max, but she couldn’t ask them looking the way she did right now.
“Listen, I’ll be out in about 10 minutes. I can order some refreshments, if you like. Or you can make yourself some coffee. I won’t be long,” she said over her shoulder, before disappearing into the bathroom.
Max sat in stunned silence as he waited for Liz to return. He couldn’t believe how good it felt to see Liz. He remembered passing her in the hall at school from time to time. And he remembered how intelligent she was. Then he remembered that one day so long ago that he’d given her a ride to her home when it had been pouring rain. Suddenly waves of regret began hitting him. It seemed that after that fateful day, everything began spiraling down around him with Tess. Not that Liz was to blame by any means. If anything, her unknowing participation in the breakup between Max and Tess had been a blessing in disguise, although Max hadn’t had time to dwell on that little matter or even realize that fact at the time.
Max continued sitting, lost in his thoughts, until he heard his name being called. “Max, are you all right?” Liz asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I was just reminiscing,” he said, as he slowly looked up to where the voice came from. What he saw made him flush all over again. Liz was only dressed in a terrycloth robe, and she was in the process of drying her long mane of brunette hair.
Liz saw him flush this time. So she looked down at herself to see what could be the problem. Then she herself blushed outright. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. It’s just that I thought I had some extra clothes here, but I must have taken them home. So I had to have my secretary send my dress out to be cleaned. It’ll take a couple of hours to get it back,” she finished, as she held the robe more tightly around her, suddenly feeling extremely vulnerable.
“No, don’t apologize,” Max responded, regaining his composure.
“You know what. It’ll be time for lunch soon. How about I have an early lunch delivered here. If you don’t mind, we can begin our discussion right here; that is, while I wait to get my dress back.”
“Sure. That would be great.”
“Okay. I’ll be right back.”
While Liz was gone, Max suddenly realized he had so many questions he needed to ask her, or at least to somehow resolve for himself. He’d originally thought he’d have his business concluded in one day and would be flying back home immediately. But seeing Liz for the first time in five years, he found himself thinking back to a part of his life he’d tried to forget about. So many things had happened at that time, and he’d never allowed himself the time to come to terms with some very difficult decisions he’d had to make at such a young age. Some of those decisions he’d regretted almost instantly after making them, but things had been set in motion that made it impossible to reverse them. Before he could talk himself out of it, he quickly got on his cell phone to call his dad.
“Hi, Dad. Look, something totally unexpected has come up. I think I’ll need to stay for at least week to get the business matters taken care of. I hope that’s all right.”
“That’s fine, Son. Remember, I left the decision up to you as to how long it would take. If you find that for some reason it will take longer, just let me know.”
“No, a week should do it,” Max responded rather quickly.
“Okay. But remember what I said. If you need more time, don’t hesitate to let me know.”
“Okay, Dad. Thanks.”
As Mr. Evans hung up the phone, he hoped and prayed that Max would realize he’d definitely need more than a week; that is, if things turned out the way he hoped they would for his son.
*****
Max was just getting off the phone when Liz returned. “I ordered Chinese takeout. I hope you don’t mind,” she said, as she began once again drying her hair.
“No, I don’t mind at all. I love Chinese.”
As Liz continued drying her hair just a little while longer, Max found himself wondering if her hair was as soft as it looked from where he sat. Suddenly, though, he caught himself wondering where that thought had come from; and he once again tried to get his mind on track.
“You know, I just got off the phone with my father. I thought we’d have our business concluded today, but I just let him know it might take a little longer (of course, he didn’t tell her how long he’d told his dad). So we don’t have to take care of it right this minute, under the circumstances.”
“I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to delay your plans,” Liz began apologizing.
“No, it’s no problem. I kind of needed a break anyway. I came in on the ‘red eye’ this morning,” Max said, letting out a yawn.
“My goodness. You haven’t even had a chance to sleep, then.”
“No, I guess I haven’t,” he said, yawning yet again.
“Why don’t you lie down and take a nap until the food arrives,” Liz said, as she pulled a pillow and a blanket out for him.
“I don’t normally take naps, but I can’t seem to keep my eyes open. Maybe just until the food arrives,” he said, as he went to stretch out on the sofa he’d been sitting on.
“Don’t worry. I’ll let you know when it gets here,” she said, as she returned to the bathroom to finish drying her hair, and then to apply makeup.
Within only 15 minutes or so, the food had arrived. Liz felt bad that Max wouldn’t get to have a longer nap. After she paid for the food, she went to wake him. But as she watched him lying there, she heard him begin to quietly snore. Suddenly, she didn’t have the heart to wake him. Instead, she ate by herself, as she sat in a chair near him.
Liz could not get over how amazing it was that she had Max Evans sleeping in her office. As she continued watching him sleep, she reflected back on that day so many years ago when he’d offered her a ride home in the pouring rain. She also remembered it was that day she’d lost her precious journal, and had never found it. She could only assume that Max must have found it.
Suddenly, just the thought of Max reading her journal made her turn every color of red imaginable. She could only imagine what he must have thought about the childish schoolgirl crush she’d had on him. And now she was supposed to be having a business meeting with him? She wondered how she was going to pull it off. Finally, since it had now been five years since she’d lost it, she decided she wasn’t going to say anything about it unless Max mentioned it first.
She also remembered how disappointed she’d been when her family had told her they’d have to move before she could give her valedictorian speech. She knew everyone at school had thought of her as a geek, probably even Max. But she’d earned the right to give that speech, and it had been taken away from her. For some reason, her parents had unexpectedly decided they were selling the Crashdown and moving to New York, never giving her an explanation that made sense as to why she’d have to give up that honor. She wondered who had been given that honor instead. She was almost afraid to ask Max any questions about high school, in case it reminded him of the journal. But she found herself feeling she needed answers, if for no other reason than to finally close that chapter in her life that had always felt somehow unfinished.
As Liz sat there, watching Max sleep, she too became drowsy and drifted off into a restless sleep.
Part 4
A couple of hours later, Liz’s secretary came into the office, holding Liz’s now clean dress. Nudging Liz gently, she said, “Miss Parker, your dress has been cleaned.”
“Oh, thank you so much, Serena.”
“You’re welcome, Ms. Parker,” Serena said, as she left the office, closing the door behind her.
Liz could see that Max was still asleep. So she decided to get properly dressed before waking him.
Several minutes later, after satisfying herself that she was presentable enough, she went to wake Max. “Max, I’m ready to have our meeting,” she said, gently trying to wake him.
When Max awoke, he felt extremely disoriented, not remembering where he was, until he heard Liz’s voice. Then everything came back to him.
“You know what. I’d really like to do that later. I’m starved.”
“Oh, you never ate the Chinese food I left?”
“No, I didn’t. I’ve been asleep the whole time. How about I take you to dinner, and you can save the Chinese food for tomorrow instead?”
“That’s really nice of you, Max, but I really need to get home to my little boy.”
“You – you have a little boy?” he asked. He couldn’t get over how sad it made him feel to hear that, for a number of reasons.
Liz was surprised to see the look of sadness on his face. She didn’t have a clue why, but she couldn’t bear to be the cause of it.
“I know what. Why don’t you come back to the house with me, and we’ll order pizza,” she suggested.
“You don’t think your husband would mind if I came?” he slowly asked.
“My husband?” It took a minute for Liz to grasp why Max would think there was a husband. Then it dawned on her. “Oh, I’m pretty sure he won’t, since there isn’t one.”
“You’re not married?” he asked, wanting to make sure he’d heard her right.
“No. But I guess I can see why you thought I was. Come on. I’ll explain on the way.”
“You don’t owe me an explanation, Liz.”
“No, I don’t mind. I’d rather you know anyway, since it will have an effect on some of the business decisions we’ll be discussing.”
So on the drive over to Liz’s, she began explaining to him about her mother’s pregnancy, and then their untimely death. “So, you see, even though Phillip isn’t my son by birth, I’m the only mom he’s ever known. He’s the best thing that ever happened to me. I count my blessings every day for having him. I don’t know how I would have handled the loss of our parents if I hadn’t had to take care of him. And it’s because I love him so much and want to be the mother he needs as he grows older that I need to adjust the amount of time I’m spending with the company.”
Max listened in silence to the story Liz was telling him. He couldn’t help but feel guilt that he had not been able to make the right decisions in time to be able to keep his own son. He’d been kicking himself for five years for agreeing to give his son up for adoption. In the end, he knew it was the best decision, considering the complex situation he’d been in. But he’d regretted it every day of his life since then. As he continued listening to Liz’s story and how she so desperately wanted to spend time with her son, he decided then and there he would help her in any way he could to make sure that happened. Even if he couldn’t be with his son, he was going to make sure that Liz would be able to. As he was learning more about Liz, it was becoming more and more clear to him that one week probably would not be enough time. But he decided to learn more about Liz’s situation before he called his dad again about extending his visit.
“Well, here we are,” Liz said, as they pulled up to a modest four-bedroom house.
As Liz was getting out of the car, the front door opened, and a little dark-haired boy came running out to Liz. “Mommy! Mommy! You’re home. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too, sweetie,” Liz responded, as her little boy took a jump into her arms.
Max quietly observed the amazing connection the two had with one another, and once again he was mourning his own loss. The little boy was so cute. If Max hadn’t just learned the little boy was her brother, he would have never guessed it. He looked like he could be her son.
After showering Liz with kisses, Phillip finally noticed the man standing nearby. “Hi. What’s your name?” he asked.
“I’m Max. What’s your name?”
Suddenly, Phillip became very quiet.
“Did I say something wrong?” Max asked.
“No,” Liz answered. “He just realized he spoke to a stranger, and he knows I’ve told him never to talk to strangers.”
“It’s okay, sweetie. You can talk to Max. He’s a friend of mommy’s.”
Once again, the little boy smiled. “My name’s Phillip.”
“Phillip, huh? That’s my dad’s name too.”
“You have a daddy?”
“I sure do.”
“Is he as big as you?”
“Yeah, he sure is.”
“Come on, Phillip. Let’s go inside. We’re going to order pizza. Are you hungry?”
“I love pizza.”
“I know you do, little man. That’s why I’m ordering it.”
“Come on in, Max. It’s not a mansion, but it’s our little palace,” Liz said, as they walked in.
Just as Liz was walking in, Maria was beginning to come out and caught a glimpse of Max. Max didn’t know her. So she didn’t say anything to him. But she quietly mouthed to Liz, “Is this Max Evans?”
Liz silently nodded.
Maria motioned to have Liz call her, and Liz again nodded.
“I’ll see you later, Chica.”
“Okay, Maria. Thanks again for getting me out of a jam.”
“Any time. Call me later.”
“I will.”
Max watched as Maria left. “She sure does seem familiar,” Max said.
“Well, she did go to the same high school as us,” Liz offered.
Then it clicked. Max had always seen Liz with a blonde girl, who must have been Maria. But Max didn’t want to spend his time learning about Maria right now. Instead, he wanted to focus on getting to know Liz and her situation better.
*****
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An Unknown Family - Teen - Part 5 12-28-05
Part 5
Liz ordered the pizza; then the three sat and ate it in the kitchen once it arrived. But from the time Liz and Max had gotten home, Phillip wouldn’t leave Max alone. He got Max involved in playing some of his games. Liz didn’t know what to make of it. Phillip would want to play from time to time with other men who’d come to visit, such as Kyle and Alex, but he’d never taken to anyone the way he seemed to be taking to Max. It was as though he didn’t want to let Max out of his sight. Though Liz was happy to see Phillip so accepting of Max, it was also a little unsettling, because she could see that even Max seemed to be gravitating to Phillip in a huge way. To anyone who would have been watching the two, they would have thought Max was Phillip’s dad. But because she loved her ‘son’ so much, she didn’t want to interfere with the blossoming relationship. Instead, she went about washing dishes and tidying up the kitchen.
Max saw Liz begin to wash dishes, and he began to put down the things he and Phillip had been playing with to help out. “No, don’t stop playing. There’s not much here. I can take care of it. Besides, you two look like you’re really having a great time.”
“Okay. If you’re sure,” Max said.
“I’m sure. Besides,” Liz whispered, leaning in a little closer than she realized, “it’s his bedtime soon.”
Max almost didn’t hear what Liz said because he was inundated by the fragrance of vanilla and strawberries, and suddenly had a vision pop into his head. He had the desire to kiss Liz. But Liz had moved away too quickly after speaking, and had begun doing the dishes. Max caught himself trying to clear the fog that his head had just been in and decided he needed to quickly focus back on Phillip. “Okay, buddy. Where were we?”
*****
A half hour later, Liz finally had to break up the fun the two were having. “Okay, little man, it’s time for bed.”
“Oh, Mom, do I have to? Max and I are having so much fun.”
“I can see that,” Liz grinned. “But tomorrow’s a big day. It’ll be your first day in school.”
“But I don’t wanna go. Mom, please don’t make me.”
“It’s okay. I’ll be there with you,” she said, as she bent down to look into those beautiful amber eyes. When she did that, she could deny her little boy nothing.
“Promise?”
“I promise,” she said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. “But you have to promise to go to bed right now. Deal?”
“Okay,” Phillip said, although not too happy. As an afterthought, he said, “Can Max come too?”
“Oh, honey, I’m sure Max has a very busy day tomorrow. Besides, Max has to be going too, because he also needs to go to bed.”
“Can Max stay here tonight, Mom? Please?”
Liz was embarrassed that Phillip was being so possessive of Max. “Honey, I’m sure Max has already made arrangements to sleep somewhere else tonight.”
At this point, Max spoke up. “Actually, I haven’t really had time to. I had no idea I’d be staying longer than today. So I never took the time to make a reservation anywhere,” Max sheepishly said.
“Max can stay here tonight, Mom. He can sleep in my room.”
Once again, Liz was embarrassed. It had never occurred to her that Max didn’t have a reservation anywhere. She felt bad that her son had monopolized Max’s time to such an extent that Max hadn’t been able to take care of those arrangements.
“Tell you what,” Liz said, still talking to her son, and not wanting to look in Max’s direction, “if Max doesn’t mind sleeping in the spare bedroom tonight, he can stay.”
Phillip began jumping up at Max, “Please say yes. Please say yes.”
“Well, with an offer like that, how can I refuse?” he said, grabbing Phillip and throwing him up in the air. A few seconds later, he set Phillip down and said, “Okay. I guess it’s time to go to bed, buddy.” Turning to Liz, he said, “Just point me in the direction.” But before Liz had a chance to do so, Phillip dragged Max by the hand. “I’ll show you. It’s this way.”
Max silently turned to Liz, with a huge smile on his face, and just shrugged.
Liz could not imagine what had gotten into Phillip. He’d never been this enthusiastic with any men who had come to visit before. Liz had been on a few dates in the last couple years, but one of her concerns had always been how they interacted with Phillip.
But because of how she’d felt about Max in the past, Liz was afraid to even hope that anything could possibly develop from a mere brief visit. So she just shook her head, as the two ‘men’ sauntered off to the guest bedroom. Liz was also feeling a little dejected because she and Phillip had been in a routine for the last couple of years, of Phillip coming to her for a kiss before going to bed.
Just as Liz was lost in her thoughts, almost feeling jealous of the attention Max was getting from Phillip, she suddenly felt a pull on her dress. She looked down to see Phillip standing there, looking up at her. She knelt down to him, and he put his arms around her, giving her a big wet kiss, and he said, “I love you, Mommy.”
“I love you too, sweetie,” Liz said, hugging her son back, as silent tears began rolling down her face.
Max stood back and watched the interchange between the two in awe. Once again, he felt an emptiness within him. If only he could have had that kind of relationship with his son.
After hugging his mom, Phillip once again took Max’s hand and pulled him toward the guest room.
“Well, I guess I don’t have to show you where anything is. I think my son is going to take care of that,” she quietly said. “Good night, guys.”
“Good night, Mommy.” “Good night, Liz,” the two said in unison.
Even though Liz was still feeling a little jealous, the pain had softened after her son had remembered his good night kiss. She went to her own room, wondering what the future would hold for the two of them.
*****
After Max had made sure Phillip was in bed, he went to the guest room and started undressing. He hadn’t brought anything with him, with the idea that he’d be staying overnight. So he didn’t even have any sort of pajamas to wear. Of course, he didn’t normally wear them anyway. It was just that he felt a little self-conscious, since he would be sleeping in Liz’s house tonight. But at this point, he wanted to make the most out of a totally unexpected opportunity. So he undressed down to just his jockey shorts and got under the blankets.
Max lay there for only about 15 minutes or so when he suddenly heard the door quietly open. He felt a little self-conscious and embarrassed, thinking that for some reason Liz would be opening the door. Instead, Phillip peeked his little head in. Although in one way, Max was relieved, he also felt a measure of disappointment.
“What’s going on, buddy?” Max asked.
“Can I sleep with you tonight?”
“Now, why would you want to do that?” Max asked.
“‘Cause I never had a daddy to sleep with before. Could you be my daddy tonight?”
Max was floored by the little boy’s admission. But he couldn’t resist the chance to be a dad just for the night. Of course, it wouldn’t make up for the last five years, but at least he could pretend for the night.
“Sure, buddy,” Max responded, as he threw the blankets back for Phillip to get under.
“Could you read me a story?” Phillip asked. “I brought a book with me.”
“Okay. Hand it here.” And Max began reading Dr. Seuss’ ‘Green Eggs and Ham,’ Phillip’s favorite story.
Max was surprised to see that Phillip stayed awake through the whole story. “Aren’t you tired yet? Your mom wants you to get your sleep for tomorrow’s big day.”
“I know. Can I ask you a question, Max?”
“Sure.”
“Do you like my mommy?”
“Sure, I do.”
“Are you gonna marry my mommy?”
“Well, no, Phillip. I don’t really know your mom.”
“Why not? You knew her in school, didn’t you?”
“Well, yeah.”
“So you’ve known my mommy for a long time; right?”
The more questions Phillip asked, the deeper Max felt he was getting.
“Well, yeah, if you think of it that way. But there’s more to getting married than just knowing a person.”
“Like what?”
But Max didn’t want to explain these kinds of things. So he asked a question instead. “Why do you want your mom to get married?”
“Well, ‘cause other kids have a mom and dad. So I want one.”
Before Max could think of a comment to that, Phillip said something else that really surprised Max.
“Besides, my mommy needs to get married.”
“Why do you say that?”
“‘Cause she’s so sad.”
“Sad, how?”
“She gets lonely. I know she has me, but she needs somebody bigger to talk to, like a daddy.”
Max was moved by Phillip’s concern for his mom. “How do you know your mom gets lonely?”
“‘Cause sometimes I hear her cry at night. She doesn’t know I hear her, but I do. She cries for her mommy and daddy and says how much she misses ‘em.”
Max felt his heart tighten to know that Liz’s own little boy had to worry about his mom.
“I don’t want her to be lonely no more. Can you help her?”
“I’ll see what I can do. Don’t worry about it anymore. Let’s try to get some sleep, okay?”
“Okay, Max. Thanks for reading to me. I really like you, Max.”
“I like you too, Phillip. Now, let’s try to get some sleep. Okay?”
“Okay, Max,” Phillip said, as he snuggled down next to Max. “Good night.”
“Good night, buddy,” Max said, as he wrapped his arm around this sweet, gentle, loving boy. Max couldn’t sleep most of the night, thinking about what he’d learned about Liz. With all the years he’d lost with the son he’d never known, he made a decision then and there he’d do whatever he could to help Liz and Phillip find happiness. With that last thought, Max finally fell into a contented sleep.
*****
tbc - ????
I would really like to post the rest of the parts I've written. But I need motivation. Please let me know what you think.
Liz ordered the pizza; then the three sat and ate it in the kitchen once it arrived. But from the time Liz and Max had gotten home, Phillip wouldn’t leave Max alone. He got Max involved in playing some of his games. Liz didn’t know what to make of it. Phillip would want to play from time to time with other men who’d come to visit, such as Kyle and Alex, but he’d never taken to anyone the way he seemed to be taking to Max. It was as though he didn’t want to let Max out of his sight. Though Liz was happy to see Phillip so accepting of Max, it was also a little unsettling, because she could see that even Max seemed to be gravitating to Phillip in a huge way. To anyone who would have been watching the two, they would have thought Max was Phillip’s dad. But because she loved her ‘son’ so much, she didn’t want to interfere with the blossoming relationship. Instead, she went about washing dishes and tidying up the kitchen.
Max saw Liz begin to wash dishes, and he began to put down the things he and Phillip had been playing with to help out. “No, don’t stop playing. There’s not much here. I can take care of it. Besides, you two look like you’re really having a great time.”
“Okay. If you’re sure,” Max said.
“I’m sure. Besides,” Liz whispered, leaning in a little closer than she realized, “it’s his bedtime soon.”
Max almost didn’t hear what Liz said because he was inundated by the fragrance of vanilla and strawberries, and suddenly had a vision pop into his head. He had the desire to kiss Liz. But Liz had moved away too quickly after speaking, and had begun doing the dishes. Max caught himself trying to clear the fog that his head had just been in and decided he needed to quickly focus back on Phillip. “Okay, buddy. Where were we?”
*****
A half hour later, Liz finally had to break up the fun the two were having. “Okay, little man, it’s time for bed.”
“Oh, Mom, do I have to? Max and I are having so much fun.”
“I can see that,” Liz grinned. “But tomorrow’s a big day. It’ll be your first day in school.”
“But I don’t wanna go. Mom, please don’t make me.”
“It’s okay. I’ll be there with you,” she said, as she bent down to look into those beautiful amber eyes. When she did that, she could deny her little boy nothing.
“Promise?”
“I promise,” she said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. “But you have to promise to go to bed right now. Deal?”
“Okay,” Phillip said, although not too happy. As an afterthought, he said, “Can Max come too?”
“Oh, honey, I’m sure Max has a very busy day tomorrow. Besides, Max has to be going too, because he also needs to go to bed.”
“Can Max stay here tonight, Mom? Please?”
Liz was embarrassed that Phillip was being so possessive of Max. “Honey, I’m sure Max has already made arrangements to sleep somewhere else tonight.”
At this point, Max spoke up. “Actually, I haven’t really had time to. I had no idea I’d be staying longer than today. So I never took the time to make a reservation anywhere,” Max sheepishly said.
“Max can stay here tonight, Mom. He can sleep in my room.”
Once again, Liz was embarrassed. It had never occurred to her that Max didn’t have a reservation anywhere. She felt bad that her son had monopolized Max’s time to such an extent that Max hadn’t been able to take care of those arrangements.
“Tell you what,” Liz said, still talking to her son, and not wanting to look in Max’s direction, “if Max doesn’t mind sleeping in the spare bedroom tonight, he can stay.”
Phillip began jumping up at Max, “Please say yes. Please say yes.”
“Well, with an offer like that, how can I refuse?” he said, grabbing Phillip and throwing him up in the air. A few seconds later, he set Phillip down and said, “Okay. I guess it’s time to go to bed, buddy.” Turning to Liz, he said, “Just point me in the direction.” But before Liz had a chance to do so, Phillip dragged Max by the hand. “I’ll show you. It’s this way.”
Max silently turned to Liz, with a huge smile on his face, and just shrugged.
Liz could not imagine what had gotten into Phillip. He’d never been this enthusiastic with any men who had come to visit before. Liz had been on a few dates in the last couple years, but one of her concerns had always been how they interacted with Phillip.
But because of how she’d felt about Max in the past, Liz was afraid to even hope that anything could possibly develop from a mere brief visit. So she just shook her head, as the two ‘men’ sauntered off to the guest bedroom. Liz was also feeling a little dejected because she and Phillip had been in a routine for the last couple of years, of Phillip coming to her for a kiss before going to bed.
Just as Liz was lost in her thoughts, almost feeling jealous of the attention Max was getting from Phillip, she suddenly felt a pull on her dress. She looked down to see Phillip standing there, looking up at her. She knelt down to him, and he put his arms around her, giving her a big wet kiss, and he said, “I love you, Mommy.”
“I love you too, sweetie,” Liz said, hugging her son back, as silent tears began rolling down her face.
Max stood back and watched the interchange between the two in awe. Once again, he felt an emptiness within him. If only he could have had that kind of relationship with his son.
After hugging his mom, Phillip once again took Max’s hand and pulled him toward the guest room.
“Well, I guess I don’t have to show you where anything is. I think my son is going to take care of that,” she quietly said. “Good night, guys.”
“Good night, Mommy.” “Good night, Liz,” the two said in unison.
Even though Liz was still feeling a little jealous, the pain had softened after her son had remembered his good night kiss. She went to her own room, wondering what the future would hold for the two of them.
*****
After Max had made sure Phillip was in bed, he went to the guest room and started undressing. He hadn’t brought anything with him, with the idea that he’d be staying overnight. So he didn’t even have any sort of pajamas to wear. Of course, he didn’t normally wear them anyway. It was just that he felt a little self-conscious, since he would be sleeping in Liz’s house tonight. But at this point, he wanted to make the most out of a totally unexpected opportunity. So he undressed down to just his jockey shorts and got under the blankets.
Max lay there for only about 15 minutes or so when he suddenly heard the door quietly open. He felt a little self-conscious and embarrassed, thinking that for some reason Liz would be opening the door. Instead, Phillip peeked his little head in. Although in one way, Max was relieved, he also felt a measure of disappointment.
“What’s going on, buddy?” Max asked.
“Can I sleep with you tonight?”
“Now, why would you want to do that?” Max asked.
“‘Cause I never had a daddy to sleep with before. Could you be my daddy tonight?”
Max was floored by the little boy’s admission. But he couldn’t resist the chance to be a dad just for the night. Of course, it wouldn’t make up for the last five years, but at least he could pretend for the night.
“Sure, buddy,” Max responded, as he threw the blankets back for Phillip to get under.
“Could you read me a story?” Phillip asked. “I brought a book with me.”
“Okay. Hand it here.” And Max began reading Dr. Seuss’ ‘Green Eggs and Ham,’ Phillip’s favorite story.
Max was surprised to see that Phillip stayed awake through the whole story. “Aren’t you tired yet? Your mom wants you to get your sleep for tomorrow’s big day.”
“I know. Can I ask you a question, Max?”
“Sure.”
“Do you like my mommy?”
“Sure, I do.”
“Are you gonna marry my mommy?”
“Well, no, Phillip. I don’t really know your mom.”
“Why not? You knew her in school, didn’t you?”
“Well, yeah.”
“So you’ve known my mommy for a long time; right?”
The more questions Phillip asked, the deeper Max felt he was getting.
“Well, yeah, if you think of it that way. But there’s more to getting married than just knowing a person.”
“Like what?”
But Max didn’t want to explain these kinds of things. So he asked a question instead. “Why do you want your mom to get married?”
“Well, ‘cause other kids have a mom and dad. So I want one.”
Before Max could think of a comment to that, Phillip said something else that really surprised Max.
“Besides, my mommy needs to get married.”
“Why do you say that?”
“‘Cause she’s so sad.”
“Sad, how?”
“She gets lonely. I know she has me, but she needs somebody bigger to talk to, like a daddy.”
Max was moved by Phillip’s concern for his mom. “How do you know your mom gets lonely?”
“‘Cause sometimes I hear her cry at night. She doesn’t know I hear her, but I do. She cries for her mommy and daddy and says how much she misses ‘em.”
Max felt his heart tighten to know that Liz’s own little boy had to worry about his mom.
“I don’t want her to be lonely no more. Can you help her?”
“I’ll see what I can do. Don’t worry about it anymore. Let’s try to get some sleep, okay?”
“Okay, Max. Thanks for reading to me. I really like you, Max.”
“I like you too, Phillip. Now, let’s try to get some sleep. Okay?”
“Okay, Max,” Phillip said, as he snuggled down next to Max. “Good night.”
“Good night, buddy,” Max said, as he wrapped his arm around this sweet, gentle, loving boy. Max couldn’t sleep most of the night, thinking about what he’d learned about Liz. With all the years he’d lost with the son he’d never known, he made a decision then and there he’d do whatever he could to help Liz and Phillip find happiness. With that last thought, Max finally fell into a contented sleep.
*****
tbc - ????
I would really like to post the rest of the parts I've written. But I need motivation. Please let me know what you think.
Part 6 12-30-05
Hi, Everyone:
Thanks so much for your enthusiasm and inquisitiveness. It's really hard to get specific in answering questions, though, without giving away the next parts. So please bear with me. I promise that your questions will be answered, if not in this chapter, at least in the upcoming ones.
Once again, thanks for your comments. I thrive on hearing them. So do be disappointed that I don't answer each one individually. As I said, I just don't want to give too much away.
As before, please let me know what you think. It helps motivate me to post the other parts.
Thanks again. Now, here goes:
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Roswell characters, but the idea for this story is all mine.
Rating: Teen
Pairings: Primarily M/L. Will only briefly include Tess, Maria, and Max's father.
Summary: Max and Liz were in high school together, but didn’t know each other very well. Max was dating Tess. Both Max’s and Tess’s families are very well off. Liz wanted to go to college, but her family didn’t have the money for college. It starts off while they're in their senior year of high school.
Part 6
Liz woke up the next morning, wondering why Phillip hadn’t come jumping on her bed, telling her he was hungry. So she went looking for him in his room. When she didn’t find him there, she went looking for him elsewhere. Of course, the last place she happened to look was when she peeked into the room where Max had been sleeping. Needless to say, she was shocked to see Phillip lying there, sleeping next to Max, with Max’s arm wrapped gently around him. As she stood there, peering in, Max shifted in his sleep, causing her to realize that Max didn’t have a shirt on. She immediately blushed to see his bare, muscular chest and quickly walked farther down the hall.
She stood there for a few minutes, crying at what she had seen. She had mixed emotions. It touched her deeply that Max was so open in showing his affection to her little boy. She knew how desperately Phillip craved a male’s attention. It filled her with sadness that Phillip had never known what it was like to have a father figure around. To see the two of them together like that, it also worried Liz as to how Phillip would react once Max was no longer in the picture.
After thinking too deeply about all the possible negative things that could result when Max left, Liz finally talked herself into just allowing Phillip to enjoy the opportunity of the male attention he was now receiving. For now, she would just keep her thoughts to herself and see how things progressed. Instead, she decided to focus her attention on something more positive – food. She knew Phillip would be getting up soon, as was his normal routine. So she decided to surprise both Phillip and her guest with breakfast.
*****
Max was having the best night of rest he’d had in a long time. He’d been dreaming, as he often did, about the little boy he’d never known. But this time was different. Somehow, he felt more real, almost as if Max could actually touch him. As his dream was going in that direction, he felt an arm flung over his chest, a little arm, which immediately woke Max from his wonderful dream. When he opened his eyes, there was an arm flung over him. Phillip had turned toward Max in his sleep and put his arm around him. Max was deeply moved by the innocent gesture from the child he’d just met. As he lay there, watching in awe as the little boy continued sleeping, Max realized he smelled bacon cooking, which made his stomach start to growl.
As quietly as he could, so as not to disturb Phillip, he got up and put on a pair of pants to follow the wonderful aroma. It didn’t surprise him to find Liz in the kitchen, making breakfast. What did surprise him was that she was still in just her nightgown. He suddenly got an image in his head of walking up behind her, wrapping his arms around her, and gently nuzzling her hair and neck with his nose, which he quickly tried to dismiss. ‘What is coming over me?’ he wondered.
Max didn’t realize he’d been standing there for several seconds, in a daze, until Liz spoke to him. “Max, are you okay?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I just kind of spaced out there for a second.”
Liz continued moving around in the kitchen, apparently oblivious to her appearance. “Have you seen Phillip this morning?” she asked, although she already knew where he was.
“Yeah. For some reason, he decided he wanted to sleep with me last night,” Max said, trying to make light of it.
“Oh, really? Well, he must really like you. You’re the first person who’s ever stayed over night that he’s been drawn to like that. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was somehow related to you or something,” Liz said, trying to be humorous about it, although she felt anything but.
“I’m surprised he hasn’t come barreling in here for breakfast. He’s usually jumping up and down on my bed, wanting breakfast.”
“Well, he was still sleeping when I got up. But I’ll be happy to jump up and down on your bed, because I’m starved.” Max spoke without even realizing what he was going to say. As soon as the words left his mouth, he blushed a bright red, and he immediately tried to explain himself, which made matters worse. “That is – I mean” –
“It’s okay, Max. Don’t try to explain,” Liz said. Max’s words had embarrassed her as much as him.
“Well, it is only six a.m., and this is his first real day of school. So maybe I should let him sleep a little longer,” Liz said, more to herself than to Max. “But please help yourself. I made enough for the three of us,” she continued. It wasn’t until that moment that she finally had her attention fully on Max. It was also at that instant that she realized, not only that Max still did not have a shirt on, but that she was still just dressed in her nightgown, with not even a robe on.
Immediately blushing, Liz tried to excuse herself as subtly as possible. “I’ll be back, Max. Please, go ahead and eat.”
“Okay. If you insist.” So Max sat down and helped himself to the feast that Liz had prepared. While he was eating, Phillip came drifting in. “I’m hungry,” he said, to no one in particular.
“Well, your mom prepared a big breakfast for us. Come eat with me,” Max said.
As they were eating, Liz came back, fully dressed. “Well, little man, today’s the big day, your first day of school.”
“Do I have to go?” he pleaded.
“You know you do. So finish your breakfast and go get ready.”
“Can Max take me to school?”
At that comment, Liz felt a little hurt. ‘Why is Phillip so drawn to him?’ she wondered.
As Liz was silently pondering that thought, Max could see the moment of hurt flash across her face. “I’m sorry, buddy, but I have to get some things ready that I need to discuss with your mom today,” Max said, as he took the last bite of his toast and left the room.
“Don’t you want me to take you?” Liz asked, sitting down at the table with her son.
“Well, I guess. I just didn’t think you’d have time.”
“I know I haven’t had a lot of time for you lately, honey, but that’s why I need to discuss some things with Max. I want so much to spend more time with you. I love you so much. Don’t you know that?” she asked, putting her hand over Phillip’s.
“I know, Mommy. I love you too,” he said, getting up and giving his mom a hug.
Max was just far enough out of sight for the two not to see him, but he’d heard every word they’d spoken. Once again, he determined he was going to help Liz keep that promise to her son.
*****
A little while later, Liz came back from taking Phillip to his first day of school. It had been quite an emotional event for both of them, but they’d gotten through it.
When Liz walked into the kitchen, she noticed everything had been put away, and Max was sitting at the table, going over things he’d need to discuss with Liz.
“Thanks, Max, for cleaning up, but you didn’t have to do that.”
“Hey, it’s the least I could do. After all, you let me stay the night, and then you fixed breakfast. Now, shall we go over the financial details about the company?”
“Well, do you think we’ll have enough time? I have to be back to get Phillip in a couple of hours. I know he’s in school, but in pre-school, it’s only a couple of hours a day.”
“Sure. Why not? Honestly, I don’t think there’s a lot we need to discuss anyway.”
“You don’t?”
“No. The biggest issue I see is that you need to be able to spend more time with Phillip. And why not? He’s a great kid. I know if” –
Max began to choke up as he tried to continue speaking. “If Phillip were my son” –
“What’s wrong, Max?” Liz asked in concern.
It took him a few minutes to respond. “I had a son…once.”
Liz was shocked to hear this. She’d never known he’d been married. “Really? What happened to him?”
“I – I gave him up for adoption.”
“What???” Liz asked, once again in shock. “When?” Then Liz realized perhaps she’d overstepped her boundaries. “Listen, Max, it’s none of my business. You don’t have to answer that.”
“No, no. I want to. It was in high school.”
“What? I never heard about that.”
“That’s because my family did everything they could to keep it quiet.” Max was silent again for several seconds, debating whether or not he should fill Liz in on what happened. Finally, something inside him told him to confide in her.
“Let me start at the beginning. Did you know that when Tess and I were children, our parents had made an agreement to have us marry each other when we graduated from high school?” he asked.
Liz was stunned at this, and could only shake her head in the negative.
“So, of course, we started dating in high school. But the more I got to know Tess, the less I could stomach the idea of being married to her for the rest of my life. She’d say things about people, and she was really spiteful. I just didn’t know how spiteful she could be.”
Again, Max paused, trying to decide if he should tell her all the details leading up to one specific spiteful action. Then, as he remembered some of it involved things Tess had said in trying to implicate Liz, he decided he didn’t want Liz to feel any misplaced guilt whatsoever for what had happened. So he decided to just touch on the main points.
“Anyway, we were at a party, and she spiked my drink. One thing led to another, and she got pregnant. She tried to blackmail me into marrying her, using the baby to force me to do so. My parents were furious when they learned of the pregnancy. They had planned to have a huge society wedding, but the way things worked out, they felt humiliated. They were ready to disown me for what I’d done, but somehow it was revealed what Tess had done.
“Needless to say, my parents broke their agreement with the Hardings. And because my father is a lawyer, he took care of the adoption.” Max choked on the last word, and broke down in tears.
Liz was overcome with pity, and she sat next to him and put her arms around him. “I’m so sorry, Max,” was all she could say. They sat like that for several minutes.
Finally, Max pulled away from her to continue. “You know, the worst part is, I never got to see my son or even hold him before he was taken away. I have no idea where he is or who he’s with, or even if he’s being loved the way I wish I could have loved him. I know my parents did the right thing. If they hadn’t, I would have had to follow through in marrying Tess. The only good thing that came out of it was that Tess had to relinquish her parental rights to him in the future, just in case she changed her mind, so that she could not try to blackmail my family with it at some future convenient time. Besides that, I can’t imagine Tess could have ever loved him the way I would have wanted him to be loved.”
Once again, Max was quiet for several minutes, and Liz did not try to force him. Instead, she just continued sitting next to him, with one arm around his shoulders.
Finally, Max continued, “The hard part is, I know I would have been a good father to him. I would have loved him with every fiber of my being, and I’m never going to have that chance,” he said brokenly. “I guess that’s why it’s so important for me to be able to help you with your son. I want you to have the opportunity that I’ll never have,” he said, now looking into Liz’s eyes.
Once again, Liz pulled him into her arms, whispering into his ear, “I’m so sorry, Max.” Max once again pulled away from Liz. This time, though, he just stared into those chocolate doe eyes, taking his hand and gently pushing her beautiful brown hair behind her ear. Without even realizing it, they both began drifting toward one another and were within centimeters of kissing each other when….”Ring! Ring!”
They jumped apart at the sound. “Hello?” Liz said into the phone.
“Oh, yes. I’ll be right there,” she said, and hung up.
“That was the school. It’s time to pick up Phillip, and I’m already late. I’ll be right back,” she said, hurrying out the door. She didn’t want to dwell on what had just almost happened between them.
Max sat there as he watched Liz take off to get Phillip. ‘What was I thinking? I almost kissed her,’ he thought. ‘I’ve got to get out of here before I do something I might regret,’ he continued thinking, as he decided he better get his things together and find a hotel to stay at until he finished his business here in New York.
Within only a few minutes, Liz had returned with Phillip, and Phillip went running to find Max.
“Max, are you going somewhere?” Phillip asked.
“Yeah, buddy. I need to get a hotel room.”
“But, why? Don’t you like it here?” Phillip asked, big crocodile tears beginning to form in his eyes.
Liz walked up just in time to hear the two talking.
“Are you leaving because of what almost happened earlier?” Liz asked, stepping into the room.
“No, Liz. I just don’t want to burden you. You’ve already been kind enough in putting me up for the night,” he lied.
Liz knew he was lying through his teeth. She’d known for years that Max was way out of her league. As much as she’d wanted Max to kiss her, she knew she was better off not ever knowing what it would be like to be kissed by those luscious-looking lips of his. Without saying another word, she left the room.
“Please, Max, don’t leave. I don’t want you to go,” Phillip begged.
“I have to go, buddy. But I’ll see you again.”
“But I love you, Max. You can’t leave.”
“Phillip, listen to me. You don’t love me. You just met me.”
“Yes, I do. I do love you. I want you to be my dad,” Phillip pleaded.
Hearing Phillip express his feelings made Max feel terrible. If only things were as simple as Phillip wanted them to be. Things were just too complicated to explain to a four-year-old.
Max had realized something the moment he’d almost kissed Liz, that he was in love with her. He had suddenly realized that all those years ago, Tess had been right all along. Liz had contributed to his not wanting to marry her. But it had been so subtle, and so many things were happening in his life with his family’s expectations for him at that time, that he hadn’t had time to analyze his interest in Liz.
Max had begun feeling drawn to Liz when he’d had classes with her in biology. He’d never had the chance to be her lab partner, but he’d always been impressed by her obvious interest in her schoolwork and the intelligent comments she’d made when called upon. He also remembered what a kind soul she was to her classmates. And just watching the way she interacted with her son reinforced his knowledge of her in that way. He then remembered how Tess would always put her down, calling her names, and Max had never had the guts to shut her up; that is, until he’d picked Liz up and dropped her off at her home that rainy day. He couldn’t help but mourn the thought that if he’d only stood his ground with Tess sooner, things might have turned out differently for him and Liz.
All those thoughts had swirled through Max’s mind in seconds. Then he reminded himself of what Phillip had just said. He wanted so much to tell Phillip that he loved him too, because he really did. He didn’t know why he was so drawn to the boy, except that he reminded him so much of his own son. And they’d interacted as if they’d been father and son. But Max knew he couldn’t say he loved Phillip, because Phillip would only see the simple side, that they should stay together if they loved each other.
“I’m sorry, buddy, but I can’t stay. But I’ll call you. Okay?”
Phillip stood there motionless for several seconds and then said words that Max had no idea would wound him so deeply. “I hate you. I never want to see you again,” and then ran out of the room.
Max felt terrible. He went looking for Liz, hoping he could tell her what he wanted Phillip to know.
Liz was in the kitchen, making lunch for Phillip when Max found her. Once again, her back was turned to him, and he felt the overwhelming urge to wrap his arms around her, but again he resisted.
“Liz?”
“Yes?” she said, not turning around.
“When Phillip calms down, will you tell him that I’d like to see him when I’m in town again?”
Still not turning around, she said, “I’m sorry, Max, but I can’t do that. I don’t know why Phillip is as drawn to you as he is (although in her thoughts she understood all too well). But if he’s hurting this much after only having you around for a day, I’m not sure he’d be able to handle having you walk out of his life a second time.” All the while, she continued making lunch.
Her words were like a slap in the face, but somehow, he knew she was right.
“Okay,” he quietly said. “I understand. I just want you to know I’ll be submitting my observations to my father about hiring someone to fill your shoes, and keeping you on in a consulting capacity. That should free up more time for you and Phillip.” He paused momentarily. When Liz did not respond, he concluded, “Good-bye, Liz. It was nice seeing you again,” and walked out to the taxi that had honked for him a few minutes earlier.
Liz didn’t turn around until she was sure Max had left. All the while, tears had silently been rolling down her cheeks, because she was feeling the same pain Phillip was feeling. She’d known it was too good to be true for him to walk back into her life after all these years.
When Liz was able to dry her tears and stop crying altogether, she finally went looking for Phillip. She found him lying on his bed, still crying.
“Hey, sweetie, come here,” she said, pulling Phillip into her arms..
“Why’d he have to leave, Mommy?”
“He was only here to do a job, sweetie. You knew that.”
“I know. But I thought he loved me and you.”
Liz was surprised to hear that thought. “What made you think he loved me, sweetie?”
“‘Cause. I saw him look at you.”
“Of course, he looked at me, sweetie. He looked at you too.”
“Huh-uh. Not how he looked at you. He wanted to be with you, Mommy. I could see it.”
Liz couldn’t believe her son could possibly know what he was talking about. It was just his imagination running wild, she was certain. But she didn’t want to upset him. Instead, she just held him in her arms a little longer.
When Phillip finally calmed down, Liz said, “I made lunch. Are you hungry?”
Phillip sat quietly a moment longer before responding, “I’m starved.”
‘That’s my boy,’ she thought. “Okay. Let’s go. As far as she was concerned, it was important for the two of them to get back to ‘normal’ as soon as possible, and put any foolish notions either of them had had behind them.
*****
Thanks so much for your enthusiasm and inquisitiveness. It's really hard to get specific in answering questions, though, without giving away the next parts. So please bear with me. I promise that your questions will be answered, if not in this chapter, at least in the upcoming ones.
Once again, thanks for your comments. I thrive on hearing them. So do be disappointed that I don't answer each one individually. As I said, I just don't want to give too much away.
As before, please let me know what you think. It helps motivate me to post the other parts.
Thanks again. Now, here goes:
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Roswell characters, but the idea for this story is all mine.
Rating: Teen
Pairings: Primarily M/L. Will only briefly include Tess, Maria, and Max's father.
Summary: Max and Liz were in high school together, but didn’t know each other very well. Max was dating Tess. Both Max’s and Tess’s families are very well off. Liz wanted to go to college, but her family didn’t have the money for college. It starts off while they're in their senior year of high school.
Part 6
Liz woke up the next morning, wondering why Phillip hadn’t come jumping on her bed, telling her he was hungry. So she went looking for him in his room. When she didn’t find him there, she went looking for him elsewhere. Of course, the last place she happened to look was when she peeked into the room where Max had been sleeping. Needless to say, she was shocked to see Phillip lying there, sleeping next to Max, with Max’s arm wrapped gently around him. As she stood there, peering in, Max shifted in his sleep, causing her to realize that Max didn’t have a shirt on. She immediately blushed to see his bare, muscular chest and quickly walked farther down the hall.
She stood there for a few minutes, crying at what she had seen. She had mixed emotions. It touched her deeply that Max was so open in showing his affection to her little boy. She knew how desperately Phillip craved a male’s attention. It filled her with sadness that Phillip had never known what it was like to have a father figure around. To see the two of them together like that, it also worried Liz as to how Phillip would react once Max was no longer in the picture.
After thinking too deeply about all the possible negative things that could result when Max left, Liz finally talked herself into just allowing Phillip to enjoy the opportunity of the male attention he was now receiving. For now, she would just keep her thoughts to herself and see how things progressed. Instead, she decided to focus her attention on something more positive – food. She knew Phillip would be getting up soon, as was his normal routine. So she decided to surprise both Phillip and her guest with breakfast.
*****
Max was having the best night of rest he’d had in a long time. He’d been dreaming, as he often did, about the little boy he’d never known. But this time was different. Somehow, he felt more real, almost as if Max could actually touch him. As his dream was going in that direction, he felt an arm flung over his chest, a little arm, which immediately woke Max from his wonderful dream. When he opened his eyes, there was an arm flung over him. Phillip had turned toward Max in his sleep and put his arm around him. Max was deeply moved by the innocent gesture from the child he’d just met. As he lay there, watching in awe as the little boy continued sleeping, Max realized he smelled bacon cooking, which made his stomach start to growl.
As quietly as he could, so as not to disturb Phillip, he got up and put on a pair of pants to follow the wonderful aroma. It didn’t surprise him to find Liz in the kitchen, making breakfast. What did surprise him was that she was still in just her nightgown. He suddenly got an image in his head of walking up behind her, wrapping his arms around her, and gently nuzzling her hair and neck with his nose, which he quickly tried to dismiss. ‘What is coming over me?’ he wondered.
Max didn’t realize he’d been standing there for several seconds, in a daze, until Liz spoke to him. “Max, are you okay?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I just kind of spaced out there for a second.”
Liz continued moving around in the kitchen, apparently oblivious to her appearance. “Have you seen Phillip this morning?” she asked, although she already knew where he was.
“Yeah. For some reason, he decided he wanted to sleep with me last night,” Max said, trying to make light of it.
“Oh, really? Well, he must really like you. You’re the first person who’s ever stayed over night that he’s been drawn to like that. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was somehow related to you or something,” Liz said, trying to be humorous about it, although she felt anything but.
“I’m surprised he hasn’t come barreling in here for breakfast. He’s usually jumping up and down on my bed, wanting breakfast.”
“Well, he was still sleeping when I got up. But I’ll be happy to jump up and down on your bed, because I’m starved.” Max spoke without even realizing what he was going to say. As soon as the words left his mouth, he blushed a bright red, and he immediately tried to explain himself, which made matters worse. “That is – I mean” –
“It’s okay, Max. Don’t try to explain,” Liz said. Max’s words had embarrassed her as much as him.
“Well, it is only six a.m., and this is his first real day of school. So maybe I should let him sleep a little longer,” Liz said, more to herself than to Max. “But please help yourself. I made enough for the three of us,” she continued. It wasn’t until that moment that she finally had her attention fully on Max. It was also at that instant that she realized, not only that Max still did not have a shirt on, but that she was still just dressed in her nightgown, with not even a robe on.
Immediately blushing, Liz tried to excuse herself as subtly as possible. “I’ll be back, Max. Please, go ahead and eat.”
“Okay. If you insist.” So Max sat down and helped himself to the feast that Liz had prepared. While he was eating, Phillip came drifting in. “I’m hungry,” he said, to no one in particular.
“Well, your mom prepared a big breakfast for us. Come eat with me,” Max said.
As they were eating, Liz came back, fully dressed. “Well, little man, today’s the big day, your first day of school.”
“Do I have to go?” he pleaded.
“You know you do. So finish your breakfast and go get ready.”
“Can Max take me to school?”
At that comment, Liz felt a little hurt. ‘Why is Phillip so drawn to him?’ she wondered.
As Liz was silently pondering that thought, Max could see the moment of hurt flash across her face. “I’m sorry, buddy, but I have to get some things ready that I need to discuss with your mom today,” Max said, as he took the last bite of his toast and left the room.
“Don’t you want me to take you?” Liz asked, sitting down at the table with her son.
“Well, I guess. I just didn’t think you’d have time.”
“I know I haven’t had a lot of time for you lately, honey, but that’s why I need to discuss some things with Max. I want so much to spend more time with you. I love you so much. Don’t you know that?” she asked, putting her hand over Phillip’s.
“I know, Mommy. I love you too,” he said, getting up and giving his mom a hug.
Max was just far enough out of sight for the two not to see him, but he’d heard every word they’d spoken. Once again, he determined he was going to help Liz keep that promise to her son.
*****
A little while later, Liz came back from taking Phillip to his first day of school. It had been quite an emotional event for both of them, but they’d gotten through it.
When Liz walked into the kitchen, she noticed everything had been put away, and Max was sitting at the table, going over things he’d need to discuss with Liz.
“Thanks, Max, for cleaning up, but you didn’t have to do that.”
“Hey, it’s the least I could do. After all, you let me stay the night, and then you fixed breakfast. Now, shall we go over the financial details about the company?”
“Well, do you think we’ll have enough time? I have to be back to get Phillip in a couple of hours. I know he’s in school, but in pre-school, it’s only a couple of hours a day.”
“Sure. Why not? Honestly, I don’t think there’s a lot we need to discuss anyway.”
“You don’t?”
“No. The biggest issue I see is that you need to be able to spend more time with Phillip. And why not? He’s a great kid. I know if” –
Max began to choke up as he tried to continue speaking. “If Phillip were my son” –
“What’s wrong, Max?” Liz asked in concern.
It took him a few minutes to respond. “I had a son…once.”
Liz was shocked to hear this. She’d never known he’d been married. “Really? What happened to him?”
“I – I gave him up for adoption.”
“What???” Liz asked, once again in shock. “When?” Then Liz realized perhaps she’d overstepped her boundaries. “Listen, Max, it’s none of my business. You don’t have to answer that.”
“No, no. I want to. It was in high school.”
“What? I never heard about that.”
“That’s because my family did everything they could to keep it quiet.” Max was silent again for several seconds, debating whether or not he should fill Liz in on what happened. Finally, something inside him told him to confide in her.
“Let me start at the beginning. Did you know that when Tess and I were children, our parents had made an agreement to have us marry each other when we graduated from high school?” he asked.
Liz was stunned at this, and could only shake her head in the negative.
“So, of course, we started dating in high school. But the more I got to know Tess, the less I could stomach the idea of being married to her for the rest of my life. She’d say things about people, and she was really spiteful. I just didn’t know how spiteful she could be.”
Again, Max paused, trying to decide if he should tell her all the details leading up to one specific spiteful action. Then, as he remembered some of it involved things Tess had said in trying to implicate Liz, he decided he didn’t want Liz to feel any misplaced guilt whatsoever for what had happened. So he decided to just touch on the main points.
“Anyway, we were at a party, and she spiked my drink. One thing led to another, and she got pregnant. She tried to blackmail me into marrying her, using the baby to force me to do so. My parents were furious when they learned of the pregnancy. They had planned to have a huge society wedding, but the way things worked out, they felt humiliated. They were ready to disown me for what I’d done, but somehow it was revealed what Tess had done.
“Needless to say, my parents broke their agreement with the Hardings. And because my father is a lawyer, he took care of the adoption.” Max choked on the last word, and broke down in tears.
Liz was overcome with pity, and she sat next to him and put her arms around him. “I’m so sorry, Max,” was all she could say. They sat like that for several minutes.
Finally, Max pulled away from her to continue. “You know, the worst part is, I never got to see my son or even hold him before he was taken away. I have no idea where he is or who he’s with, or even if he’s being loved the way I wish I could have loved him. I know my parents did the right thing. If they hadn’t, I would have had to follow through in marrying Tess. The only good thing that came out of it was that Tess had to relinquish her parental rights to him in the future, just in case she changed her mind, so that she could not try to blackmail my family with it at some future convenient time. Besides that, I can’t imagine Tess could have ever loved him the way I would have wanted him to be loved.”
Once again, Max was quiet for several minutes, and Liz did not try to force him. Instead, she just continued sitting next to him, with one arm around his shoulders.
Finally, Max continued, “The hard part is, I know I would have been a good father to him. I would have loved him with every fiber of my being, and I’m never going to have that chance,” he said brokenly. “I guess that’s why it’s so important for me to be able to help you with your son. I want you to have the opportunity that I’ll never have,” he said, now looking into Liz’s eyes.
Once again, Liz pulled him into her arms, whispering into his ear, “I’m so sorry, Max.” Max once again pulled away from Liz. This time, though, he just stared into those chocolate doe eyes, taking his hand and gently pushing her beautiful brown hair behind her ear. Without even realizing it, they both began drifting toward one another and were within centimeters of kissing each other when….”Ring! Ring!”
They jumped apart at the sound. “Hello?” Liz said into the phone.
“Oh, yes. I’ll be right there,” she said, and hung up.
“That was the school. It’s time to pick up Phillip, and I’m already late. I’ll be right back,” she said, hurrying out the door. She didn’t want to dwell on what had just almost happened between them.
Max sat there as he watched Liz take off to get Phillip. ‘What was I thinking? I almost kissed her,’ he thought. ‘I’ve got to get out of here before I do something I might regret,’ he continued thinking, as he decided he better get his things together and find a hotel to stay at until he finished his business here in New York.
Within only a few minutes, Liz had returned with Phillip, and Phillip went running to find Max.
“Max, are you going somewhere?” Phillip asked.
“Yeah, buddy. I need to get a hotel room.”
“But, why? Don’t you like it here?” Phillip asked, big crocodile tears beginning to form in his eyes.
Liz walked up just in time to hear the two talking.
“Are you leaving because of what almost happened earlier?” Liz asked, stepping into the room.
“No, Liz. I just don’t want to burden you. You’ve already been kind enough in putting me up for the night,” he lied.
Liz knew he was lying through his teeth. She’d known for years that Max was way out of her league. As much as she’d wanted Max to kiss her, she knew she was better off not ever knowing what it would be like to be kissed by those luscious-looking lips of his. Without saying another word, she left the room.
“Please, Max, don’t leave. I don’t want you to go,” Phillip begged.
“I have to go, buddy. But I’ll see you again.”
“But I love you, Max. You can’t leave.”
“Phillip, listen to me. You don’t love me. You just met me.”
“Yes, I do. I do love you. I want you to be my dad,” Phillip pleaded.
Hearing Phillip express his feelings made Max feel terrible. If only things were as simple as Phillip wanted them to be. Things were just too complicated to explain to a four-year-old.
Max had realized something the moment he’d almost kissed Liz, that he was in love with her. He had suddenly realized that all those years ago, Tess had been right all along. Liz had contributed to his not wanting to marry her. But it had been so subtle, and so many things were happening in his life with his family’s expectations for him at that time, that he hadn’t had time to analyze his interest in Liz.
Max had begun feeling drawn to Liz when he’d had classes with her in biology. He’d never had the chance to be her lab partner, but he’d always been impressed by her obvious interest in her schoolwork and the intelligent comments she’d made when called upon. He also remembered what a kind soul she was to her classmates. And just watching the way she interacted with her son reinforced his knowledge of her in that way. He then remembered how Tess would always put her down, calling her names, and Max had never had the guts to shut her up; that is, until he’d picked Liz up and dropped her off at her home that rainy day. He couldn’t help but mourn the thought that if he’d only stood his ground with Tess sooner, things might have turned out differently for him and Liz.
All those thoughts had swirled through Max’s mind in seconds. Then he reminded himself of what Phillip had just said. He wanted so much to tell Phillip that he loved him too, because he really did. He didn’t know why he was so drawn to the boy, except that he reminded him so much of his own son. And they’d interacted as if they’d been father and son. But Max knew he couldn’t say he loved Phillip, because Phillip would only see the simple side, that they should stay together if they loved each other.
“I’m sorry, buddy, but I can’t stay. But I’ll call you. Okay?”
Phillip stood there motionless for several seconds and then said words that Max had no idea would wound him so deeply. “I hate you. I never want to see you again,” and then ran out of the room.
Max felt terrible. He went looking for Liz, hoping he could tell her what he wanted Phillip to know.
Liz was in the kitchen, making lunch for Phillip when Max found her. Once again, her back was turned to him, and he felt the overwhelming urge to wrap his arms around her, but again he resisted.
“Liz?”
“Yes?” she said, not turning around.
“When Phillip calms down, will you tell him that I’d like to see him when I’m in town again?”
Still not turning around, she said, “I’m sorry, Max, but I can’t do that. I don’t know why Phillip is as drawn to you as he is (although in her thoughts she understood all too well). But if he’s hurting this much after only having you around for a day, I’m not sure he’d be able to handle having you walk out of his life a second time.” All the while, she continued making lunch.
Her words were like a slap in the face, but somehow, he knew she was right.
“Okay,” he quietly said. “I understand. I just want you to know I’ll be submitting my observations to my father about hiring someone to fill your shoes, and keeping you on in a consulting capacity. That should free up more time for you and Phillip.” He paused momentarily. When Liz did not respond, he concluded, “Good-bye, Liz. It was nice seeing you again,” and walked out to the taxi that had honked for him a few minutes earlier.
Liz didn’t turn around until she was sure Max had left. All the while, tears had silently been rolling down her cheeks, because she was feeling the same pain Phillip was feeling. She’d known it was too good to be true for him to walk back into her life after all these years.
When Liz was able to dry her tears and stop crying altogether, she finally went looking for Phillip. She found him lying on his bed, still crying.
“Hey, sweetie, come here,” she said, pulling Phillip into her arms..
“Why’d he have to leave, Mommy?”
“He was only here to do a job, sweetie. You knew that.”
“I know. But I thought he loved me and you.”
Liz was surprised to hear that thought. “What made you think he loved me, sweetie?”
“‘Cause. I saw him look at you.”
“Of course, he looked at me, sweetie. He looked at you too.”
“Huh-uh. Not how he looked at you. He wanted to be with you, Mommy. I could see it.”
Liz couldn’t believe her son could possibly know what he was talking about. It was just his imagination running wild, she was certain. But she didn’t want to upset him. Instead, she just held him in her arms a little longer.
When Phillip finally calmed down, Liz said, “I made lunch. Are you hungry?”
Phillip sat quietly a moment longer before responding, “I’m starved.”
‘That’s my boy,’ she thought. “Okay. Let’s go. As far as she was concerned, it was important for the two of them to get back to ‘normal’ as soon as possible, and put any foolish notions either of them had had behind them.
*****
Hi, Everyone: I'm glad you're enjoying the story. As I mentioned before, I can't answer too many questions without giving away the next parts. So thanks for your patience with me in posting. I hope, as each part is added, your questions will be answered.
Now, here are the next parts. I hope you enjoy them. As always, let me know what you think. It helps to stir the creative juices.
Here goes:
Part 7A
Max forgot to call his dad and let him know he was returning home sooner than he’d said. He had planned to stay another day or so. But after what had happened at Liz’s, Max was certain she wouldn’t want to see him again, or have him come visit. So rather than stay longer, moping, he rescheduled his flight to take the next one out of New York. When he walked into his dad’s office, needless to say, his dad was surprised.
“I thought you’d be gone for at least a week,” he said.
“Well, I guess I finished up more quickly than I expected to,” was all he would say.
Unknown to Max, though, his dad had been making some arrangements of his own. “Well, you’re just in time to hear my news, then.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“Your mother and I have talked it over, and we’ve decided to sell the practice and move to New York.”
“You’re what?” Max asked in shock. “But why?”
“Well, I was thinking. It might be a solution for the company. After all, we haven’t had an official president there for quite some time.”
“That’s true. But how will it help for you to move there?”
“I’ve been thinking of retiring from my practice for quite some time. But, of course, I can’t imagine just golfing every day. I want to still have some work to do. I figure, now that I’m retiring as a lawyer, I’ll be able to give better attention to the company’s needs.”
Max was extremely perplexed to hear this news. “But, Dad, if you were planning to do that, why did you send me to New York in the first place? You could have done all of that yourself.”
“Well, I wasn’t sure until just yesterday that I had a buyer for my practice. I would have told you yesterday, but I never heard from you. I didn’t know you’d be home today. Which brings me to my next question. Why did you return so quickly? You seemed certain it would take you longer than a week to take care of business.”
“I told you, Dad. I completed the task you sent me there for,” Max said, not able to look his dad in the eye.
Max didn’t see the little gleam in his dad’s eye. “So, how is Liz doing? What did you decide about how to help her?”
“Well, actually, you already know. You have the same idea I came up with. Having a president and appointing another vice-president, and then keep Liz on as a consultant. After all, Liz would be able to help the new vice-president get up to speed, since she’s been doing the job for the last few years.”
“That’s a really good idea, Max. And since it is such a good idea, I think we should fill the vice-president position as soon as possible.”
“Do you already have someone in mind?” Max asked, in disbelief, even as he began feeling a measure of jealousy for the lucky guy who would be learning the job from Liz.
“I certainly do. I think you’d be perfect for the job, Max.”
“What? No, I can’t.”
“Sure, you can. Since you’ve already been in contact with Liz, it will be a lot easier for you to make arrangements with her for training and make the transition.”
“But it’s not that easy, Dad.”
“Why not?” He paused, trying to gauge Max’s expression. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
But Max didn’t want to tell his dad how he felt about Liz, or Phillip, for that matter. “No, Dad.” Instead, Max resigned himself that it was going to be really hard, having to face Liz again, especially after how he’d left things with Phillip.
“Then it’s done. You’ll be returning this Friday to escort Liz to the company banquet.”
“What company banquet?”
“The one that’s always held at the beginning of the new fiscal year. It’s to thank all the stockholders for their support with the company. I’m surprised Liz didn’t tell you about it.
“Anyway, this will be the perfect opportunity to begin easing into your new position.”
Part 7B
“Maria, thanks again for helping out with babysitting. Hopefully, though, this will be the last major function I’ll be attending for a while.”
“It’s too bad that hotty, Max, had to leave so soon. He could have escorted you to the banquet.”
“I really don’t want to talk about Max, okay?”
“You’re still in love with him, aren’t you?” she gently asked.
When Liz didn’t respond, Maria quietly said to herself, “I thought so.”
“Don’t worry about Phillip and me. You know we’re going to have a great time.”
“Yeah, I know. I wish I could be here with you instead of going there.”
“Don’t worry. You will be back soon enough. Now, go. And try to have a great time.”
Liz bent down to her son. “I love you, Phillip. You know that?”
“Yeah, Mommy, I know.” He put both his fat little hands on his mom’s face, and continued, “You look beautiful, Mommy.”
“Thank you, sweetheart. Mommy’s got to go, but I’ll be home soon. Okay?”
Liz knew how bad parking got during one of these events. So she had called for a cab, which was waiting for her outside.
*****
Liz had been at the banquet for just under an hour and was trying to be polite to some of the guests, one of whom she was dancing with, a Mr. Pierce. But he was becoming increasingly obnoxious as they danced. “Mr. Pierce, please stop putting your hands there,” she said, trying to move his hand from her posterior.
“Oh, come on, Liz. You should know the best way to make your guests happy is to give them a few fringe benefits,” he said, as he once again went to position his hand.
Before Liz could again respond, someone else spoke. “May I cut in?”
Mr. Pierce was going to refuse until he saw the firm look on the man’s face. “Sure. Whatever you say,” he said, and quickly walked away.
“Thank you so much,” Liz began, as the gentleman took her into his arms. But when she saw the young man’s face, she was speechless for several seconds. Finally, she said, “Max, what are you doing here?”
“Well, when I returned home, my father had rearranged my schedule. But we can talk about that later. For now, let’s just enjoy the dance, shall we?” he said, looking down into the beautiful doe-brown eyes he’d already fallen in love with.
“Oh, by the way, thanks for saving me from that creep.”
“Believe me, the pleasure was all mine,” he said, as he pulled her closer to him, and they continued dancing in silence.
A few minutes later, the music stopped, and the two reluctantly let go of each other. “Thanks again for the dance,” Liz said.
“I’m the one who should be saying that,” Max said, once again looking into those beautiful eyes.
“Well, I really should be going,” Liz reluctantly said.
“I know. You want to get back to your son. Let’s go, then.”
“You don’t have to leave. Didn’t you just get here?”
“I only came to escort you. I had planned to get here sooner, but my flight was delayed. Besides, since you’re leaving, I don’t need to be here anymore. I can tell you about the change in plans on the way.”
*****
“So my father has sold his law practice and is retiring. He decided he’s going to be the president of the company, and he’s making me the vice-president. So I guess I’m the one you’ll be turning the reins over to.”
Liz sat in the cab, stunned into silence for several seconds, before finally saying, “Wow. I don’t know what to say except, what made him make the decision so suddenly?”
“Honestly, I don’t have a clue. Believe me, I was as stunned to hear his decision as you are.”
“So, does that mean your family is moving to New York, then?” she hesitantly asked.
“Well, that’s the plan.”
As Max spoke, the cab pulled up in front of Liz’s house.
“Well, thanks for the ride,” Liz said, turning slightly toward Max.
Max didn’t want to lose her company so soon. Normally, he wasn’t so brazen, but something just impelled him to ask, “Can I come in for some coffee…or something?”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Phillip is still up, and it would confuse him to see you again so soon after….I’m sorry, Max. I hope you understand.”
“Sure, of course,” he responded, barely able to disguise the disappointment on his face.
“Thanks again for the ride, Max,” Liz said, before quickly exiting the cab.
Max sat there, watching Liz until she went into her house, before directing the cab to take him back to his hotel.
*****
As Max was getting ready for bed, the hotel phone rang.
“Hi, Max. How was the banquet?” his father asked.
“It was fine. I didn’t stay long, but everything seemed to be going well.”
“So did you have a chance to see Liz?”
“Yeah, Dad. I got there just in time to dance with her before she left. But I did make sure she got home safely. And I filled her in on what your plans are to fill the vacancies.”
“How did she take the news?”
“Well, she was as stunned I was. She wanted to know what made you make such a sudden decision. Honestly, I’d like to know that myself.”
“Well, once we get moved and settled, I’ll fill you in on that. But your mother and I have a lot of arrangements to make before we get to that point. One thing you can tell Liz, though, is that we plan to have her and her son visit us on a regular basis once we get moved.”
“Well, I don’t know how she’s going to take that. As it is, she doesn’t want me to see Phillip.”
“What? Why’s that?”
So Max reluctantly went on to tell his dad what had happened on his first visit.
“Well, we’ll see about that,” his father responded.
Max was surprised that his father seemed almost obsessive about having Liz and Phillip visit them.
“Dad, what’s going on? Why are you making such an issue about this?”
“Well, your mom and I aren’t getting any younger. “We want to have grandchildren in our lives, and Phillip is the closest we’ll probably ever come to having them.”
At hearing his father’s admission, Max felt sick at heart. Once again he was reminded of the foolish decision he’d had to make in giving up his son. He knew his dad didn’t realize how much it hurt to hear those words, but Max couldn’t hold in his tears. “Look, Dad, it’s getting late. I’ve got to go,” he said, hanging up before his dad had a chance to respond.
Suddenly, it occurred to his dad what he’d said. ‘I’m sorry, son. But everything will work out. You’ll see. At least I hope so,’ he thought to himself, as he hung up his phone.
TBC
Now, here are the next parts. I hope you enjoy them. As always, let me know what you think. It helps to stir the creative juices.
Here goes:
Part 7A
Max forgot to call his dad and let him know he was returning home sooner than he’d said. He had planned to stay another day or so. But after what had happened at Liz’s, Max was certain she wouldn’t want to see him again, or have him come visit. So rather than stay longer, moping, he rescheduled his flight to take the next one out of New York. When he walked into his dad’s office, needless to say, his dad was surprised.
“I thought you’d be gone for at least a week,” he said.
“Well, I guess I finished up more quickly than I expected to,” was all he would say.
Unknown to Max, though, his dad had been making some arrangements of his own. “Well, you’re just in time to hear my news, then.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“Your mother and I have talked it over, and we’ve decided to sell the practice and move to New York.”
“You’re what?” Max asked in shock. “But why?”
“Well, I was thinking. It might be a solution for the company. After all, we haven’t had an official president there for quite some time.”
“That’s true. But how will it help for you to move there?”
“I’ve been thinking of retiring from my practice for quite some time. But, of course, I can’t imagine just golfing every day. I want to still have some work to do. I figure, now that I’m retiring as a lawyer, I’ll be able to give better attention to the company’s needs.”
Max was extremely perplexed to hear this news. “But, Dad, if you were planning to do that, why did you send me to New York in the first place? You could have done all of that yourself.”
“Well, I wasn’t sure until just yesterday that I had a buyer for my practice. I would have told you yesterday, but I never heard from you. I didn’t know you’d be home today. Which brings me to my next question. Why did you return so quickly? You seemed certain it would take you longer than a week to take care of business.”
“I told you, Dad. I completed the task you sent me there for,” Max said, not able to look his dad in the eye.
Max didn’t see the little gleam in his dad’s eye. “So, how is Liz doing? What did you decide about how to help her?”
“Well, actually, you already know. You have the same idea I came up with. Having a president and appointing another vice-president, and then keep Liz on as a consultant. After all, Liz would be able to help the new vice-president get up to speed, since she’s been doing the job for the last few years.”
“That’s a really good idea, Max. And since it is such a good idea, I think we should fill the vice-president position as soon as possible.”
“Do you already have someone in mind?” Max asked, in disbelief, even as he began feeling a measure of jealousy for the lucky guy who would be learning the job from Liz.
“I certainly do. I think you’d be perfect for the job, Max.”
“What? No, I can’t.”
“Sure, you can. Since you’ve already been in contact with Liz, it will be a lot easier for you to make arrangements with her for training and make the transition.”
“But it’s not that easy, Dad.”
“Why not?” He paused, trying to gauge Max’s expression. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
But Max didn’t want to tell his dad how he felt about Liz, or Phillip, for that matter. “No, Dad.” Instead, Max resigned himself that it was going to be really hard, having to face Liz again, especially after how he’d left things with Phillip.
“Then it’s done. You’ll be returning this Friday to escort Liz to the company banquet.”
“What company banquet?”
“The one that’s always held at the beginning of the new fiscal year. It’s to thank all the stockholders for their support with the company. I’m surprised Liz didn’t tell you about it.
“Anyway, this will be the perfect opportunity to begin easing into your new position.”
Part 7B
“Maria, thanks again for helping out with babysitting. Hopefully, though, this will be the last major function I’ll be attending for a while.”
“It’s too bad that hotty, Max, had to leave so soon. He could have escorted you to the banquet.”
“I really don’t want to talk about Max, okay?”
“You’re still in love with him, aren’t you?” she gently asked.
When Liz didn’t respond, Maria quietly said to herself, “I thought so.”
“Don’t worry about Phillip and me. You know we’re going to have a great time.”
“Yeah, I know. I wish I could be here with you instead of going there.”
“Don’t worry. You will be back soon enough. Now, go. And try to have a great time.”
Liz bent down to her son. “I love you, Phillip. You know that?”
“Yeah, Mommy, I know.” He put both his fat little hands on his mom’s face, and continued, “You look beautiful, Mommy.”
“Thank you, sweetheart. Mommy’s got to go, but I’ll be home soon. Okay?”
Liz knew how bad parking got during one of these events. So she had called for a cab, which was waiting for her outside.
*****
Liz had been at the banquet for just under an hour and was trying to be polite to some of the guests, one of whom she was dancing with, a Mr. Pierce. But he was becoming increasingly obnoxious as they danced. “Mr. Pierce, please stop putting your hands there,” she said, trying to move his hand from her posterior.
“Oh, come on, Liz. You should know the best way to make your guests happy is to give them a few fringe benefits,” he said, as he once again went to position his hand.
Before Liz could again respond, someone else spoke. “May I cut in?”
Mr. Pierce was going to refuse until he saw the firm look on the man’s face. “Sure. Whatever you say,” he said, and quickly walked away.
“Thank you so much,” Liz began, as the gentleman took her into his arms. But when she saw the young man’s face, she was speechless for several seconds. Finally, she said, “Max, what are you doing here?”
“Well, when I returned home, my father had rearranged my schedule. But we can talk about that later. For now, let’s just enjoy the dance, shall we?” he said, looking down into the beautiful doe-brown eyes he’d already fallen in love with.
“Oh, by the way, thanks for saving me from that creep.”
“Believe me, the pleasure was all mine,” he said, as he pulled her closer to him, and they continued dancing in silence.
A few minutes later, the music stopped, and the two reluctantly let go of each other. “Thanks again for the dance,” Liz said.
“I’m the one who should be saying that,” Max said, once again looking into those beautiful eyes.
“Well, I really should be going,” Liz reluctantly said.
“I know. You want to get back to your son. Let’s go, then.”
“You don’t have to leave. Didn’t you just get here?”
“I only came to escort you. I had planned to get here sooner, but my flight was delayed. Besides, since you’re leaving, I don’t need to be here anymore. I can tell you about the change in plans on the way.”
*****
“So my father has sold his law practice and is retiring. He decided he’s going to be the president of the company, and he’s making me the vice-president. So I guess I’m the one you’ll be turning the reins over to.”
Liz sat in the cab, stunned into silence for several seconds, before finally saying, “Wow. I don’t know what to say except, what made him make the decision so suddenly?”
“Honestly, I don’t have a clue. Believe me, I was as stunned to hear his decision as you are.”
“So, does that mean your family is moving to New York, then?” she hesitantly asked.
“Well, that’s the plan.”
As Max spoke, the cab pulled up in front of Liz’s house.
“Well, thanks for the ride,” Liz said, turning slightly toward Max.
Max didn’t want to lose her company so soon. Normally, he wasn’t so brazen, but something just impelled him to ask, “Can I come in for some coffee…or something?”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Phillip is still up, and it would confuse him to see you again so soon after….I’m sorry, Max. I hope you understand.”
“Sure, of course,” he responded, barely able to disguise the disappointment on his face.
“Thanks again for the ride, Max,” Liz said, before quickly exiting the cab.
Max sat there, watching Liz until she went into her house, before directing the cab to take him back to his hotel.
*****
As Max was getting ready for bed, the hotel phone rang.
“Hi, Max. How was the banquet?” his father asked.
“It was fine. I didn’t stay long, but everything seemed to be going well.”
“So did you have a chance to see Liz?”
“Yeah, Dad. I got there just in time to dance with her before she left. But I did make sure she got home safely. And I filled her in on what your plans are to fill the vacancies.”
“How did she take the news?”
“Well, she was as stunned I was. She wanted to know what made you make such a sudden decision. Honestly, I’d like to know that myself.”
“Well, once we get moved and settled, I’ll fill you in on that. But your mother and I have a lot of arrangements to make before we get to that point. One thing you can tell Liz, though, is that we plan to have her and her son visit us on a regular basis once we get moved.”
“Well, I don’t know how she’s going to take that. As it is, she doesn’t want me to see Phillip.”
“What? Why’s that?”
So Max reluctantly went on to tell his dad what had happened on his first visit.
“Well, we’ll see about that,” his father responded.
Max was surprised that his father seemed almost obsessive about having Liz and Phillip visit them.
“Dad, what’s going on? Why are you making such an issue about this?”
“Well, your mom and I aren’t getting any younger. “We want to have grandchildren in our lives, and Phillip is the closest we’ll probably ever come to having them.”
At hearing his father’s admission, Max felt sick at heart. Once again he was reminded of the foolish decision he’d had to make in giving up his son. He knew his dad didn’t realize how much it hurt to hear those words, but Max couldn’t hold in his tears. “Look, Dad, it’s getting late. I’ve got to go,” he said, hanging up before his dad had a chance to respond.
Suddenly, it occurred to his dad what he’d said. ‘I’m sorry, son. But everything will work out. You’ll see. At least I hope so,’ he thought to himself, as he hung up his phone.
TBC
HI, Everyone: I'm glad you're enjoying the story. And you continue to ask really good questions. Once again, though, I can't reveal too much without spoiling the following parts. But I continue to reassure you that your questions will be answered. Thanks for your patience. And as always, please leave feedback. It's a really good motivator for posting more.
Now, on with the next part. Don't forget. Leave feedback.
Part 8
Liz lay in bed Saturday morning, reflecting back on the previous night’s happenings. She was still stunned to learn of the unexpected chain of events that would affect her life and Phillip’s. Part of her was grateful, because she intellectually understood that she would have more time for her son. But another part of her felt as though she was being discarded. She realized that, over time, she had become accustomed to the duties she’d been performing, and had even been enjoying her role somewhere along the way. She had to honestly admit to herself that the only thing that bothered her was that it took too much time away from Phillip’s needs. But she was trying to resign herself to the changes that lay ahead.
As she was reflecting on those changes, she suddenly had another thought, that she’d be spending a lot of time with Max, at least until he became familiar with the duties he would be performing. Again, she found it to be a mixed blessing. Part of her yearned to be in his company. The feminine side of her even fantasized that something would happen between them. She remembered back just a few days earlier when they had almost kissed, and once again she found herself aching to be kissed by him. But then she remembered that she would never be in his league. The cynical side of her took over and began trying to mentally list all the reasons why something couldn’t happen between them. But before she had a chance to dwell on that thought too deeply, her phone rang.
‘Who could be calling me at this hour, especially on a Saturday?’ she wondered, as she answered the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Liz.”
“Max?
“Yeah, it’s me. Sorry to call so early. But I know Phillip will be getting up soon, and I didn’t want to interfere with your time with him. I hope you don’t mind. I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“No, not at all. I was just thinking – I was just thinking about last night,” she said, feeling awkward about mentioning it.
“Yeah, I was too. I guess that’s what made me think to call you. I just want you to know, Liz, I really enjoyed your company. I know we’ll be spending a lot of time together during this transition. I hope – I hope we’ll become good friends.”
‘Friends, huh?’ Liz thought to herself. Verbally, she could only say, “Yeah, me too.”
“There’s something else I want to prepare you for, Liz.”
His comment filled her with foreboding. ‘What, that your girlfriend will be dropping in from time to time?’ she quietly wondered.
“I was talking with my dad the other night, and he’s planning to invite you and Phillip over when they get settled. I know how strongly you feel about Phillip not seeing me anymore. So if that makes you feel uncomfortable, I’ll understand. I’ll just make sure not to be around when you come by.”
Once again, Liz was stunned by this piece of information. She also felt bad about the situation with Phillip. Now that she knew she had no choice but to have Max in her life to some extent, she realized she’d need to work things out with Phillip.
After Max dropped that bomb on Liz, it seemed as though the line went dead. “Liz, are you there?”
“Yeah, Max. I was just thinking. I’m sure we’ll work something out. I know how much Phillip likes you, and I don’t want to deprive him of male companions. Maybe if he can get to know you around others, and not just at our home, maybe that will help him to not be so attached to you. Why don’t we just play it by ear for now, and see how it goes?”
Max was deeply touched once again by her kindness. “Thanks, Liz. That means a lot, because I like Phillip too.
“Now that we have that awkward business out of the way, we need to schedule time to get together, so that I can begin ‘taking over the ropes,’ so to speak. That way, you’ll be able to free up more of your time for Phillip. So what time schedule will work for you?” he asked.
And Liz went on to suggest what she felt would work.
Without realizing it, they had talked for over an hour, neither of them realizing how much they’d enjoyed the conversation. Max found himself wanting desperately to be so much more a part of Liz’s life than just a business partner. As the conversation was coming to a close, he found he didn’t want to hang up just yet. Before he could catch himself, he said, “I’ve really enjoyed talking to you, Liz. But I don’t just want to talk about business. I’d really like to get to know you better and catch up on what’s been happening with you since high school. Could I take you out for dinner tonight?”
Liz was stunned by the invitation. She couldn’t believe that Max Evans was asking her out. Before she could think clearly about why she shouldn’t, she responded, “I’d really like that, Max.”
“Is seven o’clock okay?”
“That’s perfect.”
“Great. I’ll be by to pick you up. And don’t worry. I won’t come to the door. Oh, and dress casually.”
Before Liz could respond, Max hung up.
When the line went dead, Liz sat bolt upright. ‘What have I done? I can’t go on a date with him.’ Once again, she began thinking about all the reasons she shouldn’t, but before she could dwell on it, Phillip came jumping on her bed. “I’m hungry, Mommy.”
“Okay. Let’s go get you breakfast,” she said, but her mind was definitely on other matters.
Max could not believe Liz had accepted his invitation. He couldn’t even believe he’d had the guts to ask her. But their conversation had been so relaxing and comfortable, it just seemed like the natural thing to do. Now he found himself freaking out, wanting it to be perfect. So he began planning on where to take her.
Liz could barely manage to get through breakfast with Phillip. As much as she loved her little boy, she couldn’t concentrate on him right now, except to say, “Sweetie, would you mind if I had Maria watch you tonight?”
“But, Mommy, I didn’t get to be with you last night.”
“Yes, you did,” Liz said, defending herself. “I even came home early so I could spend time with you. Remember?”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot.”
“It would really mean a lot to me if you’d let Maria watch you again tonight.”
Phillip looked really closely into his mom’s eyes, and for the first time since Max had been there, he could see his mom was really happy for some reason. He liked to see his mommy that happy. So without having to think for too long, he said, “Okay, Mommy.”
“Oh, sweetie, thank you so much. This means a lot to me.” So Liz immediately called Maria and told her about Max and the date, and Maria once again readily agreed to help her out. “Just remember, though, I want details,” she’d made Liz promise.
Now, on with the next part. Don't forget. Leave feedback.
Part 8
Liz lay in bed Saturday morning, reflecting back on the previous night’s happenings. She was still stunned to learn of the unexpected chain of events that would affect her life and Phillip’s. Part of her was grateful, because she intellectually understood that she would have more time for her son. But another part of her felt as though she was being discarded. She realized that, over time, she had become accustomed to the duties she’d been performing, and had even been enjoying her role somewhere along the way. She had to honestly admit to herself that the only thing that bothered her was that it took too much time away from Phillip’s needs. But she was trying to resign herself to the changes that lay ahead.
As she was reflecting on those changes, she suddenly had another thought, that she’d be spending a lot of time with Max, at least until he became familiar with the duties he would be performing. Again, she found it to be a mixed blessing. Part of her yearned to be in his company. The feminine side of her even fantasized that something would happen between them. She remembered back just a few days earlier when they had almost kissed, and once again she found herself aching to be kissed by him. But then she remembered that she would never be in his league. The cynical side of her took over and began trying to mentally list all the reasons why something couldn’t happen between them. But before she had a chance to dwell on that thought too deeply, her phone rang.
‘Who could be calling me at this hour, especially on a Saturday?’ she wondered, as she answered the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Liz.”
“Max?
“Yeah, it’s me. Sorry to call so early. But I know Phillip will be getting up soon, and I didn’t want to interfere with your time with him. I hope you don’t mind. I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“No, not at all. I was just thinking – I was just thinking about last night,” she said, feeling awkward about mentioning it.
“Yeah, I was too. I guess that’s what made me think to call you. I just want you to know, Liz, I really enjoyed your company. I know we’ll be spending a lot of time together during this transition. I hope – I hope we’ll become good friends.”
‘Friends, huh?’ Liz thought to herself. Verbally, she could only say, “Yeah, me too.”
“There’s something else I want to prepare you for, Liz.”
His comment filled her with foreboding. ‘What, that your girlfriend will be dropping in from time to time?’ she quietly wondered.
“I was talking with my dad the other night, and he’s planning to invite you and Phillip over when they get settled. I know how strongly you feel about Phillip not seeing me anymore. So if that makes you feel uncomfortable, I’ll understand. I’ll just make sure not to be around when you come by.”
Once again, Liz was stunned by this piece of information. She also felt bad about the situation with Phillip. Now that she knew she had no choice but to have Max in her life to some extent, she realized she’d need to work things out with Phillip.
After Max dropped that bomb on Liz, it seemed as though the line went dead. “Liz, are you there?”
“Yeah, Max. I was just thinking. I’m sure we’ll work something out. I know how much Phillip likes you, and I don’t want to deprive him of male companions. Maybe if he can get to know you around others, and not just at our home, maybe that will help him to not be so attached to you. Why don’t we just play it by ear for now, and see how it goes?”
Max was deeply touched once again by her kindness. “Thanks, Liz. That means a lot, because I like Phillip too.
“Now that we have that awkward business out of the way, we need to schedule time to get together, so that I can begin ‘taking over the ropes,’ so to speak. That way, you’ll be able to free up more of your time for Phillip. So what time schedule will work for you?” he asked.
And Liz went on to suggest what she felt would work.
Without realizing it, they had talked for over an hour, neither of them realizing how much they’d enjoyed the conversation. Max found himself wanting desperately to be so much more a part of Liz’s life than just a business partner. As the conversation was coming to a close, he found he didn’t want to hang up just yet. Before he could catch himself, he said, “I’ve really enjoyed talking to you, Liz. But I don’t just want to talk about business. I’d really like to get to know you better and catch up on what’s been happening with you since high school. Could I take you out for dinner tonight?”
Liz was stunned by the invitation. She couldn’t believe that Max Evans was asking her out. Before she could think clearly about why she shouldn’t, she responded, “I’d really like that, Max.”
“Is seven o’clock okay?”
“That’s perfect.”
“Great. I’ll be by to pick you up. And don’t worry. I won’t come to the door. Oh, and dress casually.”
Before Liz could respond, Max hung up.
When the line went dead, Liz sat bolt upright. ‘What have I done? I can’t go on a date with him.’ Once again, she began thinking about all the reasons she shouldn’t, but before she could dwell on it, Phillip came jumping on her bed. “I’m hungry, Mommy.”
“Okay. Let’s go get you breakfast,” she said, but her mind was definitely on other matters.
Max could not believe Liz had accepted his invitation. He couldn’t even believe he’d had the guts to ask her. But their conversation had been so relaxing and comfortable, it just seemed like the natural thing to do. Now he found himself freaking out, wanting it to be perfect. So he began planning on where to take her.
Liz could barely manage to get through breakfast with Phillip. As much as she loved her little boy, she couldn’t concentrate on him right now, except to say, “Sweetie, would you mind if I had Maria watch you tonight?”
“But, Mommy, I didn’t get to be with you last night.”
“Yes, you did,” Liz said, defending herself. “I even came home early so I could spend time with you. Remember?”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot.”
“It would really mean a lot to me if you’d let Maria watch you again tonight.”
Phillip looked really closely into his mom’s eyes, and for the first time since Max had been there, he could see his mom was really happy for some reason. He liked to see his mommy that happy. So without having to think for too long, he said, “Okay, Mommy.”
“Oh, sweetie, thank you so much. This means a lot to me.” So Liz immediately called Maria and told her about Max and the date, and Maria once again readily agreed to help her out. “Just remember, though, I want details,” she’d made Liz promise.
HI, Everyone:
I'm back again already. I told you how much it encourages me when I get feedback. I'm so glad you're enjoying the story, so much so, that I couldn't wait to post another part. So here's the next one. I can't guarantee that I'll post the next part so soon. But just keep in mind, feedback is a big motivator for me. Hope you like this part. Once again, let me know what you think.
Part 9 – The Date
The time finally arrived, and Max lightly honked his horn, letting Liz know he was waiting.
Within seconds, Liz was coming toward the car. He quickly jumped out and went around to open her door, waited for her to be seated, then closed the door and jumped back into the driver’s side, and then drove off.
Liz was feeling as giddy as a high school girl, sitting next to Max in his car. For a few minutes they drove in silence, each feeling a little awkward. Finally, Liz asked, “So where are we going?”
“Well, it’s nothing fancy, but I saw a small Chinese restaurant that I’d like to try out. I hope you don’t mind Chinese. I guess I should have asked.”
“I love Chinese food.”
“Oh, good.”
Once again, it was silent, but this time it was a little more relaxed, since now they knew they at least had Chinese food in common.
They got to the restaurant and were seated within a few minutes.
Once they ordered, they once again sat in a somewhat awkward silence, until Max finally broke it. “You know, Liz, ever since we’ve gotten reacquainted, I’ve been meaning to ask you something about high school.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“Well, first of all, even though we never really got acquainted in school, I want you to know I really admired you. Everyone knew you were supposed to be valedictorian. But then your family moved so suddenly. Why couldn’t they have waited until after graduation? With all that you put up with, with some of the kids in school, I thought you’d earned that right.”
As Max spoke, Liz felt a pain of regret well up in her that she hadn’t felt in a long time, and tears began involuntarily streaming down her face.
“I’m sorry, Liz. I didn’t mean to make you cry. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.”
For several seconds, Liz didn’t say anything. Finally, she was able to respond, “No, it’s okay. First, thanks for saying that, about feeling that I’d earned the right and all. You’re the first person who’s ever said what I’d always felt in my heart.
“And to answer your question, I don’t know myself why my parents wouldn’t wait until I graduated. They knew what a privilege it was for me to be selected, but they still insisted we had to move when we did. They said that eventually I’d understand why they’d made the decision they did, but to this day, I don’t.” She fell silent for a few more minutes, and Max could tell she was debating about something. Finally, she asked, “Who did end up being the valedictorian?”
Max lowered his head, wondering if she would be upset to find out.
“Go ahead, Max, tell me. I have to admit, for a long time, I was afraid to find out who it was, because I was so jealous that they were there and not me. But I guess time has healed that wound, at least a little.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“I was.”
Liz didn’t say anything, but only gave a radiant smile.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“Because I think I knew all along that it was you. In fact, I’m glad it was you. I never really knew you well, but I always suspected you were a closet geek,” she said, once again with that radiant smile.”
“Thanks, Liz. That means a lot to me.”
As they were talking, their food arrived, and they sat quietly as they ate, neither feeling the need to fill the silence with unnecessary conversation. Instead, they both felt a comfort and peace between them that they’d never experienced before.
As they were finishing their meal, Liz happened to glance at her watch. “Oh, my goodness. I had no idea it was already so late. I really should be getting home. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. Besides, I guess we do need to start planning our schedule for next week and all.”
Max drove Liz back to her home, and again found he didn’t want the evening to end so quickly. He pulled up in front of her house and turned off the engine. He knew he wouldn’t be invited in, but he still wanted so much to keep the evening going.
As he was trying to find an excuse to do that, Liz said, “Thanks for dinner, Max. I really had a great evening.” As she was finishing her sentence, she began reaching for the handle of the door.
“Wait, Liz,” Max said, reaching out to prevent her from leaving.
“What is it, Max?” she asked, looking back toward him.
But instead of responding, Max gently pulled her back toward him. Gazing into her eyes, he gently brushed her hair behind her ear, then in the next movement, put his hand on her neck and pulled her even closer toward him.
Before Liz even realized what was happening, Max had pulled her into a short, gentle, but sensual kiss. “Oh, God, Liz,” he said huskily, pulling back from her and resting his forehead against hers, “I’ve been wanting to do that ever since I walked into your kitchen the other day when you were making breakfast.”
Liz was so mesmerized by the unexpected feel of his soft, sensuous lips, as well as the amazing experience of actually having been kissed by him, that she didn’t speak for several seconds.
But even after Max’s admission, Liz found her head beginning to rule her. So she regained her senses soon enough to decide she didn’t want Max to know how she had longed for years to be kissed like that by him. Instead, she said, “Good night, Max,” and pulled away from him and got out of the car as fast as she could. She was afraid if she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to keep from making a fool out of herself. Because she wanted desperately to be kissed like that again.
Needless to say, Max was bewildered that she didn’t seem to respond to the emotion he had displayed in his kiss. ‘Oh, man, what an idiot. She’s not interested. Things are going to be so awkward, come Monday morning,’ he thought, as he drove himself back to the home he’d just purchased.
*****
Liz barely got into her house and closed the door behind her before she collapsed against it, still overcome with ecstasy at having been kissed by Max Evans. Maria came into the hallway shortly thereafter, having heard the door open and close.
“So? How did it go?” she asked.
When Liz didn’t respond but only kept staring into space, she said, “I’m guessing by the look on your face that it went well.”
Finally, Liz heard her voice and came out of her Max-induced stare. “Oh, Maria, it was wonderful.” And Liz went on to recount the evening, leading up to the moment they kissed.
“I knew it,” Maria burst out.
“You knew what?” Liz asked in confusion.
“I knew all those years ago in high school that Max Evans had a thing for you.”
“Maria, what are you talking about? Max never once showed any interest in me.”
“Maybe not to your face. But do you have any idea how he’d stare at you in class? I still don’t know why he never acted on his feelings then.”
Then Liz remembered what Max had told her a few days earlier about the arrangement his family had had with the Hardings, and suddenly that filled in some gaps for her about school as well. But she decided not to share this with Maria; otherwise, they’d be up half the night. Still, Liz couldn’t believe that it would even be possible for anything to develop between them. So she once again decided to brush it off as a moment of weakness on Max’s part.
“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. Once Max becomes familiar with his duties with the company, I won’t see him anymore. So it’s not worth getting my hopes up now.” And before Maria could try convincing her otherwise, Liz said, “Good night, Maria. And thanks again for helping me out,” and went upstairs to bed.
‘I can’t believe that girl. She’s still living in denial about Max Evans. I just hope that young man realizes he better act now. Because if he doesn’t, he may never have another chance,’ she thought, as she went back to the spare bedroom for the night.
I'm back again already. I told you how much it encourages me when I get feedback. I'm so glad you're enjoying the story, so much so, that I couldn't wait to post another part. So here's the next one. I can't guarantee that I'll post the next part so soon. But just keep in mind, feedback is a big motivator for me. Hope you like this part. Once again, let me know what you think.
Part 9 – The Date
The time finally arrived, and Max lightly honked his horn, letting Liz know he was waiting.
Within seconds, Liz was coming toward the car. He quickly jumped out and went around to open her door, waited for her to be seated, then closed the door and jumped back into the driver’s side, and then drove off.
Liz was feeling as giddy as a high school girl, sitting next to Max in his car. For a few minutes they drove in silence, each feeling a little awkward. Finally, Liz asked, “So where are we going?”
“Well, it’s nothing fancy, but I saw a small Chinese restaurant that I’d like to try out. I hope you don’t mind Chinese. I guess I should have asked.”
“I love Chinese food.”
“Oh, good.”
Once again, it was silent, but this time it was a little more relaxed, since now they knew they at least had Chinese food in common.
They got to the restaurant and were seated within a few minutes.
Once they ordered, they once again sat in a somewhat awkward silence, until Max finally broke it. “You know, Liz, ever since we’ve gotten reacquainted, I’ve been meaning to ask you something about high school.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“Well, first of all, even though we never really got acquainted in school, I want you to know I really admired you. Everyone knew you were supposed to be valedictorian. But then your family moved so suddenly. Why couldn’t they have waited until after graduation? With all that you put up with, with some of the kids in school, I thought you’d earned that right.”
As Max spoke, Liz felt a pain of regret well up in her that she hadn’t felt in a long time, and tears began involuntarily streaming down her face.
“I’m sorry, Liz. I didn’t mean to make you cry. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.”
For several seconds, Liz didn’t say anything. Finally, she was able to respond, “No, it’s okay. First, thanks for saying that, about feeling that I’d earned the right and all. You’re the first person who’s ever said what I’d always felt in my heart.
“And to answer your question, I don’t know myself why my parents wouldn’t wait until I graduated. They knew what a privilege it was for me to be selected, but they still insisted we had to move when we did. They said that eventually I’d understand why they’d made the decision they did, but to this day, I don’t.” She fell silent for a few more minutes, and Max could tell she was debating about something. Finally, she asked, “Who did end up being the valedictorian?”
Max lowered his head, wondering if she would be upset to find out.
“Go ahead, Max, tell me. I have to admit, for a long time, I was afraid to find out who it was, because I was so jealous that they were there and not me. But I guess time has healed that wound, at least a little.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“I was.”
Liz didn’t say anything, but only gave a radiant smile.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“Because I think I knew all along that it was you. In fact, I’m glad it was you. I never really knew you well, but I always suspected you were a closet geek,” she said, once again with that radiant smile.”
“Thanks, Liz. That means a lot to me.”
As they were talking, their food arrived, and they sat quietly as they ate, neither feeling the need to fill the silence with unnecessary conversation. Instead, they both felt a comfort and peace between them that they’d never experienced before.
As they were finishing their meal, Liz happened to glance at her watch. “Oh, my goodness. I had no idea it was already so late. I really should be getting home. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. Besides, I guess we do need to start planning our schedule for next week and all.”
Max drove Liz back to her home, and again found he didn’t want the evening to end so quickly. He pulled up in front of her house and turned off the engine. He knew he wouldn’t be invited in, but he still wanted so much to keep the evening going.
As he was trying to find an excuse to do that, Liz said, “Thanks for dinner, Max. I really had a great evening.” As she was finishing her sentence, she began reaching for the handle of the door.
“Wait, Liz,” Max said, reaching out to prevent her from leaving.
“What is it, Max?” she asked, looking back toward him.
But instead of responding, Max gently pulled her back toward him. Gazing into her eyes, he gently brushed her hair behind her ear, then in the next movement, put his hand on her neck and pulled her even closer toward him.
Before Liz even realized what was happening, Max had pulled her into a short, gentle, but sensual kiss. “Oh, God, Liz,” he said huskily, pulling back from her and resting his forehead against hers, “I’ve been wanting to do that ever since I walked into your kitchen the other day when you were making breakfast.”
Liz was so mesmerized by the unexpected feel of his soft, sensuous lips, as well as the amazing experience of actually having been kissed by him, that she didn’t speak for several seconds.
But even after Max’s admission, Liz found her head beginning to rule her. So she regained her senses soon enough to decide she didn’t want Max to know how she had longed for years to be kissed like that by him. Instead, she said, “Good night, Max,” and pulled away from him and got out of the car as fast as she could. She was afraid if she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to keep from making a fool out of herself. Because she wanted desperately to be kissed like that again.
Needless to say, Max was bewildered that she didn’t seem to respond to the emotion he had displayed in his kiss. ‘Oh, man, what an idiot. She’s not interested. Things are going to be so awkward, come Monday morning,’ he thought, as he drove himself back to the home he’d just purchased.
*****
Liz barely got into her house and closed the door behind her before she collapsed against it, still overcome with ecstasy at having been kissed by Max Evans. Maria came into the hallway shortly thereafter, having heard the door open and close.
“So? How did it go?” she asked.
When Liz didn’t respond but only kept staring into space, she said, “I’m guessing by the look on your face that it went well.”
Finally, Liz heard her voice and came out of her Max-induced stare. “Oh, Maria, it was wonderful.” And Liz went on to recount the evening, leading up to the moment they kissed.
“I knew it,” Maria burst out.
“You knew what?” Liz asked in confusion.
“I knew all those years ago in high school that Max Evans had a thing for you.”
“Maria, what are you talking about? Max never once showed any interest in me.”
“Maybe not to your face. But do you have any idea how he’d stare at you in class? I still don’t know why he never acted on his feelings then.”
Then Liz remembered what Max had told her a few days earlier about the arrangement his family had had with the Hardings, and suddenly that filled in some gaps for her about school as well. But she decided not to share this with Maria; otherwise, they’d be up half the night. Still, Liz couldn’t believe that it would even be possible for anything to develop between them. So she once again decided to brush it off as a moment of weakness on Max’s part.
“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. Once Max becomes familiar with his duties with the company, I won’t see him anymore. So it’s not worth getting my hopes up now.” And before Maria could try convincing her otherwise, Liz said, “Good night, Maria. And thanks again for helping me out,” and went upstairs to bed.
‘I can’t believe that girl. She’s still living in denial about Max Evans. I just hope that young man realizes he better act now. Because if he doesn’t, he may never have another chance,’ she thought, as she went back to the spare bedroom for the night.
Hi, Everyone:
Here's the next part. Let me know what you think. The more I hear, the quicker I'll post the next part.
Look forward to hearing from you!!!!
Part 10 – Training begins
The rest of the weekend had passed rather slowly for Max and Liz. Both were anxious to get started with the training on Monday. But if they were honest with themselves, they would have realized they were anxious about something else even more.
Max got to the office bright and early Monday and waited for Liz to arrive. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he felt like a schoolboy, waiting to see his girlfriend after their first official date. Of course, he had to remind himself that, as much as he wanted Liz to be his girlfriend, Liz had made it quite apparent that she did not want the same thing. So he sat there, trying to come to grips with the fact that they were destined only to being good friends, as much as he detested that thought.
While Max was giving himself a pep talk, Liz walked in, looking even more radiant than when he’d seen her Saturday, if that was even possible. “Good morning, Max. You’re either really early, or I’m really late.”
“No, you’re on time. I just wanted to get an early start.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I jotted down some notes yesterday, trying to decide where we should start,” she said, handing him her list.
But as Liz did so, she saw a look on Max’s face that disturbed her. “Max, are you all right?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine,” he said, embarrassed that she could tell something was bothering him. The more he thought about it, the more he decided he better express himself now; otherwise, their working relationship would suffer. “Actually, I wanted to apologize for Saturday,” he blurted out.
Liz felt her body tense as he spoke. ‘I knew he didn’t mean it,’ she thought to herself. “Oh,” was all she could get out.
Max was surprised at how she reacted. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw a look of disappointment on her face; and he decided to be more specific. “That is, I’m sorry I didn’t warn you that I was going to kiss you. But the truth is, I like you, Liz, a lot. I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching recently and” –
When Max didn’t continue, Liz prodded him on. She couldn’t bear not to know more, if he was willing to share. “And, what, Max?”
“Well, the truth is, Liz, I liked you even in high school. I was just too stupid and young to realize it; that is, until recently,” he finished, slowly looking back at Liz to try gauging her reaction.
Liz was shocked to hear those beautiful words come from him. “Really?” was all she could say.
“Really,” he said, walking closer to her. “In fact,” he said, putting his hand on her neck for the second time in three days, and once again pulling her close enough to feel her breath on his face, “I want to kiss you again, if that’s all right with you.”
Liz could only stare into those beautiful amber eyes and silently nod her permission. Almost in slow motion, Max lowered his lips to hers and softly and, oh, so slowly caressed them, savoring the feel of her so close to him. He couldn’t believe how complete he felt to have this young woman in his arms. It was as if he’d found his place in the world, and he never wanted to let go.
They stood there, holding each other tenderly for several seconds, as they explored the new sensations enveloping them, both unaware that someone had entered the office.
Suddenly, they heard someone clear their throat. “I guess I should have called to announce I would be coming,” Mr. Evans said, as he stood there watching the two in their intimate embrace.
Immediately, the two jumped apart. “Dad, what are you doing here?” Max asked, embarrassed that his father had caught them making out.
“Well, I came to make sure you two got off to a good start, but I can see I don’t need to worry about that,” he said, with a grin on his face. “By the way, Liz, as you know, I’m Max’s dad. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you over the years. You’ve done a lot in helping my company to keep afloat, and I’m very grateful for that. Now that Max and I will be taking over, hopefully, it will leave you more time for your son and other…pursuits, shall we say,” he concluded, looking from Max and then back to Liz, once again grinning from ear to ear. “Well, I’ll leave you two to…whatever it was you were doing,” he said, and left the office, closing the door behind him.
Max had planned to continue right where he left off, kissing Liz, but Liz was too shaken by the fact that his dad had found them in such a compromising position.
Max reached for her, but Liz shrugged out of his hold. “What was I thinking? I’ll never be in your family’s league,” she said, not realizing she’d said it out loud.
“I don’t care what my dad thinks. I love you, Liz, and I’m not going to let you get away from me again.”
“What did you just say?” Liz asked, not believing her ears.
“I said,” Max began, and then realized what he had just said. But the words were out. So he decided to spill his guts, and he again said, “I’m in love with you, Liz. I didn’t know it until I saw you again for the first time in five years. But being able to spend time with you, and even having Phillip around, it made me realize I’ve been in love with you all these years. I was just too young and stupid to realize it then. And after making the biggest mistake of my life of giving my son away, I don’t want to lose something else that I love. I don’t want to lose you again, Liz.” He again walked up to Liz, raised her chin with his hand, and, looking into those beautiful doe-brown eyes, he said, “Please, Liz, give us a chance.”
Liz could not believe in her wildest imagination that love would find her this way, but she realized, when listening to Max’s confession, that she had been in love with him all those years ago as well. And she was tired of feeling lonely. So without uttering a word, she stood on her toes, put her arms around Max’s neck, and pulled him into a searingly sensual kiss.
After several moments and the need for oxygen, they finally pulled apart, and Max said, “Does that mean yes?” as they both grinned at each other.
tbc
Here's the next part. Let me know what you think. The more I hear, the quicker I'll post the next part.
Look forward to hearing from you!!!!
Part 10 – Training begins
The rest of the weekend had passed rather slowly for Max and Liz. Both were anxious to get started with the training on Monday. But if they were honest with themselves, they would have realized they were anxious about something else even more.
Max got to the office bright and early Monday and waited for Liz to arrive. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he felt like a schoolboy, waiting to see his girlfriend after their first official date. Of course, he had to remind himself that, as much as he wanted Liz to be his girlfriend, Liz had made it quite apparent that she did not want the same thing. So he sat there, trying to come to grips with the fact that they were destined only to being good friends, as much as he detested that thought.
While Max was giving himself a pep talk, Liz walked in, looking even more radiant than when he’d seen her Saturday, if that was even possible. “Good morning, Max. You’re either really early, or I’m really late.”
“No, you’re on time. I just wanted to get an early start.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I jotted down some notes yesterday, trying to decide where we should start,” she said, handing him her list.
But as Liz did so, she saw a look on Max’s face that disturbed her. “Max, are you all right?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine,” he said, embarrassed that she could tell something was bothering him. The more he thought about it, the more he decided he better express himself now; otherwise, their working relationship would suffer. “Actually, I wanted to apologize for Saturday,” he blurted out.
Liz felt her body tense as he spoke. ‘I knew he didn’t mean it,’ she thought to herself. “Oh,” was all she could get out.
Max was surprised at how she reacted. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw a look of disappointment on her face; and he decided to be more specific. “That is, I’m sorry I didn’t warn you that I was going to kiss you. But the truth is, I like you, Liz, a lot. I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching recently and” –
When Max didn’t continue, Liz prodded him on. She couldn’t bear not to know more, if he was willing to share. “And, what, Max?”
“Well, the truth is, Liz, I liked you even in high school. I was just too stupid and young to realize it; that is, until recently,” he finished, slowly looking back at Liz to try gauging her reaction.
Liz was shocked to hear those beautiful words come from him. “Really?” was all she could say.
“Really,” he said, walking closer to her. “In fact,” he said, putting his hand on her neck for the second time in three days, and once again pulling her close enough to feel her breath on his face, “I want to kiss you again, if that’s all right with you.”
Liz could only stare into those beautiful amber eyes and silently nod her permission. Almost in slow motion, Max lowered his lips to hers and softly and, oh, so slowly caressed them, savoring the feel of her so close to him. He couldn’t believe how complete he felt to have this young woman in his arms. It was as if he’d found his place in the world, and he never wanted to let go.
They stood there, holding each other tenderly for several seconds, as they explored the new sensations enveloping them, both unaware that someone had entered the office.
Suddenly, they heard someone clear their throat. “I guess I should have called to announce I would be coming,” Mr. Evans said, as he stood there watching the two in their intimate embrace.
Immediately, the two jumped apart. “Dad, what are you doing here?” Max asked, embarrassed that his father had caught them making out.
“Well, I came to make sure you two got off to a good start, but I can see I don’t need to worry about that,” he said, with a grin on his face. “By the way, Liz, as you know, I’m Max’s dad. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you over the years. You’ve done a lot in helping my company to keep afloat, and I’m very grateful for that. Now that Max and I will be taking over, hopefully, it will leave you more time for your son and other…pursuits, shall we say,” he concluded, looking from Max and then back to Liz, once again grinning from ear to ear. “Well, I’ll leave you two to…whatever it was you were doing,” he said, and left the office, closing the door behind him.
Max had planned to continue right where he left off, kissing Liz, but Liz was too shaken by the fact that his dad had found them in such a compromising position.
Max reached for her, but Liz shrugged out of his hold. “What was I thinking? I’ll never be in your family’s league,” she said, not realizing she’d said it out loud.
“I don’t care what my dad thinks. I love you, Liz, and I’m not going to let you get away from me again.”
“What did you just say?” Liz asked, not believing her ears.
“I said,” Max began, and then realized what he had just said. But the words were out. So he decided to spill his guts, and he again said, “I’m in love with you, Liz. I didn’t know it until I saw you again for the first time in five years. But being able to spend time with you, and even having Phillip around, it made me realize I’ve been in love with you all these years. I was just too young and stupid to realize it then. And after making the biggest mistake of my life of giving my son away, I don’t want to lose something else that I love. I don’t want to lose you again, Liz.” He again walked up to Liz, raised her chin with his hand, and, looking into those beautiful doe-brown eyes, he said, “Please, Liz, give us a chance.”
Liz could not believe in her wildest imagination that love would find her this way, but she realized, when listening to Max’s confession, that she had been in love with him all those years ago as well. And she was tired of feeling lonely. So without uttering a word, she stood on her toes, put her arms around Max’s neck, and pulled him into a searingly sensual kiss.
After several moments and the need for oxygen, they finally pulled apart, and Max said, “Does that mean yes?” as they both grinned at each other.
tbc
Hi, Everyone:
Here's the next part. Let me know what you think. The more I hear, the quicker I'll post the next part.
Look forward to hearing from you!!!!
Part 10 – Training begins
The rest of the weekend had passed rather slowly for Max and Liz. Both were anxious to get started with the training on Monday. But if they were honest with themselves, they would have realized they were anxious about something else even more.
Max got to the office bright and early Monday and waited for Liz to arrive. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he felt like a schoolboy, waiting to see his girlfriend after their first official date. Of course, he had to remind himself that, as much as he wanted Liz to be his girlfriend, Liz had made it quite apparent that she did not want the same thing. So he sat there, trying to come to grips with the fact that they were destined only to being good friends, as much as he detested that thought.
While Max was giving himself a pep talk, Liz walked in, looking even more radiant than when he’d seen her Saturday, if that was even possible. “Good morning, Max. You’re either really early, or I’m really late.”
“No, you’re on time. I just wanted to get an early start.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I jotted down some notes yesterday, trying to decide where we should start,” she said, handing him her list.
But as Liz did so, she saw a look on Max’s face that disturbed her. “Max, are you all right?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine,” he said, embarrassed that she could tell something was bothering him. The more he thought about it, the more he decided he better express himself now; otherwise, their working relationship would suffer. “Actually, I wanted to apologize for Saturday,” he blurted out.
Liz felt her body tense as he spoke. ‘I knew he didn’t mean it,’ she thought to herself. “Oh,” was all she could get out.
Max was surprised at how she reacted. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw a look of disappointment on her face; and he decided to be more specific. “That is, I’m sorry I didn’t warn you that I was going to kiss you. But the truth is, I like you, Liz, a lot. I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching recently and” –
When Max didn’t continue, Liz prodded him on. She couldn’t bear not to know more, if he was willing to share. “And, what, Max?”
“Well, the truth is, Liz, I liked you even in high school. I was just too stupid and young to realize it; that is, until recently,” he finished, slowly looking back at Liz to try gauging her reaction.
Liz was shocked to hear those beautiful words come from him. “Really?” was all she could say.
“Really,” he said, walking closer to her. “In fact,” he said, putting his hand on her neck for the second time in three days, and once again pulling her close enough to feel her breath on his face, “I want to kiss you again, if that’s all right with you.”
Liz could only stare into those beautiful amber eyes and silently nod her permission. Almost in slow motion, Max lowered his lips to hers and softly and, oh, so slowly caressed them, savoring the feel of her so close to him. He couldn’t believe how complete he felt to have this young woman in his arms. It was as if he’d found his place in the world, and he never wanted to let go.
They stood there, holding each other tenderly for several seconds, as they explored the new sensations enveloping them, both unaware that someone had entered the office.
Suddenly, they heard someone clear their throat. “I guess I should have called to announce I would be coming,” Mr. Evans said, as he stood there watching the two in their intimate embrace.
Immediately, the two jumped apart. “Dad, what are you doing here?” Max asked, embarrassed that his father had caught them making out.
“Well, I came to make sure you two got off to a good start, but I can see I don’t need to worry about that,” he said, with a grin on his face. “By the way, Liz, as you know, I’m Max’s dad. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you over the years. You’ve done a lot in helping my company to keep afloat, and I’m very grateful for that. Now that Max and I will be taking over, hopefully, it will leave you more time for your son and other…pursuits, shall we say,” he concluded, looking from Max and then back to Liz, once again grinning from ear to ear. “Well, I’ll leave you two to…whatever it was you were doing,” he said, and left the office, closing the door behind him.
Max had planned to continue right where he left off, kissing Liz, but Liz was too shaken by the fact that his dad had found them in such a compromising position.
Max reached for her, but Liz shrugged out of his hold. “What was I thinking? I’ll never be in your family’s league,” she said, not realizing she’d said it out loud.
“I don’t care what my dad thinks. I love you, Liz, and I’m not going to let you get away from me again.”
“What did you just say?” Liz asked, not believing her ears.
“I said,” Max began, and then realized what he had just said. But the words were out. So he decided to spill his guts, and he again said, “I’m in love with you, Liz. I didn’t know it until I saw you again for the first time in five years. But being able to spend time with you, and even having Phillip around, it made me realize I’ve been in love with you all these years. I was just too young and stupid to realize it then. And after making the biggest mistake of my life of giving my son away, I don’t want to lose something else that I love. I don’t want to lose you again, Liz.” He again walked up to Liz, raised her chin with his hand, and, looking into those beautiful doe-brown eyes, he said, “Please, Liz, give us a chance.”
Liz could not believe in her wildest imagination that love would find her this way, but she realized, when listening to Max’s confession, that she had been in love with him all those years ago as well. And she was tired of feeling lonely. So without uttering a word, she stood on her toes, put her arms around Max’s neck, and pulled him into a searingly sensual kiss.
After several moments and the need for oxygen, they finally pulled apart, and Max said, “Does that mean yes?” as they both grinned at each other.
tbc
Here's the next part. Let me know what you think. The more I hear, the quicker I'll post the next part.
Look forward to hearing from you!!!!
Part 10 – Training begins
The rest of the weekend had passed rather slowly for Max and Liz. Both were anxious to get started with the training on Monday. But if they were honest with themselves, they would have realized they were anxious about something else even more.
Max got to the office bright and early Monday and waited for Liz to arrive. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he felt like a schoolboy, waiting to see his girlfriend after their first official date. Of course, he had to remind himself that, as much as he wanted Liz to be his girlfriend, Liz had made it quite apparent that she did not want the same thing. So he sat there, trying to come to grips with the fact that they were destined only to being good friends, as much as he detested that thought.
While Max was giving himself a pep talk, Liz walked in, looking even more radiant than when he’d seen her Saturday, if that was even possible. “Good morning, Max. You’re either really early, or I’m really late.”
“No, you’re on time. I just wanted to get an early start.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I jotted down some notes yesterday, trying to decide where we should start,” she said, handing him her list.
But as Liz did so, she saw a look on Max’s face that disturbed her. “Max, are you all right?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine,” he said, embarrassed that she could tell something was bothering him. The more he thought about it, the more he decided he better express himself now; otherwise, their working relationship would suffer. “Actually, I wanted to apologize for Saturday,” he blurted out.
Liz felt her body tense as he spoke. ‘I knew he didn’t mean it,’ she thought to herself. “Oh,” was all she could get out.
Max was surprised at how she reacted. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw a look of disappointment on her face; and he decided to be more specific. “That is, I’m sorry I didn’t warn you that I was going to kiss you. But the truth is, I like you, Liz, a lot. I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching recently and” –
When Max didn’t continue, Liz prodded him on. She couldn’t bear not to know more, if he was willing to share. “And, what, Max?”
“Well, the truth is, Liz, I liked you even in high school. I was just too stupid and young to realize it; that is, until recently,” he finished, slowly looking back at Liz to try gauging her reaction.
Liz was shocked to hear those beautiful words come from him. “Really?” was all she could say.
“Really,” he said, walking closer to her. “In fact,” he said, putting his hand on her neck for the second time in three days, and once again pulling her close enough to feel her breath on his face, “I want to kiss you again, if that’s all right with you.”
Liz could only stare into those beautiful amber eyes and silently nod her permission. Almost in slow motion, Max lowered his lips to hers and softly and, oh, so slowly caressed them, savoring the feel of her so close to him. He couldn’t believe how complete he felt to have this young woman in his arms. It was as if he’d found his place in the world, and he never wanted to let go.
They stood there, holding each other tenderly for several seconds, as they explored the new sensations enveloping them, both unaware that someone had entered the office.
Suddenly, they heard someone clear their throat. “I guess I should have called to announce I would be coming,” Mr. Evans said, as he stood there watching the two in their intimate embrace.
Immediately, the two jumped apart. “Dad, what are you doing here?” Max asked, embarrassed that his father had caught them making out.
“Well, I came to make sure you two got off to a good start, but I can see I don’t need to worry about that,” he said, with a grin on his face. “By the way, Liz, as you know, I’m Max’s dad. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you over the years. You’ve done a lot in helping my company to keep afloat, and I’m very grateful for that. Now that Max and I will be taking over, hopefully, it will leave you more time for your son and other…pursuits, shall we say,” he concluded, looking from Max and then back to Liz, once again grinning from ear to ear. “Well, I’ll leave you two to…whatever it was you were doing,” he said, and left the office, closing the door behind him.
Max had planned to continue right where he left off, kissing Liz, but Liz was too shaken by the fact that his dad had found them in such a compromising position.
Max reached for her, but Liz shrugged out of his hold. “What was I thinking? I’ll never be in your family’s league,” she said, not realizing she’d said it out loud.
“I don’t care what my dad thinks. I love you, Liz, and I’m not going to let you get away from me again.”
“What did you just say?” Liz asked, not believing her ears.
“I said,” Max began, and then realized what he had just said. But the words were out. So he decided to spill his guts, and he again said, “I’m in love with you, Liz. I didn’t know it until I saw you again for the first time in five years. But being able to spend time with you, and even having Phillip around, it made me realize I’ve been in love with you all these years. I was just too young and stupid to realize it then. And after making the biggest mistake of my life of giving my son away, I don’t want to lose something else that I love. I don’t want to lose you again, Liz.” He again walked up to Liz, raised her chin with his hand, and, looking into those beautiful doe-brown eyes, he said, “Please, Liz, give us a chance.”
Liz could not believe in her wildest imagination that love would find her this way, but she realized, when listening to Max’s confession, that she had been in love with him all those years ago as well. And she was tired of feeling lonely. So without uttering a word, she stood on her toes, put her arms around Max’s neck, and pulled him into a searingly sensual kiss.
After several moments and the need for oxygen, they finally pulled apart, and Max said, “Does that mean yes?” as they both grinned at each other.
tbc
I'm so tickled you're all enjoying the story. Sorry to give the impression Father Phillip is being creepy. But his 'creepiness' will be revealed and straightened out in the next post. For now, though, here are the next two parts leading up to that revelation.
Once again, let me know what you thnk. I love to hear your thoughts and ideas about where the story will lead to.
Now, here goes:
Part 11 – Life goes on…and so does love!
For several weeks, in spite of their new-found relationship, Max and Liz worked together tirelessly in getting Max trained to fill the shoes of the vice-presidency. But they always made time to continue getting to know each other better. During one especially grueling day, they decided to take a breather at the office and have lunch.
As Liz came walking out of her private office bathroom, drying her hands, Max was reminded of the very first day he’d seen her again for the first time in years, in this very same office. “You know, Liz, you never did tell me why you came in late that first day, drenched from head to toe,” he said, as he lazily ate his sandwich.
“Oh, yeah. I’d forgotten all about that. Well, it was bad enough that I was running late to our appointment. And then it was pouring down rain. And in the middle of that, I had a flat tire. And then I couldn’t get ahold of the towing service. So I ended up having to change the tire myself. That’s why I got to the office in such a mess.”
“Ah, my poor baby,” Max said, as Liz sat next to him and nestled into the curve of his arm. “And to think, I was so angry with you for being late. As far as I was concerned, there could not be any excuse good enough to keep me waiting as long as you had.” He paused briefly, looking down into those gorgeous doe-brown eyes he’d fallen in love with, and then continued, “I’m so glad I decided to stick around a little longer and give you a little more time. To think, I came so close to never seeing you again,” he softly finished, as he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her, tenderly at first. But within only seconds, the kiss was becoming more demanding and passionate. Truthfully, they’d been feeling more and more passionate with one another with each kiss that was shared. But this was the first time they’d almost devoured one another.
Max pulled away from Liz, breathing heavily. “Oh, God, Liz, I want you so much. But I want us to do this the right way. I hope you don’t mind that.”
Liz was in awe of this young man she’d loved for almost ten years, and all she could do was grin widely, as she shook her head in the negative.
“Good. I’m glad you feel that way. The way I see it – no, let me ask you the proper way.” So Max got down on the floor, propped himself on one knee, and said, “Elizabeth Parker, will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me…next week?”
Liz was overjoyed at his proposal. “Oh, yes, yes, yes!” she cried, as they both jumped up and Max took her in his arms and began swinging her around the room.
When they’d finally settled themselves down, Max suddenly got a very serious look on his face. “What about Phillip? Do you think he will mind?” he shyly asked.
“Are you kidding? He’ll be overjoyed,” Liz responded. “I know what. Let’s take him someplace special and tell him.”
“That’s a wonderful idea.” They decided to do just that the next day.
*****
(The next day at the zoo)
“It’s real nice to see you again, Max,” Phillip said, holding both his hand and Liz’s.
“Well, we wanted to share something very special with you, but we want to make sure it’s okay with you,” Liz said.
“It’s okay,” Phillip said.
“What’s okay?” Max asked, looking at Liz with a questioning look.
Liz could only shrug. She didn’t have a clue either.
“It’s okay for you to be my daddy,” he simply said.
Liz and Max looked at each other in astonishment. “Do you know what that means?” Max asked.
“Uh-huh. We’re going to be a family, and we’ll all live together.”
Part 12
“That’s right, sweetie,” Liz slowly said. “That means I’m going to marry Max. And that’s okay with you?”
“Uh-huh,” he said, licking the lollipop he’d just unwrapped that had been in his pocket.
Max bent down and looked straight at Phillip. “How did you know I was going to be your daddy?” he asked.
“’Cause, you both look so happy. I always knew you’d be my dad some day, ‘cause you make my mommy happy. Now she won’t be alone no more,” he said, as he wandered on a little ahead of them, glancing back and forth at the animal cages, as he continued licking his lollipop.
“You have got one amazing son,” Max said, as he put his arm around Liz, and together they watched Phillip walk on ahead of them.
“Well, soon we’ll both have one amazing son,” Liz said, putting her arm around Max’s waist. And then, just before catching up with Phillip, Max looked down at Liz and said, “I love you so much, Liz. We’re going to be so happy. I just know it.” With that, he gave her a brief, but very sensual kiss, and then went to catch up with Phillip.
“I think so too,” Liz contentedly sighed, as she went to quickly catch up with the two most important men in her life.
*****
When Liz had settled Phillip down for the night, she came back to the living room. “Well, now we have to tell my family,” Max said, as Liz came to sit comfortably beside him.
“How do you think they’re going to take it?” Liz asked.
“Honestly, I don’t care. My father has manipulated my life enough. I think it’s time I made some decisions of my own. And marrying you is my first official step in that direction,” he smiled.
“So, when do you think we should tell them? We are, after all, planning it in a week. Do you think it will upset them that it won’t be a big society wedding?” Liz asked.
“It might. But like I said, I really don’t care. I want to get on with the business of living. And as desperately as I’m in love with you,” he said, pulling her to sit on his lap, “I can’t wait around. If we’re not careful, we won’t be able to wait even that long,” he said, in a deep, husky voice filled with desire.
“Well, in that case, I better get up off your lap. Why don’t you call him right now while we’re thinking about it?”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Hand me the phone, will you, Lizzie.”
“Okay. Here you go, Maxie,” Liz said, with a devilish grin on her face.
Max dialed his father’s number, but he was having a really hard time concentrating, because all he wanted to do was to kiss his future wife.
Finally, his father answered the phone. “Hi, Dad. Liz and I have some news.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“I’ve asked Liz to marry me, and she’s accepted. We’re getting married…next week.”
“Next week?! But that’s not enough time. We need to make arrangements and” –
“We don’t want a big society wedding, Dad. Just something simple. We want to be together as soon as possible.”
“I see,” Phillip responded, knowing exactly what that meant. “Well, I’m very happy for you both,” he said, and he genuinely meant it. “There is some business I need to discuss with you first, though. And since you haven’t given me much time, I need to speak with you as soon as possible.”
“Are you and mom okay, Dad?” Max asked, filled with apprehension at his words.
“Oh, we’re fine, Son. I just need to clear up some business with you. It’s actually good news. I’m sure you’ll be very pleased about it.”
“Well, okay. How about tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow’s fine. I’ll see you then, Son.”
“Okay, Dad. I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” and Max hung up.
‘Well, I guess I better get things in order, so I can explain them to Max,’ Phillip said to himself. But he was happy that his son had finally gotten his act together with Liz. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out why his son had taken so long to finally make what he knew would be a good decision for everyone involved.
*****
“What was that all about?” Liz asked, as Max got off the phone.
“I don’t know. But he said he has some business he needs to discuss with me, and that it couldn’t wait.”
“Do you think I should come with you?”
“No. I think it’ll be all right. I’m sure he would have asked me to bring you if he felt you needed to be there. I’ll let you know about it as soon as I know myself.”
Max gave Liz one more slow, agonizingly passionate kiss before finally pulling away. “Well, I guess I better be going; otherwise, I won’t be leaving tonight,” he said, with a lopsided grin on his face.
“Well, it won’t be long before you won’t have to leave,” Liz said, as she gave him one last quick peck. “Now get going before I refuse to let you go.”
They both fidgeted at the door for several more seconds, neither wanting to let the other go, but they knew it would be for the best. As Max finally wandered out the door, he turned around and said, “I love you with all my heart, Liz Parker. Don’t forget. I’m coming for you,” and then turned around and headed for his car.
Liz finally closed the door, then leaned up against it. ‘What did I do to deserve to be loved by that wonderful man?’ she wondered, before blissfully wandering to her room for the night.
Once again, let me know what you thnk. I love to hear your thoughts and ideas about where the story will lead to.
Now, here goes:
Part 11 – Life goes on…and so does love!
For several weeks, in spite of their new-found relationship, Max and Liz worked together tirelessly in getting Max trained to fill the shoes of the vice-presidency. But they always made time to continue getting to know each other better. During one especially grueling day, they decided to take a breather at the office and have lunch.
As Liz came walking out of her private office bathroom, drying her hands, Max was reminded of the very first day he’d seen her again for the first time in years, in this very same office. “You know, Liz, you never did tell me why you came in late that first day, drenched from head to toe,” he said, as he lazily ate his sandwich.
“Oh, yeah. I’d forgotten all about that. Well, it was bad enough that I was running late to our appointment. And then it was pouring down rain. And in the middle of that, I had a flat tire. And then I couldn’t get ahold of the towing service. So I ended up having to change the tire myself. That’s why I got to the office in such a mess.”
“Ah, my poor baby,” Max said, as Liz sat next to him and nestled into the curve of his arm. “And to think, I was so angry with you for being late. As far as I was concerned, there could not be any excuse good enough to keep me waiting as long as you had.” He paused briefly, looking down into those gorgeous doe-brown eyes he’d fallen in love with, and then continued, “I’m so glad I decided to stick around a little longer and give you a little more time. To think, I came so close to never seeing you again,” he softly finished, as he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her, tenderly at first. But within only seconds, the kiss was becoming more demanding and passionate. Truthfully, they’d been feeling more and more passionate with one another with each kiss that was shared. But this was the first time they’d almost devoured one another.
Max pulled away from Liz, breathing heavily. “Oh, God, Liz, I want you so much. But I want us to do this the right way. I hope you don’t mind that.”
Liz was in awe of this young man she’d loved for almost ten years, and all she could do was grin widely, as she shook her head in the negative.
“Good. I’m glad you feel that way. The way I see it – no, let me ask you the proper way.” So Max got down on the floor, propped himself on one knee, and said, “Elizabeth Parker, will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me…next week?”
Liz was overjoyed at his proposal. “Oh, yes, yes, yes!” she cried, as they both jumped up and Max took her in his arms and began swinging her around the room.
When they’d finally settled themselves down, Max suddenly got a very serious look on his face. “What about Phillip? Do you think he will mind?” he shyly asked.
“Are you kidding? He’ll be overjoyed,” Liz responded. “I know what. Let’s take him someplace special and tell him.”
“That’s a wonderful idea.” They decided to do just that the next day.
*****
(The next day at the zoo)
“It’s real nice to see you again, Max,” Phillip said, holding both his hand and Liz’s.
“Well, we wanted to share something very special with you, but we want to make sure it’s okay with you,” Liz said.
“It’s okay,” Phillip said.
“What’s okay?” Max asked, looking at Liz with a questioning look.
Liz could only shrug. She didn’t have a clue either.
“It’s okay for you to be my daddy,” he simply said.
Liz and Max looked at each other in astonishment. “Do you know what that means?” Max asked.
“Uh-huh. We’re going to be a family, and we’ll all live together.”
Part 12
“That’s right, sweetie,” Liz slowly said. “That means I’m going to marry Max. And that’s okay with you?”
“Uh-huh,” he said, licking the lollipop he’d just unwrapped that had been in his pocket.
Max bent down and looked straight at Phillip. “How did you know I was going to be your daddy?” he asked.
“’Cause, you both look so happy. I always knew you’d be my dad some day, ‘cause you make my mommy happy. Now she won’t be alone no more,” he said, as he wandered on a little ahead of them, glancing back and forth at the animal cages, as he continued licking his lollipop.
“You have got one amazing son,” Max said, as he put his arm around Liz, and together they watched Phillip walk on ahead of them.
“Well, soon we’ll both have one amazing son,” Liz said, putting her arm around Max’s waist. And then, just before catching up with Phillip, Max looked down at Liz and said, “I love you so much, Liz. We’re going to be so happy. I just know it.” With that, he gave her a brief, but very sensual kiss, and then went to catch up with Phillip.
“I think so too,” Liz contentedly sighed, as she went to quickly catch up with the two most important men in her life.
*****
When Liz had settled Phillip down for the night, she came back to the living room. “Well, now we have to tell my family,” Max said, as Liz came to sit comfortably beside him.
“How do you think they’re going to take it?” Liz asked.
“Honestly, I don’t care. My father has manipulated my life enough. I think it’s time I made some decisions of my own. And marrying you is my first official step in that direction,” he smiled.
“So, when do you think we should tell them? We are, after all, planning it in a week. Do you think it will upset them that it won’t be a big society wedding?” Liz asked.
“It might. But like I said, I really don’t care. I want to get on with the business of living. And as desperately as I’m in love with you,” he said, pulling her to sit on his lap, “I can’t wait around. If we’re not careful, we won’t be able to wait even that long,” he said, in a deep, husky voice filled with desire.
“Well, in that case, I better get up off your lap. Why don’t you call him right now while we’re thinking about it?”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Hand me the phone, will you, Lizzie.”
“Okay. Here you go, Maxie,” Liz said, with a devilish grin on her face.
Max dialed his father’s number, but he was having a really hard time concentrating, because all he wanted to do was to kiss his future wife.
Finally, his father answered the phone. “Hi, Dad. Liz and I have some news.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“I’ve asked Liz to marry me, and she’s accepted. We’re getting married…next week.”
“Next week?! But that’s not enough time. We need to make arrangements and” –
“We don’t want a big society wedding, Dad. Just something simple. We want to be together as soon as possible.”
“I see,” Phillip responded, knowing exactly what that meant. “Well, I’m very happy for you both,” he said, and he genuinely meant it. “There is some business I need to discuss with you first, though. And since you haven’t given me much time, I need to speak with you as soon as possible.”
“Are you and mom okay, Dad?” Max asked, filled with apprehension at his words.
“Oh, we’re fine, Son. I just need to clear up some business with you. It’s actually good news. I’m sure you’ll be very pleased about it.”
“Well, okay. How about tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow’s fine. I’ll see you then, Son.”
“Okay, Dad. I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” and Max hung up.
‘Well, I guess I better get things in order, so I can explain them to Max,’ Phillip said to himself. But he was happy that his son had finally gotten his act together with Liz. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out why his son had taken so long to finally make what he knew would be a good decision for everyone involved.
*****
“What was that all about?” Liz asked, as Max got off the phone.
“I don’t know. But he said he has some business he needs to discuss with me, and that it couldn’t wait.”
“Do you think I should come with you?”
“No. I think it’ll be all right. I’m sure he would have asked me to bring you if he felt you needed to be there. I’ll let you know about it as soon as I know myself.”
Max gave Liz one more slow, agonizingly passionate kiss before finally pulling away. “Well, I guess I better be going; otherwise, I won’t be leaving tonight,” he said, with a lopsided grin on his face.
“Well, it won’t be long before you won’t have to leave,” Liz said, as she gave him one last quick peck. “Now get going before I refuse to let you go.”
They both fidgeted at the door for several more seconds, neither wanting to let the other go, but they knew it would be for the best. As Max finally wandered out the door, he turned around and said, “I love you with all my heart, Liz Parker. Don’t forget. I’m coming for you,” and then turned around and headed for his car.
Liz finally closed the door, then leaned up against it. ‘What did I do to deserve to be loved by that wonderful man?’ she wondered, before blissfully wandering to her room for the night.