Fade into Always by Kate Dawes Read Free Book Online

you.
    Max: Awwww.
    Me: Haha! I have to get back to talking to my sister. By the smile on my face she might assume the worst.
    Max: She’d be smart to. Talk to you tomorrow. Miss you.
    Me: Me too.
    I closed the texts and pulled up the browser, went to Google Images and found a picture of Max.
    “Here. This is him.”
    I handed her my phone.
    She looked at the picture, then looked at me, then back at the picture. “Get out of here. You’re seeing this hottie?”
    I raised my eyebrows. “Gee, thanks.”
    “No, no. I didn’t mean it like that.” She burst out laughing. “That came out wrong. It’s just…wow, he’s gorgeous.”
    “And nice, and funny, and kind-hearted, generous, interesting, exciting, creative—”
    She interrupted: “Honest?”
    “Yeah. Well, except for this one thing.” I told her about Liza Carrow.
    “I see why he didn’t tell you right away, though.”
    “I know. I wasn’t fair to him when it happened. But we’re past that.”
    She handed the phone back to me. “Hate to say this, but I’m jealous.”
    “Oh, stop.”
    “He’s no Brian. Speaking of which, I need to call and see how things are going there.”
    While she made her call, I looked at Max’s picture, then at the texts we’d just exchanged. Damnit, I had fallen hard for him, and I was so in love there was no turning back.
    I went into the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth while she finished up her call. I was starting to get tired and couldn’t wait to get to sleep. With all the talk of Max, though, combined with a little talk of Chris, and the random way my fears reared their ugly head, I hoped I wouldn’t have one of those nightmares again while I slept in the same room with my sister.
     
     
    TEN
     
    The next morning, we all ate at a nice restaurant that served a great breakfast. My dad said it was too expensive a place to eat, and when I said I was buying, we spent the next ten minutes with him and my mom arguing that I “can’t” and then “shouldn’t have to” pay for all of us to eat when we could grab something quick at a fast-food place.
    I won the debate, mostly because I just started walking into the place and Grace followed.
    After breakfast my parents wanted to see where I worked. Gulp . I hadn’t even thought about that. Later the night before, after Grace got off the phone with her husband, I told her the rest of what was going on with me: quitting the job, but soon working with Max. She promised not to say anything to my parents. Luckily, it was a Saturday, so all we had to do was drive by the building and I pointed while saying, “That’s it. Just a regular building.”
    Whew .
    We spent the better part of the afternoon taking a tour of Universal Studios. It was something I hadn’t done yet since coming to LA, so I didn’t mind doing something so “touristy.”
    I got to push the stroller around for a while and at one point when my parents and Grace went to use the restrooms, I sat on a bench in the shade, alone with my baby niece. People—mostly women and girls—stopped by and cooed at her, telling me how beautiful she was. I just thanked them, not telling them she wasn’t mine.
    I’d never even thought about being a mother before. Certainly not like my own mother had, and not even like Grace had. But that was the first time I’d experienced anything resembling the desire to have a child. Definitely a strange feeling for me.
    I got a text from Max: Let me treat your family to dinner.
    Me: Well, hello to you to.
    Max: Hey there, dream girl.
    I smiled at that, but it didn’t last long. He wanted to take my family out for dinner?
    Me: We talked about this. Not ready.
    Max: I don’t have to be there. Let me make reservations at a nice place. You take them.
    Me: Where is this coming from?
    Max: I just want to do something nice for you. And for them.
    I sighed and thought about what I’d write back. It was a very generous offer, and I wasn’t surprised by it, considering