I have no right to ask you for anything, but if there’s a chance you might let me see him at some point, I’d be eternally grateful. That, too, is entirely up to you. I’ve included my address, phone number and email below. I hope to hear from you, but if not, I understand that some things are unforgivable. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading this and for taking such good care of Caden. I have no doubt that you’re a wonderful father to him, and he’s lucky to have you.

  Chloe

  * * *

  Max had no idea that tears were running down his face until he lifted his head from reading the letter and blinked Lexi back into focus. Using his sleeve, he brushed away the tears. “She wants to see him.” Before reading her letter, that would’ve been his greatest nightmare, but now… Now he didn’t know what to think. She sounded nothing like the Chloe he’d known.

  “May I?” Lexi asked, gesturing to the letter.

  Max handed it over to her.

  After she read it, she folded it and returned it to the envelope. Then she put her arms around him.

  It took him a few seconds to respond, but then he held on tightly to her and the support she offered so freely.

  “I’m sorry you’re so upset.”

  “I feel like I’m going to be sick.”

  Lexi took his hand and led him to the sofa, sitting right next to him and keeping a tight grip on his hand. “I can only imagine.”

  “It’s just been me and him for so long,” Max said. “My family is always around, but at the end of the day—and the beginning—it’s me and him. We’re a team.”

  “You must know that won’t change if you let her see him.”

  “Everything will change if I let her back in.”

  Chapter Six

  “Stop being a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future.” —Robin Sharma

  Lexi wasn’t sure how best to support Max through the bombshell that had arrived in the form of a birthday gift from Caden’s mother. In a way, she felt like she was intruding, but she couldn’t leave him alone. Not now, anyway.

  “What do you want to do?” she asked him.

  “I don’t know.” He held his head in his hands as he sat next to her. “I really thought she was gone for good, you know?”

  “That’s a reasonable assumption after years of silence.”

  “I need to talk to my parents about this,” he said, standing.

  “That’s a great idea, but isn’t Caden there?”

  He reached for his coat. “He is, but I can send him out to play with the dogs while I talk to them.”

  Lexi got up and put her coat on, too.

  “Will you come with me?”

  The vulnerability in the way he asked that and how he looked at her made her breathless. “Of course I will.”

  Then he seemed to think better of it and shook his head. “I’m so sorry. You’re here to have fun and relax. You don’t need to be sucked into my drama.”

  She went to him and put her hands on his chest. “What did I tell you last night? I came to see you. I’m here for you, and I want to help.”

  He leaned his forehead against hers the way he used to back when they were madly in love and forced to behave in school and in front of their parents. The simple gesture brought back a million memories and made her knees go weak under her. He’d always had the power to render her speechless, and to realize nothing had changed was amazing and overwhelming.

  “Let’s go to the barn. Your folks will know what you should do.”

  “They always do.” He took hold of her hands. “It helps to have you here, too. I’d be losing it if I was alone when this happened.”

  “I’m here, Max.” Whether her rapidly beating heart could handle the influx of love and affection was certainly not guaranteed.

  “How is it,” he asked, “that it feels like no time has gone by since I last saw you?”

  “I’m not sure, but I feel the same way.”

  “We’ll have to discuss that after I figure out what to do about the Chloe bombshell.” He released her, somewhat reluctantly—or so it seemed to her—and got Daisy settled in her crate. “We’ll be back soon,” he told the puppy.

  She rested her head on her paws and gave him a sad face.

  “She’s already trying to manipulate you,” Lexi said.

  “She’ll have me wrapped around her paw in no time.”

  “That’s the way it should be.”

  Outside, Lexi moved her car to the street and then joined him in his truck for the ride to the barn. Out of habit, she reached for his hand during the ride.

  When he curled his fingers around her hand, everything inside her settled. The questions that had plagued her during the long years apart were answered. She still loved Max Abbott, and if she wasn’t mistaken, he still loved her, too. Under normal circumstances, she’d laugh at the direction her thoughts were taking. They hadn’t seen each other in years, and she already had them back in love. But after living with the very real possibility that she might die before she ever got the chance to live, she refused to waste a single minute of her second chance.

  If Max Abbott still loved her the way she still loved him, she was determined to make it work with him. Before she came to Butler, she hadn’t known he had a son, but that didn’t change anything for her. If anything, Caden sweetened the pot. After hearing Max talk about him, she had no doubt she would adore him.

  “I’m excited to meet Caden.”

  “I can’t wait for you to meet him. I’ve thought so many times that I wish you could meet him.”

  “Really? You did?”

  “All the time. Just because I stopped hearing from you doesn’t mean I stopped thinking of you.”

  “I’m sorry I dropped off the map, Max. I shouldn’t have done that to you.”

  “I understand why you did it. Who am I to say how someone should handle an illness like what you went through?”

  “Still… I shouldn’t have left you to wonder where I was all that time. What’s funny is that you were the one I most wanted to tell, but I was afraid to.”

  “Why?” He glanced at her when they were stopped at a four-way intersection.

  “Because I knew you’d come, and I didn’t want you to see me like that.”

  “You’re right that I would’ve come, and I would’ve been thankful that you were alive. I wouldn’t have cared how you looked.”

  “I cared. I know that sounds so stupid, but I couldn’t handle seeing you when I was in that condition.”

  “I hate that you were worried about that.”

  “Without trying to sound like an insecure fool, do you remember how I used to drive myself crazy trying to figure out why you chose me when there were so many prettier girls?”

  “I remember, and I’ll tell you the same thing I told you then—not to me there weren’t. You were the prettiest girl I ever met. Still are.”

  “Stop,” she said, laughing. “There’s no way that’s true.”

  “It is true. You never had anything to worry about where I was concerned. And you still don’t.”

  Lexi fanned her face. “It’s getting warm in here.”

  “That’s another thing that hasn’t changed. It was always hot between us. I bet it still would be.”

  “You’re filling me with foolish hope.”

  “When I got home last night, all I could think about was how good it was to be with you again. And what a relief it was to see you, when there were times I thought you had to be dead to have stayed gone so long. I used to get really upset when I worried about that.”

  “I’m sorry. I was young and freaked out and battling a foe so big and scary that I had no time to think about anyone else’s needs. If I had it to do over again, I would’ve called you—and asked you not to come.”

  “I would’ve come anyway. As often as I could.”

  “Do things like this happen? Do people see their first loves after years apart and still feel all the same things?”

  “I don’t know if it happens to other people. I can only speak for myself. Being with you again feels like no time has gone by.”

  “Same.”

  They glanced at each other and then laughed, which released some of the tension that had been building in her chest.

  Max Abbott still felt the same way about her.

  She still felt the same way about him.

  Best day in a long, long time.

  When he pulled the truck into the driveway at the barn, the feelings of nostalgia that she’d experienced at the store came rushing back. She’d had so many good times at the Abbotts’ home. Family dinners, pizza gatherings and game nights full of laughter and love. She’d adored his family and had missed them almost as much as she’d missed Max.

  They were greeted by two older yellow Labs.

  “This is George and Ringo,” he said. “My parents’ dogs. They got them my freshman year of college.”

  “Nice to meet you, boys,” Lexi said.

  “Um, they’re both girls.”

  Lexi laughed. “Of course they are. Your dad never lost his love of the Beatles, huh?”

  “Nope, and if he does, that’s when we’ll know it’s time to send him to the nursing home.”

  “Haha, I’m sure he’s a long way from that.”

  “I hope so.”

  Lexi followed Max inside, where she noticed the original ten hooks on the wall now had two additional rows under them. “That’s so sweet, how each of the kids has a hook.”

  “Family tradition.” Max took her coat and hung it with his on the tenth hook on the first row, just like always.

  Even the scents of cinnamon and cloves were as familiar to her as anything ever had been. “I, um, I need a second.”

  Max turned to her, seeming startled to see tears in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  “For the first time in a very long time, nothing is wrong.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Being here again is so special.”

  “Having you here is special for me, too.” He held out a hand to her, and she took it, returning the smile he gave her. “Let’s go find my son.”

  * * *

  Lexi was as sweet as he remembered, and so appreciative of the little things that made up his life, such as the hooks on the mudroom wall. He vividly recalled pointing them out to Chloe the first time she came with him to the barn, and she’d said they were cute. But Lexi… She knew they were so much more than cute to his family. They were part of the tradition that made the Abbott family what it was. She got it, and he appreciated that so much.

  Still holding her hand, Max followed the sound of voices to the great room, which made up the center of the barn.

  Caden let out the usual cry of happiness when he saw Max and came running.

  Max released Lexi’s hand and lifted his son into a hug.

  “What are you doing back?” Caden asked. “I don’t have to go home, do I?”

  Max had known there would come a day when Caden would prefer the company of others to that of his father, but he’d expected it to take a few more years. “I wouldn’t think of ruining your fun.”

  “That’s good, cuz Chase and Molly just got here, and we’re going to play tag in the yard.”

  Which worked out well for Max’s plan to speak to his parents. “This is my friend Lexi. Can you say hi?”

  Caden immediately went shy, ducking partially behind Max as he looked up at her. “Hi.”

  “Hi, Caden. It’s so nice to meet you.”

  Caden shook her hand. “You, too.”

  Max introduced her to Chase and Molly, who greeted him with hugs and kisses.

  Molly and Linc came over to give Lexi hugs.

  “It’s so nice to see you again, honey,” Molly said.

  “You, too,” Lexi said, tearing up again as she hugged his dad.

  “I was wondering if I could talk to you guys for a minute,” Max said, glancing at the kids.

  “I’ll go out with them,” Elmer said as he got out of his recliner and came over to hug Lexi. “Nice to see you again. Twice in one day.”

  “We saw each other at the diner this morning,” Lexi said to Max.

  “Ah, I see.”

  “Come on, kiddos,” Elmer said. “Let’s go play.”

  The kids ran past him to the mudroom to bundle up.

  “What’s going on?” Linc asked after Lexi and Max sat on one of the sofas.

  “Chloe sent a gift to Caden, along with this.” He got up to hand the letter to his parents, before returning to sit with her.

  “Oh dear,” Molly said, glancing with trepidation at the letter Linc held.

  While they read it, Max held Lexi’s hand and tried to keep his leg from bouncing with nerves that felt like they were on fire with agitation.

  “Caden is adorable,” Lexi said.

  “Thanks.”

  “Your niece and nephew are, too.”

  “They’re all great kids. He’s lucky to have so many cousins around all the time. There’s always someone to play with.”

  “Wow,” Linc said, folding the letter. “What do you think, son?”

  “I don’t know what to think. That’s why I’m here. I wanted you guys to tell me what to do.”

  “We can’t do that,” Molly said gently. “You’re Caden’s dad, and you’re the one who has to decide.”

  “I want to do the right thing for him, but I don’t know what that is.”

  “It sounds to me as if Chloe has done a lot of work on herself since you saw her last,” Molly said.

  Max glanced at her. “I guess.”

  “What your mother is saying,” Linc added, “is that she may not be the same Chloe she was seven years ago.”

  “Yes,” Molly said. “That’s what I mean.”

  “I get that, and I appreciate the work she seems to have done on herself, but part of me wants to say to hell with that. What if I couldn’t have stepped up the way I did for Caden or hadn’t had the massive family support that I did? What would’ve become of him? I haven’t thought of her in any meaningful way in years but having her resurface this way has made me angry.”

  “And rightfully so, son,” Linc said. “But you’re angry at the Chloe from seven years ago, not the person she is today.”

  “So, you guys think I should let her see him?”

  Lexi noticed a slightly hysterical edge to his voice that had her reaching for his hand.

  “I think,” Molly said carefully, “that if you don’t, it might come back to haunt you with him someday.”

  “How so?” Max asked.

  “Roll with me here,” Molly said, “but what if, many years from now, Caden decides to seek her out on his own? He’s bound to have questions about who she is and why she made the choices she did. What if she were to say to him, ‘Back when you were seven, I reached out to your dad asking to see you, but he decided not to allow that’? How do you think he’ll feel about that as a twenty-year-old?”

  Max used his free hand to rub his chest. “I feel like I’m having a heart attack or something.”

  “You’re not having a heart attack,” Molly said. “And I don’t think you should panic about this. She’s not going to come waltzing back in here like the last seven years didn’t happen and undo the bond you have with your son. That cannot happen, Max. He adores you. He knows you’ve been there for him every day of his life. That will never change, even if she’s back in his life.”

  “What if she wants more than an occasional visit?” Max asked.

  “You should take this one step at a time, son,” Linc said. “Beginning with a conversation with Caden about what he’d like to do. If he says no, thank you, then the answer is no. If he says he’d like to meet her, then you start there. You have full custody, which means you decide what, when, where and how long.”

  “That’s a good point,” Lexi said. “You’re in control of the situation.”

  “Why do I feel like I’m not in control of anything?”

  “You’re reacting emotionally,” Molly said. “And understandably so, but Chloe put the ball in your court. I agree with Dad that talking to Caden about it is the best plan. He’s old enough to understand who she is and what she’s asking for.”

  Max released a deep sigh. “I’ll talk to him after the party. Thanks for the advice. I appreciate that and everything else you guys have done for us.”

  “Helping you raise your little boy has been a joyful thing for us,” Molly said. “He’s an absolute delight.”

  “Yes, he is,” Max said, smiling for the first time in a while.

  “You kids need to go have some fun while your little guy is with us,” Linc said. “Lexi is only here for the weekend.”

  Max tried to pull himself out of the tailspin to focus on Lexi and the limited time they had together. “I could eat something.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Want to hit Kingdom?”

  “I’d love to. I’ve never had pizza as good as theirs.”

  Elmer came in with the kids, who ran ahead of him from the mudroom into the family room, their faces red from the cold.

  “Ew,” Max said to Caden. “Go do something with your nose.”

  Grinning, Caden darted toward the bathroom while Chase and Molly attacked Max.

  He caught them in a tight hug, making them squeal when he kissed their necks. When he released them, they came right back for more.

  “Lexi, you might want to look out,” Linc said. “This can get rough.”

  She moved over to give Max and the kids room to wrestle. “I see that.”

  When Caden returned, he jumped on the pile.

  By the time Max emerged from the scrum, he was red-faced and sweating, but the sick feeling he’d arrived with was gone. His parents were right. He was in control of this situation, and he would do what was best for his son—as always.

  “Now that I’ve gotten them all wound up, I’ve gotta roll,” Max said to his parents.