Page 7 of Out Of Time

He would be fine.Right?

Max sat anxiously awaiting Remi’s arrival early the following Wednesday morning. Over the last week, he had gone back and forth, trying to figure out how he would handle their last encounter. He knew an apology was in order for scaring her with his half-naked surprise attack. And he knew he needed to thank her for helping him out after he had tripped and broken the lamp. But no matter how many times he played today out in his head, he knew he would never be ready to confront her. Because she was Remi, and he was, well, he was awkward.

He had showered, styled his hair, put on cologne, and hoped this cleaned-up version of himself would help diminish the memory of the last time she had shown up to his house and found him asleep on the couch.

The smart home announced her entry, and he stood to greet her, putting his nervous hands into the pockets of his dark blue Levi’s. His heart hammered in his chest as she rounded the hallway corner and entered the open living space; travel coffee mug in hand as she dragged her rolling cleaning cart behind her.She noticed him immediately, the small smile on her face giving him instant relief over the situation.

He let himself enjoy the single-dimple smile she gave him before he took a step forward and cleared his throat. Words escaped him, and he had practiced what he would say to her late into the night for the last week. He had memorized the apology for the way she had found him, only now, the words were gone.

“Well, isn’tthisa pleasant surprise?” she said, eyeing him up and down. “Good morning. Clothes look good on you, Max Miller, you look handsome,” she added with a playful wink, breaking the awkward silence he often lived in.

He frowned at her compliment, not expecting it.

“What?” she asked with a laugh. “You don’t agree? You can always strip down to your undies if it’ll make you more comfortable. I’m no stranger to that version of you.”

He felt his face blush. She was teasing him, but she was also admitting she thought he was handsome, which shouldn’t shock him, but it did. He knew he took pride in his appearance: He wore trendy t-shirts, clean Vans, and fresh dark jeans with a nice cuff, keeping his thick red hair and beard manicured. He knew hetriedto look good, embracing the West Coast style, but being told he did by a woman like Remi, someone whowasn’ta puck bunny; that was new. It caught him completely off guard.

“I actually wanted to apologize to you for what you walked in on last week. That’s why I’m here,” he offered.

Remi rolled her eyes, but her smile never faltered. “Is that the only reason you’re here? Is it not because this is your house? Or because you knew I would be here today, and you think I’m awesome? Bummer. I thought you just really liked my company last week.”

“I do… I did… I’ve just, I really wanted to properly apologize about it since then. It was unprofessional of me. I should have known you were coming and put on pajamas or slept in my ownbed. But I didn’t have a way to reach you, so I’ve just been …” He paused.

“Let me guess, you’ve been beating yourself up over it ever since?”

“Yes. That,” he agreed.

“Why am I not surprised?” she asked, walking over to set her coffee on the kitchen island.

“I don’t know, why aren't you surprised?” he asked.

“Well, Max, if I'm being honest, and I have a bad habit of being extremely honest, sometimes to a fault, I would say that you come across a little… anxious.”

His heart raced. Was it that obvious?

“I’m just quiet.”

“Okay, call it what you will, but it didn’t offend me at all. It was boxers, some men wear smaller bathing suits than that. Trust me, I’ve walked in on far worse things than hockey players in their undies in this profession,” she said with a smirk before looking around slowly to take in his house in its pristine shape, as per usual.

“It won't happen again,” he said, standing there awkwardly, unsure what came next.

“I wouldn’t mind it if it did,” she said teasingly, wiggling her eyebrows at him, then added, “We’re both adults here, I think I can handle a little skin.”

“Well, it won't happen again. I can assure you. I even bought pajama pants to make sure of it,” he said.

“Please tell me they have like, Shrek on them, or baby Yoda or something.”

This made Max blush instantly thinking back to his trip to Target. It felt like she was in his head because hehadlooked at the pajama bottoms with silly characters and wondered why any grown man would wear pajamas with cartoons on them, butmaybe he was wrong to be so judgmental. Was this something women actually liked?

He corrected her, “It’s Grogu.”

She scrunched up her nose. “What is?” she asked.

“The baby Yoda. His name is Grogu.”

Remi laughed. “Oh, yeah, Grogu. I knew it was something like that. He’s so cute, I want one.”

Max just nodded his head in agreement. He had also thought while watchingThe Mandalorian, that he wouldn’t mind a little baby Yoda as a sidekick.

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