Page 19 of Max Bannon

“Good. I don’t want to listen.”

We stood in silence for a beat.

Then I said, “I think I’m falling for her.”

Frasier’s hand stilled for a moment before starting back to work.

“Tessa?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded once, like he’d known before I did. “That a problem?”

“I told myself I wouldn’t let it happen ever again.”

“But it did.”

I let out a long breath and looked out over the ridge. “She’s not just funny and smart. She’s… real. She doesn’t try to be anything she’s not. She tells you when she’s scared. Laughs at her own disasters. And she’s got this way of making everything feel like it’s okay, even when it’s not.”

“She sounds awful,” Frasier said dryly.

I shot him a look, but there was no judgment in his eyes. Just patience. And maybe a little worry.

“I thought I’d moved on from Olivia,” I admitted. “I thought time would fix it, but maybe I didn’t give it enough time. Or maybe I’m just broken in places that don’t heal.”

Frasier didn’t say anything right away. He just wiped his hands clean for more minutes than it should have, and finally looked over at me.

“You’re not broken, Max. You’re hurt. There’s a difference. Your hurt because the woman you were engaged to marry, fell in love with someone else when you were missing. But have you ever put the time schedule together?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, confused.

“You were missing for three years, Olivia had a baby that takes nine months, the baby was sixteen months, that’s twenty-five months. She must had dated her husband at least six months before she married him, that’s thirty one months so she grieved for you for six months before she started dating.”

“Open your eyes, Max. Your love for Olivia was stronger than hers was for you, or she would have grieved for you longer than six months.

I swallowed hard. Why did I think she grieved for me for three years? I must have been blind. God, I was a jerk. Do I still love her? I don’t know if I do or not. Until I know it’s not fair to Tessa. If I can’t give her something real… if I pull her in just to push her away—”

“Thentellher,” he cut in, voice calm but firm. “But don’t lie to yourself about what this is. You already let her in. You think you’re protecting her by staying guarded, but that girl is smart. She’ll feel it if you start backing off. And it’ll hurt worse than the truth.”

I dragged a hand down my face. “She deserves someone better.”

“She deserves someone who’s honest. Who shows up. Who doesn’t make her question her worth.”

I looked away, jaw tight. “What if I can’t be that guy?”

Frasier let out a slow sigh. “Then you better figure it out soon, before you lose the best thing that’s come along in a long damn time.”

His words hit hard. What did I know about love. I loved someone who only grieved me for Six months if that long. Damn I was stupid.

But the thought of Tessa walking away because I was too scared to love her back, scared the hell out of me.

Frasier stood and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Go to her. And whatever you say—make it the truth.”

“You can also tell her we got the bees out of her cabin, and I hired some women to clean it for her. Tomorrow, we are returning the furniture so she can move in before her father and brother visit.”

“I’ll talk to her tonight. I'll talk to you later. I have a 1966 Chevy truck to work on.”

“How is that coming?”

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