Page 3 of Max Bannon

Max turned and pointed at the corkboard above the coffee station.

Sure enough, right between a calendar and a map of Frasier Mountain was a sheet of notebook paper titled:

“TESSA LEFT THIS HERE”

DAY ONE: sock (refrigerated), keys, charger, apology note

DAY TWO: wallet (bread box), sunglasses (lamp), notebook (porch)

DAY THREE: spoon (bathroom), granola bar (laundry basket), bra (garage doorknob??)

I gasped, then burst out laughing. “You’ve been documenting my trail!”

“I figured if you ever went missing, we could follow the clues.”

I clutched my stomach. “Max. This is the most passive-aggressive love letter I’ve ever seen.”

His ears pinked slightly. “It’s not a love letter.”

“Mmhm. Let me ask you something.” I leaned forward over the table, grinning up at him. “Did you throw any of it away?”

He paused. “No.”

“You returned everything.”

“Yes.”

“Organized it by date and location?”

He sighed. “Yes.”

I sat back, smug. “Sounds like youmissme when I’m gone,” I teased.

He exhaled hard through his nose and muttered something about wild animals being easier to handle.

That's when I decided something I was going to own this chaos. I had to stop leaving things lying everywhere.

The next morning, I placed a single rubber duck on his motorcycle helmet.

Underneath it, a note:

“You missed this: Day Five.” – T

He didn’t say a word when he found it. Just walked past me holding the duck, pinched between two fingers like it was radioactive.

But he didn’t throw it away either.

Instead, that night, I saw it sitting on the windowsill in the kitchen.

Right next to the shoe I forgot to claim, I realized it was time to move into my little cabin, which came with the teaching job. I will clean it when I get off work today. So I stopped by the general grocery store and bought a broom, mop, and bucket. I filled the bucket with Windex and other cleaners I would need. When I walked to the counter, the guy behind the counter was watching me.

“Hello, my name is Tessa Swindle. I’m the new teacher.”

“Nice to meet you, Tessa. I’m Junior Sterling. I grew up on this mountain, just like almost everyone here. Frasier’s great-great-granddad lived here first, so he named this mountain. How do you like staying at Max’s place? Those boys are all Navy Seals; they followed Fraiser home from the war. Now they have a business rescuing and guarding people, plus they work on old cars and motorcycles.

“How are those kids treating you at that school?”

“After the first few frogs and garden snakes, they treat me fine. They didn’t know I grew up in the Louisiana Bayou. I used to alligator hunt with my Dad, a little frog or snake, don’t scare me.”

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