Page 60 of Puck Me Secretly

Heart in my throat, I swung the door open.

There stood Max with a stiff posture.

“Max.” I sounded thick and stupid.

His nostrils flared as his eyes went up and down, taking in my yoga pants, droopy ponytail, and bare feet.

“Are you alone?” He spoke through a clenched jaw.

Was I dreaming?

I nodded, confused and disoriented.

His eyes narrowed. “I didn’t get a text.”

I looked to his vehicle that sat in the long driveway, and then back to him. “You know where I live?”

“Your address was in my GPS. Why didn’t you text me?”

The tone of his voice made my eyes widen. He was not a happy camper.

I put my hand on my forehead, trying to process this. “It’s the middle of the night.”

“Exactly.”

I hadn’t texted him, but in my defense, I thought it was too pathetic to be texting him that I was home alone while he frolicked with some hot bunny.

“Were you worried?”

He glowered. He ticked off his points with his fingers. “Home by yourself. On some date. Didn’t text.”

In that moment, I made the game time decision to not tell him that I hadn’t been on a date. “So, you drove here to check up on me?”

A muscle in his jaw ticked. Finally, he spoke. “I wanted to go to bed, and I got tired of waiting.”

It dawned on me that Max had been waiting for me to text him that I was okay. And when I hadn’t, he had gotten into his vehicle, to drive across town to check on me. That fact staggered me.

“Max.” My voice had more feeling than I wanted it to.

He turned and stalked back to his truck. He slammed the door of his vehicle and then the engine roared to life.

He unrolled his window and called something to me.

“What?”

He pointed at the door. He wanted me to go back inside. I nodded but stood there, waiting for him to drive off. A moment passed before I realized that he would not drive away until I moved inside.

Confused, I stepped inside and shut the door. Only then did I hear the roar of his vehicle.

What had justhappened?

I lay in bed,replaying that Max had been so concerned about my safety that he had driven to my home in the middle of the night to check on me. Did that mean he cared? It must mean a small part of him cared.

I picked up my phone.

Me: Sorry I didn’t text. Thank you for checking up on me.

Max: Why didn’t you?

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