Page 21 of A Love So Sweet
She needed to distract herself so she didn’t make a fool out of herself again. “Was Savannah upset that you left last night?”
“No, but now that you mention it, she’s probably upset with me right now. She called this morning, and I forgot to call her back. Do you mind if I just send her a quick text?”
Rather than finding fault that he hadn’t called her back, she admired his dedication to his family. “No. Go ahead.”
As he texted Savannah, his lips rose to a smile.
When she’d met Treat at the resort, he’d been professional and proper to everyone in the room. With the exception of the one misunderstanding between them, he was always a gentleman. And when he’d greeted Max, he’d kissed the back of her hand, as if she were someone special. She sensed he treated his family the same way.
“You really love your family, don’t you?”
“Sure. Don’t you?” he asked as he put his phone in his pocket.
“Yes, but I don’t have any siblings. I think those relationships are different from parental relationships.”
“I can’t imagine life without them. My mom died when I was eleven, after being sick for years, and afterward I tried to step into her shoes and take care of my four brothers and Savannah, but I never really pulled it off.”
She imagined him as a little boy, crushed by the death of his mother and trying to be strong for his siblings, and her heart opened even more. “I’m sorry about your mother. That must have been awful.”
“It was very difficult, but I have great memories of her, and I think about her often.”
“What was she like?”
He tightened his hold on her shoulder as the lights of the town came into view. “She was always there, smiling, hugging us. She loved the outdoors. My father would tell you she was stubborn, and I’m sure she was, but she had this spark of life about her…until she no longer did.”
She leaned against him, her heart aching for him. “She sounds wonderful. I wish I could have known her.”
“I think she would have adored you.” He got a faraway look in his eyes and said, “This is a little embarrassing to admit, but when she first got sick, my father bought her a horse, Hope. And now he believes he can communicate with my mother through the horse. Like she’s still around.”
The hairs on the back of Max’s neck prickled. “I’d really like to meet Hope.”
“You would?”
“Yes, very much. After my grandmother died, I felt her around for a long time. I think there’s some truth about the people we love never really leaving us. Not that I ever communicated with her after we lost her or anything. I was never that lucky, I guess. But I wouldn’t disregard what your father feels. Do you feel anything when you’re around Hope?”
“I don’t know how to answer that, because I want so badly to feel something. Sometimes I think I do, or I see a look in Hope’s eyes that makes me wonder, but that’s probably the hopeful eleven-year-old in me coming out.”
“Or maybe it’s the hopeful man trying to have faith in something other than the tangible.”
Treat pressed his lips to the side of her head as they crossed a street. He didn’t say anything, but she felt a wave of appreciation rolling off him.
“You’re lucky that you have so many siblings,” she said. “You said you helped each other through your loss?”
“Sure, as much as we could. I’m the oldest, and I’ve always tried to protect them. But I couldn’t be Mom.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t even come close. It wasn’t that I wanted to replace her. I just wanted to make it hurt less for them.”
“I’m sure they appreciated all that you were able to do,” she offered.
“You know, that’s just it. After years of hoping and praying that she’d be okay, I was so broken by her death that I really didn’tdomuch. I listened when they cried, told them everything would be okay. But when it was time to go away to college, I was kind of relieved to get out from under all that guilt.”
His emotions were so raw, as if he’d experienced leaving his family just yesterday instead of years earlier. Max wished they were sitting by a fireplace, or on a bench, somewhere she could crawl into his lap and comfort him.
He looked down at her, and she was drawn to the sincerity in his eyes. “I wish I’d known you then. To help you through.”
His lips curved up and he said, “How old are you, Max?”
“Twenty-eight and a half.”
He laughed. “Well, let’s see. You would have beentwo. I’m not sure you could have done much, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
