Maxwell
“Doyouhaveany idea how hard it is to book a flight to Miami?” Maxwell closed the lid of his laptop with disgust. “I’m a VIP Preferred Customer with Arcane Air Travel, and they still can’t get me in for at least a week!”
“So you’re definitely leaving then,” Sean said, filling up both their whiskey tumblers without being asked.
Maxwell was silent for a long moment. “I have to,” he said. “I mean, I was always going to, sooner or later. And I was thinking later because I was having such a good time here, but…” He took a sip of the whiskey.
“And now you’re not having a good time here?” Sean asked, elegant eyebrows raised. “I apologise on behalf of Crowley Lake.”
“It’s not that,” Maxwell said. “You know it’s not that. It’s because of…”
“Chloe,” Sean finished in his crisp Edinburgh accent. “I thought it might be. What happened to staying as long as she wanted you and enjoying every minute?”
Maxwell sighed. “That was my plan. And it was a really good plan. An excellent plan, even. But you know what they say about the best-laid plans.”
“I do,” Sean said, his face serious. “You’re feeling more than you think you should, and so you’re leaving because it hurts too much to go on like you have been. Is that about right?”
“I guess so,” Maxwell said, tracing the rim of his tumbler. If it had been a wine glass, he might have been able to make it sing obnoxiously. “I’m not really into having my heart broken, if I can avoid it.” He gave Sean a wry grin. “I always knew Chloe was amazing. Turns out she was just a bit too amazing for little old me.”
“And so you’re just going to leave without telling her how you feel?” Sean gave him a look of deep disapproval. “Brilliant plan.”
“What would be the point?” Maxwell demanded. “Look, she’s made it perfectly clear that she’d never want anything long term with me. The thought of turning is repulsive to her. She wants to put everything paranormal behind her and move on. She’s an ambitious girl; I know what she wants to do with her life. And sadly, there’s no room in it for me.”
“Has she ever told you that? Explicitly?”
“Explicitly? No. But she doesn’t have to,” Maxwell sighed again. “Look, she’s a nice girl. Kind. Too kind. She’s not just going to come out and say, ‘you’re a hunky bit of vamp flesh, and I’m enjoying riding you like a mustang, but you must understand you’re not exactly my happily ever after'. That doesn’t mean I don’t know it.”
“A mustang, eh?” Sean snorted. “Very high opinion of yourself.”
“Oh, it’s warranted,” Maxwell shot back. “I can give you a list of references who’ll verify it.”
“I’ll pass, thanks,” Sean said drily. “But even if it doesn’t work out with Chloe, it doesn’t mean you have to leave. You like Crowley Lake. Admit it. You’re happy here.”
“I like it more than I thought I would,” Maxwell acknowledged. “And you’ve been a good friend to me since I came here. Don’t think I don’t know that or that I’m not grateful. Hell, you’ve been in a better friend in a month than my old crew have in a hundred years. But I can’t stay. I can’t stay and see her move on with some human guy and hear about them going for picnics in the sunshine and making love in fields and —” he winced at the thought. “I can’t stay.”
“For what it’s worth, I think you’re making a mistake,” Sean said. “You’ve been good for Crowley Lake, too. Bringing the community here together. Looking out for people.”
“I’m sure Charles is more than capable of running the poker game,” Maxwell said.
“That’s not what I meant,” Sean said. “Charles wouldn’t have noticed anything was wrong with Tobias. You did.”
“Well, you’ll just have to keep an eye on things, then.”
“I’m not exactly a social butterfly,” Sean said in his driest tone. “I can’t stop you doing this, of course. But you’re making a mistake.”
Maxwell didn’t say anything as he took another sip of his whiskey. He trusted Sean’s opinion on many matters, but on this one, the dour Scotsman was just plain wrong.
When Arcane Air Travel finally confirmed that they could get him to Miami (why Miami? Maxwell had no idea what his friends saw in the place), there was just one thing left to do.
Chloe was sitting at her desk, the picture of professionalism as she typed furiously into her computer, chewing on the lid of her pen. Maxwell was so far gone that he even found the gnarled pen lids in the cup holder of Chloe’s car endearing. This was why he had to leave.
He knocked gently on the glass, and Chloe looked surprised to see him.
“Hi,” she said, letting him inside. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”
“Sorry,” he said, leaning down to brush his lips against hers. Would it be the last time? “I just wanted to talk to you.”
“Oh,” Chloe said, frowning slightly. “Do you want to come upstairs?”
“Here’s fine,” Maxwell said, pacing. “I just wanted to let you know that I’ve booked a flight back to the States. For the tenth.”
Chloe stood there, one foot still hovering above the bottom step for a long moment. A very long moment. Finally, she looked down at her foot like she had never seen it before. “Oh,” she said quietly. “Right.”
“Now that the curse is broken, I guess it makes sense to re-join my friends.” Maxwell went on. “I mean, I was never going to stay here forever.”