After only a few hours, she felt as refreshed as if she’d been on vacation for a month. And when she suggested a restaurant in the heart of Shockoe Slip, the trendiest area in Richmond, Max took her there, too. Peopl
e stared at them, but Chloe didn’t care in the least. She held Max’s hand and sipped the last of her wine and she felt…happy.
“I went online while you were in the shower,” Max said, signaling that make-believe time was over.
She sighed a little at the loss of it, but didn’t really mourn. “Yeah, maybe my next place will have a shower big enough for two.”
“Promises, promises.” But his smile faded quickly. “Are you saying you might be willing to give me another shot? In a few weeks I’ll be back at work. I won’t be able to see you for two months.”
It seemed crazy even to consider it. Despite having steady jobs and adult responsibilities, each of them was at an utterly unstable point in their lives. “We just started dating. You might go over there and fall in love with the new cook on your boat.”
“No, I never sleep with crew members. It causes too much distraction when I need to be focused on my job.”
“Jeez, Max. No declaration of ever-faithful love?”
He offered an easy grin. “Oh, I’ll be faithful. You can’t trust condoms in a shipboard environment. Too much heat and humidity.”
“Wow, that’s like poetry. Maybe you should write a book.”
“Oh, yeah? What about you? You’ll be the one hanging out on land with unlimited access to the whole male population of Virginia.”
“And climate-controlled drugstores.”
He tilted his beer in her direction. “Exactly.”
“I’ll wait for you. If you want me to.”
He opened his hand to look down at her fingers, touching each knuckle with his thumb as if he were biding his time. “You can forgive me? For walking away when you needed me?”
She cocked her head and studied him. His tan face and the laugh lines around his eyes, which might be from smiling or from worrying too much. “That did hurt.”
“I know. I swear I’ll learn. If we decide to do this… I promise I won’t be the guy who runs off when things get tough. Even if I have no idea what I’m doing, I won’t run.”
She let her smile fade and met his gaze with somber eyes. “If we’re being serious… I’ve spent some time thinking about this, Max. The truth is that I like you. Too much. Or just the right amount, maybe. But you’re living a lie, and I’ve already done that with one guy.”
“Shit,” he muttered, dropping her fingers so he could run both hands through his hair.
“You said it was killing you.”
“It is.”
“I don’t want to wake up one day and find that you’ve left everything behind and faked a plane crash because you can’t take it anymore.”
“Even if I’m running to a house in the suburbs and the nine-to-five grind?”
“Yeah. I want you walking right up to those things, out in the open. Like a man.”
“Jesus, Chloe. I didn’t see that blade coming.”
Pressing her lips together, she refused to offer an apology.
After a few sips of his beer, Max rolled his shoulders. “I’ve been living this way for thirty years. It’s going to take me a little while to untangle myself.”
“I understand. I can give you time. And the reason it’s easy to forgive you? Because you were actually trying to do the right thing when you walked away from me.”
“For myself,” he clarified.
“Well, I was trying to keep you there for myself, so I don’t begrudge you that. Much. And you know what? I think long-distance dating might be just the speed of dating we both need right now. For a little while.”