“I’m always going to be a straight shooter with you, Ada,” he says gravely. “I was far too duplicitous in my past life. Not going to do that this time around. Besides, you deserve to know the truth, about everything. Maybe they don’t think you can handle it, but I do. I know you can handle anything thrown your way. You’ve already proven it.”
Well, shit. What he just said warms my heart a little. Or like, a lot. When it feels like no one believes in you, when no one sees what you’re capable of, hearing this means something. Even if it’s just coming from Max.
But before I can get all mushy on him, the waitress comes by and takes our order, which Max places for us.
“And the lady here will have a Corona,” Max says, pointing at me with the menu and flashing the woman a smile.
Now, I can’t actually see if he’s doing anything manipulative in his head, but his smile is charming as hell and the woman is blushing like crazy. If I’m going to be objective about it, Max is handsome as hell and I’m starting to wonder if part of his influence is just because he’s hot.
Hot? I do a double-take at my own thoughts, then quickly shove them aside as the waitress turns her attention to me.
“Are you of age, sweetie?” she asks me.
“She’s of age,” Max says, and the waitress looks back at him.
She nods, that smile still frozen on her face. “Okey dokey,” she says brightly. “Coming right up.”
I watch as she walks off, then look back at Max. “I should have asked for a margarita.”
“Sweetheart, you think this place serves good margaritas?” he asks. “Let’s wait until we at least get to California.”
I grin at him, feeling excited at the prospect of heading south.
“So, was it all you dreamed of?” he asks me. The waitress then comes by with red plastic glasses filled with water and I wait until she leaves again.
“It was. So tell me, how much did you pay for your car outside?”
“The Super B?” he asks, taking a sip of water. “Paid nothing.”
“So you stole it.”
“No. I asked if I could borrow it and the dealer said yes,” he says, tapping his fingers on the table. “I’ll bring it back.”
“This is dangerous, Max,” I tell him, but it’s a danger I’ll welcome with open arms. “How long have you been able to do this?”
“Since I can remember,” he says.
I think about that. “Jay told me that you get your memory wiped every time you have to help someone. So you don’t form attachments.”
“Is that what happened to Jay?”
I shake my head. “No. He remembers me.”
“You’ve seen him after you broke up? Jacob said he left and hasn’t come back.”
Thanks for the reminder. “I, uh, I saw him in my dream.”
“So?”
“So like…that’s how Jay would first visit me. In my dreams. And then I figured out how to visit him. I saw him. In his new house. In Arizona.”
Max blinks at me. “Oh. Well, fuck. That’s something.”
“And he remembered me.”
“Well, all I got are my own experiences. Some I don’t remember, but most I do.”
“So how long have you really been around? How many years? Fifty? A hundred? Centuries?”
He gives me a fleeting smile. “The last one.”
My mouth drops open. “Centuries? What century?”
“Renaissance.”
“You were alive during the Renaissance?!” I exclaim loudly. The entire restaurant looks our way.
“Trying to keep this a secret here,” he says, motioning for me to calm down, but like anyone in this place is going to take stock in what I just said.
“But your accent,” I point out. “It’s southern.”
“I’ve had many accents, darlin’. Many accents, many lives.”
“Holy shit.” I gape at him. “What is that even like? To be alive for so long? To remember all of it? Did you never get bored? Is that why you gave it up for Rose?”
He gives me a patient look. “I gave it up for Rose because I was in love with her.”
“And you hadn’t fallen in love with anyone else before?”
“I had,” he says slowly. “Many times. But, back then, I didn’t know I had the choice.”
“Jacob didn’t tell you?”
“There was no Jacob, not for a long time.”
“You’re older than Jacob?” I squeak. Here I was thinking he was ageless.
“That’s right.”
“Then why aren’t you in charge?”
“Who says I’m not?”
“Wait…Jacob…you’re in charge of him?”
He shakes his head. “Nah. Was never my job.”
“This is a lot to take, Max.”
“I know.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t just stay dead, to be honest.”
He frowns. “Thanks.”
“What I mean is, you lived a long time. You deserved a break.”
“I was in Hell, Ada. That wasn’t a vacation. And, at any rate, you’re turning twenty this year, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Could you live those twenty years over again?”
“Of course.”
“Now imagine you’re fifty. It’ll be here before you know it. Don’t you think you’d look back on your life and think about what you’d give to have another fifty years? Well, now you’re one hundred. And you could easily do one hundred more. And so on and so on. Life only gets boring if you let it get boring. People always act like immortality is a curse, but it’s not.” He pauses, his look getting dark. “Not always, anyway. Life is pure and precious and we cling to it because there’s nothing else like it. So they all say.”