Page 40 of Can We Skip to the Good Part?

She and Rachel seemed to be in a better place.

They weren’t exactly cuddling and swapping funny stories from their days quite yet, but they were laughing on occasion.

Rachel had even asked her if she needed anything at the grocery store, which felt like a huge victory.

With each passing day, another chunk of ice fell off their friendship, and they took a small step forward.

In fact— oh shit . Hold all thoughts. Ella swallowed and lightly touched the counter, then untouched it because Max was in the book line.

This was no big deal. Air would show up momentarily.

Max should be in the book line. She was here to help, like all the rest of them.

Moreover, she’d been responsible for securing the space and for many of the evening's biggest donors. Exhale, and in again . It was just that Ella hadn’t seen her face-to- face since that last day when everything came apart, and her heart squeezed uncomfortably, reaching for Max automatically, because how did you tell a heart not to reach?

Two quick sales from two very generous buyers, and she stood facing Max. She could have stepped aside and let Doug handle the sale, or switched spots with Ariana, who floated through the store. The truth was she didn’t want to. She wanted a moment with Max, even if it was just that.

And then the moment was upon them, and those soulful brown eyes were on hers. “Hi,” Ella said. “It’s nice to see you.” Anything else would have been a lie.

Max’s smile was small, hesitant at the edges, like it wasn’t sure it was allowed to stay. But it was real. It was Max. “Hey, El.” Soft and familiar in a way that made Ella’s chest go tight.

God, she’d missed that voice.

Up close like this, Max looked the same and not the same. There was a weariness to her now, maybe the same weariness Ella carried. Perhaps you didn’t come out of something like what they’d been through unmarked. But, underneath, she was still Max. Still achingly, impossibly Max.

“I didn’t know if I should—” Max started, then stopped, glancing down at the book in her hands like it had the ability to tell her what came next.

Ella shook her head before she thought better of it. “I’m glad you did.” And it was the truth. Wildly inconvenient, probably unwise—but true.

For a beat, neither of them moved. The room went on around them—laughter, the low hum of conversation, the rustle of shopping bags, and the clink of wineglasses—but Ella’s whole world had narrowed to the woman standing just in front of her.

The woman she wasn’t supposed to want. The woman she still did.

Max’s fingers traced the edge of the book absentmindedly, like nervous energy that needed somewhere to go. “You look—” She huffed a quiet laugh, self-conscious. “You look great.”

Ella’s laugh caught somewhere between nerves and wanting to cry. “So do you.”

There was so much more lingering in the space between them, everything they couldn’t say, everything they maybe still wanted to, but all Ella could do was press her palm lightly to the cover of the book between them. A touch without really touching.

“Can I ring that up for you?” she asked gently.

Max’s answering smile was barely there. But God, it still knocked the air right out of her.

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

Max’s donation had been a generous one, but she had a similar affinity for Doug’s. They all did. And then with one final conservative smile and nod, she disappeared into the mingling attendees, leaving Ella in a very different state than she’d found her.

She helped the next two customers, attempting to smile and interact, and let them know about all the ways their purchase would contribute to assisting Doug in first cleaning out the store and then slowly inviting contractors in to start the rebuild.

She was failing miserably with phrases like What was I saying again?

and Um, what I mean is ... infiltrating her speech.

Finally, she tapped Morgan in and stepped back, attempting to reset herself. It was only a moment until Rachel was by her side. “So, that was brutal.”

“What was?”

“Watching the two of you dance around each other.”

Ella closed her eyes, absorbing the information. It still hurt Rachel to see them interact. “I’m really sorry.”

“No. I didn’t mean brutal in that sense.” She shrugged. “More like I don’t want to see you go out of your way to be unhappy. And that’s what staying away from Max is doing to you.”

Ella turned to her, head tilted as she tried to understand. She searched Rachel’s face and saw a newfound softness to her features and what seemed to be the beginnings of a brave smile. “Here’s what I think. You stop circling each other and put us all out of our misery.”

“No. Rachel, if you’re at all?—”

“Did you hear me? Max is standing right over there like a wounded puppy lost on a busy street.” Ella followed her gaze to see Max holding her drink and watching the crowd from the perimeter.

“And you’re standing over here like a broken copy of yourself glitching all over the place.

I’m certainly no better off for either of those things. ”

“I don’t know what the solution is here.”

“I do,” Rachel said quietly. “I’m going to have to put my big girl pants on and remind myself to, every once in a while, think of other people.

Girl code is way less important than my best friend’s happiness.

” She shrugged with a wry smile. “Now, go talk to Max Wyler before I change my mind and become incredibly selfish again.”

It was a gesture that Ella wasn’t sure she deserved.

This new reflective Rachel was a little bit jarring.

But when someone extended kindness, it was important to acknowledge it.

“I don’t know what to say other than thank you, and are you sure?

You’re my friend, and I want you to be comfortable. I want you and me to be okay.”

“Shut up,” she said with a half-smile. “It’s the right thing, and we will be. Go. And then get back to this line already. We need you to close out the night strong.”

An automatic smile appeared on Ella’s face and slowly grew. “I guess I’ll be right back.” She took a few steps into the crowd, then turned back to Rachel, only to receive a dramatic shooing gesture. This felt like the biggest improvise ever, but she surfed her way to Max, arriving behind her.

“Excuse me,” she said, going up on her tiptoes and positioning her mouth close to Max’s ear so she’d hear her over the chatter all around them.

Max turned, and her eyebrows rose when she saw Ella there.

“I don’t know what your week looks like, but I was hoping we could grab a coffee or a glass of wine. If you have time.”

She watched every muscle in Max’s face relax. A small smile emerged. “If I have time? Of course I have time, but …” She trailed off, and her eyes shifted to where Ella had left Rachel. She was attempting to piece together the series of events.

“Yeah. Rachel and I are working things out. And I want to see you. Very much.”

“Then, yes.”

Ella laughed, feeling lighter, as if she might float away at any moment. “When are you free?”

“Right now. Later tonight. Tomorrow.”

“Oh.” They shared a smile, and a nervous flutter hit her midsection as if she’d swallowed Tinkerbell. She was a teenager all over again. “Well, um, I have the event.”

Max didn’t waver. “I’ll wait. I’ll help clean up. I’ll sit in my car. Whatever you want.”

“Really? You’re willing to wait? Don’t you have work in the morning?” The gesture was a big one.

Max stepped closer, the determination in her eyes bypassing flutter and sending a full-on shiver.

“I’ve waited this long. Waiting a few more hours just means I get to want you more.

I’ll wait all night.” Her voice was low and quiet.

Sexy for days. Ella blinked, but words had fled the scene.

She swallowed, rebounding, searching for even ground because she’d almost forgotten the potency of Max’s presence.

“I bet I’m done by 10:30. I just have to offer some instructions to the volunteers from the museum, but with everyone helping, we should have the books packed up in no time.”

Max smiled. “You’re not going to have any books left.”

Ella looked behind her. “I don’t know. We brought so many.”

“There’s an hour left. Just wait.”

Not only was Max correct about every last book leaving the event with a new owner, but their grand total was three times the goal they’d set going into tonight.

Doug was shaking as the caterers broke down the little cocktail tables to haul away.

“Why would they buy all of them?” he asked, still in disbelief.

In between the cleanup, he’d walk one direction and then the other, still in shock and unsure what to do with himself.

It had been a tumultuous period in his life, and he was clearly working through the bad and now the good.

“Because this town loves you and the store,” Stevie said, hands on hips.

“There wasn’t a single chance they’d let you go down because of a ridiculous power surge.

” She studied the Weepers, who’d all stayed back to help.

“And now that you’ve covered the gap in your funding, we can get started on cleanup. I’ll be there on Monday.”

“I’ll be by after work,” Morgan said. “There’s a faculty meeting, but I plan to steal the agenda and sneak away. Don’t turn me in.”

“I know a lawyer if you need one,” Max said with a wink.

The others chimed in, having all made arrangements to pitch in, and the whole thing just brought a big ole lump to Ella’s throat, because this was what real life was all about, coming together when a neighbor needed help.

She knew they wouldn’t rest until Doug was back behind the counter, passive-aggressively judging every book placed on his checkout counter and mumbling to himself, while loving every minute of his time with his customers.

Tonight had been the first truly good night in a long time, and it wasn’t even over yet. “Get in here, Weepers,” Ella said, placing her flat hand in the center of their circle. “You too, Doug. You’re an honorary Weeper tonight.”

“Oh, good,” he said, wandering over.

Each member of the group tossed their hand on top, including Doug, and Ella beamed. “We came. We mingled. We sold every damn book in this place. There’s nothing we can’t do. Weepers on three. One, two, three.”

“Weepers,” shouted the group.

And that brought the night to a close.

Ariana and Morgan began to dance to the club music that one of the caterers played from her phone. Stevie, Olive, and Doug were carpooling and gathered their belongings, along with an extra tray of brownies that the catering company had gifted them.

That left her and Max.