Page 22 of The Promise Of Rain

“I can’t even prepare,” I complained, yanking my tunic top down to ensure it covered my bum.“It’s not like I can leave when they walk through my door.”

“No,” Maxine dragged the word out, her face thoughtful.“You can always prepare your response ahead of time.”

“Stop being so reasonable,” I grumbled and reached out my hand.“And give me my coffee.”

Grinning at me, Maxine passed me the tumbler she brought from home.

I took a sip and hummed.“You make the best coffee.”

She threw her little hip out and fluffed her hair.“I was a barista in another life.”

Maxine was a city girl, an import to Moose Lake when she married Miller.

She entered the scene when I was at my lowest.

Abandoned by the love of my life, betrayed by my dearest friends, and devastated by the lingering consequences of the attack, I was a ghost of my former self.

As if that wasn’t enough, I’d just begun to heal when a man I’d steered clear of from the first time I laid eyes on him, decided he’d take Deacon’s place.

Unofficially, of course.

It wouldn’t do to link his name to mine.

Through all of it, though she barely knew me, Maxine never once let me down.

And still, ten years later, I maintained a wall between us.

My heart weighed heavy in my chest.How many times had she invited me to have dinner with her and Miller and their family?

I swallowed past the grip anxiety had on my throat.

How many times had she dragged me into town to go shopping?Teasing me for my granny panties, linking her arm through my elbow, her little legs going double-time to keep up with mine, she brought me in as close as I’d let her.

For every five times she called me, I maybe called her once.The ratio of invites to visits was probably worse.

It shamed me.I didn’t deserve her, yet she persevered.

Dragging myself from the past, I focussed on the pretty blond leaning on the counter across from me.

She looked back at me kindly and murmured, “Lost you there for a minute.”

She was so lovely, inside and out, in a way I’d never been.

“Did I ever thank you?”I blurted.

Her eyebrows scrunched and met in the middle as she searched my eyes.“For what?”

“For what you and Miller did for me back then.”

“Pshaw,” she huffed.“I would have done that for anybody.”Her blue eyes widened comically.“Not that I’m not glad it was you!I mean, I’m not.Obviously.Because who would want that for their friend?”

I laughed.If there was a convoluted way to say something, Maxine found it.

She smiled.“What I’m trying to say is, if I loved you then like I love you now, I would have done it ten times over.No question.”

I blinked.

Love?