Along Came Mr. Right (20 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Olivia waited outside Max’s classroom until the final bell rang, dismissing students for the day. Since it was Tuesday, Max wouldn’t be there. He was off in New York, hopefully having all the success with his Matchmaker app as he deserved.

She continued waiting as the students dribbled out. Paige wasn’t among them, so she peered inside. An older, bald-headed man sat at Max’s desk, bent over a stack of papers. Paige sat at her desk in the back of the room, staring down at a packet of papers. Olivia immediately went to her side. “What is it, Paige?” she asked, unable to hide her concern.

Instead of the sadness she’d expected, Paige turned to her with a radiant smile. “Mr. R. graded all our papers last week, but the sub passed them out today. I got an A on my math final.”

“That’s wonderful.” Olivia reached down and gave Paige a hug. “I’m so proud of all your hard work.”

“Mr. R. wrote a note. Do you want to see?”

“Sure,” Olivia said, slipping into the desk beside the teen. Paige handed her the test. Max’s handwriting stood out against the stark white paper. Simply looking at an extension of the man brought a deep stirring to her soul.

Nothing is impossible. You’re proof of that. Looking forward to seeing you not only next quarter but also next year in Algebra II.—Mr. R.

Paige’s smile grew bigger when Olivia looked back up at the teen. “I’m passing geometry!”

“I’d say this news calls for a celebration. Frozen yogurt?”

Paige nodded. “With toppings?”

“Of course,” Olivia replied as she stood and waited for Paige to pack up. Together they walked down the stairs and back to Olivia’s car. It didn’t take long to drive to the strip mall near the school, and soon they were both seated in two big, overstuffed, orange chairs, enjoying the sweet treat.

Paige’s good humor was still in place, but as they ate a hint of tension stretched in the air between them. “Is there something wrong?” Olivia finally asked, setting her pineapple yogurt with toasted coconut flakes aside. She watched Paige drop her gaze to her yogurt, as if she couldn’t meet Olivia’s eyes. Apprehension fluttered in her stomach.

“Can I ask you something kind of personal?” the teen asked.

Olivia grinned, and the tension disappeared. “When has my, or anyone’s, personal life ever been off-limits to you?”

Paige laughed. “Seriously, it’s about you and Mr. R.”

Another rush of anxiety pushed forward. “Go on . . .”

“This is gonna sound really stupid.”

“If it concerns you, there is nothing in this world that could be stupid to me.”

“Over these last few weeks, working with you and Mr. R. . . .” Paige took a big breath and released it slowly. “It’s felt like the two of you were kinda like . . . my parents.” She gave a watery laugh this time.

Pain snagged Olivia’s heart. “Oh, Paige—”

“Let me finish,” Paige said. “I knew from the beginning you liked him, really liked him. Except now something’s changed between you. I can feel that, too. And . . .”

Olivia sat back, waiting for the teenager to continue. She shouldn’t be surprised Paige knew more than she ever let on. She was always so sensitive to the emotions of others. When she didn’t say anything, Olivia prompted her. “And . . .”

“Here’s the way I see it. Mr. R. is being a knucklehead, but so are you.”

“Knucklehead, huh?”

Paige’s smile finally reached her eyes once more. “Dr. Fisher is always telling us in therapy that our pain is mostly in our heads. Most of us in the group have suffered losses that seem unbearable. That is the reality we can’t change. What we can change is the stuff in our heads—the pain we manufacture ourselves like guilt, resentment, and bitterness—that’s the stuff we have to let go of. Once I stopped hating my dad for the pain he caused me, the pain I kept reliving in my head, I’ve been so much happier.” She hooked a big scoop of yogurt covered in Gummi Worms and held it out. “And my grades improved.”

“Again, sweetie, I’m so proud of you. But what does all that have to do with Max and me?”

Paige dropped her spoon back in her cup. “You and Mr. R. are so happy together. Why are you letting some imaginary thing come between you?”

“He’s marrying another woman.”

“Is he?” Paige arched her brows. “Or is that just what you want to believe? Jeez, Olivia, I think you expect men to betray you. Not all men are like that. Mr. R. certainly isn’t. He called Mrs. Miller and told her about the photo Annalise had of me and her mirror. I didn’t steal it. I’ll never steal anything ever again.”

“I never thought you did steal it. I was just trying to protect you from more pain.”

Paige shrugged. “She can’t hurt me. I choose to believe that if and when something happens, the truth will come out.”

Olivia released a ragged sigh. “When did you get so grown up?”

“When you were making googly eyes at Mr. R.” Paige giggled.

Olivia leaned in and made googly eyes at Paige, sharing in the laugh. This was more like the Paige she knew. Grown-up because she had to be, but still a kid deep down. Olivia gave her a hug. “I hope you know how much I love you.”

Paige hugged her back. “I know. You’re part of the reason I’ve been trying so hard to improve my grades. I never want to disappoint you ever again.”

“You never have and you never will.” As the two of them finished their afternoon splurge, Olivia reflected on what the teenager had said about making the problems between herself and Max seem bigger than they really were. Was that wishful thinking, or was there truly a way for them to be together?

Late Wednesday afternoon, Max met his friends at East Queen Anne Park for a game of two-on-two basketball. He dropped his equipment bag on the sidelines, then joined the others. Dusk was descending, casting a lavender-gray haze over the ball court. Two nearby streetlights buzzed on, then off, trying to decide if it was night or day.

As they got started, Trevor, a detective with the Seattle Police, took a three-point shot and scored with ease. Trevor, despite the fact he had the toughest job of the four of them, was probably the nicest of the bunch. This week Connor and Jack played against Trevor and Max.

“When did you get back?” Connor took the ball, dribbling as he talked.

“About an hour ago,” Max replied, blocking a pass to Jack.

“You missed us so much that you drove from the airport here?” Jack sidled around Max, connected with a pass, took a shot, and scored. Jack Rouven was as much a hotshot doctor as he was a basketball player. Jack hated losing—whether that was a patient or a hoop shot. Today his aim seemed as on-target as ever. Max recovered the ball and just stood on the sideline, trying to breathe. It wasn’t the game that left him breathless; it was all that had happened yesterday. “No, I needed to do something physical to let everything sink in.”

Connor, Jack, and Trevor all stopped, waiting for him to continue. When he didn’t, Connor asked, “How much did you sell Matchmaker 2.0 for?”

Max closed his eyes. He still couldn’t believe it, even though he’d checked his bank balance that morning after the funds transfer had gone through. All the money was there. “Thirty-seven million dollars.”

Jack whooped. “Holy crap!”

“That’s amazing!” Trevor clapped his hands together.

“Good God, you’re rich, and none of that is because of your father. It’s all you.” Max saw the pride in Connor’s eyes.

A slow, satisfied smile came to Max’s lips. “How about I buy the beer after the game?” he suggested, passing the ball once more to Connor from the sideline.

Connor moved down the half court, slamming into Jack, sending him to the ground on his back. “I’d say that’s a definite yes.”

“Who knew your little love machine would be worth so much,” Jack said, picking himself up.

A gray cloud slid across the sky, casting a shadow over Max. “My buyers were willing to gamble that people would do just about anything to find their perfect someone.”

“Speaking of the perfect someone, how’s it going with Olivia?” Connor asked, taking a shot. “Score.”

“She told me we’re through.” Max stopped playing as the thought of Olivia stole his attention. Pain exploded against the side of his head a moment after the basketball entered his peripheral vision. Max dropped to the asphalt with a groan.

“You’re supposed to catch it with your hands,” Connor said, dropping to his knees beside Max. “You okay?”

Jack knelt down and looked into Max’s eyes. He held a finger up before his face. “Follow my finger,” he said in his most doctorlike voice.

Max did as directed.

Jack stood, then extended his hand. “You’re fine, but another knock like that and you won’t be. Sit the rest of the game out. Your attention is obviously elsewhere.”

“You said it yourself—I’m fine.” Max reached for the ball in Trevor’s hands.

Trevor twisted, putting the ball out of his reach. “You should do what the doctor says.”

Max wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. “My basketball game isn’t what ails me.”

Connor sighed. “So Olivia wrote you off. Is it because of Annalise?”

Max nodded. “I’ve been so blind.”

“What are you going to do?” Trevor asked with an expectant look.

Max stood. “What I should have done an hour ago. I need to go find her.”

Jack raised a brow. “Then why are you hanging around here with us? Seems like you have someone to talk to.”

“Will you take a rain check on those beers?” Max asked.

“Sure, but it’s going to cost you a few more beers in the end,” Trevor said with a smile.

“Perhaps that ball knocked some sense into you after all,” Jack said with a wink.

“Make us proud,” Connor said, clapping Max on the shoulder.

Max didn’t look back as he scooped up his equipment bag and headed for his car. It was Wednesday night. He had no idea where to find Olivia, but he would search all of Seattle to find her if he had to. But before he could do that, he had to see Annalise first.

“How do you feel?” Annalise nudged Max after he handed her his check for $1 million.

“I’m happy about the sale. I appreciate your faith in me at a time when I hardly had faith in myself.”

Annalise turned away and set the check on the granite countertop in her kitchen. Though she’d set the check down, she continued to stare at the dollar amount written there. “You really do love her, don’t you?”

“More than anything,” Max replied.

“Are you going to marry her?”

“If she’ll have me,” he said honestly.

Annalise opened a drawer near her and withdrew a pen. She took her pen and drew a line through her name and scribbled something else above her name before handing it back to Max.

Startled, he looked at what she’d written. Instead of endorsing the check for herself, she’d made it payable to the Tomorrow Foundation.

“All you have to do is initial the change and the check will still be good,” Annalise said.

“Why?” Max asked.

“I was thinking of the pictures of the kids on the wall of Olivia’s foundation. They could probably use the money more than I can,” Annalise said with a shrug.

Max didn’t know what to think or say, so he settled for a simple, “That’s very generous of you. Thank you.”

“It’s the least I could do after everything I put her through,” she said in a remorseful tone. “I could say I acted the way I did because I was scared, and lonely, and fueled with pregnancy hormones, but I’m done making excuses for my bad behavior. I was wrong to get in the way.”

“It’s all water under the bridge now.”

She brought her gaze to his. He saw true regret in her blue eyes. “Do you really feel that way? Can you forgive me?”

Her pain snagged his heart. “Yes, Annalise. We’ve known each other for too many years to let a misunderstanding get in the way,” he said, wanting to believe his own words.

The glimmer of a smile came to her lips. “That’s more than I deserve.”

He moved cautiously toward her. When she was close enough to touch, he stopped. “Will you be okay?”

She nodded. “I went to see my father yesterday.”

“And?”

“I told him the truth.”

Max reached out to her, one friend to another. “What was his response?”