But with a lot of work and time spent with her parents that personality trait had turned around to the point that Max didn’t think twice about slinging his arm around her shoulders. That was when Annabelle knew she could love him.
His parents had died when he was in his early twenties, before he and Annabelle met. Even his grieving had been a private affair. And when she’d lost her babies...
He’d gone back to being clinical. Probably because she’d been so overwrought the first time or two. Then she’d begun pulling away as well and it had snowballed from there. She’d called him heartless that last time.
No more, Anna.
Wasn’t that what he’d said?
But had he really been as heartless as she’d thought? Maybe his grief—like with his parents’ deaths—had been worn on the inside.
‘Anna?’
Her friend’s voice called her back. She tried to remember the question. When had Max asked her to the charity event? ‘He asked me yesterday, after Hope’s surgery.’
When he’d almost kissed her in the hospital corridor.
If the male nurse hadn’t interrupted them when he had...
God! She was setting herself up for disaster.
The redhead moved forward several feet in line. ‘How did he ask you?’
‘Um...with his voice?’
Ella jabbed her with her elbow. ‘That’s not what I mean and you know it. Was he asking you to a fundraiser? Or was he asking you to something else?’
Something else?
‘I’m not sure what you mean.’
Ella turned her attention to the barista, ordering her usual beans and eggs breakfast with coffee.
Unlike her friend, Annabelle’s stomach was churning too much to go for a hearty breakfast so she ordered a cup of tea and a couple of crumpets with butter and marmalade.
‘What in the world are you having?’ Her friend curled her nose, her Irish accent coming through full force, as it did when she was amused.
‘I’m trying to eat lighter these days.’
Ella tossed her hair over her shoulder, taking the coffee the woman at the counter handed her. ‘I’ll go find us a table.’
It would do no good to try to hide anything from the midwife. She had always been far too good at seeing through her. Then again, there was that heart-on-the-sleeve syndrome that Annabelle just couldn’t shake. The barista handed her a teapot and cup, promising that she would be along with their breakfast orders soon. There was nothing left but to join Ella and try to sort through all of her feelings about spending time alone with her husband tomorrow evening. After all the years they’d been apart, he shouldn’t still leave her weak at the knees, but he did. And there was no denying it.
The second she sank into her chair, the midwife wrapped her hands around her chunky white mug and leaned forward. ‘So tell me what’s going on.’
‘I’m not sure.’
Ella didn’t respond, just sat there with brows raised.
Okay, so this was worse than just spilling her guts. ‘Like I said, it’s Max.’
This time her friend laughed. ‘I thought we’d already established that. If the rumours about the newest—and sublimely hot—member of Teddy’s tight-knit family are true, then he was spotted with his lips puckered, ready to swoop in on the always untouchable Annabelle. Some accounts of that story included a ringing slap to the face.’
Annabelle’s eyes widened, shock moving through her system. ‘People think I slapped him?’
‘Not everyone. Some think you disappeared into the nearest supply cupboard with him.’
‘Oh, heavens!’ She poured tea into her cup and took a quick sip, letting the hot liquid splash into her empty stomach, hoping it would give her some kind of strength. ‘Do they know who he is?’
She hoped Ella would understand the question. Did everyone at the hospital know that Max was her husband? Not that he actually was, except for on a piece of paper. The second she’d told him to get out, the marriage had been over.
‘If they don’t yet, they’re going to work it out soon enough.’ A waitress stopped by and dropped off their plates of food. ‘The only thing stopping them is that you’re using your maiden name. But of course, that makes it even more delicious as it heads down the gossip chain. Who wants to hear about an old married couple doing naughty things?’
‘Great. So what do I do about it?’
‘You might want to think about putting your own version of events out there so that you—and Max, for that matter—don’t wind up with a real mess on your hands.’
‘And what version of events is that? That I’m married to Max, but that we’re on our way to dissolving the marriage? Talk about winding up with a mess on my hands.’
She already had. And she wasn’t exactly sure what she could do to fix it. Especially since some people had evidently seen their display after the transplant surgery, when she was as sure as the next person that Max had been about to kiss her. If not for the nurse...
She presumed that he had been one of the ones to start the rumour. Then there was the situation of the actual kiss that had passed between them. But that had been outside the pub, and she was pretty sure no one from the hospital had been there. It was why she’d chosen the place.
Quickly telling Ella about that incident as well as all of the confusing feelings and emotions she’d been dealing with up to this point, she shrugged. ‘Maybe I should have told him I wouldn’t go to London with him.’
‘Are you kissing...I mean kidding?’ Ella grinned to show that the slip had been anything but an accident. ‘You two have got to figure this thing out. There’s obviously something there. That’s what people are picking up on. Tell me you’re not still in love with him.’
Annabelle didn’t miss a beat, although her fingers tightened on the handle of her teacup. ‘Of course not. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care what happens to him. I want him to be happy.’
‘And you don’t think he will be with you?’ Ella took a deep breath. ‘You’ve been locked in the past, Anna, whether you realise it or not. I think you have a decision to make. If you really believe you shouldn’t be together, and you want him to be happy, then maybe it’s time to do something about it. Remove yourself as an obstacle, as hard as that might be.’
When she’d asked Max to leave, she’d made no effort to go after him. And he’d made no effort to come back and work things out. Besides, she’d been so devastated by the fact that he wasn’t willing to sit and wallow in misery with her that she hadn’t been thinking straight.
But he evidently hadn’t needed to wallow. He could have fought for their marriage—offered to go with her to counselling. But he hadn’t. He’d simply seemed relieved it was all over
