Chapter 79

• Max let himself back in the house quietly so he wouldn't wake Emilia or Gaby. He'd gone for a morning run, something he'd been doing for the past two weeks. Emilia had put him on a strict diet and insisted he go back to working out, telling him that he needed to go back to the person she'd married. Funny, because she'd married a young man who was dumb enough to let her go because his pride wouldn't let him go after her. He had told her that but she'd said that wasn't the point. She wanted him to go back to being the strong and healthy man she knew.
• He hadn't realized how he'd let himself go until she pointed it out to him. Now that he could actually think straight, he understood why Preston and Mel were worried. He had been consumed with so much pain and loneliness that he couldn't see anything past that. He'd heavily relied on alcohol to numb him and it showed. But that was over now, wasn't it? He had his wife back. Well, not really. There hadn't been any intimacy between them. They didn't talk about the signed divorce papers back in the safe back at home or anything related to their relationship. He couldn't bring any of it up because he was scared she would say she meant it when she left him.
• While he was happy to just be with her, he couldn't help walking on eggshells around her. She had asked him to stay, they even slept on the same bed, but Max didn't dare do anything he thought might upset her. He loved her, that was never going to change. But he wanted her to go to him when she was ready. The thought of her telling him to go back home alone scared him. The Carter mansion was so big and empty and depressing. The thought of living there alone made his stomach churn with fear. So he didn't press her buttons, he avoided topics that would make her angry or anything that could upset her and readily agreed with whatever she said. Even then, he was the happiest he'd ever been.