Chapter Twelve
Madison
I walked out of the chief’s office with Max and noticed that he looked very confused.
“Are you okay?” I asked him. Maybe bringing him to the station hadn’t been the best idea. I’d hoped it would jog his memory, but now I wasn’t so sure.
He looked at me in confusion. “The chief said that I’d be getting a medal,” he said.
“Well, yeah, I’m sure you will. I have no doubt about that.”
“But . . .why? I mean, I was shot. That’s a bad thing. So why am I getting a medal?”
I frowned. I knew that Max’s memory of the night was a bit foggy, but I still thought he knew that he had saved my life. I was sure that I, or at least someone, would’ve said something to him. Maybe someone had told him, and he’d simply forgotten. I was glad to finally have something nice to tell him. I was sure that he’d feel good about saving my life, and that it would make him feel better about what had happened. But before I had the chance to say anything Peter walked by and stopped when he saw us.
“MAX!” he boomed, and I saw Max jump up in surprise at the sound.
“Peter, good to see you,” Max said. I was always glad when Max remembered someone, and I was sure he was too.
“Boy, you sure had us worried,” Peter said in a voice that was too loud and too cheery. “We were all nervous. I kept telling everyone not to worry, though. I knew that my good man Max Aarons would pull through. And here you are, standing in front of us like the picture of good health. Nobody would ever know that you had just been in a coma. You’re forever impressing us,” Peter said.
Peter wasn’t usually this loud or this vocal, and I couldn’t understand why he was acting so strangely in front of Max. Although, maybe people just had no idea how to act around a guy that had just been shot. The whole thing was ridiculous. I wanted to shout at Peter and tell him that all Max wanted was for people to act normally around him, but I didn’t want to make a scene. So, I just smiled politely and told Peter that we would see him around soon.
“I don’t remember him being so weird,” Max said as we walked away, and I chuckled.
“To be honest, neither do I. Look, there’s Blake. He’s going to be glad to see you.”
I’d never been a huge fan of Blake, but he was Max’s best friend, so I’d always tolerated him and pretended to like him. I saw Max’s face light up, and it made me like Blake a little more. I waved him over.
“Ah, the man who survived a bullet and came out of a coma,” Blake said and embraced Max.
Max laughed. “As I live and breathe. It’s really good to see you, Blake. I’ll be honest, I’m haven’t been all that keen on seeing people, but I’m glad to see you.”
Blake beamed. “That’s nice of you to say. I came to see you a few times in the hospital, but you were still in a coma. Although I thought you were just pretending because I was telling you long stories about my life.”
“Yeah, I was just pretending. The moment you left, I got up and started partying around the room.”
Blake chuckled. “I wanted to come and see you afterward, but I knew you needed your rest. The last time I spoke to the doctor, he said you were doing very well but that these things take time to heal. I hope you’re not here because you’re coming back to work? I know you love working, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
I was glad to see that Max shook his head with absolute conviction.
“No, I’m not coming back to work. Hopefully soon, but I’m definitely taking a few weeks off. I’m starting to get kind of accustomed to sleeping in.”
We spoke for a little while longer, and afterward I asked Max if he wanted to spend a bit more time at the station.
“We can go on another trip around if you like.”
Max shook his head. “I think I’m ready to go home, if you don’t mind?
I smiled. “I don’t mind at all.” Actually, I was honestly grateful to go. I could see that the whole trip had made Max uncomfortable. “Although, I had an idea. We used to joke around about how we could never understand how anyone had the time to go and see a movie in the middle of the day. I’m not sure if you remember that?”
“Sort of,” he said and then grinned. “So, does that mean we’re going to see a movie in the middle of the day?”
I laughed. “Let’s do it.”
I wanted to be there to look after Max, but I wasn’t sure what we were going to do all day at his house. A movie was a good way for me to look after him while taking our minds off everything that was going on. Thankfully he seemed to love the idea of a midday movie. I was still full from breakfast, so I just ordered a drink, and we made our way inside.
“Why do I get the impression this is the first movie we’ve seen together?” Max asked as we sat down.
I looked at him and chuckled. “What a funny mind you have lately. Yeah, you’re right. This is the first time. We’ve watched movies before, but not at the cinema. You always told me that you didn’t understand why people would waste money on going out to watch something that they could just watch at home.”
He chuckled. “Wow, I really am very boring. Maybe it’s better if I don’t remember a few things. I’m happy to be here,” he said and leaned back in his chair.
“Me too,” I said and smiled as the room went dark.
The movie was one of those action-packed adventure types that were so completely over the top, they moved into something closer to comedy. I liked it. Max clearly liked it too, as I could hear him laughing through it all. Afterwards, when we made our way out, he was still chuckling to himself.
“You know, I don’t actually think that movie was supposed to be funny,” he said.
I giggled. “I don’t think so either. And somehow that just made it even funnier to me.”
“Yeah, same here. Hey, I understand why people go and see movies in the middle of the day now. That was a great way to spend the day, don’t you think?”
“I agree. Hey, why don’t we become professional day time movie watchers? We can get a film crew to follow us, and we can make our money by becoming reality TV stars?”
“Microwave Madi, you are more than just a pretty face,” he said, and I tried not to get embarrassed by the compliment.
“Coffee?” I suggested when I saw a little café at the entrance to the cinema.
“Always,” he replied.
I ordered us each a coffee, and we sat down in a small booth overlooking the street. We spent some time people watching and playing a game of ‘what do they do?’ where we came up with different professions for people based on what they were wearing. I was surprised that Max remembered the game and within no time our suggestions were getting more and more absurd, just as they always did. It was good to laugh again with him. I’d once tried to play the game with someone else, and it hadn’t worked. The game was meant for Max and me, and nobody else.
“This is nice,” Max said. “And hey, when I said to Blake that I haven’t been all that keen to see people, I wasn’t talking about you.”
I laughed. “I don’t really care if you were, though. I mean, I can imagine you want to be alone sometimes.”
“I’m serious, Madi. I wouldn’t say that about you. You’re actually one of the only people that I really want around these days. I’d prefer to be around you then be by myself any day.”
“Oh whatever, I bet you say that to all the girls,” I teased.
“I don’t know what I say, to be honest. But I know for a fact that I enjoy your company,” he said and smiled at me. The smile was a little too intimate for my liking, and it was making me feel uncomfortable. He wasn’t outright flirting with me, but he was being a lot nicer than he used to be. I kept thinking that he was joking until I saw the look on his face. It was a look that he didn’t usually give me. I forced myself not to blush even though I could feel it creeping up on me. I had blushed more in the past week than I had in a very long time.
“Well, you’re terrible company,” I said and tried to keep things lighthearted.
After the coffee, we got back in the car and made our way to his house. I couldn’t stop thinking about strange I felt around him. What was wrong with me? He might be acting different, but he was still the same Max I had always known. I needed to pull myself together and sort my head out. I needed to just get away from him for a little while to clear my head. He kept telling me that the world was fuzzy for him, but I was starting to feel the same about my own head. I wasn’t thinking straight. Perhaps the year of stress at work had finally caught up to me. I pulled up in front of the house but left the car running.
“What’s going on? Not coming in?” he asked. I noted that he seemed disappointed by this.
“No, nothing is wrong. I’m just going to go and get us something to eat. I’ll be back a little later.”
“Will it be microwaveable?” he teased.
“That’s entirely up to you. Would you like me to cook you a meal that might potentially poison you and send you back to the hospital? Or would you like to me to buy you a delicious, ‘we can just pretend it’s home cooked’ meal to warm up in the microwave?”
“Let’s stick to the microwave,” he said.
I laughed. “Good choice. Okay, well, I’ll be back a bit later.”
“So, you’re joining me for dinner?” he asked.
“A girl has to eat,” I replied.
“Is it a date?”
I chuckled. “It’s just food,” I said.
I drove off and groaned the moment I got around the corner. Is it a date? Had he really just asked me that question. I had never known Max to be like this before. He had always just treated me like one of the guys. It wasn’t that he was being overbearing, but his constant remarks and affections were slowly wearing me down. It was starting to make me realize just how much I might actually like him. Had I always felt this way about him? What if I gave in to his affections? What if he got his memory back and discovered that he didn’t really want to be with me? I was too scared of letting down my guard in case I got hurt. I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn’t really Max flirting with me. Max and I had worked closely for a very long time, and he’d never once tried to hit on me before. He’d had plenty of chances then. This was not Max, and tonight was not a date.