Free Leave it to Max (Lori's Classic Love Stories Volume 1) by Lori Handeland Page A

Garrett failed, and he probably
would, he had to take a chance; he had to find out.
    Because maybe love was like that, too.
    * * *
    Livy’s eyes burned, but she blinked fast and
hard, refusing to let any tears fall. She’d learned long ago that
tears did no one any good. Not that she still didn’t indulge on
occasion, usually courtesy of Max. But right now she felt like a
good crying jag, courtesy of J.J.
    “Oh, pardon me. Garrett.”
    Maybe if she refused to think of him as J.J.,
the boy she’d loved, but only Garrett, the man he’d become, she
would no longer feel so raw.
    How could he still have the power to hurt
her? She’d gotten over him years ago, become adjusted to the fact
that she’d never see him again—except in the eyes of their son. So
why did she want to sit down on the crumbling front steps of the
nearest old house and sob?
    The prince had not taken the princess to his
castle and gifted her with her every heart’s desire. The knight had
not rescued the damsel in severe distress. The lover had never
loved her.
    She rubbed at her eyes. One look at the man
and she was nineteen again. Her heart brimming with first love, her
mind full of him, her body on the edge of womanhood, waiting for
J.J. to make every dream come true.
    And he had. For a little while.
    Livy blocked out the lingering hum of
awareness. He was handsome. He was tall, dark and strong. He was
also the father of her child. She couldn’t be indifferent. But she
could be an adult. Adults controlled themselves. They did not leap
into bed with every person who aroused them.
    She and Garrett had been kids. Then she’d had
to grow up. Garrett still hadn’t. To him, Max was a bright, shiny
new toy, and he wanted one. But what happened when he grew bored
with Max, as he’d grown bored with Livy?
    Livy knew all too well, and she’d do whatever
she had to do to make certain her son wasn’t left devastated when
Garrett Stark blew town.
    She glanced at her watch. Rosie had a meeting
at ghost walk headquarters and would not be home to meet Max after
school. If Livy hustled, she could be. She stepped up her pace, so
that when the whirlwind of legs and big feet came around the corner
and plowed into her stomach she had to windmill her arms to keep
from falling.
    Max landed on his butt in someone’s front
yard.
    “Oh, baby, I’m sorry.” She leaned down to
help just as Max threw his arm up for balance. He caught her in the
nose with his cast so hard Livy saw tiny floating black spots. At
least she had an excuse for her eyes to be bright with tears.
    “Mom! What are you doin’ here?”
    Holding her nose, waiting for the blood to
begin flowing, Livy could still give Max The Look. She’d had so
much practice. “What are you doing here, young man?”
    He ignored the question he didn’t want to
answer, just as guilty parties always did. “I’m sorry I hit you in
the nose again. I never try to. Stuff like that just happens around
me.”
    “I know.” She ruffled his hair. “But that
doesn’t make it hurt any less.”
    He squinted, sheepish. “It’s not gushin’ this
time.”
    “Well, that’s something.” She pinched the
bridge, pleased to find it still straight though sore, then she
gazed down at Max and sighed.
    He didn’t need to answer her question. She
knew what Max was doing here. The same thing she’d been doing, and
she would put a stop to it immediately. Before Max decided Garrett
Stark would make a pretty good best friend.
    Livy traced a finger along the bumpy surface
of his cast. “We have to talk.”
    “Sure.” He grinned. “See how crowded my cast
is? I got all the doctors and nurses to sign, then at school
everyone wanted to. It was so cool. No one else has a cast.”
    Livy shrugged off the guilt. She wasn’t the
worst mother in town just because her child wore the only cast in
school. Intellectually, she knew that. But in her heart? Not so
much.
    Oblivious to Livy’s angst, Max started to
walk toward the big white