Summer Ice

Max drew back, startled. "I'm sorry, Mary. I didn't know."

Mary shook her head, feeling the color creep into her cheeks. She glanced up at Rebecca and Pete, who weren't looking at them, but she didn't want to have this sort of conversation with them in earshot. She took hold of Max's hand and led him outside. It was warm but cloudy and there were a few people moving along the sidewalk on the way to their jobs.

"I didn't mean to sound bitchy, Max," Mary said. "I'm just tired and I can't afford to keep missing work."

Max nodded but she could see the hurt in his blue eyes. "It's all right. I just wanted to spend the day with you. I'm going to miss you when I go."

Nodding, Mary had to agree. Whatever she might be feeling, she was going to miss Max, her friend, more than anything else.

"I think I have an idea," Max said after another minute. "Why don't you move into my place tonight?"

"What?" Mary exclaimed. "I haven't even decided that I'm going to stay there."

"Well, why not? I need someone to take care of the place while I'm gone and you need somewhere that has food." He looked so pleased by this that Mary almost couldn't get upset with him. Almost.

"Max, I don't want you to do that," Mary said, trying to keep from saying something worse.

"Do what? The food is already there, I just haven't eaten it all," Max replied with a grin.

Mary shook her head, all her feelings of confusion and hurt rising up to the surface. She felt tears sting her eyes and tried to swallow the lump in her throat.

"Mary, babe, what's wrong?" Max asked and cupped her chin in his hand, drawing her face up. He frowned when he saw the tears in her eyes.

"I don't want your charity Max."

He drew back as though she'd hit him. "I'm not... that's not what I-"

"Then what?" Mary asked, jerking her chin out of his hand and taking a step back. "You're just trying to make yourself feel less guilty about leaving?"

Max said nothing, just stared at her with his mouth hanging open. Mary could see the confusion in his eyes but couldn't stop herself. All her insecurities and feelings of inadequacy came roaring to the forefront.

"I know we've had a good time these past few months and that's great," Mary said, wiping angrily at the tears that slipped free of her eyes. "But don't try to give me a house or groceries and think that that will make it all right."

"Make what all right, Mary?" Max asked, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand."

Mary gave a short, harsh laugh and clapped a hand over her mouth to stop it. Neither do I, she thought but didn't say it out loud.

"You're mad because I'm going?" Max tried again, still frowning. "I asked if you wanted to come with me but you'd signed up for a class already. I offered to pay so you could get out of it but you didn't want to." His scowl deepened as he looked over at her. "Maybe I should be mad that you don't want to come."

"Are you?" Mary asked, her heart in her throat. She wanted to know. When she'd first said she couldn't go, he'd been so excited to have her house-sit instead that she'd been hurt.

He shrugged. "I guess I'm sort of disappointed, but I still don't know why you're so mad."

Mary shook her head and turned away. "I should go back to work."

"Mary, wait. We need to talk about this. Do you want to come to Montreal with me?"

"I do, more than anything," Mary answered in a low voice.

"Then let me pay for your course and come with me." Max took hold of her arm and tried to turn her around.

At his words she spun around to face him, shaking his hand off. "Stop trying to throw money at me!"

"You're mad because I've got money?" Max asked after a second of bewildered silence.

Mary shook her head, knowing if she said much more, she'd burst into tears.

"Mary, don't you want to be with me?" he asked in a soft voice.

Nodding, Mary managed to choke back the tears that flooded her eyes again at his low question.

"Then why won't you come to Montreal?" he asked as he moved closer.

Mary lifted her head and met his gaze. The tears spilled over her cheeks but she couldn't stop them now. "Why do I have to be with you in Montreal?" she asked, instead of answering his question.

Max didn't have anything to say to that, and Mary used the opportunity to pull out of his arms. "I have to go inside," she murmured and walked into the coffee shop, leaving him standing on the sidewalk.

She hurried past a worried looking Rebecca and shut herself in the staff room until she could get control of herself again. After a short while, she heard a knock. Pulling herself together, Mary stood up and walked to the door. Rebecca stood on the other side with a kind smile on her face.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

Mary nodded and said she just wanted to work. Rebecca nodded and together, they went back to the front end. Pete said nothing and soon, Mary was able to disappear into her shift, serving customers and cleaning tables until the end of the day. Afraid that she'd have to face Max if she went home, she asked if she could spend the night with Rebecca. Her friend agreed and they left together after dark, not speaking, something Mary was grateful for. She hardly knew what she was thinking, let alone how she could articulate it to her friend.

***

When the time came to catch his flight the day after his argument with Mary, Max didn't even know what he was supposed to pack. He hurriedly threw his clothes into a suitcase, grabbed his wallet and headed out the door, deciding that anything he'd forgotten, he could pick up along the way.

All night he'd tried to call Mary, calling her apartment and driving around her block. She didn't answer and it certainly didn't look like she'd come home. He should have seen her at some point. He wished he had her friend Rebecca's phone number because if he had to guess, he'd say she'd gone there instead.

He didn't understand what had happened. He thought she'd be all right with his leaving. He never dreamt that she'd be angry with him for offering to take her along. The words she'd said replayed like a broken record in his head until he didn't know what he thought anymore.

At last, he boarded the plane and flew to his hometown. On the other end, his parents picked him up and he was able to forget about Mary for a while.

Until his friends took him out for drinks that night and Guy asked him where this gorgeous girlfriend of his was.

"She takes classes at the local college and had a summer course starting in a couple weeks," Max replied and chugged his beer.

"That sucks," Guy replied, watching his friend drink with raised eyebrows. "I was looking forward to meeting her."

Max nodded. He'd been looking forward to showing her off to his friends and family. He didn't miss the implications of it either, having never brought a woman home before.

Plus, he just missed his friend.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to come see you in Calgary," Guy said with a smile. "Then we can meet her."

Max snorted. "If she's speaking to me again by then," he said before he could stop himself.

Guy's eyebrows shot up to his hairline and he leaned closer as Max flushed. Thankfully the rest of the group didn't seem to have heard.

"What did you do to tick her off?" Guy asked with a smile.

Max rolled his eyes at his friend and punched him in the arm.

"You can't blame me for asking," Guy said with a shrug, still smiling. Max knew he wasn't trying to be hurtful. He was just trying to make Max smile, which is what his friend had always done. "You can be a dumbass most of the time."

"I know but I don't know what I did this time, Guy," Max replied and ordered another beer. For now, he wanted to stop talking about Mary and just have fun with his friends. Guy let it go and, together with the rest of the group, they drank, laughed and reminisced about the 'old days.' Max succeeded in putting Mary out of his mind.

Until he dreamt of her soft and responsive body, groaning at the aching need that gripped him when he woke up in the middle of the night. As he lay there staring at the dark ceiling, he let his thoughts run wild, recalling her sparkling smile and bright laughter. That more than anything had him biting his lip with desire. It hurt not having her close. He didn't get a lot of sleep that night, or in any of the following nights.

***

"What happened between the two of you, Mary?" Rebecca asked four days after Max had left.

Mary looked over at her friend and shrugged, turning her attention back to the television. They were in Mary's apartment, trying to decide on a movie to watch and apparently Rebecca had decided to quiz Mary on her argument with Max.

"I saw you fighting outside the coffee shop the other day," Rebecca went on, setting her glass of water down on the table and facing her friend. "Then he left for Montreal the next day and I know you two haven't spoken since then. So what happened?"

"We argued about me going to Montreal with him," Mary said, which was true. It wasn't the real reason she'd been so upset with him but now, four days later, she was having trouble understanding what she'd been upset about.

"So why didn't you go with him?"

"I have my summer class," Mary replied, not meeting her friend's gaze. In truth, after her argument with Max, she'd contacted the college and found out there'd be no penalty for dropping the class now. If she'd waited another week, there would have been a charge but she'd met the deadline, so she was free of the class, with no charge.

"That's not a reason," Rebecca scoffed and tossed her dark hair over her shoulder. "You could have missed one or two classes to at least go with him for even a couple weeks."

Mary said nothing. She hoped that Rebecca would drop the subject and they could pretend that everything was all right.

No such luck.

"When does your class start?" Rebecca asked after another couple minutes of silence.

Flushing, Mary glanced at her friend before looking away again. She hopped up from the couch and hurried to the kitchen. "You want some popcorn?"

"Mary," Rebecca said her name with a warning tone. "What is going on?"

With a sigh, Mary faced her friend with a sheepish smile. She explained about her class and Rebecca smiled.

"You know what this means, don't you?" Rebecca asked.

"What?"

"You can go to Montreal now!"

Mary laughed and shook her head. "I can't afford to go to Montreal. I could barely afford to pay my phone bill this month."

Rebecca didn't seem to be listening to her. She walked away from the kitchen waving her hands in the air excitedly. "This is perfect!"

"What are you talking about?" Mary demanded, following her friend.

"I wasn't going to tell you until later, but it's a sure thing now," Rebecca said and grinned. "I've been accepted to a school near Pittsburgh and I have to leave this summer sometime to get all set up."

Mary's mouth dropped open and tears filled her eyes. "You're leaving Calgary?" she asked quietly. "You're leaving the country?"

The smile left Rebecca's face and she hurried to her friend to give her a hug. Mary accepted it and struggled to keep from crying.

"It's a temporary thing, just one year, but I've been trying to get into this place for two years," Rebecca told her. "Don't you see how this is perfect for you?"

"Not really," Mary mumbled as she pulled away.

"We can drive to Montreal and you can see Max. Then I'll drive on to my school from there."

"Rebecca, I can't drive to Montreal," Mary replied once she got over her shock.

"Why not? You just told me you have no classes. I was going to drive east anyway and you have some holiday time saved at work that you can use. We'll split the costs along the way and you'll get to see Max."

"Rebecca, I don't even know where I'd find him," Mary replied with a laugh. "I don't know his phone number or where his family lives or anything."

Now Rebecca blushed and walked over to her purse. "Max came into the coffee shop the day he left and wanted to talk to you," she told Mary as she fished around in her purse, producing a small slip of paper. "He left this with me and said it was the phone number of his parent's house in Montreal, where he'd be staying."

"He came to the coffee shop?" Mary asked, taking the piece of paper from her friend and staring at it.

"He wanted to talk to you but couldn't wait to see you before he had to catch his plane," Rebecca explained. "He was sorry he couldn't see you."

"He told you that?" Mary lifted her eyes to her friend's face.

"He didn't have to, Mary."

For a long moment, Mary stared at the numbers on the paper and wondered if she could do what Rebecca was suggesting. She found herself nodding along before she knew it and then Rebecca was shrieking in excitement, grabbing her for another hug. After a minute, Mary laughed and hugged her back, feeling her heart pounding harshly within her chest.

Am I going to do this? Mary wondered as she stood there. Can I really go to Montreal and surprise Max?

A new thought occurred to her as Rebecca took off to her bedroom to start her packing.

What if he doesn't want to see me? she thought.

"Don't be ridiculous, Mary," Rebecca said when Mary repeated the question out loud. "He never would have suggested you go with him to Montreal if he didn't."

Mary smiled weakly as she agreed and tried to convince herself it was the truth.

What if I find him with someone else? she thought next and shuddered, every deep fear and anxiety coming up as she pondered the question. Try as she might, she just couldn't erase the memory of the hurt caused by Bohdan. She was terrified that Max had a woman waiting for him in Montreal and he'd never really wanted Mary after all.

***

As it turned out, the trip was a load of fun for the two women. Rebecca drove most of the way, with Mary relieving occasionally. They stopped at motels along the way whenever they got too tired, eventually reaching Montreal after three very long days. Mary didn't feel up to locating Max their first evening in Montreal, so they found a hotel and checked in, falling asleep early.

In the morning, Mary showered, dressed and screwed up the courage to call the phone number Max had left with Rebecca. Her French was very rusty but the woman on the other end of the line - Mary assumed it was Max's mother - began speaking English as soon as she realized Mary wasn't French.

"I'm a friend of Max's," Mary said. "Can I speak with him?"

"He's not here right now," the other woman replied. "I think he went to the deli with his friends."

Mary politely asked for the name of the place and got directions as well. Rebecca waited with an impatient look on her face as Mary listened, taking notes on the hotel paper pad. Mary hung up and relayed the information to Rebecca.

"Well, let's get going," Rebecca said in a very matter-of-fact tone that made Mary smile, in spite of her erratic rapid heartbeat.

"I don't know, Rebecca," she murmured as her friend bustled around the hotel room gathering their things.

"Oh please, we're here now," Rebecca replied with a grin. "We're going and you'll see him and it's going to be fine."

Mary didn't know if she agreed but she followed her friend outside and dutifully got in the car beside her. They got a little lost on their way to the neighborhood deli where Max's mother had said he was having lunch with some friends. Rebecca said she'd wait in the car until Mary had a chance to speak to Max alone. So Mary got out and walked up to the little restaurant, her heart beating so hard she thought it might come right out of her mouth.

Then she spotted Max through the window inside and felt some of her tension ease. She opened the glass front door and walked in.

Just in time to see Max put his arms around a beautiful blonde woman and embrace her.

***

Max hadn't wanted to go out for lunch, but Guy and Charlie wouldn't let him say no. So he went and they met up with a few other friends from his school days, including Rachel.

"Guy told me that you've got a girlfriend back in Calgary," Rachel said from one side of Max when the rest of the group was engrossed in a discussion about soccer.

Max smiled at his old friend and nodded. "She's great."

"Why isn't she here?"

Max patiently explained that she had school and that he'd wanted her to come, but she couldn't give up the class.

"That's too bad," Rachel replied. "I would have loved to have met the girl who made you settle down."

Max rolled his eyes at her. "I'm hardly settling down, Rachel."

"Well, commit, be exclusive, or whatever you want to call it," Rachel said with a grin. "I'm happy for you, Max."

"Are you?" Max asked, eyeing her. He recalled his conversation with Guy before he'd finished the playoffs and he wondered if Rachel was still thinking there was a chance to start something between them.

"I know what you're thinking," Rachel said with a lopsided smile. "I've been seeing a guy named Henry for months now. I don't think I've ever been happier."

Max relaxed at her words. He was happy for her and told her as much.

"Thanks, Max. So now you understand that I can be happy for you? I honestly wish your girl was here so I could give her a big hug and thank her for making my friend so happy."

"I wish she was here too," Max replied with a sigh and he sipped his drink. He started to tell Rachel about their fight the day before he'd left Calgary and his friend listened with a kind smile on her face.

"Wow, sounds like you screwed up bad, Max," Rachel said when he was finished.

He scowled at her. "How did I screw up?"

"Mary sounds like a very independent woman, Max. Yet you offered to pay for something every time she mentioned it. She wasn't asking for that from you, she was just venting. I bet she was hurt that you'd rather come to Montreal than spend time with her, now that your season is over."

Max nodded at her words. He'd guessed that Mary was hurt about his leaving but he'd never considered that his offers of paying for her class or groceries would offend her. He thought of what his reaction would be if someone did the same thing to him and he flushed in embarrassment. Rachel noticed his expression and grinned.

"It's not all your fault, Max." Rachel reached over to pat his arm. "She should have told you what she was feeling." Pausing, Rachel considered something for a moment before speaking again. "You know, there's got to be something else bothering her too. Maybe something you didn't even think about."

"Like what?" Max was becoming more and more baffled at the way women's minds seemed to work. He thought he'd known so much about Mary but he was beginning to wonder after talking to Rachel.

"Well, has she ever been badly hurt in a past relationship?"

Oh crap Max thought, his mouth falling open.

Rachel nodded when she saw his expression. "Thought so. You leaving probably brought up all those memories. Maybe she's afraid you're doing the same thing to her."

"Jeez, I never even thought of that," he murmured. There he'd been, all excited to get to Montreal to see everyone, never once considering that the last time a guy had left Mary, it had been to return to a fiance.

"Well, don't worry," Rachel said with another broad smile. "You'll go back to Calgary and make it up to her."

"I will," Max replied firmly and then he grinned at his friend. Reaching out, he pulled her close for a hug, barely hearing the bell over the front door of the deli ring at that moment. "Thanks Rachel. You're a great friend."

"Yeah, yeah," Rachel replied with a pat on his back. "I know."

Max pulled back with a laugh and saw Rachel looking over his shoulder. Turning his head, he saw someone standing just inside the restaurant entrance.