Passion » Max Regnery

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Max was hesitant to respond at first but after a moment of uncertainty he nodded his head. Blake nodded her head slowly as the tears began to fall. She quickly turned her head away and wiped at her cheeks and under her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I just... I need a moment," she choked out as she turned around and started to walk away. It was hard to see with her vision blurry due to the sudden flow of tears. Yet she couldn't hold them back. It was like the dam had finally burst.

How she managed to get outside into a secluded area, she was uncertain, but she was still grateful that she had managed it. She needed to be alone right now, to cry it out. All of it. She suspected her family hated her but never did she really think it to be entirely true. Exactly how much did you have to hate your kid to lie to them their entire life about how you couldn't afford the one thing they wanted when the other was lapping it all up? Why didn't they just do away with her if they didn't want her? Least she wouldn't have had to live with the thought of being such a burden. Nothing she did made them happy, nothing.

Blake buried her face into her arms as she sobbed loudly, unable to control it any longer. It wasn't until she felt an arm wrapping around her and pulling her close to them that she realized someone was with her. Even then, she still didn't bother to stop crying long enough to see who it was. Instead.she gladly accepted as they pulled her into their arms and rubbed her back, their head resting on hers.

For awhile she cried until she couldn't force any more tears out. By now she had realized the person comforting her was indeed a male. As she tilted her head so that she could breath better, she realized she recognized the shirt he wore. She said nothing, only because she knew it would be impossible in her current state. He also said nothing, his hand still rubbing her back gently while he lifted his head off hers.

For what seemed like another while, at least until Blake was certain she could hear Red fussing with one of the horses in the paddock, they sat there quietly. Finally she lifted her head and moved away from him.

"Do you feel better?" He asked, his face showing genuine concern for her. She felt the tip of his thumb brush against her cheek and then realized, as he ran it along her ear, that he was tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Blake took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she thought about what to say. "Not really," she whispered, her eyes still closed. She then opened them and turned to look at him. "I had always suspected that my parents hated me, but to have it confirmed? Max, I was the child with the extreme horse obsession. I was the one who wanted to learn how to ride and to have a horse. Yet we were always 'too poor'. It sucks finding out that your whole life had been one big lie."

He said nothing as she looked up toward the azure sky and leaned against the wall. What could he really say? It was hard to defend someone when you had just discovered that they had lied to you as well.

Max felt something heavy leaning against his shoulder. He turned his head to find Blake using it while her eyes were fixed on the paddock in front of them. He didn't exactly know how to comfort her, yet he had the strange urge to want to. Is that why he followed her and held her as she cried on his shoulder?

"I think I'm better now," she finally said as she sniflfed a little. "Don't want Red to think I skipped out on the chores."

Max placed his hand on her leg and patted it gently before climbing to his feet and turning to extend his hand out to her. She place her hand in his, gripped his hand tightly and rose to her feet.

"If you ever need a place to stay," he couldn't believe he was saying this, "you are more than welcome to come stay with me."

Blake looked up at him, the whites around her eyes a faint red. "Your wife wouldn't mind?" She asked after swallowing the lump in her throat.

Max looked away and rubbed the back of his neck. Blake opened her mouth in the shape of an 'O' as it slowly dawned on her just exactly why Max had that look of complete heartbreak on his face.

"I've been there," she mumbled as she shoved her hands into the pocket of her hoodie. Caught off guard by her comment, Max snapped his attention back to her.

"Really?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "Your mother has never mentioned you were married."

"That's because they didn't approve of it," she replied bitterly without looking at him. "Disowned me while I was married. Then took me back in when I went through my divorce even though they obviously didn't want to. I think the only reason I'm here is because they had no other way to get rid of me."

Max pursed his lips as he studied her carefully and then said, "How did you manage to get through it?"

"Mm," she looked up, then around, and then finally to Max. "Kinda had to get over it since I was the one that filed for it."

The look of hope on his face slowly disappeared as she said that. Blake then forced a smile, removed her hand from inside her pocket and placed it on his arm.

"It wasn't easy to leave someone I believed to be my soulmate," she said. "But when you no longer feel good enough and your spouse is constantly out with others and not you, his wife, then you have to draw a line in the sand. I couldn't go on being the other woman. I couldn't go on letting him believe he could cheat and I'd always be there as a safety net. I'm not someone's safety net."

Max nodded his head slowly showing that he understood why she did what she did, yet his expression never changed. She could tell just by the pained expression on his face that his case was very much different. Even though she and Max had only been acquainted for almost two days now, she was having a hard time trying to understand why his wife would want to divorce him.

"Uhm," Blake suddenly found the desire to change the topic, something that seemed was much needed. "I thought you weren't going to be here today?"

"Oh," and instantly his expression changed as he opened his mouth and then closed it as if her question left him a little hot under the collar. "I, uh. Well, I wanted to stop by on my way into town to make sure things were going smoothly." he said.

Not very much convinced, Blake narrowed her eyes at him and studied Max as he pretended to look at the worn out watch on his wrist. "Very well then," she said, still not convinced but going to let him believe that she was. "Now that you know things are running smoothly here, you best be off."

"Right," he unfolded his arms and turned slowly, his hand extended out to let her go first. "After you," he then added.

Blake nodded her head, pulled her hands free from her pocket, and then walked back into the barn.