Passion » Max Regnery

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Red O'Malley -a handsome, hardworking head stable hand at Pine Hollow; who was in his late twenties- had offered to take Garnet and untack her so that Blake could seek out Max, their boss, and ask him about something that had started to bother her. With Garnet's approval, Blake handed the reins over to Red and fell back since the office was opposite the direction they were going.

Blake turned around once she no longer saw the back of Garnet, and started for the main office where she had suspected to find Max. On her journey down the aisle, the image of Deborah glaring at her with such hatred appeared back into Blake's mind. How could it not? It had only just happened moments ago, so the memory was still quite fresh in her brain. But what bothered her, was why Deborah was looking at her like that.

That wasn't the only thing that was on her mind. The other thing that had crossed her mind was, how in the world would she even bring up the topic of his wife -the woman who was trying to divorce him- to him without stirring up some unwanted feelings and memories.

"Max," Blake called out as she reached the office door and stood in the doorway. When he did not look up, she knocked on the wooden door labeled 'Office'. Max lifted his head slowly from his hands. Now that she was looking clearly at his desk instead of him, she could see why he had appeared distracted. "I... Uhm, I have a question."

He sat up, lifting his elbows off the desk and stared up at her. "Very well," he sighed softly, crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. Although she could not read the papers that were scattered all over his desk, from where she stood, she had a good feeling they were papers Max did not want to see and because of that, he was now in a bad mood.

Swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat, which was suddenly feeling dry, Blake entered the office and closed the door so that they could have a little more privacy than the walls could provide. With the door shut, it eliminated the chances of eavesdroppers since the wall the door was connected to also had glass window looking out into the stable aisle.

"Why does it seem like your wife despises me?" she asked, sitting down in the empty -and cold- beige metal folding chair that sat opposite Max's desk. Her only guess was that the chair had been brought out for Mr. diAngelo since there was normally never any chairs sitting opposite Max's desk.

"Ex-wife," he corrected her, bitterness clear in his tone. Max then sighed, his face showing signs of exhaustion. There was a loud thud as his boots hit the concrete floor as the six foot three stable owner sat forward in his chair. His blue eyes surveying the scattered papers on his desk.

"Oh?" A look of surprise crossed her face as she sat up straight in the cold chair. "You finally signed the papers?"

Blake scooted further back on the chair to keep from slouching. Once comfortable, she crossed her leg and ran a hand through her hair, flipping some of it to one side. She did not miss the look on Max's face when she asked him if he had signed the papers. She knew what that look meant. It had meant that he did not sign the papers.

As it turned out, Max was exactly like Blake's ex-husband when she had filed for her divorce, difficult. Men. How hard was it for them to just sign the papers and end the marriage? Granted, Blake had been in a marriage where her husband cheated, verbally abused her, and even used her. Had he not signed the papers, she could have easily gone to court to end the marriage immediately. Though she did not know that at the time or she would have saved herself an exhausting year.

However, Max and Deborah had been different. Max seemed like he was a wonderful husband, aside from putting Pine Hollow first. But it was a business and a family heirloom, so Blake couldn't understand why anyone would be upset about that. Yet, Deborah was divorcing him for some unknown reason to both Blake and Max.

"No," Max cleared his throat and began to gather up the papers scattered all over his desk. He set them, in an untidy pile, to the side and then looked up at Blake. "And what makes you believe she despises you?"

"It's not just me!" she told him, her face flushing red under his intense gaze. "Red and Carole, both witnessed it and said something about it. To me, not her. But, it was like she was giving me this really nasty look like if her eyes were daggers, they'd stab me."

He sat back, crossing his arms over his chest once again and raising a brow slightly. She noted the look of amusement on his face before it vanished. Blake watched Max, his blue eyes dropping to the desk. She could tell he was now deep in thought, perhaps the same thought she had when she was on her way to the office.

"Maybe," she began, speaking out loud mostly to herself. Max looked back up at her. "she suspected something is going on between us because she walked in on us hugging earlier."

"But there is nothing going on between us," he stated. Blake ignored him, still lost deep in her own thoughts.

"No," she continued on, her gaze drifting toward the ceiling. "That wouldn't make very much sense then. If she's trying to divorce you, why would she oppose the idea of you moving on to someone else?"

Max sighed, his frustration heard loud and clear, which brought Blake back to earth and out of her thoughts. He ran on hand over his face, still sitting back in his chair with one arm over his chest.

"Look," Max said, uncrossing his arms and sitting forward to prop them up on the desk. "I do not know why Deb acts the way she does. And I would very much appreciate if you would stop reminding me that she is trying to divorce me."

Blake's lips curved downward into a frown. Despite the warning in his town, she pressed on about the matter of his divorce. "Max," she moved to the edge of her seat so that she was closer to him and his desk. "You must realize that you will have to sign the papers soon, right? It's not as if she is going to change her mind. Well, least not anytime soon. How many times has it been now that she had stopped by this week alone?"

Frustrated with her, Max slammed his hands down on his desk. Blake jumped in her seat, feeling a little frightened and surprised at the same time. She knew she had crossed the line and was aware he was already in a bad mood and that she was not helping the matter, but it did not occur to her that he would nearly snap.

"Shouldn't you be helping Red with something around the stables?" he asked. "Surely there is plenty to do other than sitting in here and making things worse."

Blake said nothing as she nodded her head and rose from the metal folding chair. She turned toward the door and opened it, walking out the room without looking back. She wanted to feel guilty for making him even angrier than he had already been, yet there was another side to her that wanted to continue pressing on. Why?