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"I’m not so tired I can’t appreciate tiested "We have all day toh a yawn

Bethanne was just as glad She rested her head against his shoulder "Even though we’ve talked about a lot of things, I know al about you"

"I don’t like to talk about myself," he said

"So I’ve noticed"

"What would you like to ask?"

Of all the questions that buzzed around in her head, she asked one of the least i have you and Rooster been friends?"

Max blinked, and Bethanne saw that he was struggling to stay alert "For rowing up You knoe also have a business connection--he handles our advertising"

Bethanne nodded "Is he married?"

"No Well, he was at one ti He’s currently betell, I hesitate to say girlfriends Coht be the better word"

"He only joins you on the road part of the tiht Aand fall"

"Any family?"

"Who, Rooster or me?"

"You"

"A brother Luke’s ten years older He’s taken over the business since I’ve been away His kids are raised and he travels to Australia and New Zealand every chance he gets We connect three or four times a year when I’m in California"

"Are your parents alive?"

"They died a year apart back in the late nineties"

She already knew his only daughter had died at a young age

"Have you ever been to Seattle?" she asked

"Once Rooster and I took a ride around the Kitsap Peninsula and into the rain forest a couple of suo It’s beautiful country"

"I love it there"

"You’re still in the same house where you and Grant used to live?" he asked

Bethanne found it a curious question "Yes It’s the only hoh upheaval in their lives withoutout fro?"

"No" That was the truth She loved her ho else you want to know about me?" Max asked

"Do you have a hoainst her hair "I don’t need one Wherever I am, that’s home However, I own a house in California"

"Do you visit often?"

"No"

"Friends other than Rooster?"

"A few here and there"

"How do you live?"

"You mean money? My needs are siuessed they had little in common, but that didn’t dissuade her The attraction she felt for hier He’d ridden twenty hours to see her Even now, he was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open and yet he wanted to stay up so he could be with her She couldn’t i like this

Oh, that wasn’t fair She couldn’t compare them They were as different as any two men--any two people--she’d ever met Grant would always be ambitious, driven to succeed She knew that when she’d married him

Max didn’t seem to care about financial or career success, not anymore And she could tell it had never been the be-all and end-all for hinized that he was a man who loved completely Grant--well, he’d claimed to, but he’d deviated fro how that affected her or their children

After several minutes of silence, he said, "I know from what you told me that you had to find your way back to God after Grant left you"

"Yes" It’d been a small epiphany for her

"You helped --make peace with Him"

"Oh?"

"We’ve been at odds ever since I lost Katherine My daughter lived longer than any of her doctors expected It was bad enough losing her, but then Kate…" He hesitated "Losingspiritual ever since Then, at a time when I least expected it, you plowed your way into my life"

"Plowed?" She raised her eyebrows "Plowed?"

He laughed "Okay, you appeared in my life And for the first time since I buried Kate, I could feel I could breathe without pain I could face the future I have to say it felt dahtened her hand around his, unsure what to say