Max sat back and raised his eyebrows. “Lila is nothing like Sara. For a start she’s lived in Haven since she was seven. Hell, Laken is her best friend; she spent a lot of nights over there with Laken and her dads. She knows the way Haven works.”
Colin nodded, feeling his stomach unravel. He knew all this, but hearing someone else point it all out helped.
“And Lila doesn’t play around with people. If it made her uncomfortable, she’d say.”
“She told us that she loves us,” Colin told him. “It’s everything I’d hoped for. But she said she wants to take things slow and that made me wonder about whether she really wanted this.”
“You’re a lucky bastard,” Max told him. “Hell, you can’t blame her for wanting to go slow. She’s known you guys for a long time but this is a total shift in your relationship. The fact that you have a history is probably more reason for her to want to take it slow, because if this relationship fails, she doesn’t just lose her boyfriends, she loses her ho
me. I’m sure Lila just wants to be sure that you build a good, strong relationship.”
Sighing, Colin ran his hand over his face tiredly. “You’re right. And I took her need to go slow as a rejection. God, I’m an asshole. I just can’t seem to get Sara’s words out of my head. I really hurt Lila today.”
“Lila’s a tough nut. She’s been through a lot and I’m sure she has her own triggers. I think she’ll understand. One thing I’ve learned since meeting Savannah is that if a woman loves you then she’ll forgive a lot, but only if you talk to her.”
Colin sighed, nodding his head. “You’re right. I know you’re right. I need to talk to her. I have to work past this before it mucks everything up.”
“Sounds to me like you’re this close to having it all.” Max held his finger and thumb an inch apart. “You just have to make that jump. It’s a leap of faith. You need to trust her to catch you, just like you’d catch her.”
“Damn, when did you get to be such a smart bastard?” Colin said with a grin. Max punched him on the shoulder, laughing.
A phone rang and Max stood, going inside to answer it. Colin took another sip of his coffee and realized how stupidly he’d behaved. Now he just had to figure out how to make it up to Lila.
Max returned to the front porch, a small frown on his face.
“Something wrong?” Colin asked.
“That was Jake. He just pulled Savannah up doing fifty in a thirty-five zone,” he said with a scowl.
Colin let out a low, long whistle. “Somebody’s bottom is going to be toast.”
“Sure is,” Max said grimly, sitting back down. “So are you going to go home and make up with Lila?”
“Yep, I’ll even get down on my knees if I have to.”
Max smiled. “I’m glad. You all deserve to be happy. I know things haven’t been easy lately, but Clay would be so pleased.”
“I know. He loved all of us. All he wanted was for us to be happy.”
“He was a great man. Have you had the reading of the will yet?” Max asked.
Colin shook his head. “No, we’ve got an appointment with the lawyer next Tuesday.”
A small blue car moved slowly up the driveway. Colin cracked a smile. “Seems like someone has learned to slow down.”
Max snorted. “Oh, she’ll learn all right.” But he stood with a smile and went down to greet his wife, opening her door and giving her a kiss, before grabbing her shopping and carrying the bags inside.
Short and curvy with short blonde hair, Savannah had a ready smile and a cheerful disposition. No one could remain grouchy for long with her around.
“Colin,” she squealed, throwing her arms around him. “How are you? How are your brothers?”
“We’re all good Savi, how are you, sweetheart?”
“I’m good,” she replied. “All of you should come over for dinner one night. I only met Lila briefly at the funeral and I doubt she remembers me.”
“I’d like that, thanks Savi,” he replied warmly.
Max returned from putting the packages inside and held out his arms. “Come here, love,” he crooned to her.