AUTHOR'S NOTE!

Alright, here is Chapter 2. I know it's going kind of slow, but I promise everything will be explained soon. I'm just trying to get a good build up, plus I'm still thinking of ideas. Please read and give me reviews! Please, please, please and thank you!

-Jude

Chapter 2

"Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls"

May 26th, 2017

Quinn

Max learned to walk when she was nine months old. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my little girl put one foot in front of the other. I remember yelling for Clay to come into the room to see it, but as soon as he ran in, she hit the ground and started crying. I think Clay almost cried too.

I lie in bed and wonder how I managed to raise such a beautiful, intelligent, and well-mannered young girl, but then I remember. Clay. I'm thankful for him every single day of my life. I got pregnant at such a young age, and to be honest, I didn't think he was ready to be a Father, but I was wrong. The minute Max came into this world and into her Father's arms I could see it in his eyes that he was ready for this.

I hear a sound coming from Max's room, so I get out of bed slowly to investigate. I look at the alarm clock; it's 2:15am and most likely she's on her lap top, reading, or cleaning her room. I walk as silent as I could trying not to wake Clay. When I get to her room, I quietly open the door. Cleaning. I figured it had to be one of the three.

"So… what's your bed time today?" I ask.

"Well, I'd say 3am, but I've gotten so into this deep cleaning of my room, that I may have to push off sleep another hour." If she were talking to someone she just met, they would laugh, but she was serious. Dead serious.

"Alright, get off the chair, and give me that duster." I said as I walk towards her with my hand out. She doesn't look too happy.

"Mom, please. Let me just do this." She argued.

"Give it. Now!" I said sternly. She surrendered and handed me the duster and hopped down from the chair. This is a nightly routine for the most part so she knows exactly what's got to happen now.

She pulls the blankets down on her bed and plops in it, her face smashing into the pillow.

"I don't know if you heard, but I don't know how to sleep." She said in a pathetically muzzled voice, due to her face in the pillow. I sit down on the bed.

"Come on, scoot." I said pushing her body closer to the other side so I could fit.

She lifts the covers and I maneuver myself and get situated. Both of us lying on our backs, we take a deep breath at the same time, practically in unison.

"What do you want to do?" I ask.

"I want to go to Alaska." She says quietly.

"Do I get to come?" I ask.

"Yes." She says.

"Well, what will we do when we get there?" I ask inquisitively.

"Whale watch." She says.

"Whale watch?" I question.

"Yeah, you know… whale watching. It's really cool. You go on a cruise ship in the summer time and… well, you watch whales. It's simple as that." She smartly speaks.

"Why, the summer time?" I ask. I don't ask because I don't know. I ask because this is what we do every night. I ask questions and she answers them and then eventually she falls asleep.

"Because that's when they're migrating north to the Atlantic Ocean." This is probably one of the least entertaining conversations we've had. I turn on my side, my face gazing at hers.

"You know… you're a pretty smart kid, Max Evans." I said cracking a smile while softly grazing her cheek with my hand.

"I know. I get it from Dad." She said smiling, trying hard not laugh.

"No, you get your brains from your Aunt Haley. You remind me so much of her. You're just like how she was growing up. Always reading, doing well in school, you do what you're told. You're just a good kid, Max. Sometimes I wonder if you're really mine." I said with a smile looking into her eyes.

"Well, I gotta admit, it would be pretty cool if my Mom was a famous musical artist…" She paused and stared at me knowing I was giving her the "evil mom glare" as she and Clay call it.

"…But, It wouldn't be cool if you were gone all the time. I kinda need you around for times like these." She spoke so softly and so sincere.

"Good." I said.

Max curled up and moved her body closer to mine, resting her head on my chest. I put my arms around her and kissed her forehead gently. The silence consumed us for a matter of ten seconds tops.

"I wish I could sleep." Max said in a slow, sleepy voice as her eyes drifted in and out.

"Me too, baby." I said as I turned off her light on the night stand.

"Goodnight." I simply spoke.

"Night."

With that, her eyes officially closed and she was asleep, as was I.

I woke up early the next day. I slowly got out of bed, trying not to wake Max, but it was pointless because she's the lightest sleeper that has ever walked this earth. She rolled over, her eyes squinty, she began to rub them and yawn.

"What time is it?" She spoke in a tired, worn out voice.

"9:30 in the morning, kid. Go back to bed, it's summer time." I spoke quietly.

"Well, I think later I'm gonna go across the street and see if Mr. Ryan's daughter, Annie wants to hang out. She's probably back from her Mom's by now." Max said. I was somewhat confused to who she was even talking about.

"Mr. Ryan? Who's Mr. Ryan?" I ask.

"The guy that moved in across the street. He came up to me last week and we talked for a little bit." Max said.

"What did he say to you?" I pry.

"He said he has a daughter and he wanted to know what school I went to so he can enroll her this fall." She said.

"And his daughter is Annie?" I assume.

"Yep, he said Annie has trouble making new friends and he said I seemed like a good one to have, so I think I'm gonna go over there and see if she wants to hang out." Max said. She seemed genuinely excited to meet this girl and make a new friend.

"Okay, well I'm gonna go for a jog. Your Dad is outside working on the lawn mower." I said with a laugh following.

"Oh, God, that's gotta be a funny site. Don't we have someone to do that for us?" She asks.

"I think your Dad is trying to impress all the neighbors. But, I'm gonna head out, I'll be back in about an hour. Have fun with Annie, love you." I said walking out of her room.

"I will, love you too." She shouted down the hall.

I change into my running gear and head down the stairs and walk out the front door. Now, I've got to admit, seeing my husband shirtless and working on the lawn mower was pretty hot.

"Well, would you look at my handy man." I said, putting my arms around him and giving him a kiss. He smiles and my face changes from totally turned on to totally turned off.

"Ew, you are so sweaty! I'm going for a run, Max just woke up." I said covering my eyes from the sun.

"You look hot in those shorts." Clay said putting his arms around my waist, now returning the kiss.

"Thanks, but I gotta go. Keep an eye on Max, she wants to go across the street to the new neighbors. Apparently he has a daughter named Annie, she's pretty excited about it." I spoke while running backwards, putting my ipod ear buds in my ears.

"Alright, I will. Have a good run, love you." Clay spoke.

"Love you too." I begin to sprint down the sidewalk, turning the corner, I disappear into the neighborhood.

Clay

I don't know anything about lawn mowers. I seriously couldn't tell anybody a damn thing about them. To be honest, I'm just trying to impress the neighbors. Just because I'm a sports agent, all they seem to think I know how to do is talk about sports. My face lights up when I see Max walk out the front door.

"Morning, bug." I said, calling her by her nick name.

"Morning, Daddy. Mom told me you'd be out here working on the lawn mower. And I've gotta say… you're out of your league." She said, patting my sweaty shoulder. Making a face, she wipes her hand off and hands me a big glass of water. My eyes light up at the glass as if I've been stranded in the desert for a year.

"Ahh, thanks kid, you're gonna make a great wife someday, but yeah… I think you're right, I'm totally out of my league. Hey, listen, whenever your Mom gets back, I was thinking we could go into town and get some ice cream or something." I said giving up on the lawn mower and just started thinking about something fun to do on this scorcher of a day.

"Or how about get a puppy?" Max said with a huge grin across her face.

"We can look for now, but you know I'd have to talk to your Mom about that." I said watching my daughter's face go from excited to not so excited very quickly.

"Fine, but, I'm gonna go across the street and see if Annie is home from her Mom's yet. If she is can she come with?" Max asks with a sparkle in her eye. It's so hard to say no to a face like hers.

"Of course, and if her Dad's home, ask him if he knows anything about lawn mowers, I could use a little help out here." I said while wiping the dripping sweat off my forehead.

"Will do, Pop, I'll be back soon." I watch her walk across the street and up the drive way to the new neighbor's house. She knocks on the door and waits, but finally a man comes to the door. That must be the Dad. They talk for maybe a total of three minutes and I'm assuming Max asked if he knew anything about lawn mowers because they started walking this way.

"Hi there." I wave my hand out to the man. He returned the wave and Max came and stood by my side.

"Today's your lucky day, Dad. He said he knows quite a bit about lawn mowers." Max exclaimed.

"Hi, I'm John Ryan. Let's take a look at what we got." The man said, hunching over a bit. He had his sunglasses on, but I couldn't help but think I knew this man.

"I'm Clayton Evans, nice to meet you. Can you diagnose this poor guy?" I ask, flipping that lawn mower over, clearly showing that it's missing a blade.

"Ouch. Where's the blade?" He asks curiously.

"Well, I was cutting the grass and it came loose and shot out somewhere in the yard. I tried looking high and low for it, but I can't find it. I guess whenever it shot out, it broke the bolt off up inside the shaft it goes into. How do I fix something like that?" I explain.

"Well, you can use an easy-out to remove the broken bolt, but it's better to just remove the engine and take it to a machine shop and have them remove it for you. They have better tools and more experience dealing with things like this. I would say I could do it for you, but like I said, they have better tools." He explained to me while shifting his sunglasses around. I don't know what it was about this guy, but something didn't seem right. He seemed like a nice guy, I mean he just pretty much diagnosed my lawn mower like I asked him to, but I don't know, something is off.

"Wow, thank you very much, I'll be sure to take this in." I said, putting my hand out to shake his. He returned the shake and then I turned to Max and looked back at John.

"Annie isn't home?" I ask. Max shook her head and then John spoke.

"Nope, she's still with her Mom. I'm trying to get her room fixed up. I don't want her coming here and having to sleep on the couch, you know what I mean?" He said.

"Yeah, it makes sense." I said.

"I'm gonna go inside and get something to drink. Do you need anything to drink, John?" Max asks.

"No, but thank you, Max." As soon as Max walked inside, Quinn came to a slow jog in the driveway and stopped.

"Hello, who's this?" Quinn asked.

"Quinn, this is John Ryan, he lives across the street. John, this is my wife, Quinn." I introduce them and they shake hands. Quinn was talking through her breaths, which usually means she had a good run.

"Oh, Annie's Dad. Nice to meet you, Max was talking about hanging with her today." Quinn mentioned.

"Yeah, she's still staying with her Mom." He said.

"Oh, well that's too bad, maybe next time. I see you've given up on the lawn mower, huh, Clay?" Quinn asks.

"Yep, had to rely on John, but thanks to him, I'm taking it to the shop first thing tomorrow morning.

"Well, good. Thanks for helping out John. We're having a little party Saturday night, you're more than welcome to stop by, have some food, drink some beers." Quinn offered.

"Hmm… well, thank you, I'll have to think about it." John spoke. I kept staring at him. He reminded me of someone. I swear I felt like I knew this guy.

"I'm sorry, odd question, but have we met before? I just feel like I know you. Maybe you just look like someone I know." I ask.

"No sir, I'm sorry, I don't think so. I'm straight out of Austin, Texas." He said.

"Yeah, never been there." I said.

"Well, I hate to cut it short, but I gotta get goin, glad I could help. Thanks for the invite, I'll let you know by Friday if I can make it or not." He waves and then walks off.

"No problem, see ya around." I said and then I turned to Quinn.

"How was your run?" I ask.

"Successful." She spoke, giving me a peck on the cheek.

"I'm gonna go inside now, and so should you. We're both sweaty and stinky." Quinn said walking inside the house. As we both head inside, Max is sitting on the computer.

"What are you looking at?" Quinn asks.

"Puppies. Dad said we're gonna go into town and get some ice cream and he said I can look at puppies." Max said with a large smile.

"Oh he did, did he?" Quinn said turning towards me, giving me the "evil mom/wife glare" as me and Max call it.

"Mom, all Dad said was that we could look, not purchase." Max said with disappointment in her voice.

"Well, I'll think about it." Quinn said.

"You will! Thank you!" Max jumped up from the computer chair to hug her Mother. I just stand back and gaze at my two favorite girls.

Max deserved to have something else in this house besides us. Five years ago, there were four of us. We had a son, Charlie. He was three when he left this world behind. I blame myself for what happened, but my self and others finally convinced me that there was nothing I could have done to save my little boy. Nothing.

Alright, that's it for Chapter 2. I promise I'll get some Nathan/Haley and Brooke/Julian in the story as soon as I come up with a good story line to throw them in. I would assume whenever they have the party on Saturday would be a good time to have them appear in the story. I really hope you guys are liking this story. Like I said, please leave me reviews! It's been up for a week and I've only got 1 review :( But, my frown will totally flip if I get at least 4. Haha!

Thanks again guys,

-Jude