Max screamed. Then he realized that he had woken up from a nightmare as he panted. As he calmed himself down, he looked around and realized that he was still in his nice, warm, big bedroom in the nice, big guestroom in Peg's house. He took another deep breath and tried to go back to sleep, but he couldn't. He didn't think he could because that nightmare he had was really that bad. Then the room's lights got turned on.

"Max, are you all right?"

Max looked ahead and saw Peg, who was wearing her white dressing gown, was hanging by the opened door.

"Are you ill or in pain?" Peg asked.

"No, Peg," Max said. "I'm fine. I just had a nightmare, that's all. I'm so sorry I woke you."

"That's all right," Peg said. "I know exactly what you need to help you recover from your nightmare. Meet me by the hot tub."

"The hot tub?" Then Max saw Peg walking away before he could ask her any more questions. Then he checked his alarm clock on his bedside table and saw it was one in the morning. But he trusted Peg, like he always did ever since the night he first met her in Spoonerville, so he decided to just put on his dark blue and yellow stripes swim shorts on and put his dark blue dressing gown on and then made his way to the hot tub to meet Peg there.

Max walked through Peg's beautiful grand house and then went out into Peg's massive garden, which was big enough to be a park. It had a lot of grass lawns and plenty of big bushes and tall giant trees that would make anyone think that this was a forest. He passed the swimming pool that was big enough to be a lake and found Peg by the large hot tub. She turned it on, took off her dressing gown, revealing her light purple bikini, and stepped into it.

"Come on in, Max," Peg said. "The water's lovely."

Max took off his dressing gown and joined Peg into the hot tub. "You're right, Peg," he said happily. "This is very nice."

"Now, why don't you tell me what your nightmare was about?" Peg asked. "Was it about my cooking? Is the room you're in?"

"No, no, none of those things at all," Max said. "Your delicious chicken dinner was delicious. I couldn't get enough of it. And the room and the bed you gave me made me feel like home. My nightmare was about my girlfriend who I had to leave yesterday."

"Oh, Max, I'm so sorry." Peg remembered what Max told her and Pistol as they had their delicious chicken dinner in Peg's beautiful large dining room. She remembered him telling her that neither him nor Lisa wanted to end their happy and healthy relationship, but they had to because only Spoonerville College would accept Max and Lisa had a lonely grandmother to look after while she attended college in South Dakota.

"And I know that's nothing compared to what Pete did to you four years ago, Peg," Max said, "but I only just said goodbye to Lisa yesterday and right now I just feel like I'm never going to get another girlfriend and I will never find love. But I am happy that Lisa's doing what she loves to do and I wish her nothing but happiness and success in life."

"That's really sweet of you, Max," Peg said. "And I think it's sweet of you to go over there and give her the best support you could give her while you could. I'm very grateful to you and your dad for giving me the best support you gave me after I divorced Pete."

No one ever forgot the time when Pete cheated on Peg with a young blonde nineteen-year-old Sophie whom he hired with to be his secretary at his car business job. When she found out about it, Peg was completely heartbroken that her husband whom she met and knew (or thought she did) as early as high school and went to college with and been married for more than twenty years cheated on her. She just had to get away and move on from him. She successfully got divorced from Pete, but another thing that she would never ever recover from was that she could get full custody of Pistol but no custody of PJ at all and how Pete got full custody of him. She was still very sad that she had PJ with her ex-husband, but she was glad that her son still had Goofy and Max to check on him. She always knew that they would make his life better than Pete ever would. Before they came, PJ had no friends at all, but then Max came into his life and became his best friend and the closest things they ever had to having brothers. Because Goofy and Max were so good to PJ, Peg would always keep in contact with them or go to see them like she and Pistol went back to Spoonerville to celebrate Max's sixteenth birthday or go to see them like when Max and PJ did their school plays and graduate high school or invite them to come to her place or join them on vacation like that Arabian Gulf cruise last year. Pete was never welcome and she would avoid him like the plague and would only sit next to him and talk to him (very few and far in-between) for the sake of PJ and Max.

Peg and Pistol moved to Hilton Head Island to set up a new life and Goofy, Max and PJ helped her with the moving, which was part of their support to her. She became a real estate agent there like she was in Spoonerville, but she was more popular and more successful in Hilton Head Island than she ever was in Spoonerville. And she bought a great big house with a great big garden and a swimming pool and a hot tub for herself and Pistol. Despite her new life, she wasn't happy. She tried dating new men, but she never got into a successful relationship and she was struggling to raise Pistol as a single parent. Pistol never listened to her mother's advice and would always hang out with the wrong crowd and get into trouble.

"I know how you're feeling right now, Max," Peg said. "I feel that every time I try a new relationship with a man but always fail. They always leave me and move on and I never know why. I don't know if it's me or they just find a more attractive or richer woman." Then she broke down into tears.

Max sat next to her and gave her a big hug as she continued to cry. "No, it's not you, Peg. You are one of the most beautiful, nicest and smartest women I have ever known. When you lived in Spoonerville, I really enjoyed your company when we did many things together. You were the closest thing I've ever had to a mother and even though we're not neighbours anymore I still view you that way and I will always count myself lucky that you were."

Peg stopped crying and smiled and gave Max a hug back. "Thanks, Max. And I will always count myself lucky that you're like a son to me and you still are, even though we're not neighbours anymore. I miss being with you and your dad as much as I miss being with PJ. And I always count myself lucky that you are looking after PJ and that you're not just his very best friend, but also like the brother he never had."

"Thanks, Peg." If he had to be completely honest, Max had to admit that Peg was his very first crush, even before he went to high school and fell in love with Roxanne. Another reason he would go to the Petes' house wasn't just because to play with his best friend PJ (and Pistol, even if it was only to shut her up), but also to gaze on the beautiful Peg as much as he could. And he would do continue to do so whenever he could when he, Goofy and PJ would go and spend time with her and Pistol. A good example was when they were on their Arabian Gulf cruise last year, when Max was in the big cruise's swimming pool and playing with PJ and Pistol in it, he would try and look at Peg wearing her sexy bikini as she laid on her sun lounger getting a sexy tan.

Then Max wondered if Peg and Pistol didn't leave Spoonerville and he would see them more often like he used to, would he still have his crush on Peg and not be interested in Roxanne? Then he wondered if Roxanne didn't leave for Salt Lake City, would he have had his relationship with Lisa, even if she found out that Chad cheated on her? And would she still have changed into the lady she was now if they didn't have their relationship?

"Don't worry, Max," Peg said. "You've got college coming up and there'll be plenty of women. I know it doesn't feel like that now, but trust me when college starts, you'll see. Just look at you. You're becoming more handsome and stronger as you get older. And you're still just as smart and nice as you ever were. Any girl would be lucky to have a boyfriend like you. Besides, even if those relationships don't last, at least they still want to be your friend and remain in contact with you. That's something not everyone has."

Those last five words reminded Max about how Lisa never wanted to see Chad ever again after he cheated on her. Even though their relationship was over, Max considered himself lucky that both his ex-girlfriends Lisa and Roxanne wanted to remain good friends with him instead of never wanting to see or speak to him ever again.

"As you know, your dad and I were very good friends in high school. Even though I was very popular and he wasn't, I liked hanging out with him the most and I viewed him as my best friend. When he had to leave Spoonerville with your grandparents, even though I knew it wasn't his fault, I was very upset and I missed him a lot. When he came back to Spoonerville with you, my life got better for it and I feel better that both of you are still in it and I'm glad Pete isn't. Well, except the bits where I can't avoid him."

"Thank you, Peg. You've seriously cheered me up."

Then the bubbles in the hot tub stopped.

"I think I'll try getting back to bed now," Max said, getting out.

"Wait, Max," Peg said. "There's something I would like to show you in my bedroom before you go back to yours, once you've dried yourself."

After they dried themselves with towels and put their dressing gowns back on, Max followed Peg to her big, grand bedroom.

"Take off your dressing gown, Max," Peg said, as she shut the door. "Then get into bed."

Max was confused but did as he was told. Then Peg took off her dressing gown and got into bed with him. Then she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the lips.

"Peg, this is very nice," Max said, "but what are you –"

"I like doing things with you, too, Max," Peg said. "You're the only one who's given me the most comfort and made me feel the most good about myself since I left Pete."

"Thanks, but –"

"But nothing. In a way, I'm glad that PJ and your dad aren't here yet because we can have more fun together. What do you say?"

Max didn't know what to say.

"Oh, come on. You're single and I'm single." Then Peg continued to kiss him before he could answer.

Max wasn't really in the mood for this after leaving Lisa yesterday, but Peg was his very first crush and he still found her very attractive and he was making her happy, so he went for it. The more he did it, the more he enjoyed it as much as she did. He always dreamed of doing something romantic with her, but this exceeded his expectations and was very happy.

"I can see why your ex-girlfriends wanted to be in a relationship with you and never wanted to leave you," Peg said.

"Thanks, Peg," Max said, as he continued to have his romantic moment with his first crush.