Max and Chloe picked up some bacon and pre-buttered pancakes on the way out, which Warren paid for, and on which he affixed a note filled with sketches and kind words. Joyce added a small note on the styrofoam box, too.
Max turned to say something to Chloe and nearly collided with the next oncoming patron to the Whales. He smelled like stale cigarette smoke and day old whiskey, but that was an improvement over the overtones of whale decay that permeated the town.
"The Wonder Twins. I'm shocked." A small smile played at the corners of Frank's lips.
"Hey, Frank."
Chloe moved subtly between Max and the man in the doorway. It wasn't a conscious move, Max noted, just a protective one, and rightly so after the dealings with Frank.
He paused awkwardly, smile faltering. "I've uh. Been avoiding you guys, but I guess I don't have much of a choice other than to finally talk to you two crazy bitches. Er. Sorry. I'm trying to work on that." He shuffled, looking down. "Let's step outside for a minute, yeah?"
Chloe eyed him warily, but Max brushed by, catching her hand and pulling her to follow Frank. "Are you okay, man?" Chloe's voice was cautious and uncertain. "You're acting hella weird."
Frank shoved his calloused hands in his black jacket that had… something all over it. Max's nose itched a little. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just don't like talking about some things in front of a whole diner, okay?"
The three rounded the building, and Max had grown overly tense, her shoulders creeping closer to her ears and her heart rate steadily increasing.
"Alright, look. I've been avoiding you two since…" he looked distant for a moment. "Anyway, Chloe, we go back, and you owed me cash for a long time, which I'm still pissed about, but since I found out that that bastard used my drugs to kill Rachel, I just couldn't do it anymore. I can't expect you to pay. I don't expect you to pay. You gave me answers as payment. You gave me closure." He paused again, looking down and shaking his head. "I used all the money I made this year to build an animal shelter, and uh. There are a lot of animals still homeless, so if you see any without a home, drop them off with me, okay? You know how to reach me."
"Goddamn, Frank, you're a total fucking sap," Chloe teased, but smiled genuinely - not her usual shit eating grin. "Is that why you're a walking allergen?"
"You're covered in dog hair?" Max clapped a hands over her mouth and still couldn't stifle the laugh bubbling from her belly. Frank had gone soft. Softer than usual.
"Hey, fuck you guys." But he smiled through a scowl. Only Frank. He sobered again. "The local blue knows I had the drugs but aren't making an issue out of it. Nathan was a lot of bad things, including a fucking murderer, but he didn't rat me out. The feds know Rachel and I are…" He stopped. "were. I talked with a few of 'em, and they're leaving me out of it - said they'd pin it on that twat the news showed. That I wasn't a terrible citizen and they had enough to worry about. Community service crap." He waved a dismissive hand.
Chloe darkened at the mention of Rachel but held her tongue. For once. Grudgingly, she sniffed, "I'm glad you're turning around, Frank."
"Hell, that doesn't mean you can't bum some broccoli from me every now and then." He rubbed at his wrist. He didn't wear Rachel's bracelet anymore but rubbed at the spot like an old habit.
Broccoli had become an ongoing joke between Max and Chloe after Chloe poorly lied to Joyce about a plastic bag of illicit substance that accidentally got put up with the groceries. In a fit of hysterical laughter, Chloe relayed the escapade to Frank through text, to which he only responded "dumbass." Apparently, that had been the only contact between them since Rachel's funeral. It sounded like a peaceful gesture to reference such a small thing.
"Count on it." Chloe gave her best shit eating grin. Well, she could only hold it in for so long, Max supposed. "It can be your Christmas gift to us both, since little cream puff here never baked before."
Max smiled sheepishly. "Cream puff, my ass," she snorted.
Chloe threw her arm around Max casually, not in the protective way she acted before. It was intimate. Warm. Wholly grounding and pure.
Frank shuffled a little before the light bulb all but literally popped over his head. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot." He dug through his dog fur coat to pull out business cards and folded flyers, all announcing The Amber Animal Haven and contact information. The logo showed a blue jay in flight.
Max flinched but swallowed her writhing nerves to take the information. With a cotton mouth, she asked, "Flyers?"
Chloe sputtered, "Business cards?"
Frank rolled his eyes but shrugged. "Yeah, I have to get the info out somehow. Joyce was telling me how you two go to the hospital sometimes to visit what's her name churchy school girl and take her breakfast. I figured, since that chick volunteers there, she can put up the stuff." He grunted. "I'm tired of talking and I need to feed the cats when I get back, so see you guys later. And uh, hit up if you're serious about that uh, broccoli." He smiled slightly again and walked off, stormy expression returning quickly as it had gone.
Max felt warm tingly sensations running through her cold fingers, and she looked up at Chloe who still mused at Frank's literature. "The Amber Animal Shelter, huh?"
Max nodded. "He loved her too, Chloe."
Chloe sneered, face contorting into a mask of disgust. "She didn't love me the way I wanted her to, and I should have always known it was one sided."
Max grew quiet. That had been the wrong thing to say. She could just rewi- No.
"I still do in my way, but... as a lost friend. I wish you could have met her, Max, but then again, I would have serious competition for your affections." Her face smoothed back out into a sad smile. "I'm glad he did this. Not just for the town, but for her too. She deserves something filled with life and hope."
Max didn't say anything this time.
Chloe side eyed her slightly concerned. "You know I have no regrets about us being together, right? Rachel meant a lot to me, but deep down I knew it wasn't… what I wanted it to be." She paused with a defeated sigh. "You're turning blue. Let's get you heated up in the truck."
Max felt a chill run down her spine, but it wasn't from the cold. She walked a few steps and stopped. "Chloe, I don't regret my decision."
Chloe, whose back was turned toward Max, froze and went rigid. She turned and stalked back, an unreadable expression on her face before she slapped the biggest smooch she'd ever lain on Max in public. Max nearly dropped Kate's breakfast.
A cheerful voice shouted from the diner window. "Get a room!"
Max beat Chloe to it and flipped Warren off. Chloe laughed, her lips still on Max's, and Max felt her heart swell. She knew Chloe loved her, and it was enough.
"Let's go take these yummy yums to Kate before they get frozen solid."
Snow began to fall lightly, painting Chloe's beanie polka dotted.
"Max, you're killing me. All these kisses. What is a meme like me to do?"
"Calm down, Pepe. You'll be fine. Who knows? You may even get laid for Christmas, since I don't have really a lot of gifts."
Chloe's face blanched and turned bright pink, ears included. Steam practically sizzled off her face from the frozen snow hitting such a hot surface. "Just get in the damn truck," she mumbled, walking off and fumbling with her keys. She dropped them in the freshly forming snow coat.
Max laughed deep from her belly and trotted to the truck, which roared to life and ticked impatiently. She slung the door open and hopped in, hot, dry air warming her cold nose and frigid fingers. "My fingers are cold, Chloe. Give me a place to put them."
Chloe's face grew brighter, and she accidentally hit the gas instead of the break in a flustered moment. They peeled out of the Two Whales parking lot with a squall and headed toward the hospital.
The drive was filled with pleasant teasing and happy thoughts followed by serious conversation, which almost immediately digressed into laughter and embarrassment. The reached the hospital and walked hand in hand to the entrance.
"Are we gonna tell her, Super Max?"
"If us holding hands isn't enough to point it out, I don't know what is."
"We will literally need to bang on the receptionists' desk to get the point across to that girl."
"My, Chloe, you sound like you've thought about this before."
Chloe flushed again. "Jesus, stop shutting me down. I'm supposed to be the snarky one!"
Max have Chloe a quick peck and felt butterflies in her stomach. Today was the day.
They walked in.
Kate Marsh all but knocked them over in an unexpectedly powerful tackle-hug and exclaimed, "I knew it!"
Chloe started, bracing herself for the upcoming conversation. "Listen, Kate, I know that it's not exactly, um, smiled upon, but we couldn't be happier than we are as a couple."
The much shorter girl looked up at them from her hug, eyes wide. "Were… you not together before…?" She paused, puzzled. A silver cross dangled from her neck over the top of her scrubs, her hair was up, and she looked positively radiant. A far cry from the beaten puppy she had been when Max had first met her. "I was just happy you both stopped by! I had a feeling you would come today!"
"You knew we were together?" Max felt her face turning as pink as Kate's heart covered scrubs.
"Doesn't everyone?" she asked matter of factly.
Max shoved the styrofoam box at Kate. "Eat your damn pancakes, shorty."
Kate laughed, which was still such a pleasant sound. Max had seen her cry far too many times.
Kate set aside the food for her actual break, but read the attached notes with a huge grin. She looked up at Max and Chloe and laughed. Chloe smiled back, but she was sort of hovering just behind Max's shoulder. Kate still made Chloe a little nervous. "Max, you saved my life, and now I get to help others with that life. I don't know how you did it, but I'm glad you were there. There was so much darkness - more darkness than the storm - and I managed through that with you helping me. This is truly a blessing, and Max Caulfield, you're the angel who brings that blessing."
Chloe and Max exchanged a look. Max could feel her cheeks and the tips of her ears turn bright pink. "Should we tell her?"
"If she can be this deeply religious and accept a couple of gays being in a relationship in a small Oregon town, I think she can manage anything." Her sarcasm betrayed her eyes which asked, Are you okay to tell her?
Max nodded. "Kate, I have something to tell you that might be hard to believe. Do you have the time?"
Kate's eyes sparkled. "It's been a slow day."