Bleeding Hearts

New beginnings

Aaron showed up in the middle of me dealing with the engagement couple and decided to sit in the back of the room and watch the show unfold. As soon as the walked out of the store I gave him the meanest look I could before getting back to work on my photos. Aaron laughed then went back to work on whatever he was doing while watching me suffer. 45 minutes passed without intrusion before Max returned from sobering up, I had finally completed my downloads and was starting on setting up canvas print orders we had received.

“Hay Bells I have a friend coming in to grab some prints for his new office, can you help me package them real quick?” Max asked as he tossed his leather jacket on the counter.

“Sure no problem” I shut my laptop and followed him to the back where we store some of our prints. On the counter I see a large half packed crate and some framed photos laying out with an order form. Packaging up the order took several hours, some of the prints hadn’t been framed up yet and of course some prints hadn’t even been printed, Max was never very organized this was something Amy would have taken care of so I now know why he ended up such a hot mess last night.

Finally when all the work was said and done we got to take a little break and started practicing some new sing along songs Max came up with for the children at the hospital. Max loved singing and dancing with the kids, he was also a big donor of the hospital and helped them to build a whole new children’s wing a couple years ago, I always wondered how he had so much money and was able to do all the things he does but never asked maybe one day he will just tell me.

We were in the middle of a silly song when Max received a call, I have no idea how he went from laughing his damn ass off to sounding so professional so quickly.

“Max Edwards” he answered looking all business like, mad me laugh a little since I know he doesn’t have a serious business like bone in his body which is probably why I love him so much. Max is the big brother I always wanted and needed in my life, we may not be related but we are definitely family. “yeah man I got it all packed and ready for you, just send your truck over anytime” hmm it must be the friend he was talking about, makes since because it was one of the largest orders we had ever sent out to one person before so of course it would be some rich guy Max would know. “don’t have anything planned tell 3pm actually so yeah I can make it, I’m going to bring a friend if mine along if that’s ok………. I kind of owe her right now…. See you in 30 bye bro" Max hung up the phone with a childish grin on his face “ grab your s**t we are going to lunch with a friend of mine before we head out to the hospital. I owe you for all the help here today Bells so it’s the least I can do" he hopped up and headed to the front. Well now it looks like I get to meet the rich guy now, how strange this will end up being.

“so who is our lunch date Max? I’m use to us grabbing a late lunch on hospital days because we work to damn hard but got to say this is the first time we had a surprise guest “ I ask as we headed out in his car to wherever we were going, I should probably ask that next.

“His name is James, he is an old buddy of mine, we are practically family, old college buds and business partners. Plus we grew up together but he went to a different high school than I did since at the time his parents worked in a smaller hospital they couldn’t send him to private high school like they did for middle and elementary school”

“wow, so he is a high class fella then? Weird, where are we eating ?” I asked. Max being friends with someone who sounds like a goody 2 shoes rich man seems so out of this world I’m actually beginning to wonder if he is making this s**t up.

“Some place a high class goodie 2 shoes would eat lunch" he responded with a laugh. Boy I hate his games sometimes. Maybe I should have stayed in the shop with Aaron. Just then I remembered I had some news to share with Max, I guess now is as good as ever.

“ I have some good news, well good for me and possibly bad for you"

“What’s up?” he asked 

“ I got that job I applied for a month ago, the one at the vet clinic. They emailed me back finally”

“ that’s awesome, I’m really happy for you. I knew you wouldn’t want to stick around the shop forever. I am glad you stuck it out as long as you could, you have been a major help since Amy passed and everything” I could see the sadness in his eyes as he said her name. He rarely says it anymore. He pulled into a parking ramp and hopped out, handing the keys to a man dressed in all black he said “ name is Max, reserved parking please under last name Adams" he handed the guy a tip as I got out of the car. “fancy place like I promised” I blushed and stuck my tongue out at him secretly praying its not too fancy, I’m not dressed for it.

“before we go in I do want to say thanks for giving me the side job at the shop. I’ll be able to help out every now and again when you need me to. Especially when I finish my last transcript for the court house. But hopefully you’ll be able to find some other help so I won’t have to do any wedding gigs. Anyway thanks for everything, when I decided to go back to school for vet medicine you were really helpful through all of it and extremely flexible with hours as my part time boss, without you and Amy I would have never made it, so thanks man I mean it" I Hilfiger him tight, this boy is my best friend and he truly has been the greatest boss to. Max also helped a lot when money got tight through all of this as well. Max and Amy where my people and he will always be my absolute best friend no matter what happens from here on out. My only hope is that he finds a girl to help him heal and find love again, as for me I finally feel like I’m where I need to be in life, my hobby will be just a hobby again and now I have a real job helping to save the lives of mans best friend.