POSIE

I fell in love with the idea of Maxwell Carter when I was too young to understand just how that beautiful boy would break my heart one day.

I was never his best friend.

Never a girlfriend.

We were strangers turned pen pals.

Through those letters, we each grew more complicated feelings, especially since he never actually came home to see me in person.

Maxwell Carter was bad at love and I had to let the hope of ever being with him go.

I managed that, right up until a very special person in both of our lives brought us back together in an unexpected way.

MAX

Pops used to give me what he called "woman advice".

When I was younger, I blew it all off, thinking I knew everything there was to know about the opposite sex.

Failed relationship after failed relationship proved I should have listened to the old coot before it was too late.

It wasn't until I came back to my hometown at thirty-three that I realized the most important thing he tried to convey to me. The love of a good woman – the perfect woman for me – had been in my grasp all that time, only I'd failed to see her for what she was until it was too late.

I was finally coming home, and she was free once more.

Both of us were a little worse for the wear, but Pops' lessons had finally sunk in and I wouldn't stop trying until I finally made her mine.