The Better Man (Chicago Sisters) (14 page)

Max’s heart sank. All the rationalizing he’d done over the years seemed so ridiculous now. He had convinced himself that Aidan was too little to notice if his dad was around or not. He had told himself these were the years a kid needed his mom, not his dad. Dads weren’t important until later. All the while, Jason was bonding with Aidan. Giving Aidan the attention he needed when Katie couldn’t and stealing Aidan’s heart.

He came up behind them just as the elevator arrived. Jason didn’t recognize him immediately, but his smile faltered slightly when the connection was made.

“How’s it going?” Jason asked, pressing the button to the correct floor.

“Not bad.” Max nodded. “How are you guys?” He touched Aidan on the arm. His little head quickly burrowed in the crook of Jason’s neck. Max’s heart sank deeper.

“We’re good. Right, buddy?” Jason tried to cajole Aidan to look up and say hello. When that failed, he tried to make conversation. “Katie’s mom took a turn for the worse this morning, so she’s been over there all day.”

“I had no idea Katie’s mom was sick,” Max said, feeling stupid.

“Pancreatic cancer. We found out about three months ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” That was around the same time she’d written to Max and asked him to give up his rights. Had her mother’s illness been what prompted all of this?
You never know someone’s story until you ask.
Max hadn’t bothered to ask Katie what was going on in her life.

“It’s been tough. Her dad is having a real hard time with it.”

Silence filled the elevator as it continued up. Max patted his pocket for his phantom cigarettes while Jason tapped his foot and chewed on his bottom lip as Kendall did when she was nervous.

“I’m sorry about yesterday, by the way,” Jason said as the elevator came to a stop on their floor. “Katie’s under a lot of stress, but she shouldn’t have lost her temper like that. Especially in front of this guy.”

Max had no idea how to respond. He wasn’t sure if Jason was for real or not. In Laura’s office, Jason set Aidan on the ground.

“Have fun with your dad, okay? I’ll be back to pick you up like Mommy usually does.” He bent down and kissed the top of his head.

Aidan grabbed his leg. “Daddy, stay.”

Max was pretty sure his heart dropped out of his chest. Jason tugged the little boy loose. “We talked about this. This is your dad’s time with you. You were excited to play cars, remember?”

Aidan looked up at Max, then back up at Jason. “Bye, Daddy.”

“Bye, bud.” His eyes lifted to Max. “He wants to show you some of the cars he brought from home. They’re in the bag.”

“Thanks,” Max said dumbly.

“No problem. He really was excited about coming. It sometimes takes him a minute to warm up. He doesn’t talk around my parents until the last five minutes of any visit. Kids are so funny.”

Maybe Jason wasn’t the bad guy Max had made him out to be. The thought scared him as much as it created a little hope. As he pondered that, Aidan pulled out a rectangular box with Hot Wheels written across it.

“Let’s have a race, Dad.”

Max had been wrong. His heart hadn’t fallen out of his chest because he could definitely feel it beating in there. In fact, it was almost as if it hadn’t ever been there until now.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“H
I
,
THIS
IS
K
ENDALL
, Paul’s daughter-in-law. Is he available?” Kendall was obviously desperate. She still hadn’t told Simon that Max wouldn’t be taking him trick-or-treating. Her plan was to have so much family there on Friday, he wouldn’t be as disappointed when Max didn’t show.

“Hi, Kendall,” Paul’s assistant replied. “Just one second.”

Since she hadn’t brought Simon out to Lake Forest in over a month, she figured inviting Paul for trick-or-treating would assuage her guilt. There was a distinct possibility he wouldn’t be able to make it anyway.

“Kendall, is everything all right?” Paul wasn’t accustomed to her calling him at work...or calling him at all, for that matter.

“Everything’s great,” she said, trying to sound upbeat. “Just wanted to invite you over tomorrow for Halloween. My parents and my sisters will be here and we’re taking Simon trick-or-treating around four. Of course, you’re welcome to stay for dinner afterward.”

“Let me check my calendar.” She was pretty sure he put her on hold to ask his assistant if he had any conflicts. The phone clicked. “Looks like I have a quiet afternoon. I can take off a little early.”

Kendall cringed. “Great. Well, I’ll let you get back to work.”

“Wait,” he said. “How’s Simon doing?”

“He’s okay. He hasn’t missed any school in a couple of weeks. Hopefully, he keeps that up.”

“With boys, you have to be firm. Trevor knew what the expectations were and met them. The moment you get soft, they’ll take advantage. You baby him a little, Kendall. Trevor wouldn’t want you to do that. He’d want Simon to be strong like he was.”

If Trevor wanted Simon to be strong, he shouldn’t have gone back to Afghanistan,
she wanted to sass back. Trevor was perfect. He was raised by perfect parents. He went to the Naval Academy where he got perfect grades. He became a perfect Marine officer. He could do no wrong. Kendall could never say otherwise.

“We’re working on it,” she said instead.

“Being a parent is hard. It’s the hardest job around. You only get one chance to do it right. I did it right with Trevor. You’ve got to do it right with Simon.”

No pressure.

“I have to let you go, Paul. I have another call coming in. We’ll see you tomorrow.” Her excuse was a lie, but it felt necessary. If she didn’t hang up, she was going to go off, and then he’d probably evict her.

Luckily, he let her go and she set her phone on her desk. Today was her second day in hiding. She was pathetically avoiding Max. Thankfully, Owen didn’t give her a hard time about it. Things were winding down at Sato’s. The project would be complete sooner than later and Max Jordan would be nothing but a memory.

A sad memory.

She tried and failed not to think about the dejected look in his eyes the last time she saw him. The hurt that came off him in waves, waves that knocked her over and threatened to drown her in their sadness.

Kendall had to tell herself over and over it was the right thing to do. Better Max get hurt now rather than Simon getting hurt later. Her reasoning felt solid until Owen told her Max had asked about them yesterday. He didn’t care. That was what she told herself to make all of this okay. But what if he did?

She couldn’t think about that. She needed to finish the presentation boards for a potential new client and meet Owen for lunch. Worrying about hurting a grown man’s feelings was pointless. Max Jordan was fine.

The phone rang and a breathless Owen was on the other end. “Drama at Sato’s, K. You are missing
all
the action.”

“What are you talking about?”

“So, last night Jin Sato showed up, throwing around his nonexistent weight, and Max basically told him to jump in the river. Today, Jin shows up again, goes back to Max’s office and all hell breaks loose.”

Kendall sat forward, her interest piqued. “What happened?”

Traffic noise came through Owen’s end of the call. “There was some yelling. I heard Max say something like, ‘If you think I’m going to explain everything I’ve done to get this restaurant up and running just so you can take it over, you are more delusional than I thought’ and Jin told him to get out.”

“Seriously? He fired him?”

“I don’t know. I mean, his dad owns the place. I suppose he can fire people, right?”

“I don’t know.” Kendall leaned back in her desk chair. “I don’t think Mr. Sato is going to be too happy about this.”

“I guess he’s on a plane to California right now. Max tried to get him on the phone but couldn’t.” Owen’s heavy breathing was distracting.

“Why are you running around outside?” she had to ask.

“I’m trying to find Max. He took off.”

Of course he did. The going got tough and Max ran away. Wasn’t that what his ex-wife said he did?

“I thought he could use a friend,” Owen added.

Kendall’s chest ached. A shot of guilt filled her veins. Owen was a good friend to have and it sounded like Max could use one of those. Even though she couldn’t be in Max’s life, she couldn’t stop herself from feeling sorry for him.

“Any luck?”

“Nah, he’s gone. Must have grabbed a cab. Poor guy,” Owen said. He wasn’t helping her not think about Max and his feelings. “Why don’t we meet for an early lunch since I’m out.”

“Fine, but no talk about anything or anyone from Sato’s.”

She got up and grabbed her coat. If anything, Max’s firing meant there was even less chance they’d ever see each other again. That had to be a good thing. He didn’t stick it out when things didn’t go his way. He certainly wasn’t someone she could trust to be there when things got rough, and all relationships went through rough spots. She had done the right thing by severing their ties.

Hadn’t she?

* * *

H
ALLOWEEN
WAS
THANKFULLY
sunny and not too chilly. When Simon was four, no one saw his costume because Kendall had him bundled up in a heavy winter jacket, hat and gloves. Today he’d be fine in his heavy sweatshirt and pants. They’d trick-or-treat after school before it got dark. She only had a couple of hours of work to do.

With no real reason to hide anymore, she had shown up at Sato’s to finish the mural. There was a tiny part of her that hoped Max would come in so she could see if he was okay. The rest of her was relieved when he didn’t.

Jin was there and slightly frantic. Supplies were being delivered and he wasn’t sure what to do with everything. Kendall kept out of the way and to herself. She finished the mural shortly after lunch. That gave her time to stop at the office and make a few calls before heading to school to pick up Simon.

He had brought his costume to school for a Halloween parade. The kids walked the halls, showing off their costumes to the other classes. She wondered if he managed all right with a big box strapped to him. He was all smiles when she met him at the classroom door.

Mrs. Taylor reported that he had a great day. He had even volunteered to write some numbers on the board during math. Kendall was thankful for the positive feedback. The meeting to discuss his placement was looming heavily, like a dark storm cloud. She wanted Simon to give the school a million reasons between now and then to let him stay.

“Don’t forget your picture, Simon,” Mrs. Taylor reminded him on their way out. Simon ran back to his desk and grabbed the drawing. “Have fun trick-or-treating.”

“Oh, we will,” Kendall replied for him. She carried the red race-car costume down the hall as Simon tried to show her his picture. He had drawn a row of houses, and the one in the middle had a bright red door. On the sidewalk was a little boy in a race-car costume flanked by a man and a woman. It didn’t take much to figure out who they were supposed to be.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “You’ll have to show that to Nana. She loves your drawings as much as I do.”

Once they were away from the other walkers, Simon let go of her hand and bounced ahead of her. “Can we go to Max’s house first?”

The dreaded question was, of course, the first thing to come out of his mouth. She was hoping to get home to the family before he had a chance to think about Max, but apparently he’d been thinking about Max all day long.

“I’m not sure Max is home, honey.”

His eyebrows pinched together. “Is he at our house already? We have to hurry, Mom! Come on!” He grabbed her hand and pulled.

“He’s not at our house,” she said, halting his moving feet before he could cross the street without looking both ways first. With the crosswalk clear, they resumed their walk home. “But Nana and Papa are coming over. Aunt Lucy and Aunt Emma, too. Even Grandpa Montgomery is stopping by to see you.”

“Uh-oh,” Simon said.

“Uh-oh, what?” Kendall knew Paul could be overwhelming at times, but she’d figured it wouldn’t be so bad with all the other family members around. Simon’s attention was stolen by a squirrel that scurried up one of the trees lining the street. He bent down and picked up a large, yellow maple leaf. The edges were browning and beginning to curl.

“We better tell Grandpa that Max looks like Daddy so he doesn’t get sad.”

All of Kendall’s emotion lodged in her throat. Her caring, compassionate boy was bound to be disappointed when she told him Max wasn’t coming. Now she feared what would happen when he learned he would never be coming by again.

She waited until they were home, dropping his cardboard-box costume on the porch and opening the front door. Simon ditched his backpack and ran for the kitchen—to get his after-school snack, most likely.

Kendall followed him back there and sat at the kitchen table. This was the place for sharing news, good or bad.

“Come sit by me,” she said, patting the chair next to her.

Simon sat and looked up at his mom with those eyes, Trevor’s eyes. “Why are you sad, Mommy?”

“Well, I’m a little worried you’re going to be sad. I know you’re excited about Max coming over, but he’s not going to make it.”

Simon’s bottom lip jutted out, and he shifted his gaze to his feet. “Doesn’t he want to see me be a race-car driver?”

“I’m sure he wishes he could see you be a race-car driver.”

“Then why isn’t he coming?” His eyes came back to hers. “Does he have to go trick-or-treating with Aidan?”

She took a deep breath. “I don’t know what he’s doing. I asked him not to come, honey.”

“Why?”

It was a fair question with a complicated answer. One she wasn’t sure she could explain to a six-year-old. “Max and Mommy decided it was best if we didn’t hang out anymore.”

“Why? Don’t you like him anymore?”

“Liking him or not liking him isn’t the issue, honey.”

“He’s not Daddy.” It wasn’t what he said that made her pause, it was how he said it. Like he was trying to reassure her with tears in his eyes.

“I know he’s not Daddy, Simon.” She pressed her hand to his soft, little cheek. “Max is very nice, and I know you like him, but we decided that we can’t be friends. That’s all.”

Simon thought about that for a moment, then stood up. “That’s mean, Mommy. That’s so mean!”

His footsteps sounded through the house as he ran up the stairs. His bedroom door slammed shut and Kendall let her head fall to the table. How far would this set him back? How quiet would he get? Trick-or-treating seemed pointless. She should probably call everyone and tell them not to bother coming over.

“Trick or treat!” Lucy’s voice and a knock on the door kept Kendall from grabbing the phone.

“In here,” she called out, lifting her head. Lucy might be able to rally him.

“Where’s the little guy? I saw his race car parked out front.” She laughed until she noticed the look on Kendall’s face. “You told him Mr. Look-alike wasn’t coming, didn’t you?”

“And I am now, officially, the meanest mommy. Ever.”

Lucy put a hand on her sister’s head. “Oh boy. Just remember every mom has felt like that at one point in time. I know I crowned Mom the meanest when I was little. She was a repeat winner of the title for years.”

Kendall let out a breathy laugh. “I remember you being much meaner to her than she ever was to you.”

“Of course I was. I’m meaner than everyone,” Lucy said, unashamed.

“I still love you, though.” Kendall got up and grabbed a large bowl off the top of the refrigerator. From the pantry, she pulled out three bags of Halloween candy and tossed them on the kitchen table.

“You really shouldn’t give out candy. I could have brought over a whole bushel of organic apples.”

“We are not going to be
that
house.” The two sisters opened and emptied the bags into the bowl. Lucy offered to help with dinner. Kendall had bought the ingredients for chili and no one chopped vegetables better than Lucy. Kendall set her up on the cutting board with an onion and some peppers.

“It’s better that you rip the Max Band-Aid off now rather than later,” Lucy said while they cooked. “Simon will get over it. So will you. It’s always better to be the one who walked away instead of the one left behind.”

“Which one were you again?” Kendall asked, recognizing that Lucy’s guard was down.

“Ha-ha. I’ve been both. At the same time,” she added. “Now, stop making this about me.”

“You love when things are about you,” Emma said, joining the conversation. Dressed in her nursing scrubs and a purple witch’s hat on her head, she sat down at the table next to Lucy with a bag of cheese puffs.

Kendall held a hand over her heart. “Maybe knock next time and give a girl some warning. Isn’t it against your nurse’s training to give people heart attacks?”

“And isn’t it against your nurse’s training to put processed poison into your body?” Lucy added. She snatched the cheese puffs out of her sister’s hands and walked them over to the garbage.

“Hey!” Emma sprung to her feet. “I was eating those! I haven’t eaten all day.”

“Another reason you shouldn’t eat them. Your body needs fuel, not intestine-destroying acids.”

“Uh-oh, who’s eating junk food in front of Lucy?” Kendall’s mom popped her head into the kitchen. “Girls, don’t fight over food.” She took the bag away from Lucy and handed it back to Emma, who scrunched up her face and pursed her lips at her sister.