Page 67 of You Weren't Mine Then

“Hey, buddy, ready?” he cut her off, jutting his chin toward their son in a hint for her to keep it quiet in front of Max. “We’ll talk,” he added to her as soon as Max joined him on the other side of the threshold.

“Max, don’t worry, okay? Everything will be all right,” Avery said in a voice that was suitable for soothing a scared five-year-old.

Max didn’t reply. He just slightly bent forward and gave his mother a short hug.

Finn seethed inside. He should remind her later that Max got quickly used to seeing his mother mostly on the weekends, so despite everything, he was better able to adjust than she gave him credit for. This wasn’t about Max; this was all about her.

They didn’t speak until they were out of Riviera View.

“You ended up not having lunch today. D’you want us to get something somewhere? Maybe at the Blue Jam?” Finn side-eyed Max.

“Um, Eli invited me to come over, if that’s okay?”

“When did he manage to do that?”

“I texted him when we were at Mom’s, and he invited me.”

“Max, is it because …? We can talk about it. We should.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Dad. I just want to go to Eli’s.”

His stomach clenched. Was he losing his son now, too? Maybe Max just needed time and distance to digest. It had been an ugly scene.

“Do you want me to drop you off there?”

“Yeah.”

“But we should talk, Max.”

“Dad, I’m fine, really. I just want to go to Eli’s.”

He knew there was no point in pushing the point further now.

They didn’t say much until he pulled over in front of his friend’s house.

“I’ll be in touch later to come and get you,” he said right before Max left the car.

A text from Jane awaited when he got home. “How’s Max?”

“He’ll be ok. Can you talk?”

“Still at my parents. Are you ok?” she typed back almost immediately.

“If you are, then I am.”

“I will be.”

He changed his clothes and went straight to the pool. Swimming had always helped him clear his mind, focus, aim.

He hoped they’d get to talk later, but when he finally got Max home, Max said he was tired and went almost straight to bed.

After Max had gone to bed, he spread out any legal document that he and Avery had ever signed onto the kitchen table. Max living with him wasn’t legally documented because it had happened gradually. He emailed the lawyer who had handled his divorce and asked him to give him a call first thing in the morning.

He then called Jane. It was a short, whispered conversation and she sounded as dead tired as he felt. He couldn’t believe that, only that morning, he had woken up with her in his arms.

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