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Reid had dated a single mom for three years. About six months in, it became clear Callie was using him as a glorified babysitter. While Reid got close to her son and still hangs out with him, it was never a good relationship with his mom. Thank God he found Whitney. She’s so much better for him.
“Don’t get me wrong, Burke is a nice guy,” my mom says. “Just something wasn’t right for you.”
“He’s so nice.”
Mom walks over and perches on the desk. “Is Max nice?”
My core tightens, thinking about holding his hand, how handsome he is. We only had one night, but it changed the course of my life, and I will never forget the tenderness he showed me, how he gave me my first orgasm before we had sex. How caring he was. It was the perfect first time, even if I got pregnant from it.
“Max is very nice,” I say. “I think his stepdad interfered in our relationship.”
My mother freezes, her arms tightening around her rib cage. “How?”
“I think he lied about talking to Max, that time he came to Goldheart.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Max said something that indicated to me he didn’t know at all.” I drop my head into my hands. “He’s about to take over his stepdad’s dentist practice. He’s retiring this week.”
“Has Max told his parents about Olive yet?”
“No. He’s waiting.” I run my fingers through my hair. “I really didn’t want to deal with this this week.”
“You need to tell him,” Mom says. “He needs to know. The longer you wait, the more he’s going to resent you.”
“You think so?”
“Yes. Trust me, you don’t want to let this go on too long.” Mom slaps the desk with her palm. “Olive will sleep over tonight, and you and Max can have some alone time to figure some stuff out. You can tell him about his stepdad and about your breakup with Burke, and then you can move forward, whatever that looks like. He said he was leaving tomorrow, right?”
“Right.” My stomach roils as I think about how tonight might go. Will he look at me differently once I tell him about his stepdad? Will he kiss me when I tell him I broke up with Burke? Do I want him to?
I definitely want him to. I want his hands on me, his lips on mine. Whenever I’m around him, I feel this crackling energy, this unspoken heat that we tried to forget about for ten years. The memories never faded for me, and I’m not sure they did for Max either, although he thought I was horrible for keeping it from him.
“Thanks, Mom. That would be great.”
Mom pauses, her mouth straightening to a line. “Are you on something?”
Heat blooms in my cheeks. “What?”
“Birth control.”
“I got an IUD a couple months ago.”
“Good,” Mom says. “But if you do sleep with him, use a condom, even though they didn’t work so well the first time. You don’t want a sibling for Olive just yet.”
Although I’m thirty and know this, I swallow any response. Heat floods my cheeks, thinking about sex with Max. “Sure thing, Mom.”
She kisses me on my head, like she’s done since I was a kid. “I love you. I just want you and Olive to be happy.”
“Thanks, Mom. I want that for us too.”
“Good.” She moves to the door and turns. “It’s been one of the great joys of my life to see you be a mother. You’re so, so good at it.”
My chest feels like it’ll split open. “Even if I let my daughter watch Thelma and Louise and she lets in raccoons because of it?”
“Especially because of that. I’m sure you’ll figure out what to do and it will be the right decision for you and Olive.”
After my mother leaves, I arrange things on my desk just to move them to their original spot. I promised Max an hour to spend alone with Olive, which we decided would be a good amount of time to start.
