Page 18 of Maximus

Max stepped away from me just as Liam turned to look at us.

“I’m hungry,” Liam announced.

“Me, too,” Eli agreed.

“Then let’s go get some lunch.”

I turned to invite Max but my son beat me to it.

“Max, would you like to come?”

“Where are you going?” Max asked teasingly.

Liam smiled, picking up on Max’s tone. “Anywhere that has burgers. Right, Mom?”

“Right.”

“Sounds good to me,” Max approved.

“Eva?”

I heard Max call my name but I couldn’t respond. I was too busy basking in the warmth of my kid’s smile. A smile Max had put there. He was being kind to my boys. No, that wasn’t right, Max was going out of his way to be thoughtful and gentle.

Why does that realization make my eyes sting and my nose tingle?

“I’m ready,” I muttered and cleared my throat. “Max, if you know a place, we’ll follow you.”

“I know a place.”

Of course he did. Max seemed to know everything.

Chapter 6

Halfway through lunch, my phone vibrated with a text from Brooks giving me the name and address of the hotel he’d booked for us and our room numbers.

Eva and I hadn’t discussed how we were going to play this, but I hoped like hell she’d follow along.

“Are you guys staying in the area tonight?” I asked Eva and waited for her to look away from helping Elijah with his burger.

Her gaze met mine and I raised a brow in hopes she’d follow along.

“Yeah. What about you?”

Good girl.

“Yep, at the Tifton Suites.”

“Really? That’s where we’re staying.”

Perfect.

“We are? We’re staying?” Liam asked hopefully.

I didn’t miss the pain that crossed Eva’s features.

“I told you we were going on vacation. An adventure, remember?” she gently reminded her son.

The soft tone Eva used when she spoke to her boys was like a kick in the gut. Every time I heard it, it was sweet agony. It was a tenor my mother had never used while speaking to me, nor had my aunt when I went to live with her and my uncle. As a matter of fact, no woman in my life had ever spoken to me with so much care and concern. Not even Pam, and she’d said she loved me.