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“Well, you never behaved like this. You are not too big for me to knock you down.”
Pro slowly sat as she fought a desire to shake her mother violently.
Elisha stood up straight and lowered herself into her chair. “Fruit sounds nice, Max.” She returned her eyes to her wayward child. “You want fruit?”
“I want you to stop being a doormat to that man.”
This made Elisha smile. “Oh, honey, how little you understand me. And you really don’t know your father at all.”
“Maybe if he’d stuck around a little longer…” she seethed.
“Honey you’ve got to let it go. Max did the best he could by us both. But all you see is what he didn’t do.”
“No, I was lucky enough to have a real man in my life—”
“And Joe adored you. But if you could only see how much you are like your father.”
Pro leaped to her feet again. “I am nothing like him!”
Elisha smiled up at her daughter. “Personality-wise, you are exactly like him. All fire and hot. However, he’s cooled down, mellowed. It wouldn’t hurt you to calm down some too.”
Pro slowly returned to her seat, just as Max came out with a plate of fruit. It was not only cut in bite-sized pieces, but each of the slices had been artistically cut into shapes. They resembled animals, flowers, and even a rather impressive elephant.
Max placed the fruit down and Pro stared at it. An unbidden tear suddenly came from her eye.
“Do you like it, Pro?” Max beamed. “I used to cut them like this for you when you were little.”
Pro stared up in disbelief at her father, jumped up again, and ran to the bathroom as she stifled a sob, slamming the door as she went.
Max sighed. “She’s a hard nut to crack.” He sat at the table and picked at the fruit.
“Made herself hard because she thinks she has to be,” Elisha said and offered Max her cardboard cup.
He smiled and gratefully took a sip. “I couldn’t find the coffee maker.”
“I have one of those single shot things with the little plastic cups,” Elisha said as she rose and went around the table to head to the kitchen. “I’ll make us both a cup.”
In a quick move, Max took her hips and sat Elisha into his lap and leaned her back to kiss her neck. “Don’t leave me.”
“Now stop, Max!” Elisha giggled. “If Pro sees this it will just set her off again.”
“I don’t care! Last night was the first time in years I truly felt at home. That I was with someone who was just right.”
She turned in his lap to face him. She moved in and kissed him, then pushed herself to arm’s length.
“Max, last night was great fun…”
Max smirked. “I got that from all the moaning.”
“But…” she said carefully, “it was not the beginning of something. Don’t read more into it than what it was.”
“Oh?”
“After all these years, I can say I have no anger at you and that I honestly like you.”
“Last night seemed a lot more than just ‘like,’” Max chuckled and kissed her neck again.
She pushed him back. “Max, last night was just a walk down memory lane.” Elisha rose. “A lovely walk, but no more than that. However, the least I can do is give you a cup of coffee.”
