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There was less of a chance that Eli would do something wrong.
I made Eli his dinner, sat in the kitchen while he ate it and then took him to get changed.
“Eli?” I pulled out some pajamas as he came into his bedroom.
“Yeah, mama?”
I sat on the edge of his bed and blew out a breath. I had this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“You be good for Miss Maggie, okay?”
“I will, mama.”
He pulled on his pajamas, shoved his feet into his slippers and waited while I gathered up his blanket off the end of his bed.
“I'm just going to take Eli over,” I said to Max as I passed him in the hallway.
“Okay, baby.” He smiled and winked.
I smiled back and took Eli’s hand.
Henry was still sat in the same place when we walked in, he jumped up onto Eli’s lap as soon as he sat down.
“Thanks for doing this, Miss Maggie.”
“Hush now, child, you know I love to spend time with Eli,” she said and waved her hand at me.
I loved that Eli had someone that resembled a grandma. Sure, he had Max's parents but he hardly saw them, and my dad hadn’t even met him.
“I’ll see you later.” I planted a kiss on Eli's head and walked out of the living room.
The door clicked behind me, I didn't have time to make it back to our apartment before Max came out.
His blue polo shirt and jeans told me that we weren’t going anywhere fancy. Not that I had expected that. His dark hair still wet from his shower was slicked back.
His eyes held something that had my stomach tumbling.
Max extended his hand and I placed mine in his. He didn’t let go until we were at the car, I opened my door and slid into the passenger side.
“So, where are we going?” I asked as he started the car.
He turned his head and grinned big and wide. “It's a surprise.”
I hated surprises and he knew that, I turned away as he drove off from the apartment block.
It wasn’t until fifteen minutes later that I recognized where we were. I took the same route to work each day, passed the same row of shops and turned at the private road that he just drove past. There was no way that Max could have known that I had a job. I’d been really careful; today had been the only time he had seen me in what I wore for work.
He drove for another couple of minutes after going past the compound, and pulled into the parking lot of a bar.
“A buddy told me about this place,” he said as he got out of the car.
I stayed silent as he led us inside. We walked through the doors, the smell of food wafted around me making my stomach grumble.
The right side of the room was set up with pool tables, a bar ran across the back wall and seating spread all around.
People were eating and laughing, the atmosphere alive. The corner of my mouth lifted as a waitress showed us to our seats.
She sat us on the far side, furthest away from the bar.
