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Chapter 16
Max opened the door only after he stood there for five whole minutes, knocking and calling both Max’s and Avery’s cellphones.
“Hey, Dad.”
He pulled him into a hug and kissed the top of his son’s head. “Max, I want to explain.” He saw Avery in the background, standing far inside, where the hallway opened to the living room. How much had she said? They had always blurred the truth for Max. Finn had always hoped he wouldn’t have to explain to his son that the only reason he had married his mother was that he had gotten her pregnant, and that the only reason he had been born was that his father felt guilt when that pregnancy had been lost.
“That’s okay. I understand.”
Finn held Max by his biceps and pulled himself back so he could look at his face. “You do?”
“Not everything, but …” Max trailed off, his gaze on the coir doormat that Finn was standing on.
“I don’t know what you heard, but Jane … Anne and I, we were friends a long time ago. You know she used to tutor me in high school.” This was general information everyone knew. “Then I married your mother, and then we had you, but you know all that already. Your mom and I have been divorced for three years, and Anne and me … we discovered we love each other, and we wanted to give it a try.” He couldn’t tell him the whole truth. This would have to suffice. Even that felt like too much. “We never meant to hurt anyone, not your mother, or you. And we were going to tell everyone, so everyone would understand. I want you to understand most of all.”
He hated that he had to hold this conversation with his son while standing in the doorway, but he didn’t want to set a foot in that house. Not today.
Max nodded. “I understand.” He raised his eyes, and their gazes finally met. The blue of Max’s eyes had always reflected his own, and Finn could see that Max meant what he said.
“I was about to pick you up, and here I am. We’re going home.”
“Okay.”
The moment Max turned away, Avery sailed toward the door and stopped next to her son. “Where do you think you’re taking him?” she asked, putting an arm around Max’s shoulders, as if he needed protection.
“Home.” Finn looked her straight in the eyes.
“To your girlfriend’s? Who happens to be his aunt? I don’t think so.”
“Avery, is this how you want to do this? Here?” He gestured with his head, first to the side, toward the street, then toward Max, who was half-pivoted from him. He was trying to make her gather herself for her son’s sake. “I’m taking him home, to Blueshore, where he’s lived all his life. It’s my house and his. No one else is there. And, as for the rest, you and I will talk about it later.”
“You can bet on that,” she said.
He wanted to ask her why she was like this, what had anyone ever done to her to make her like this. He knew her family well, and except for the fact that her parents had always been indulgent of her behavior and had hardly ever criticized her, not even when their younger son hadn’t come for Thanksgiving, there was absolutely no reason for her to behave as if everyone was a contender against her.
“Max, go get your things,” he said, placing a comforting hand on his son’s shoulder blade.
Without a word, Max sidestepped Avery and went inside.
They remained there facing each other. He had no idea if anyone was watching the scene they were making, but he was sure there was.
“I never cheated on you, Avery. I’m sorry things were the way they were, but I’ve always tried to do the right thing.”
“Finn, we both know why we got married. But this? Her? Do you honestly expect me to accept this? To flaunt this in my face?”
“No one’s flaunting or going to flaunt anything. We don’t choose who we love. She and I … we go way back …” He stopped. “As friends,” he added, almost tempted to tell her the truth, but knowing it wouldn’t do any good. “Refusing to accept it won’t change anything.”
“Forget it, Finn. I won’t have it. And I won’t let my son … I won’t let you …”
“What won’t you let him, Avery?” His mouth tasted metallic, and his voice sounded steely in his own ears.
Max began approaching them, shouldering his big backpack and holding the paper bag that contained his VR in its box.
“In our family, she’s practically your sister-in-law and his aunt,” Avery said through greeted teeth.
“Don’t try that bullshit on me, Avery.”
“I won’t have you confuse him or throw him into a family that’s—”
