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Chapter 20
The last thing Finn wanted was to spend an entire evening with Avery and her parents. There were so many internal circuits that he had to shut down to go through with this that he wondered if it wouldn’t be best for everyone if he just dropped Max off and picked him up two days later, like they did on the weekends. His son was still living with him and that was all that mattered. However, Max wanted him to come, especially when he’d heard that Noah and his family weren’t coming. He’d do anything for him, even go through this holiday that was so far from how he had hoped, planned, and dreamed of celebrating it. Besides, he didn’t want his son to find himself alone in the same spot others had—cushioning Avery-related family situations.
He kept the holiday spirit for Max’s sake. They had bought a tree and decorated it, and he had taken him Christmas shopping. He’d bought a present for Jane, one that he had wanted to buy her long ago. He’d give it to her, even if it meant she would get it in July.
“You still need to be very careful, as if the injunction is still in place,” his lawyer had said. “Don’t be dragged into arguments. It’s volatile, and you still have a court hearing in January, so everything we talked about is valid, and I mean everything.”
Finn had shaken his head as he listened. Even his cool, calculated lawyer had guessed how much he wanted to go see Jane.
He had helped Max pick out a present for Avery and had internally smiled to himself when Max hadn’t offered they add his name to it, like they had done the year prior.
As he dressed for dinner and checked that Max didn’t slack and put on his fancier clothes, Finn gathered all the focus he usually employed before important competitions so he could survive this evening.
Knowing that Jane would be so close yet so out of his reach again was killing him. Knowing that he would be sitting across a table from the woman who used their son to keep him away from Jane was almost more than he could bear.
The tension could be cut with a knife when he entered his ex-mother-in-law’s house. He thought that somewhere he should feel bad for this, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel guilt over loving Jane or for going after his heart. His main worry was that Max would blame him, but he didn’t.
He didn’t exchange more than two words with Avery and didn’t return her glares.
He felt sorry for Max. Not just because of the situation, but because none of the adults felt like talking to each other, so they all just spoke to Max. And his boy did his best to provide more than two-word answers to questions like “How’s school?” that were asked at least three times.
When it was finally dessert time, Darian got up and remained standing in front of her seat. “I have something special that my sister sent for the holiday. I know things haven’t been easy, but I’d like to hope that, next year, all this awkwardness will be long forgotten and we can all celebrate together again.” Darian took a few steps toward the kitchen then stopped and looked at her daughter. “Linda promised me that Connie made this cake.”
Max seemed excited about the promise of cake and was chatting to Fernando.
“It’s very Christmas-y and so unique,” Darian announced, carrying a round tray back into the dining room.
Sudden warmth exploded in Finn’s heart. This was no Christmas-themed cake, though the writing around it read, “It was on a starry night.” The swirling blues, yellows, and whites he knew so well were all there, painted on sugar paste. He could practically feel his tattoo throbbing on his left arm.
This was the baking equivalent of his November eleventh cards to her. His Jane.
He was probably the only one who noticed that the painted crescent moon was waxing, not waning.
Finn raised his eyes. Max was looking at him. He then moved his eyes to Finn’s arm, where his tattoo was covered by the long sleeves of his buttoned-down shirt.
“Connie can’t paint like that,” Avery’s voice suddenly came from somewhere; Finn couldn’t even tell where. “This has Anne’s signature all over it. Who draws such things on Christmas cakes? You’d think she’d do something in greens and reds, a Christmas tree, snow—something. No, she has to put art on everything.” She didn’t seem to notice or remember that a piece of that art was tattooed on her ex-husband’s arm. Finn wasn’t surprised.
“Avery, it’s a very nice cake and a nice gesture,” Fernando said. “We can appreciate the effort that went into it.”
Finn thought of the heart, love, effort, and talent that went into this message that Jane had conveyed to him. She wanted him to know that he wasn’t alone in all this, and that she was thinking of him. Just like his cards were a piece of his heart, this was a piece of hers.
He watched as Darian cut it and served each a piece.
Four adults ate their cake and chatted as they did. One child didn’t touch hers. She pushed the plate away from her.
“I’ll be going soon, Max,” Finn half-whispered to his son when their plates were empty. “I’ll come back for you the day after tomorrow, okay?”
“Can I go home with you?”
“You have to stay here, but I’ll be back soon. And you know I’m working on this.” They kept their voices low so that Darian, who had moved between them to collect the plates, wouldn’t hear.
“Avery, you’re sure you don’t want yours?” she asked.
“Give it to Finn. I’m sure he would love to get all her leftovers.”
“Avery!” both Fernando and Darian chided in chorus.
“They broke up, Avery. Now we need to move on. Everybody can make a mistake,” Darian added to her in an audible whisper.
