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“Sorta, but I know that’s weird. He’s in the best possible place if he can’t be with me, but I look forward to the time with him on the weekends.”
“I can see why. You’re so busy during the week.”
“We are. It’s nonstop. The weekends are buddy time, but it’s good for him to be with his cousins.”
Daisy darted toward the porch, ready to check out the rest of her new digs.
As he carried the crate while Lexi took the bed and bag Dude had packed, Max stopped short at the sight of a huge box on the front porch. “Wonder what that is?”
“Did you order birthday gifts?”
“No, I got him things he wanted from the store and some new skis.” He approached the box and bent to look at the shipping label. “No way.”
“What?”
“It’s from his mother.”
“Oh.”
Max stared at the box, unblinking, his mind racing with scenarios he couldn’t bear to consider, until he recalled Lexi was there and forced himself to snap out of it. After he put the crate inside, he went back for the box.
Daisy ran ahead of him, running through the house and checking things out.
Max put the box on the counter.
“I take it she doesn’t usually send something for his birthday?”
“She never has. Not once. No birthday or Christmas presents.”
Lexi’s hand landed on his back. “You don’t have to give him whatever is in that box. You can pretend it never came and go on with your lives like it didn’t happen.”
He glanced at her. “Can I, though? Would it be fair to him not to tell him his mother sent him a present?”
“If it’ll do more harm than good for him to receive something from her, then yes, it’s fair. Your only concern is for his well-being. She chose not to be in his life. It’s your choice whether to let her back in.”
“I don’t know what to do.” He continued to stare at the box as if it contained dynamite, for that’s what her reappearance would be in his well-ordered life.
“Why don’t you open it and see what it is before you decide anything?” While he considered her suggestion, she pulled one of the bowls Dude had given them out of the bag and filled it with water that she put down for Daisy.
The dog took a long drink of water.
“Thanks,” he said.
“No problem.”
“I guess I’ll open it.” Why did this have to have happened today, when he had the chance to spend time alone with Lexi for the first time in so long? His stomach hurt the way it had when Chloe first left him alone with Caden. He deeply resented her for taking him back to those dark days, especially when things were going so well for him and his son.
Lexi found a knife in the block on his counter and handed it to him, handle first.
Max appreciated that she seemed to anticipate his every need and quietly tended to it before the need had even registered with him. He used the knife to slice the tape holding the box closed and pulled a wrapped gift out of the box. There were two envelopes—one addressed to Caden and one to Max.
“I can take care of this later.” He tried to rally for Lexi. “What do you feel like doing?”
“Please don’t feel like you can’t deal with this now because I’m here. You won’t think of anything else until you know what that note says or what’s in that package.”
Max couldn’t deny the truth of that. “I’m sorry. I hate that she picked today to reappear after years of silence.”
“Don’t be sorry. Let’s figure out what you should do.”
