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“I’m glad you’re here to help me do that.”
“I am, too.”
He opened the envelope and encountered Chloe’s familiar handwriting, bringing back a flood of memories from when they used to pass notes in class while in college. In the classes they’d had together, cell phone use was prohibited, so they’d done it old-school.
Dear Max,
I hope this finds you and Caden doing well. I can’t believe he’s SEVEN. Where have the years gone? I’m sure you’re thinking ‘I know where they’ve gone, Chloe. They’ve been spent raising our child.’
Max hadto laugh to himself because that was exactly what he’d thought when she asked where the years have gone.
Before I say anything else,I want to say this: Thank you for raising Caden, for all the sacrifices you’ve made for him, for all the things you couldn’t do because you were a single father, for all the days, nights and years you’ve given to Caden. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Max. I’m sure you don’t want my thanks or anything else from me, but I want you to know that what you’ve done for Caden is appreciated by his mother.
The other thing I want to say is how sorry I am that I left the way I did, that I dumped everything on you, that I wasn’t strong enough to handle parenthood or anything else, for that matter. I treated you badly at the end of our relationship, and for that, I’m also sorry. You did everything you could to support me during the pregnancy, during the birth and after, and what happened between us was in no way your fault.
It was my fault. All of it.
For what it’s worth, I didn’t walk away and never look back. My heart was broken to leave Caden—and you—and I struggled for a long time after the night I last saw you both at your parents’ home. Five years ago, I was diagnosed with severe depression. I spent more than a month in-patient, during which time I worked through a lot of things that dated back to my childhood. I was prescribed medication that’s helped tremendously. In many ways, I feel like I’ve been reborn. Light has replaced the darkness, and while I still have difficult days, I’m so much better than I was.
I’ve come a million miles from the place I was in when we last saw each other. The only thing that stands between me and truly moving forward is the little boy who’s growing up without a mother, possibly thinking she doesn’t love him, when that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The last thing in the world I want to do is disrupt his—or your—happy life. I just want him to know I love him, and I think of him all the time. I always have, and I always will. The gift is a remote-controlled truck that does all kinds of cool things. I have no idea if he will like it, and it’s completely up to you as to whether you give it to him or tell him who it’s from.
I have no right to ask you for anything, but if there’s a chance you might let me see him at some point, I’d be eternally grateful. That, too, is entirely up to you. I’ve included my address, phone number and email below. I hope to hear from you, but if not, I understand that some things are unforgivable. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading this and for taking such good care of Caden. I have no doubt that you’re a wonderful father to him, and he’s lucky to have you.
Chloe
Max hadno idea that tears were running down his face until he lifted his head from reading the letter and blinked Lexi back into focus. Using his sleeve, he brushed away the tears. “She wants to see him.” Before reading her letter, that would’ve been his greatest nightmare, but now… Now he didn’t know what to think. She sounded nothing like the Chloe he’d known.
“May I?” Lexi asked, gesturing to the letter.
Max handed it over to her.
After she read it, she folded it and returned it to the envelope. Then she put her arms around him.
It took him a few seconds to respond, but then he held on tightly to her and the support she offered so freely.
“I’m sorry you’re so upset.”
“I feel like I’m going to be sick.”
Lexi took his hand and led him to the sofa, sitting right next to him and keeping a tight grip on his hand. “I can only imagine.”
“It’s just been me and him for so long,” Max said. “My family is always around, but at the end of the day—and the beginning—it’s me and him. We’re a team.”
“You must know that won’t change if you let her see him.”
“Everything will change if I let her back in.”
ChapterSix
“Stop being a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future.”—Robin Sharma
Lexi wasn’t sure how best to support Max through the bombshell that had arrived in the form of a birthday gift from Caden’s mother. In a way, she felt like she was intruding, but she couldn’t leave him alone. Not now, anyway.
“What do you want to do?” she asked him.
“I don’t know.” He held his head in his hands as he sat next to her. “I really thought she was gone for good, you know?”
