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That had gone as well as could be expected, he supposed. Caden had processed the information and decided what he wanted to do. It was only natural that he’d be curious about the mother who’d been absent from his entire life, and Max knew it was in his son’s best interest to have a relationship with her if that was possible. But he didn’t have to like it.
And what the hell was he going to do about Caden disliking Lexi?
ChapterThirteen
“The love we give away is the only love we keep.”
—Elbert Hubbard
Lexi’s first stop upon arriving back in Houston was at a cell phone store to replace the phone that had died the day before and wouldn’t recharge. She’d used her computer to email her mom to tell her about the phone and that she’d be stopping to get a new one when she got back to Houston.
They’d wanted to pick her up, but she’d told them she’d get an Uber home, knowing how much they hated driving in Houston traffic. It’d been thirty degrees when she left Butler, but was seventy in Houston, which gave her temperature whiplash.
The minute her new phone came to life, she checked her messages and saw Max’s from the night before, which she immediately replied to.
So sorry I didn’t reply last night. My phone died at some point yesterday and wouldn’t recharge. I just saw this message when I bought a new phone in Houston. I missed you, too, the minute I left last night. Hope all is well. Call me later!
While in the Uber home, she saw that he’d read the message, but he didn’t write back. He was probably busy with Caden. During the long travel day, all she’d thought about was Max and his little boy, the weekend they’d spent together and how long it would be before she saw him again.
In the three days since she left Houston to go to her reunion in Vermont, she’d experienced every emotion on the spectrum. The one she was left with after reuniting with Max was pure joy, something she hadn’t felt since the last time she was with him.
The Uber pulled into the driveway of the home she shared with her parents and grandparents.
“Thanks for the ride,” Lexi said as she got out of the back seat and took her bags from the driver.
“You have a nice evening,” he said.
“You, too.”
All four of them were waiting at the door for her, making Lexi wonder if they’d been standing there waiting for her to come back since she’d left. She hugged and kissed them all and let them fuss over her, feed her and pepper her with questions about her trip.
“We were so glad you got to see Max and his family,” her mom, Angie, said.
“That was definitely the highlight.” Lexi used her new phone to show her parents and grandparents pictures of Max, Caden and Daisy.
“His little boy is so sweet.”
“He really is. He turned seven this weekend, and the party was epic with all the Abbotts and their Coleman cousins and a million kids.”
“I’ve never known anyone with a bigger family than the Abbotts had,” her dad, Larry, said.
“They’re all having kids of their own now. Elmer Stillman has forty-one great-grandchildren, with more coming.”
“Wow,” her grandmother, Carol, said. “How is Elmer? He and Sarah were our good friends back in the day.”
“He’s delightful as always and asked about you guys.”
“He’s got to be in his nineties by now. He was quite a bit older than us.”
“If he is, you’d never know it. He looks exactly the same and is right in the middle of everything with his big family.”
“That sounds like him,” Carol said as she sipped from her after-dinner cup of coffee. “He was always a family man and took such delight in his grandchildren.”
“Just like you do,” Lexi said to her grandmother, smiling.
“Indeed. I love seeing you glowing with health and happiness again. It does my old heart good.”
“Your heart is not old and thank you. It feels good to feel good again.”
