AllFreeNovel
Share Us
For so long, she had wished for Max to have a dad in his life. Now here he was. In just a few months, Max and Jeff had created a strong bond.
Brandon glanced at Jeff, nodded and smiled, then turned back to her. “So I’ll see you tomorrow for coffee.”
“Sounds good.” Kia smiled at him, then frowned when she saw the scowl on Jeff’s face.
“What the fuck was that?” Jeff snapped the moment Brandon walked away.
Seriously, that was the first thing he was going to say to her after ten days? Nice way to start their visit. “Hello to you too.”
“Sorry, hi.” He leaned in and tried to hug her, which was virtually impossible with Max clinging to him like a monkey. “So why were you making plans with Brandon? I didn’t think you two knew each other.”
“We don’t. We just met.”
“You just met and you’re going for coffee with him? What the fuck?”
Anger radiated through Kia. How dare he talk to her like that? Her spine stiffened and her jaw clenched. She glanced at her son, whose little gaze darted nervously back and forth between them. His bottom lip trembled. Kia took a deep breath and exhaled. She cocked her head toward Max. For him, she could keep her anger in check. “Now isn’t the time for this discussion. All I’m going to say right now is Max and I didn’t fly here to visit you for us not to be treated respectfully.”
“How am I not being respectful?”
Kia closed her eyes. When she felt like she could be calm, she opened them. “Again, not the time to have this discussion. Maybe you could show us your place and Max can get settled and we can chat.”
“Fine,” Jeff mumbled. He squeezed Max a little tighter. “You ready to see where you’ll be camping for the next couple of days?”
“Camping?” Max’s little face scrunched up with confusion as he looked at his dad.
“Well yeah. Your mom said you’d be roughing it while you visited me, right?”
Max’s head bobbed in agreement. “Yep, I’m on the couch.”
“Alright, let’s go check it out.”
Max’s mouth didn’t stop moving the entire drive to Jeff’s house. Her son talked more in those fifteen minutes than he did on a normal day. He shared everything from who played with who at lunch all the way to the color of his cousins’ nail polish.
Jeff pulled into the driveway of a home in a suburban neighborhood. Kia wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it wasn’t a family home in the suburbs. “This is your place?”
“Yeah, it belongs to the friend of a fan. The guy is away for the winter every year, so we’ve been renting it for spring training for the past couple of seasons. It works out really well overall.”
Jeff unloaded their bags from the trunk and wheeled the suitcase up the steps. He pushed open the front door and Max peered inside. Jeff crouched beside his son. “You want to see your bunk first?”
Max nodded shyly and placed his hand in Jeff’s. Kia’s heart tightened as she watched the two move further into the house. As they rounded the corner into the living room, Max gasped.
“Is that for me?” Max pointed toward an elaborate blanket fort that was spread out between the living room and dining room.
“Yeah, the guys and I figured you needed a space of your own for privacy and all. And who doesn’t love a blanket fort?” He bent. “Except I think you might have to fight Gonzo for it. Ever since we built it the other night, he’s been dying to sleep in there.”
Max’s eyes widened in awe. “He has?”
Jeff flicked open the blanket door and peeked inside, then back at Max. “Absolutely. I think we’ll have to leave it up for a night after you leave, if you don’t mind him using it.”
Max crawled into the opening of the fort. “Whoa. It’s huge. Gonzo can sleep in here with me if he wants.”
Jeff coughed to cover his laugh. “That’s nice of you, buddy, but you don’t want to sleep with him. He snores something awful.”
“He does?” Max flopped back onto the air mattress on the floor. “Maybe he should wait till I’m gone then.”
“Good thinking,” Jeff agreed.
“Mom, come in here and look.”
