Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 56213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
She smiles and holds out her pinky for me to wrap mine around hers. Max believes pinky promises are as ironclad as swearing on the River Styx. We’ve been doing this since she was old enough to know that people break their promises.
I reach for the iPad I hid on the top of the curio cabinet and get a hand full of dusk before my fingers touch the cold surface.
“Are you kidding me?” Max jumps off the couch and marches over to me. “It was up there the entire time?”
“Yep.” I blow the dust off the iPad cover and give it to Max. “But my secret is out. So, don’t go looking up there the next time.”
“There won’t be a next time.”
“Do you want some hot chocolate, baby?” I brush the hair out of her eyes, and she looks up at me with a genuine smile.
Things haven’t been the same between us since I told Duke we needed to take a break. Max misses Duke. I miss him, too. She talks about him all the time and begs me to call him. Not a moment has gone by over the past few weeks that I didn’t think of him. Duke changed both of our lives.
“When is Duke coming back?” Eyes pointed down at the tablet, her fingers work at a feverish pace. “I need his help with my slapshot.”
Max follows me into the kitchen. I get out the box of hot chocolate, and she grabs the bag of marshmallows from the pantry closet.
“Call him!” Max tugs on my shirt. “Please. I want to talk to Duke.”
“We have some adult things to work out, baby.”
“Daddy said he’s going to a game with Duke,” she says, sitting down at the kitchen table. “They’re friends. Why can’t I be friends with Duke?”
Confused, I narrow my eyes at her. “You must have heard wrong. Daddy isn’t friends with Duke.”
“Yes, they are. If you were talking to Duke, you would know that.”
Why would Duke and Ted be friends? Duke hates Ted, and after their little blowout at the rink, the feeling is now mutual. This doesn’t make sense. Max is rarely wrong, which makes me wonder if Duke is doing this for Max. I could see him setting aside his differences with Ted to make life easier for us. Duke is a good man.
I fix two hot chocolates with the usual number of marshmallows, four for Max and three for me. Our lives are simple, structured, organized for efficiency. We eat the same meals on the same day of every week. Nothing is ever out of place. Duke disrupted our carefully planned days and turned them into nights neither of us will forget.
I don’t know why I pushed him away. Ted used to tell me I shut him out, that I didn’t let him into my sheltered world. I thought some distance would make our relationship stronger. But the longer we’re apart, I wonder if I’m doing more damage. What if he sees the real me? Will he still want me when he does?
Max sips from her cup, and a chocolate mustache stains her skin. I wipe it away with my finger, and she laughs.
“You had a mustache,” I say and then take a sip from my mug.
Max points her finger at my face and laughs. “You too, Mommy!”
I wipe it away and then lead Max into the living room. She has the iPad tucked under her left arm, drinking her hot chocolate with the other hand.
Max lifts the remote from the coffee table and turns on the television. “Can we watch hockey?”
“Sure, baby. Watch whatever you want.”
Duke is still suspended for a few more games. Pretty soon, though, he’ll be back on the road and busy with his team. It was silly of me to squander the time we could have had together. Instead, I spent the last few weeks moping around the house, taking my bad moods out on Max. She cried for days after watching the videos of Duke and me. I couldn’t stand to see her heartbroken, so I took the iPad away.
Max has begged every night since to get it back. She finally wore me down. And in all honesty, I can’t keep her from the truth forever. No one has secrets when it comes to the Internet. No amount of money or connections can erase my past with Duke. Not that I want to delete him or any of the memories that we made together. Still, I wish I would have made him wait. It was the professional thing to do. It would have been the right thing to do. My decision to date him was purely selfish, which felt right for once.
“The game is about to start,” Max says, tapping me on the arm. “Do you think we’ll see Duke?”