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I shrug. Max shrugs. All part of our plan.
“We thought we’d keep it low key this year,” I say, petting the dog at my side, her dark eyes locked on the screen, happy to see Phoebe.
“Yeah, okay,” Phoebe says with rolling eyes. Her phone chimes and she takes a peek. “Looks like Jackie’s on her way.”
“You two going out?” I ask.
“Last night in LA. She’s making me.”
“Well, have fun. You’ve earned it.”
Her cheeks flush slightly. Even Max shifts a little beside me.
“I will,” she says. She smiles, always beautiful. “I’ll see you boys soon.”
We wave. “See you soon, Phoebe.”
“I love you.”
“Love you.”
She hangs up. Stinky notices she’s gone and walks off to lie down on her cushion with a bored huff.
I sit back. “Pretty little Pinky,” I say, missing her already.
“Yeah,” Max says as he angles his laptop toward him.
She always comes first.
Maybe that was wrong to say in the moment, but I’ve never been good at that kind of thing. Give me a sheet of paper and a few hours and I could figure something out, eventually. My heart takes its time.
Max’s does, too.
Phoebe is coming home tomorrow. It’s our last night alone. Our last chance to talk about it.
“Max,” I say. “Are you okay?”
He closes the laptop and smiles. “Feels like you’ve asked me that a lot lately.”
“Sorry.”
“No, it’s…” Max sits back on the couch. He clears his throat, buying time, and I worry about what he’ll say next. “It’s what I’ve been wanting all along.”
“What do you mean?”
He glances around the room, gathering his thoughts. The table. The flickering fireplace. The dog, now snoozing on her bed in the corner.
“I’ve been thinking a lot over the last few days,” he begins. “Why do I feel the way I do? What changed in me, if anything did? What did I need?” He looks at me. “I think I know now.”
The tension could snap me in half. “What is it?” I ask.
“My dad always put so much pressure on me. Be a Monahan man. Take charge. Lead. You don’t need a break, you need a kick in the ass.”
I roll my eyes. “I really don’t miss that guy.”
“Neither do I,” Max says. “But it’s taken me so long to stop thinking of myself as his legacy project. I mean, I left LA. I quit his practice. But it wasn’t until I told him off at Christmas that I truly broke free of him. And I realized why I suddenly had the strength to do that. It was you.”
“You’ve had that in you all along, Max.”
