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“Are you ready to go, Lexi?” I call to her from the living room. She comes running out, dressed in a leotard and a tutu. I tilt my head, studying her outfit. “Hmm. You know we aren’t going to dance, right?”
“I know,” she says, rolling her eyes, “but I like wearing this.” She twirls around. “Do you like it?”
“I do. It’s very … puffy.” Her face lights up, and she starts dancing around. I love seeing her smile. It’s been a long two weeks of therapy for both of us. My focus has shifted to Lexi, so my mind isn’t as clouded with my problems. Dr. Price is making sure I’m not ignoring my issues by replacing them with Lexi’s, so we have met a few times this week. We’ve determined that Lexi won’t be able to identify the person who murdered her family. We’re pretty sure she didn’t see him. At least that is one thing she won’t ever have to relive.
Sadness creeps in when I think about the person who killed my mom. I could still draw him. And he’s the father of the only man I’ve ever loved. Life’s a bitch.
I grab my phone off the counter when it rings. Security tells me that Max is here. I send him up but wonder how Lexi will be with Max. It took her a few days to warm up to Damon, but she really likes him now. Max … he’s a different breed of man. He’s huge and might be a little scary to a five-year-old. I chuckle to myself. He’s scary to most adults.
“Lexi, my friend Max is coming up. He’s really nice,” I say, hoping that she won’t freak out.
“Do you think he’ll like my tutu?” she says, still spinning around everywhere. I shake my head, getting dizzy just from watching her. Doesn’t she ever get dizzy? I laugh, thinking Max doesn’t seem like a tutu kind of guy.
When I hear a knock at the door, I say a little plea that this doesn’t go badly. Max gives me a huge hug when he comes in.
“Max, this is Lexi,” I say, turning to find Lexi. She’s stopped spinning and her eyes are bugging out looking him up and down. She grips the side of the couch with her little hands. It’s hard to tell what she’s thinking. “Do you want to come say hi?” I ask softly. She slowly nods her head, her eyes glued to him.
She runs to my side and grabs my hand. Max squats down and holds out his hand.
“Hi, Lexi. It’s nice to meet you.” She stares at his large hand, slowly letting mine go and slipping hers into his. His hand swallows her. “I like your skirt,” he says, smiling at her.
In the next second, I learn how to get a little girl to love you instantly. Tell her you like what she’s wearing. Lexi’s lips curl into a megawatt smile, and she starts bouncing on her toes. “Do you really like it? It’s my favorite color. What’s your favorite color? Are you going to the gym with us?” her questions are rattled off one after another. I’m stunned by the amount of words coming out of her little mouth.
“Hey,” I say, trying to stop the onslaught of questions. “Are you going to let him answer any of those questions?” She looks up at me and giggles then looks to Max, waiting expectantly. My eyebrow shoots up, and I smile at Max. Okay, Max, let’s see if you were really listening.
He smirks at me and then looks back to Lexi. “Yes, I really like it. Blue is my favorite color. I might go to the gym with you. I live …” He continues answering every question she’s asked. When he looks up at me with a smartass look, I clap quietly.
When he stands up, Lexi slides her hand in his again and looks up at him with so much adoration in her eyes, it’s sweet. He looks down at the little hand and smiles wide. Seems Lexi is pretty smitten with Max.
“Lexi, have you been to the gym before?” he asks, looking at her skirt and feeling the material between his fingers.
“Nope, but Addie is going to show me how to fight,” she boasts and kicks out her leg. A laugh escapes my lips. I never told her that. I narrow my eyes at her.
“Hey there, Karate Kid, that is not what I said.” She giggles. “I told you I was going to go work out with Tony and you could go watch and maybe I’d show you a few moves to help protect yourself.”
“My brother took karate. I know how to do it,” she says, doing a karate chop and screaming YAAAA.
Max laughs. “Lexi, you definitely could kick my ass.” Lexi’s eyes go wide. She sports a Cheshire cat grin and walks to her designated bad-word jar. She made the jar the second day she started talking.
Let’s just say it’s filling up rather quickly. She holds it up and tells Max that he owes a dollar for saying a bad word. When he looks at me, I nod my head. He narrows his eyes at Lexi while taking out a dollar. “It’s a good thing I like you, Lexi.” He chuckles and tickles her stomach. She squeals and runs away.
As she runs into my room, I yell at her to go to the bathroom before we leave. “You going to be alright when she leaves tomorrow?” Max asks, putting his hand on my shoulder and squeezing.
“I’ll be okay. I liked having her around. It’ll be weird her not being here,” I shrug. “I hear her aunt is a bitch.” I whisper the last part. “So, I’m definitely not excited to hand Lexi off to her.”
He nods. “What are you here for anyway?” It dawns on me that Max doesn’t live right down the road or even in this state.
“I had business to take care of here, so I thought I’d stop in and say hi. Glad I did. I get to finally see how kickass you are.” He smirks and squeezes my biceps.
“Well, I’m glad you’re here. You can sit with Lexi.”
“We’ll be your biggest fans.” I roll my eyes.
We watch as Lexi comes out of the room, still wearing her tutu but has added knee-high boots to her ensemble. “I’m ready to go,” she says, grabbing Max’s hand again.
“Well, I know who your biggest fan is,” I say, smiling.
“Don’t be jealous, Addison,” he says, swinging Lexi’s hand and walking her out the door. I laugh at his overzealous walk.
