Taming Mad Max (19 page)

#

By the time Max merged onto Santa Monica Boulevard, neither he nor Molly had said more than a few casual words about the weather.

She was nervous.

He was nervous.

But he was the adult, which meant it was his job to make his daughter feel comfortable. How the hell was he supposed to do that? Suddenly he had no frickin’ idea of what to say to a thirteen-year old. When he came to a stop, he glanced at Molly. Her hands were clasped in her lap, her eyes looking off to the hills. His gaze settled back on the road ahead of him. “So,” he said after clearing his throat, “you can curl your tongue, huh?”

She nodded, exhaled, looked to her feet.

Good job, buddy. Keep it up and you’ll have her rambling on in no time.
He rolled his eyes at his wayward thinking and told himself he could do this. He was just getting warmed up. “So...tell me about this Grant kid.”

She lifted a shoulder. “He’s nice.”

Concentrate. Try and remember what you say to your niece and nephew when they come to visit.
But his mind drew a big fat blank. This was definitely not the same Molly he’d met at the bowling alley. One thing was clear, she was Kari’s daughter through and through, and she wasn’t going to make this easy on him. The girl at the bowling alley had been the life of the party, talking a mile a minute and making all her friends laugh. This shy little girl sitting next to him, stiff in her plaid wool skirt and starched blouse, was someone else altogether.

He exhaled. Time is what they both needed...time to adjust and get to know one another. A siren sounded in the distance, filling the silence between them. He needed to get home. Breanne would know what to say to make Molly feel comfortable. She was a female and females always knew what to do in situations like this.

Once they reached the house, relief flooded through him as he parked the car, climbed out, and grabbed Molly’s overnight things from the trunk. He was halfway up the stairs when he realized Molly was still sitting in the car, staring straight ahead. He came back to the car and tapped on the passenger window.

Her gaze remained locked on her feet.

He set her bag on the ground and opened the door. “Are you okay?”

She shook her head. At least he thought she shook her head. It was hard to tell.

“Are you feeling alright? You’re not sick or anything, are you? Because if you are I could take you back if you want.”

That got her attention. She looked into his eyes, that same deep, penetrating stare that her mother was so good at.

“Do you want me to go back?” she asked, accusation in her voice and eyes, seemingly daring him to come up with the right answer.

Max picked up her bag again and settled the strap over his shoulder. “No way.” He crooked his neck, trying to get the kink out. “Breanne is very excited to have this chance to get to know you.”

“What about you?” she asked.

Shit. He needed to keep his mouth shut because every time he opened it, her eyes grew big and round. “What about me?” Asking a question with a question in hopes of skirting around the real issue was something he always did when he was nervous. Because he was pretty sure he knew the answer she was fishing for. He just wasn’t good at that touchy feely stuff and maybe he just wasn’t ready.

“You said Breanne was excited that I was here. Are you excited to have me here?” Molly asked, unwilling to leave it alone and let him off the hook.

The kid had definitely been hanging around Kari Murphy too long. “Of course I’m excited,” he said in a tone that hardly convinced himself, let alone his daughter. What was he going to say, ‘no’? The truth was he was too damn scared to be excited, but hell would have to freeze over before he’d tell her he was scared. She’d been brought up by a couple of females. He was probably the first male figure she’d ever had to look up to. He couldn’t give her the impression that her father scared easily. He was a guy, a big tough football player. He didn’t do deep. He liked to keep things on a need-to-know basis. If she started crying, he would definitely have to honk the horn and send for reinforcements. Judging by the look on her face, she wasn’t convinced of his excitement.

But thank God, for small miracles, because she finally climbed out of the car. He had to stop himself from wiping his brow and looking heavenward.

Moments later, Max was never so happy to see anyone as he was to see Breanne when she opened the front door and threw her arms around Molly, taking his daughter through the house and to the backyard where his niece and nephew were swimming in the pool. From the kitchen window, he watched how easily his niece struck up a conversation with Molly. And then it dawned on him that his niece and nephew had left three days ago. What were they doing here?

“How did it go?” his mother asked, giving him a start since he’d thought he was alone in the kitchen. His mother had always been good at that—appearing out of nowhere.

“What are you doing here?” Max asked.

“Sally and Jill thought you could use some help, so I drove back with the kids. We arrived thirty minutes ago.”

He looked out the kitchen window and saw Molly brighten as Brooke and Matthew huddled around her, making her laugh with their ridiculous antics. “Thanks,” he said. “Molly and I just need some time to adjust.”

“How about Kari?”

He turned toward his mother, surprised she would ask about a woman she clearly didn’t like. It wasn’t her style. His mother cared deeply for her family, usually to the point of annoyance, but it took her years to get attached to anyone he or his sisters brought home for her to meet. Poor Jill had to have a baby with Fred before his mother would even acknowledge the poor guy as a member of the Dutton family. Dan hadn’t had it nearly as rough, since he was the sort of guy who didn’t take crap from anyone, including his mother-in-law.

Gazing into cool gray eyes, Max said, “What about Kari?”

“How is she handling having you in Molly’s life?”

“It doesn’t really matter. Kari brought this upon herself.”

His mother looked thoughtful for a moment. “I had the impression, before you discovered Molly was your daughter, that you and Kari had something going. Am I wrong?”

“Wrong again. Kari Murphy is a professional first and a nutritionist second. It was strictly business between the two of us,” he lied.

“But you would have liked there to have been something more?”

He arched a brow. “Still nosy after all these years?”

“I’m too old to change now, don’t you think?”

He smiled. Sixty-four-years old and yet she looked years younger. “I suppose,” he said, figuring he was sparing himself a lecture if he just answered her question straight up. “I’ll admit, that even in the short amount of time I spent with her, something about Kari made me yearn for a long healthy life.”

“But you no longer have those feelings?”

He raked his fingers through his hair, turning back to the window to watch his daughter. Molly laughed at something Breanne said to her and twin dimples appeared. There was the Molly he’d met at the bowling alley, the Molly who lit up the room with a mere smile, the Molly who had come into this world thirteen years ago, and he hadn’t a damn clue.

“No longer,” he said in answer to his mother’s question. “Molly is a leftie and she can curl her tongue, but that’s all I know. I missed seeing her first steps. I have no idea if she cried on her first day of kindergarten.” He arched a brow as he turned to his mother and asked, “Has she ever had stitches? What was she for Halloween last year, or the year before that? Who taught her to swim? Sure, I’ll probably see pictures eventually and hopefully she’ll learn to talk to me and I’ll learn to talk to her, but there are so many things I’ll never know about my daughter because Kari decided one day that enough was enough, and she couldn’t bother herself any longer with trying to contact me. No, Mom. No longer.”

CHAPTER 15

Kari followed Richard Bauer, her real estate agent, through the two-story house.

“So, we’re still on for dinner Sunday night?” he asked, leading her into the master bedroom.

Kari wasn’t in the mood to go out with anyone tonight or any other night. It was Saturday and Molly was still at Max’s house. Molly had called after her first night, excited and happy, asking if she could stay through the weekend since his niece and nephew had returned with Max’s mother. The only time Kari had been away from Molly for more than a few days, was when Molly had gone away to sixth grade camp for a week.

Kari’s emotions were running high, her nerves were shot. But other than meeting Breanne at the therapist today, she didn’t have anything going on today or tomorrow. “Let me think about it,” Kari said, deciding dinner with Richard might help keep her mind off of Molly and Max.

A closet door creaked shut. “I don’t like this house,” Lindsay said from the other room. “It’s too boxy.”

Kari gave Richard a pat on the arm. “Just ignore her.”

“I heard that,” Lindsay said before she opened and closed another set of closets doors.

“You haven’t liked one house we’ve been shown,” Kari said. “I think this house has definite potential.”

“It’s hot and stuffy. The doors creak. Does this place have air conditioning?”

“It was built three years ago,” Richard assured her.

“So does it have air conditioning?” Lindsay asked again as she joined them in the master suite.

“Yes,” Richard said, his patience with Lindsay wearing thin. “The house has air conditioning. And heat, too.”

Kari laughed at the pout on Lindsay’s face when she joined them in the master bedroom. “Molly and I can’t live with you forever,” Kari reminded her.

Lindsay looked from Kari to Richard to the bed. “I don’t see why not. Molly is going to be spending a lot of time with her father now.”

Kari knew what Lindsay was up to. She was trying to sabotage any chance of her and Richard getting together. Lindsay had high hopes of seeing Max and Kari and Molly as one happy family, and therefore, she saw Richard as a threat to her plan.

A bewildered look crossed Richard’s face. “I thought you said Molly’s father was out of the picture?”

Kari narrowed her eyes at Lindsay. “He was...until recently.”

“Are you two seeing one another?”

“No,” Kari said, dismissing the question with a wave of her hand. “I was hired by the NFL to oversee Max Dutton’s eating habits and make sure he was fit enough to play next season.”

“He plays pro football for the Los Angeles Condors,” Lindsay volunteered.

“He knows,” Kari said. “They met a few days ago.”

“I was just reading about Cole Fletcher in the newspaper this morning,” Richard said, obviously mistaking Cole as the father of her child. “I didn’t see anything about him having kids, although I did read that he was recently spotted with Alyse Vanderkempt, the actress from that new hit reality show
Desperate Times
.” He chuckled.

Lindsay’s face paled, but she kept her composure. “Cole Fletcher is a jerk. Max Dutton is Molly’s father.”

Kari sighed. “If you two don’t mind. I’m not in the mood to discuss Max Dutton. I’m here to look at houses and I think this house is lovely,” she told Richard. “In fact, I think I’d like to put a bid on it right away. Why don’t you pick me up at seven tomorrow and we can discuss the terms at dinner.”

#

A two-story vermilion sculpture stood before the entrance of the building where Kari met Breanne later that same day.

“Sorry I’m late,” Kari said as she stepped up onto the curb in front of a towering office building on Wilshire Boulevard.

“No problem. We still have a few minutes,” Breanne said as she led Kari through the revolving doors. “I can’t thank you enough for coming...especially under the circumstance.”

Kari followed Breanne across the lobby, their heels clicking against sleek marble floors. They stopped in front of the elevator doors and Breanne pushed the elevator button.

“When are you and Max going to finish your nutritional training?”

“I’m not sure. We haven’t talked about it. How’s Molly doing?” Kari asked, changing the subject.

“She’s having a good time with her cousins, Brooke and Matthew. She’s even managed to bond with Mom and that’s no easy feat. From what I’ve observed so far, Molly and Max haven’t talked much though. I think they’re both struggling to figure out where they stand with one another.”

Kari ached for her daughter, wishing there was something she could do to make the situation easier on her. She missed Molly beyond reason. The elevator doors opened and Kari followed Breanne inside. Breanne pushed the button to the fifth floor.

“I saw Joey’s car in the back parking lot,” Breanne said, “so I know he’s already arrived.”

“That’s a good sign. It means he’s serious about trying to make this work.”

The doors opened and Kari followed Breanne to the right and then down a long stretch of corridor. They entered the door with the sign that read, “Debra Hatcher, Relationship Therapist.”

A petite woman at the front desk stood and quickly directed them to a sizeable conference room where they were introduced to Debra Hatcher who sat at the far end of a conference table. The woman wore a black pencil skirt and white blouse, her hair was a bluntly cut bob. Joey sat to the woman’s right. And on Joey’s other side...was Max. He stood.

Kari’s insides fluttered. His hair had a windswept look, reminding her of their picnic in the hills; his mouth on hers, his hands leaving her breathless, his body pinning her to the ground. She took in a slow, deep breath. Max wore business casual today. A button-down blue oxford shirt that matched the color of his eyes tucked into sand-colored lightweight chinos that did little to hide his well muscled thighs.

“What are you doing here?” Breanne asked her brother.

“Joey called and asked me to lend him support. I thought it only fair considering you were bringing a friend of your own.”

Kari’s stomach rumbled. A part of her, the weak feeble-minded part of her left over from her childhood, wanted to pull Max into the other room and plead with him to see things from her perspective. The situation with Molly wasn’t her fault. She had tried to tell him about Molly years ago. He wasn’t being fair. Besides, she wasn’t the only one in that bed over thirteen years ago. It took two to tango. The other part of her though, the older, wiser side of her, knew Max needed to trust her and, in time, see that she never intended to hurt anyone. With that in mind, she held strong, keeping her chin high as she took the seat across from him.

“Shall we get started,” the therapist asked.

Max took his seat.

“I guess so,” Breanne said, clearly irritated with Max. She took the seat next to Kari, across the table from Joey.

“I’d like to start today’s session by asking you both a few questions.” The therapist used the pen in her hand to skim over the sheet of paper in front of her. “I understand, Breanne, that you and Joey have been living together for five years now.”

Breanne nodded. “That’s right.”

“Six months ago, Joey proposed, is that also correct?”

“Correct.”

Ms. Hatcher looked at Joey. “Any regrets?”

Joey frowned. “About what?”

“Regrets or misgivings after you asked her to marry you?” The therapist leaned back in her chair and smiled. “In other words, how did you feel after you proposed and after she accepted your proposal?”

Joey looked incredibly uneasy about airing his emotions in front of what probably seemed to him like the entire world. Kari’s heart went out to him.

“I went to bed that night,” Joey said as he looked across the table and into Breanne’s eyes, “feeling like I was the luckiest guy in the world.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Kari could feel Max’s gaze on her, making it difficult to stay focused on what the therapist was saying. Why couldn’t Max understand she didn’t purposely keep Molly from him?

“Did the two of you ever discuss the possibility of having children in the future?”

“Once,” Joey said. “Two years ago.”

“Isn’t it logical,” Breanne asked the therapist, “that I would assume that babies might follow marriage?”

“Even if a man is in a serious relationship,” the therapist explained, “he doesn’t necessarily think of marriage or children as the next step.”

“Too late now,” Breanne said with a shrug of her shoulders. “We lived together for five years. It was bound to happen sooner or later.”

“That’s exactly the attitude,” Joey said, “that pisses me off. Without ever consulting me, Breanne assumed we would live together, get married, and then have babies. I wouldn’t be surprised if she sabotaged my condom.”

Breanne gasped.

“Is there something you would like to say?” Ms. Hatcher asked Breanne.

“I would never do such a thing and he knows it.” Breanne stabbed a finger at the table. “Fate and destiny took care of his faulty love glove. Not me. The thought never crossed my mind.”

“Love glove?” Max asked.

Everybody ignored him.

Joey huffed. “Women have too much control when it comes to having babies. How are we to ever know if they’re taking their pills?”

“It’s called trust,” Breanne said. “A key ingredient to a lasting relationship.” She looked at the therapist. “Isn’t that right?”

The therapist nodded.

Kari noticed Max rub a hand over his unshaven chin as he kept his gaze on her. He looked like he wanted to say something.

“Do you have something you would like to say to me, Max?”

“Since you asked...that night fourteen years ago I remember specifically asking you about birth control.”

“Interesting,” Kari said. “You couldn’t remember sleeping with me specifically, but suddenly you remember asking me about birth control?”

He nodded and said, “You looked me in the eyes and you said ‘It’s okay.’”

Kari looked at the therapist for help, but everybody in the room seemed perfectly content to move this session in a whole new direction. “This is crazy,” Kari said as she leaned over the table and exchanged heated glares with Max. “Are you implying that I set you up? That I lied about birth control so that I could have Max Dutton’s baby?” She leaned back in her seat and put her hands over her heart in a dramatic fashion. “That’s right, Max. After being with you, I returned home to my bed and thought, ‘be still my beating heart. If all goes as planned I’ll be having Mad Max’s baby nine short months from now.’”

“Then what did you mean by ‘it’s okay?’”

“I was eighteen years old. You were twenty-one. You tell me? I had never had sex in my life. Maybe I thought you knew what you were doing since you had the reputation of a gigolo.”

Breanne laughed, then stopped herself when Max turned his steely-eyed glare on her.

“Or maybe,” Kari added, “I said ‘it’s okay’ in the heat of passion because the only thing I do remember telling you that night is that I loved you.”

Breanne laid a comforting hand on Kari’s arm.

Kari’s eyes stung, serving only to make her angrier. “Do you think I liked having my parents look at me as one big disappointment? Do you think I wanted to be a single mother and raise Molly alone? How many times do I have to tell you? I tried to tell you about Molly. I went to your house. I handed your mother a letter addressed to you, a letter explaining everything. If you don’t believe me, that’s your problem.”

Kari stood and pointed a finger at Joey. “And maybe you should grow up. Anybody with a right mind can see that Breanne didn’t set out to trap you. She lived with you for five years for God’s sake. The woman must be a Saint.”

Breanne wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know if that’s fair, Kari. He’s been wonderful in so many other ways. We’ve had some great times over the last five years. He’s supported me emotionally and financially.”

Max chuckled.

Breanne turned on Max. “What’s so funny?”

“If he’s supporting you financially, why have I been sending you a check every month for as long as I can remember?”

Breanne’s cheeks reddened.

It was Joey’s turn to jump on Max. “I’ve paid for food, rent, and utilities since we first moved in together. Breanne never asked you for one penny.”

“Then why did she tell me she needed a new car?” Max wanted to know, his tone condescending.

“Because her thirty-year old Studebaker had broken down,” Joey said. “If you hadn’t run out the very next day and bought her a brand new shiny blue Honda, she and I would have picked out a car for her ourselves.”

“I always appreciated the gifts, Max, but I never knew I was a financial burden for you. I always thought you wanted me to have extra spending money. I told you years ago to stop sending me checks.”

Kari realized what was happening. Without intending for this to happen, Joey and Breanne had joined forces. Suddenly it had become Joey and Breanne against Max and Kari.

Kari glanced at Debra Hatcher, noticed the subtle smile of satisfaction on the woman’s face and realized she knew exactly what was happening and she wasn’t about to stop it.

“Breanne,” Kari said, deciding to go for the jugular, since she had nothing to lose. “This session isn’t about you and Max. This is about you and Joey. Do you really want to stay with a man who’s going to run scared every time life throws him a curve ball? What do you think he’s going to do if you get sick or if he gets handed a pink slip at work one day? Is he going to blame you like he’s doing now? Or is he going to stick by you and take it like a man?”

“That’s a very good question,” Max said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Breanne’s brow creased and she pointed a loaded finger at Max. “You need to mind your own business, Maxwell Theodore Dutton. You know Joey well enough to know he would never abandon me in my time of need. He may be scared and confused right now, but he’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a man. He’s loyal, sweet, honest, and romantic to a fault.”

Joey reached over the table and took Breanne’s hand in his.

“Thank God he’s not a toxic bachelor like you,” Breanne added, “riddled with deep-seated insecurities that stop him from connecting with another human being.”

Max tensed. “Is that what you think?”

“That’s what I know. Unless you learn to open up and express your emotions, you’re never going to get close to Molly.”

“I’m going to go,” Max told his sister, “before you say something you might regret.” Max looked at Kari. “I want to have a word with you.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Alone.”

“Fine.” She turned to Joey and Breanne. “Good luck to both of you.” Then she walked over to the therapist and shook her hand. “Debra,” she said with a nod. “It was a pleasure meeting you.”

Max was on Kari’s heels as she made her exit. Once they were in the elevator, Max said, “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

“Did what?”

His raised brow told her he wasn’t falling for her innocent act.

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“At the expense of my relationship with Breanne.”

“Ridiculous. You’ll both get over it Maxwell.”

“Cute.”

She smiled. “How’s Molly doing?”

“She’s great. Couldn’t be better.”

The elevator doors opened and Max walked her to the revolving door. Kari peered up into his blue eyes, wishing things could be different between them, wishing he could merely look into her eyes and see the truth. But he blamed her for all the years he’d missed seeing his daughter grow up. She could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice.

“I have to wait for the love birds,” he said, “so I guess I’ll see you later.”

“I never meant to hurt you or Molly,” she told him.

He nodded, but didn’t say anything. Her heart felt as if it were lodged in her throat. “I guess I’ll see you when I pick up Molly on Monday then.”

He nodded and she tore her gaze from his and walked away.