The Better Man (Chicago Sisters) (8 page)

“You don’t have to do that. The least I can do is the dishes.” She took the damp dish rag out of her sister’s hand, needing the distraction from her thoughts. Her heart felt as though it was being pinched.

“I’m used to cleaning up after myself, it’s no big deal.”

“Well,
I’m
used to cleaning up after myself, so let me finish. You’ve helped me enough today. At this rate, I’ll never be able to pay you back.”

Lucy knocked her hip against her sister’s. “That isn’t the way our family works and you know it. You don’t owe me anything. You’re my little sister and Simon’s my only nephew until Emma marries a rich doctor and has those two perfect children she’s sure will never fight, cry or ever do any wrong.”

Kendall laughed. Emma had her entire life mapped out. She not only knew where she wanted to be in a year, she had a five-, ten-, even a twenty-year plan. “Emma usually gets what she wants.”

“Our sister has been very lucky. I just hope when something finally doesn’t go her way, she survives.” Lucy was a realist. She’d been through enough to know life wasn’t always easy and could be more than a little unfair.

“She’s tough. And knowing her, she’ll plan her way out of any setback.”

Lucy smiled for the briefest of moments. “Speaking of setbacks...what are you going to do if using Max as a reward backfires and Simon has a major one?”

Kendall opened up the cabinet to put away the drinking glasses and sighed. “Seriously? You were the one who came up with this brilliant idea in the first place.”

“I could see you were about to let him skip school. I had to think fast,” Lucy said in her defense. “That doesn’t change the fact that you need to consider this some more.”

“Do I have to think about it tonight? Can I just enjoy the fact that he talked to you and Emma and Mom and Dad for one night?”

“What do you really know about him except that he looks like Trevor and works at the restaurant?”

“Not a lot.” She tried to think as she put the last dish away. “He’s originally from California. He’s passionate about his work. He likes to be in control, and I’m guessing he’s very good at what he does.”

“He sounds like you,” Lucy said with a chuckle. “What do you
really
know about him, though?”

“He has a son. He moved to Chicago to be closer to him. So, he can’t be that bad.”

“Right,” Lucy drawled. “Because only decent, God-fearing people are allowed to have children.” She began to pace around the small room. “Why does his kid live in Chicago if he was in California? Is he married? Was he married? If he’s divorced, why? Did she leave him? Did he leave her? Did he cheat?”

“Stop!” Kendall shouted a little louder than she intended to. She threw the dish rag on the counter and pressed her hand against her forehead, hoping that would somehow hinder the headache she could feel coming from turning into a migraine. “Okay, I get it. Just stop.”

Lucy stood still in front of her sister. “I’m not trying to make you mad. I’m trying to make you cautious. I know part of you thinks this is just me and my trust issues, and you would be right, but you
should
have trust issues. You have to be sure about this guy before you let him spend too much time around Simon. You’re going to finish this job and never see the guy again. And then what?”

Kendall had more trust issues than Lucy would ever know. She had no plans to let Simon get too attached to Max. She hadn’t expected Simon to respond this way to meeting him.

“The school wants to have a meeting to talk about sending Simon to a private school for kids with problems.”

“What?” Lucy’s green eyes went wide.

“When I picked him up at school, the principal said they don’t think he can go there anymore if he doesn’t start making some progress,” she confessed as she leaned against the counter.

Lucy seemed shocked. “Do you think he needs to go to some special school?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want him to need to go to a special school. I want him to talk and not to be afraid.”

Her sister placed a hand on her shoulder. “Of course you do.”

“I’m going to be cautious when it comes to Max, but I have to see where this goes. I can’t ignore what happened today.”

Lucy nodded in agreement. If Max was the key to bringing Simon back to the world of the talking, then Kendall needed to get to know him—fast.

CHAPTER EIGHT

K
ENDALL
AND
O
WEN
were acting really weird. First, they’d invited Max to lunch. Then, they’d taken turns interrogating him. For some reason, the two of them were interested in his entire life history. They wanted to know what clique he belonged to when he was in high school, where he went to college, if he’d been in a fraternity, if he’d ever been arrested, if he owned or rented. It felt a little like he was applying for a mortgage or something.

“What about you two? How did you become business partners?” Max asked, trying to shift the conversation away from himself. He had nothing else to eat. He had taken huge bites of his sandwich in hopes that the questions would stop if he had food in his mouth. They hadn’t.

“We met at design school,” Owen answered, but quickly went back to his questions. “Do you have any hobbies or weird fetishes?”

“Owen!” Thankfully, it was Kendall who called him out on crossing the line.

“Too much?” he asked her. She pinched the bridge of her nose and nodded.

“What’s with the twenty questions?” If they ever asked him to lunch again, he’d have to invite Wayne along.

Kendall jabbed her fork into the salad she’d been ignoring and took her first bite.

“We’re just trying to get to know you,” Owen said. Now Kendall was the one using food to avoid conversation.

Getting to know him. Yeah, right.

Owen’s phone rang and when he answered it, he greeted the caller in another language. He stood up, excusing himself.

“Must be his mother. He only speaks Korean when he talks to his mom,” Kendall explained, still picking at her lunch.

Max watched her. Now that it was just the two of them, he felt much less intimidated. She had really long eyelashes that weren’t covered in black gunk. Kendall didn’t hide behind a lot of makeup—she didn’t need to. Max liked that she probably woke up looking the same as she did any other time of day. There was something refreshing about that.

“So,
you
got any hobbies or weird fetishes I should know about?” he asked.

Her smile made her cheekbones more pronounced. “Owen gets a little carried away, but he’s harmless, I promise,” she said instead of answering the question.

“You two met in design school and started KO Designs right after?”

“No. I ended up getting married and followed my husband out to Virginia where he started his Marine Corps training. That eventually led us to North Carolina, where I had Simon. Owen’s the one who stuck with design. He got a job at a big firm in the city, learned so much more than we did in school, built an excellent reputation as an up-and-comer. Being a mother was my only job until...”

“Until?” As soon as the word came out of his mouth, Max felt like an idiot. “Until you lost your husband. Sorry. That was dumb of me.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Kendall shook it off. “After Trevor died, I moved back here to Chicago to be near my family. I reconnected with Owen, who was already thinking about starting his own company. When he heard I was moving back, he offered to take me on as his partner. I actually tried to talk him out of it.”

“Why?”

“Why in the world would he want to take on not only a grieving widow but a single mother who never got further than design school? Making me a partner was a huge risk, considering all he’d done to build his reputation.”

“But here you are, a year later, doing great. He must have known something you didn’t.”

“I’m surviving,” she said humbly. “Mostly thanks to my parents, my sisters and Owen. I certainly couldn’t have done any of it alone. Plus, I’ve had to tell myself more than once that Simon needs a mother, not a basket case.”

“You never come across like a basket case.” Her ability to take control of her life after being widowed was impressive. Maybe she had some help, but something told him that it had more to do with who she was. She was the one who had to support the two of them and be present in Simon’s life. She had been wise enough to know she had to come back here to give her son some needed stability. “You’re a good mother.”

Kendall shook her head as if she wasn’t so sure. Her face flushed and she set down her fork. “Sometimes I wonder.”

“I know a good one when I see one. I was raised by a single mom who didn’t always make the best choices. Sometimes her desire to be whoever she wanted to be at the moment took a backseat to what I needed. You always put Simon first.”

“Would you consider yourself a good father?” she asked, eyes wide with curiosity.

Of all the questions she could ask. Max would have rather answered the weird fetish question. Was he a good father?
No.
Did he want to be?
Yes.
That had to count for something. “I’m working on it. I think I could be.”

“I appreciate your honesty,” she said with an encouraging smile. “It takes a strong man to admit he’s not perfect.”

“Well, if that’s the case, call me Superman.”

Owen returned and slid back into the booth next to his partner. “Well, well. Sounds like things got interesting while I was away.”

Both Kendall and Max fell into a fit of laughter. Max eased back into his seat. His shoulders relaxed and his smile remained. Maybe he was making some friends. Wayne would be happy.

“My sister is bringing Simon by the restaurant after school for a couple of minutes.” Kendall’s cheeks were still pink from laughing, but the color deepened as she spoke. Her eyes dropped to the food in front of her. “He wants to know if you like Halloween.”

Simon was coming to find out Max’s feelings on the upcoming holiday? For some unknown reason, this kid cared more about Max than his own son did. Of course, he had no one to blame but himself for that. Max had not been a good dad to Aidan. Far from it.

“I’m kind of indifferent to Halloween, but I have a feeling that answer won’t impress a six-year-old.”

“You don’t like Halloween?” Kendall asked, her attention back on him.

“Doesn’t do much for me.”

“Did you like it when you were young?”

“A little,” he said with a shrug.

“Too scary for you?” Owen asked, smirking.

“No,” he said, refraining from throwing his napkin at Owen’s head. “My mom was way too into it.”

Kendall’s eyes brightened. “Yeah? That’s cute. Did she decorate the house or dress up?”

Max’s mother was consistent about one thing while he was growing up. She loved Halloween. She always came up with elaborate costumes for herself and stayed in character all night long. As fun as that was when he was really little, it was horrifyingly embarrassing when he got into grade school.

“Both. One year, she was Mary Poppins and spoke in this ridiculous English accent all day. I hoped she’d fly away with her umbrella when we got done trick-or-treating.”

Owen and Kendall both laughed at his childhood pain. There were times he could find the humor in his mother’s crazy. It was easier now that he was an adult and not under her roof.

“She doesn’t sound so bad,” Kendall said.

“She did the best she could, I suppose,” Max relented. The check came and Owen insisted on paying.

“Simon wants to be a race-car driver this year. The only problem is he wants to be driving a car. I have no idea how to make that happen.”

“My mom once went as my school bus driver. She made a bus out of a refrigerator box.” He left out how humiliated he’d felt at the time. “I’ve got some boxes you could use. All you’d need is some paint and a little imagination.”

Kendall’s mouth fell open.

“That’s a good idea,” Owen said, chiming in and looking equally surprised.

“That’s a
really
good idea.” Kendall agreed.

Max’s shoulders straightened a bit. Maybe his mother’s quirkiness was good for something after all.

* * *

T
WO
MORE
INTERVIEWS
before Max called it a day. He had a visit with Aidan tonight, which meant he needed to go home, shower and change. He tried not to think about how the little boy couldn’t care less if his father showed up smelling like sweat or not. He probably wished Max wouldn’t show up at all.

The restaurant doors opened and a much easier to please boy scampered in. A woman trailed behind him. She was a brunette, like Kendall, but tall and thin like Lucy.

“Hey, buddy, you here to interview for the bartender job?” Max asked, folding his arms on top of the counter and leaning forward.

Simon laughed. He had a little smudge of blue paint on his cheek. “I’m just a kid. I can’t work.”

“You’re just a kid? I heard you were a race-car driver.” He gave Simon’s aunt a wink and a crooked smile, but she just stood there gaping. She blinked three or four times. She did know he was kidding, didn’t she?

The little boy found Max much more entertaining. “I’m not a race-car driver. I’m not even old enough to drive!”

“Well, then, we need to talk to your mother because she told me you were a race-car driver and I was going to get you a car and everything.”

Kendall appeared out of nowhere. She’d spent most of the afternoon sketching the first part of her mural on the wall in the main dining area. Her hair was pulled up in a sloppy bun with three pencils sticking out of it. Dressed casually in jeans and a soft gray, long-sleeved T-shirt, Artist Kendall was much more relaxed than Designer Kendall. Max really did like this version of her.

She rubbed her hands on those long, jean-clad legs and smiled at Simon. “Hey, honey.” She pulled him against her and kissed him on top of the head.

“Did you tell Max to buy me a car?”

A wrinkle appeared between her eyes. “I don’t think I told him to buy you a car.”

“You said he was a race-car driver,” Max explained.

Her eyebrows lifted, as did the corners of her mouth. She had a lovely smile. Max found himself wishing he could see it more often.

“I told him you want to be a race-car driver for Halloween. He had a great idea for your costume.” She turned her head and caught sight of her sister, who was still standing and staring with her mouth agape. Kendall’s face fell. She let go of Simon and pushed her sister back a few steps. Max couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the sister’s eyes kept sliding back to him throughout their discussion. He thought he made out an “Oh, my God,” but he couldn’t be sure.

“Is your aunt feeling all right?” he asked Simon.

The boy glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. “Aunt Emma’s a nurse. She never gets sick. Do you like Halloween?”

“Do you?” Max deflected. Simon nodded and grinned. Max decided to play along for the kid’s sake. “It’s pretty cool. My mom used to love it and make my costumes.”

“My mommy just eats my candy.”

Max chuckled, picturing Kendall poaching the best stuff out of her kid’s plastic pumpkin. He leaned in closer. “Is that right? She’s a thief, huh?”

Simon’s head bobbed up and down. The two women rejoined them and Kendall made introductions.

Max straightened up and stretched out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Emma.”

Emma made eye contact and froze again. Kendall nudged her with an elbow until she managed to return the greeting. Max wondered what was up with this family. All three sisters stared at him like they couldn’t believe he was real when they met him. Perhaps his resemblance to Simon’s father had something to do with it. How much did he look like the guy?

“Max thinks Halloween is cool,” Simon informed his mother.

“And Simon says you eat his candy,” Max teased.

Kendall’s eyes widened. “I do not eat your candy!” she said, tickling the boy’s sides and making him squeal and squirm.

Max’s chin dropped and he gave her a second to come clean. It was common knowledge that one of the perks of being a parent was raiding the Halloween candy after the little ones went to bed.

“Fine, maybe I eat the Milky Ways,” she admitted. Max quirked a brow and waited. It didn’t take long for her to add to her confession. “And the 3 Musketeers, but that’s it!”

Letting her off the hook, Max turned his attention back to Simon. “I have some boxes at my place that I bet your mom could turn into the best race car ever.”

“Where do you live?” Emma asked, earning her another jab from Kendall’s elbow. “What?”

“I’m in Lincoln Park, a couple of blocks north of Oz Park.”

Emma did the nudging this time. “That’s right by you,” she said to Kendall. “It’s like...
fate.
”

“We live in the same neighborhood?” Max asked.

Kendall stopped scowling at her sister and nodded.

“Well, then, you guys should come over and pick out a box,” he offered, even though Kendall looked mortified. There was no understanding this woman. Just when he thought they were on friendly terms, she clammed up and acted like there was something wrong with him.

“Let’s go now!” Simon said, bouncing up and down and tugging on his mother’s shirtsleeve.

Max’s next potential employee strolled through the door. “Can’t right now, buddy.” The disappointment put a quick damper on the kid’s enthusiasm. Simon’s shoulders slumped. Max couldn’t bear it. “But maybe we can do it this weekend. You guys can stop by and find the perfect car.”

A sparkle of hope came back as Simon gazed up at his mom. “Can we?”

She chewed on her bottom lip for a second. “Sure. Why not?”

“All right. I’ll see you later, Simon. Nice to meet you, Emma.” Max made his way around the bar to greet his interviewee.

“Wait!” Simon called out. He ran over to Max and his eyes shifted to the man who had arrived for the interview. They stood there for a moment before Max realized Simon wasn’t going to say anything in front of the newcomer.

“Can you wait right over there?” Max asked the potential bartender, pointing to a table a few feet away.

Simon watched and waited until the man was a safe distance away. He held out his hand. A shiny red Hot Wheels car sat on his palm. “I have two red Corvettes,” he whispered so softly it was barely audible. He showed Max the identical car in his other hand. “Does Aidan like cars?”

Max felt his chest tighten as he stared dumbly at the toy. He was a terrible father. He didn’t even know what his son liked. “I don’t know.”