Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Jack
A kid with Maggie’s dark hair cut short on the sides and long and messy on top comes trudging down the path from the front door, a red backpack flopping against his side. His feet are dragging so much, I can almost hear them scraping on the concrete.
Maggie walks behind him, her face a blank mask.
More than anything, that sight strikes terror inside me.
I’ve seen Maggie experience a wide range of emotions, and they always— always —show on her face.
For her to have shut down so much that I can’t tell if she’s ready to cry or blow up the house has me worried.
And now I don’t know what to do with myself.
Should I get out of the car to say hi to her kid?
Or would that just throw lighter fluid on an already hot blaze, if the look on her ex’s face is anything to go by?
That dude’s easy to read. He’s pissed. Whatever Maggie said to him has him wanting to go after her to say more, but his eyes dart between the kid and me, and he seems to think better of that idea.
Yeah, fucker. You don’t want to mess with me. Maggie might be hesitant to openly call you on your bullshit in front of your kid, but I have no such hesitation.
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly.
As much as I might want to tell her ex what a deadbeat he is—and there’s no mistaking that fact—I know his type well enough to know that Maggie’s the one who’ll bear the punishment for my hotheadedness.
And the last thing I want to do is add more difficulty to her life.
My goal is to make her life better, easier if possible.
Though I do sometimes wonder if figuring out how to spend time with me actually makes her life harder …
I talk myself out of that spiral by reminding myself that she’s commented about how much she enjoys our dates, that positive challenges make life better, even if they don’t make it easier, and that if she wants to stop or even take a break, all she has to do is say the word.
Maggie opens the passenger door and messes around next to the seat for a minute before figuring out how to push it forward so her son can climb in the back seat.
When she steps back to let him in, he stops in front of the door and gives my car a disgruntled look.
I’m not sure what I was expecting exactly, but it definitely wasn’t that.
I have a nice car, man. When I was his age, I would’ve thought getting an unexpected ride in a cool car would be a highlight.
“Who are you?” he demands. “And where’s our car?”
“This is my friend, Jack,” Maggie says before I can answer. “He and I were hanging out when your dad called me and asked me to pick you up because he had something come up with work.”
I do my best not to project my irritation with that pathetic excuse.
This asshole just doesn’t know what to do with his own kid.
For all his faults, at least my dad never pulled that shit.
Of course, we mostly spent our time immersed in hockey—running drills, watching games, going to the rink and playing one-on-one.
The one-on-one games were my favorite. Isn’t this asshole supposed to be into basketball?
Why doesn’t he take him to a park? It doesn’t even cost money to do that.
I mean, sure, you need a basketball, but it’s not like that’s expensive, and it’s just a one-time cost. Fucker can’t even do that much.
Maggie does. I know she plays basketball with him because she’s mentioned it on multiple occasions. Why can’t his dad?
Maggie continues with the introductions. “Jack, this is my son Liam.”
“Nice to meet you,” I say to the kid, offering him a friendly smile.
He still stares at me, looking for all the world like it’s not nice to meet me, though he at least has manners enough not to say it.
Part of me is annoyed by the rudeness, but the poor kid’s probably pissed at his dad and taking it out on anyone around since taking it out on his dad’s not really an option.
I hope he was a little shit to his dad before he left, though. Dude fucking deserves it.
Liam clambers into the back seat, flopping around like a fish that just got yanked out of the water.
Fishing! That’s another thing that fucker could do with his kid.
Maggie resets the front passenger seat and climbs in as well. “I’m really sorry about this, Liam. Jack’ll take us to our car, and then we’ll go home.”
He lets out a drawn out groan as I back out of the driveway. “How long is that gonna take?”
Maggie glances at me before answering him. “Well, it’s about twenty minutes from here to Jack’s place. Then we’ll get in our car and go straight home.”
I glance in the rearview mirror to see him crossing his arms and staring out the window. “Why couldn’t you have picked me up in our car? I just wanna go home.”
“I can take you home,” I whisper to Maggie. “I’ll bring your car to you. If you want, I mean. If that’s easier for you.”
She looks at me, eyes wide with distress. “You sure you don’t mind?” Her whisper is barely audible.
“I wouldn’t have offered if I did. Let me just take you two home. Leave your keys with me. I’ll bring it right over. I can have my friend Connor follow me and give me a ride home, or I can call an Uber or something if he’s not around.”
She stares at me for a few seconds, considering, then Liam says, “Please, Mom? Please just let him take us home.” The kid sounds near tears, and that’s what does it.
“Okay,” she says. “Take us home.”
Nearly an hour later, I’m knocking on Maggie’s door, her car keys dangling from one of my fingers.
She answers right away, looking just as frazzled as when I left her. At least she’s not giving me the blank mask she had on right after we picked up her son. That look seems to be reserved for her ex.
“Here are your keys,” I say, holding them out and dropping them in her upturned hand. “I parked in the spot marked with your apartment number. I assume that’s correct?”
She flashes a smile and nods. “Yes. Thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m happy to help.”
She examines my face again, the way she does when she wants to make extra special sure that I’m being honest. After glancing back inside the house for a second, she steps out onto the landing and pulls the door closed behind her.
“I really appreciate this, Jack. Taking me to get Liam, bringing us home, and now bringing my car to me as fast as you could?” She shakes her head, blinking rapidly like she’s about to cry.
When she sniffs, I can’t hold back anymore.
Reaching for her, I wrap her in a hug. “Hey. It’s not a problem. Any of it. I’ve told you before, I want to make your life better. As long as I’m succeeding at that, I’m a happy man.”
She lets out a choked, watery laugh and sniffs again, giving me a squeeze and releasing me. “That’s all you need to be happy, huh?”
“Well, I mean, I wouldn’t be mad about winning the Stanley Cup next season.”
This time, her laugh is a little more normal. “Makes sense.”
“Are you okay?”
Another sniff, but she nods. “Yeah.” She draws in a deep breath, crossing her arms over herself and looking off over my shoulder.
“It just sucks, you know? I know he didn’t really show it today, but Liam’s a great kid.
He doesn’t deserve for his dad to keep jerking him around like this.
” Her lips press into a firm line, and she lifts her chin like she’s preparing for battle.
“What are you going to do?”
She meets my eyes, unflinching and resolved.
“I’m calling my attorney first thing in the morning.
I’ve let his bullshit go unchallenged long enough.
Partly because I just barely paid off my attorney from the first time through the court system.
I’m guessing this time will be worse. Kyle will fight me.
There’s no goddamn reason he should since he clearly has no intention on ever following through with anything.
He should be happy he can just throw money at the problem and make it—us—go away.
He’s made it obvious he doesn’t really want anything to do with either of us anyway. ”
A stray tear makes its way down her cheek, and I pull her into my chest again, my heart twisting at the sight of her pain. “I’m sorry, Maggie,” I whisper against her hair. “He’s an ass who doesn’t deserve you or your amazing kid.”
She lets out that watery laugh again, reaching between us to wipe her face. “He was terrible to you.”
I shrug. “His dad just dumped him. Again. I’d be in a foul mood in his shoes too.”
“Yeah. Same.” She steps out of my embrace, meeting my eyes with a wobbly smile. “Thanks again, Jack. You’ve been wonderful today. I’m sorry this is how you’re meeting my son, but …” She spreads her hands and shrugs, an eloquent expression of the helplessness she feels.
“Is there anything else I can do?” I hook a thumb over my shoulder. “I can run and get a pizza. Or we can all go see a movie? My treat.”
Shaking her head, she cracks a real smile. “You don’t even have your car.”
“Delivery exists. And you could drive us to the movies.”
Before she can answer, the door opens behind her, and Liam pokes his head out. “Oh. It’s you.”
“Jack brought our car back. Isn’t that nice?” Maggie says, her voice full of forced cheerfulness.
“I guess,” Liam says, still glum.
I have to roll my lips between my teeth so I don’t laugh.
I’m sure that would just piss him off more, but the contrast between his mom trying so hard to get him to engage at a basic level of politeness and his completely flat response is too funny.
I have this sudden vivid memory of being about the same age as Liam and pissed as hell at my mom because she wouldn’t let me stay the night at my friend’s house—after I’d already stayed the night at another friend’s house like two nights before that and she had a good friend coming to visit from out of town.
She made me come to lunch with her and her friend, and she tried so hard to get me to stop being a little shit, just like Maggie’s doing with Liam, and just like Liam, I wasn’t cooperating.
I’ve heard enough stories about him to know that this isn’t his normal attitude.
And I know enough background about his shitty dad and how much this kid idolizes him that I understand his bad attitude.
And I can only assume that the hero worship is the reason Maggie hasn’t dragged her ex back to court before now, even if she says it’s mostly financial.
“Jack just offered to have a pizza delivered for us.” That perks him up a little bit. He glances at me, the tiniest spark of interest entering his gaze. “Or,” Maggie continues, “he offered to take us to a movie. Any interest in either of those options?”
He screws up his face in thought. “What movie?”