Max tossed the wrapper and bit into the mocha-frosted vanilla cupcake, savoring the sweet, smoky flavor of the treat. “Ooh, this is yummy,” she said, going in for another bite almost immediately. “What’s different?”
“I filled them with a chocolate and coffee liqueur ganache.” Her mother smiled. “I’m glad you like it. Now finish that while I lock up, then we can go upstairs. I’m hungry and more cake isn’t going to cut it.”
Cee-cee bustled over to the door and dug the key from her pink apron.
“Sure,” Max replied, licking frosting off her fingers so she could type out a quick text to Ian, asking him to pick her up at the cupcake shop instead of her bookstore when it was time for their date night. She polished off her snack and then followed her mother’s lead up the stairs to the apartment above.
Tilly greeted them as they stepped into Cee-cee’s home, yipping and jumping.
“Do you have any treats tucked away for this sweet girl?” Max asked, bending to pat the cocker spaniel’s head.
Cee-cee led the way into the kitchen and handed Max a clear baggy full of heart-shaped dog biscuits. “I’ve been making these for her each week and she’s crazy about them. It’s a riff on carrot cake, only crunchy and for dogs.”
Max plucked one from the bag and sniffed it as Tilly danced in circles around her legs.
“They smell great. I’d eat one in a pinch,” Max said with a wide grin.
“Mick said the same thing,” Cee-cee replied as she stripped off her apron and laid it on the counter.
“We’re not proud, Mick and I.” Max tossed one to Tilly, patting her head as she ate it. “Who’s a good girl?” she cooed to the spaniel.
“I have a little something for us, as well,” Cee-cee said, the uncorking of a wine bottle drawing Max’s attention back upward. “Maryanne Carpenter Brown sent a lovely condolence gift basket to Aunt Anna, me, and Aunt Steph after Pop passed away. It came with this fancy bottle of Cabernet, which I’ve been saving.” She put the bottle down and reached into the cabinet nearest the stove and pulled out three wine glasses. “Speaking of which, Aunt Anna texted me a few minutes ago. She’s going to swing by a little later, as well.”
“How has she been?” Max asked, squatting back down to pat the dog’s head as her mom poured the wine. “I haven’t seen her in a couple of weeks.” Max realized with a start that it might have been even longer than that. Between her work at the bookstore, helping Gabe with odds and ends on the boat, and getting Ian’s new business ready to open, she’d been so busy, she’d barely had time to think.
Cee-cee set Max’s glass on the counter next to her. “She’s keeping it together pretty well, given the circumstances. She and Pop had a special kind of bond. Besides Eva, she was the only one who was never afraid to call him on his B.S.” Her lips curved into a bittersweet smile. “It’s weird for all of us, not having him around, but it gets a little easier every day. Speaking of Eva, maybe when you get a chance, I think we should all try to check in on her when we can, and see how she’s doing. I know she’s back working at the diner again part-time, but I think she’s still struggling emotionally.”
Eva had been great at taking care of Pop, and, despite them both squawking at each other like a pair of angry chickens, they’d grown so close the year before his death. Pop had been blessed to have her, but Eva had been just as attached to him. Max could only imagine that the loss had left a hole in her life.
Max made a mental note to select some books and make a stop by the diner with them soon, just to let the older woman know she was thinking of her.
“Anyway, enough about sad stuff,” Cee-cee said as she started bustling around the kitchen again. “We haven’t seen much of each other lately. Tell me about you. Are things still going well with Ian?”
“Things are going great with Ian,” Max said, feeling her mood lift as she thought of him. “He’s super supportive of my work, and we’re having a lot of fun getting his escape rooms up and running. It’s been a busy time for both of us, but I’m so happy. We actually have a date for later tonight.”
“And to think, the day you met him, you thought he was Satan in a suit,” Cee-cee said with a rueful chuckle. “Remember how angry you used to get every time his name came up? How quickly things change.”
The refrigerator door swung shut and Max looked up to see her mother carrying an armload of ingredients toward the counter. “And are the rooms almost done now?” she asked, pulling the cutting board over.
“He’s almost done with the Alice in Wonderland-themed one. We’ve just done some dry runs and have a few kinks to work out on a couple of the puzzles.” From translating a made up language to defeating the Red Queen in a chess-inspired puzzle, he’d put in a lot of hours and the room was really coming to life. She couldn’t wait for the grand opening in a few weeks. “What about with you and Mick?” Max asked, patting Tilly a final time before standing to grab the glass of the Cabernet that Cee-cee had set out for her.
“He’s great,” she said, the spicy scent of pepperoni filling the air as she unwrapped it. “Because we were friends first, it all feels really easy…and he already gets along well with the family. He’s actually been in touch with Sasha to do some work with him. He loves her eye for interior design and Maryanne commissioned him to make some custom tables and build some shelves for her study. She was looking for someone to put together a living room design, as well, and he gave her Alita’s number and told her to request Sasha for the design.” She pushed the now-sliced meat to the side with her knife and then she moved a block of white cheddar to the center of the cutting board, beside a snowy pillow of brie. “It'd be nice if they could sort of make that a thing going forward, you know? Collaborating, or promoting one another’s work in town? Both of them are so good at what they do, it’s kind of a no-brainer.”
Sasha was good at decorating, but she was even better at deceit. Too bad that wasn’t a paying gig. She could probably make a killing.
Max bit her tongue, not voicing her snide thoughts out loud, and put the glass of wine to her lips instead.
The flavors of blackberry, plum, and vanilla exploded on her tongue, but, as good as it was, she found herself unable to appreciate it through the bitterness of her anger. Seeing her brother so hurt and distraught was doing a number on her.
“Don’t you think that’s a good idea?” Cee-cee pressed, a frown marring her brow. “You like her work, yes? You told me you loved the way she redid my living room…”
“And I do. It’s gorgeous.” Sasha had a deft eye for color, and she’d played off the gorgeous ocean view out the bay window by keeping the palate very neutral, with only hints of that deep, northern Atlantic ocean blue and letting the view do the rest.
Max craned her neck to get a glimpse of it now and shook her head in awe as she took in the twilight sky. It was a technicolor wash of oranges and pinks that a painter’s brush could never do justice.
“But you don’t think her and Mick should work together? He’s a master carpenter, and his furniture is stunning.”
She better get it together or her all-too-astute mother was going to know something was seriously wrong.
“I think they would be great together. Mick is a genius. Sorry, Mom, I was just distracted thinking about something I forgot to do at work,” Max said, an image of Gabe’s face when he’d told her coming to mind as she swirled her wine in the glass.
He was a great guy that any woman would be lucky to have. She just wanted him to find happiness like she and their mother had. Could a marriage that started with a total betrayal of trust really be expected to work out?
The sound of tearing plastic brought her out of her thoughts and she looked up to see her mother transferring a handful of water crackers to the cutting board along with a squat jar of fig jam.
“Let’s go sit by the window,” Cee-cee said, pursing her lips thoughtfully as she tore a clump of grapes off of the stem and added them to the charcuterie selection. “I actually want
ed to chat with you about something…”
Max frowned as she grabbed her mother’s glass of wine in preparation for the move to the living room. Had her mother picked up on the fact that there was something up between Gabe and Sasha, too?
“I probably shouldn’t tell you about it, but I guess you’re grown now,” Cee-cee said, scooting toward the fridge with the bag of grapes and the remainder of the pepperoni in hand. “Your father stopped by the shop right before you came.”
“Really? For what?” Max asked, surprised. He’d gone in once, early on, when Cee-cee had just begun to find early success, but to Max’s knowledge, he’d largely stayed away. In fact, her parents only really communicated when something big was happening, like at Gabe’s wedding, or Pop’s funeral. Given how her father had betrayed her mother, it only made sense that they hadn’t wound up being the best of friends. Under the circumstances, the fact that they managed to be civil was good enough for Max. So why had her dad decided to seek her mother out now?
“That’s a good question. He was acting really weird and…if I’m being honest, it seemed a little like he was trying to flirt with me?” Cee-cee said, picking up the cutting board and gesturing toward the other side of the room with her head.
There was a time early on where Max might’ve been excited to hear that, and wished for them to get back together, but it was long gone. While she did love her dad, she’d never seen her mother so confident and content with life as she was now.
She was a dynamic businesswoman who had put her own wants and needs aside to support her husband’s, and she’d been repaid with his nitpicking over her appearance, and his oftentimes almost chilly demeanor. Max wasn’t blind. Nate Burrows was a fine dad, but the warm affection he’d managed to spare for her and Gabe had apparently been all he had to spare. He’d been hard on Cee-cee. Now that she was out from under the dark cloud of his disapproval, she had blossomed.
Max eyed her mother now as they headed into the living room. Her long, dark hair was thick and wavy around her shoulders. She wore a button-down plaid shirt that might’ve been Mick’s and slouchy jeans rolled at the ankle. Cee-cee paused by the couch to kick off her shoes and Max noted the bright red polish on her mother’s toes.
Rewind a couple years ago, and that glorious hair would’ve been in a neat knot at the back of her head, and she would be in a skirt and heels right now, passing politely on the pepperoni as she contemplated whether she should do another stint on the treadmill.
Cee-cee was living her best life right now, and Max couldn’t be happier for her mother. Sometimes people just weren’t right for each other.
“He still hasn’t found a new girlfriend since he broke up with Mandy. Maybe he’s just bored and needs a new hobby or something,” Max said with a shrug.
Cee-cee nodded, chuckling as they placed the cheese board and glasses of wine on the table. “Well, like I said, I could’ve been reading it wrong. He was right about one thing, though; we are going to be grandparents together and I’m going to be seeing a lot more of him. I’m glad I don’t feel angry at him anymore.”
Max nodded, refusing to let her thoughts turn back to Sasha and Gabe.
She stacked a piece of cheddar cheese and pepperoni onto one of the thin crackers and popped it into her mouth, the spicy pepperoni and the salty funk of the cheese pairing beautifully with the wine.
“I’m glad about that, too, Mom. So tell me, how are things going with the new shop openings?”
Her mother had decided to branch out and just finished setting the business up to become a franchise. Cee-cee’s Cupcakes was going national.
For a while, Max sat and listened to her mother chat excitedly about all the business goings on, as they enjoyed the view and the food. As time passed, the knot in Max’s chest over the bomb Gabe had dropped began to loosen. There was something soothing about hearing her mom’s musical voice, the barely audible caw of seagulls and whooshing waves outside. She was so relaxed that when her cell phone buzzed and vibrated in her pocket, she nearly spilled her wine.
She pulled out her phone and read Ian’s short reply.
Sounds good. I’ll get you around 7, then?
She typed back a quick yes and then set her phone on the coffee table, stacking up another cheese and cracker sandwich.
“And Aunt Steph?” Max asked, as the conversation about the new shop locations died down. “You mentioned that she was still having a bit of a rough time. Is she continuing on in that twelve-step program?”
Cee-cee nodded, swirling what was left of her glass of wine around before taking a final sip, emptying the glass. “She’s been going every week. I think it’s really doing her a lot of good. It’s just…it’s not easy, Max. She’s been through a lot. I’m just glad she has Ethan in her corner and Todd here to help with the vet practice while she takes care of herself.”
“Amen to that,” Max said as she reached for Cee-cee’s glass. “I’ll go pour us one more.”
“Thanks,” her mother said. “Could you grab some more grapes for me, as well?”
Max headed into the kitchen and refilled their glasses before plucking another bunch of grapes from the fridge to take with her.
“Max…” her mother called.
Her tone sounded off, and Max padded back into the room, concerned. “What’s up?” Max asked.
Cee-cee sat on the couch, Max’s cell phone in hand, her cheeks pale. “Your, um, your phone buzzed like you got a text so I was going to bring it to you in the kitchen and I looked down…I wasn’t spying or anything, but the first part of the message was just right there on the screen--”
“What did it say?” Max demanded, setting down the grapes and the glasses and taking the phone from her mother’s unresisting hands.
“What is Gabe talking about?” Cee-cee asked. “Is something wrong?”
Max’s stomach dropped as she looked down at the screen. Thanks for listening. It’s a relief to finally tell someone the truth…
The preview of the message ended there, but what was there had clearly been enough to freak Cee-cee right out.
Crap.
“Gabe’s not in some kind of trouble, is he?” Cee-cee said quickly, her eyes tight and worried as she rose from her seat. “God,” she grabbed her chest and fisted her shirt into a bunch. “It’s not the baby, is it?”
“No! No, the baby is fine…” Max started, racking her brain for something to say as her mother nervously bit at her lower lip.
“I’m going to be worried sick over him if you don’t tell me,” her mother pleaded, stepping a bit closer.
Max sighed, rubbing at her temples, and considered it for a long moment. “Okay, but we need to keep this between us, and I’m only telling you because I don’t want to lie to you.”
Her mother held one hand over her heart and the other in front of her. “I won’t say anything, I promise.”
Max took a deep breath, wondering if she was making the wrong choice even as she spoke, but feeling firmly wedged between a rock and a hard place.
“You remember when Gabe and Sasha told us they were pregnant?”
Cee-cee nodded.
“Well, it turns out that Sasha didn’t tell him she was pregnant when she found out.”
Cee-cee cocked her head. “Why is that a secret? A lot of women take a little time with it to let it settle in.”
“Yeah…” Max said, looking down at the floor. She took a final deep breath for strength before blurting it out. “It wasn’t a little time to settle in, Mom. She basically lied to him for weeks, until they shared the news with us. Sasha actually knew that she was pregnant well in advance of the wedding and kept it a secret from Gabe because she was afraid it might change his mind about marrying her.”
Her mother’s mouth dropped wide and she blinked.
“She what?” Cee-cee’s voice came through in unison with an unexpected one from directly behind them.
Max spun, her heart skipping a beat, and saw that Aunt Anna was standing there
, just in time to overhear the horrible revelation.
So much for keeping a secret…
5
Cee-cee
Cee-cee craned her neck at the sound of her younger sister’s voice.
“Impeccable timing, as usual,” Cee-cee said, still reeling from Max’s revelation about Sasha and Gabe. “Well, come on in; how long have you been standing there in stealth-mode?”
“Just long enough to catch the end of that conversation.” Anna strode into the room, waving the key. “And I wasn’t trying to be stealthy. You did give me a key, you know. I just didn’t want to interrupt, seeing how intense you two looked talking.”
She tossed her purse on the sofa and stared at the two of them.
“Well, don’t stop on account of me. Go on,” she urged, popping a grape into her mouth and chewing as she waited.
“Aunt Anna…Gabe told me this in confidence and I’m sure I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. The only reason I even told my mom was because she--" Max began, but Anna cut her off with a hug.
“Geez - look at yourself, sweetie – all upset. I’m not going to say anything.” She pulled away and shot Cee-cee a glance. “And you. You look like you just saw a ghost. What’s the matter? So what if Sasha didn’t tell Gabe she was pregnant before they got married? It’s not like she tricked him and got pregnant on purpose, or he isn’t the father or something,” she added with a shrug.
Cee-cee stared at her sister in disbelief and felt the color drain from her face. She thought she knew Sasha enough to trust her, and had accepted her into the family with open arms, so Max’s admission had been a shock. But Anna’s words really sent her mind spinning.
“Honey?”
She shot an anxious glance Max’s way, and, for a moment that felt like eternity, Max was silent. Luckily, she quickly recovered and found her tongue, because Cee-cee was a hot second away from total panic.
“Nope. No way. It’s nothing like that. I’m sure the baby is Gabe’s, and I know she didn’t trick him or get pregnant on purpose,” she said, shaking her head vehemently. “He would’ve told me otherwise,” she said with a note of finality.
Finding Forgiveness: A Bluebird Bay Novel Page 3