two of them.
“Can I get you something to drink?” Max asked.
I held up the cider. “I brought something.” I glanced between Max and his daughter.
“You should know what to do when someone brings you a gift,” Max said.
Amanda covered her mouth with both hands, then said, “I’m so sorry. That’s really kind of you and you didn’t have to.”
She was such a sweet girl. “It’s my total pleasure,” I replied.
“Why don’t you get into the shower? Violet can bring you some cider when she comes to do your hair.”
Amanda raced upstairs, leaving me in the kitchen with Max and his two sisters. I’d expected to have Amanda as a buffer while I was here. And I didn’t know whether Max’s friendly veil would drop once she’d left the room. I took a breath. I could do this. Max deserved the humble pie I was about to dish up.
“I have the grown-up alternative to sparkling cider if you’re interested?” he asked.
“What’s that?” I couldn’t help but smile. Not seeing him for so long, I’d forgotten the pull. Forgotten how every time I was around him, I wanted to touch him. And now that I was here I wanted to talk to him, apologize, ask him if it was too late to go back to how things had been between us.
“Champagne,” he said with a grin. He didn’t seem mad, but I’d seen him at the lunch with my father; he was great at making people feel comfortable. Was he just putting on an act?
“Did someone drop you on your head?” Scarlett asked. “I’m always asking for a glass of champagne.”
Max shrugged. “What can I say, I’m not wasting champagne on my sister.” He shot me a glance as he pulled out three glasses and set them on the counter.
Was he trying to impress me? I rolled my lips together, trying to hold back a grin at just the thought he might be.
“It’s so nice of you to come out all the way from the city,” Violet said, leaving the sentence a little unfinished. Did I look ridiculous coming all this way for a fourteen-year-old girl I barely knew? Did she know that although I genuinely wanted to make tonight special for Amanda, I wanted to see Max? I needed to apologize.
I glanced around, wanting to tell Max I’d come for him as much as I had for his daughter. “Amanda’s a lovely girl and . . .” I shrugged, unable to get the words out quite yet.
“Well, I know that my brother is pleased you came.”
My heart squeezed. Was Max pleased I was here? Because of Amanda or because he wanted to see me?
Max handed me a glass and as I took it from him our fingers brushed. I glanced up at him and he grinned. Should I pull him to one side and apologize now?
“Violet, Harper,” Amanda called from upstairs. “I need my glam squad. I’m out of the shower.”
I giggled. “Glam squad? She’s fourteen, right?”
Max rolled his eyes. “Going on twenty-seven.”
“Coming,” I yelled, bending to pick up my bag. I hated to see overly made up teenagers, and I knew Max didn’t want his daughter to look like the twenty-seven-year-old she thought she was, so alongside some bits of my makeup, I’d brought a tinted moisturizer and a glittery lip gloss. Add in a bit of mascara and I didn’t think she’d need much else.
“I’ll follow with the drinks,” Max said pulling out a tray as Violet and I made our way upstairs. As we passed a table on the landing, I bent to look more closely at a wedding picture.
“Beautiful,” I said to myself. Amanda, dressed as a flower girl, stood alongside a bride and groom I didn’t recognize.
“Pandora and Jason’s wedding,” Max said from behind me.
He had his ex’s wedding photo up in his house? “Wow, that’s . . .” I wanted to say weird because it was, but it was also sweet and open hearted and all the things I knew Max to be.
“Pandora’s beautiful,” I said, turning to look over my shoulder at Max. He nodded as if it were just a statement of fact.
Amanda’s room was everything I’d expected of a normal fourteen-year-old girl. A Pitch Perfect poster over her bed, a blue-and-white-striped bedspread, and full bookshelves running across the length of one wall. Despite the house being large, it was all about family. There were no airs or graces.
“How about a face mask while Violet dries your hair?” I suggested.
Amanda grinned. “That would