A Forever Love(11)
“Because I thought you’d be better served meeting him once you’d determined for yourself what kind of life you want to lead.” Aubrey pulled the steering wheel, turned left, and drove under the arched sign painted sky blue and golden yellow that read Camp Willow.
Max unzipped his backpack and tucked his phone into the front pocket. Aubrey said nothing. He wasn’t supposed to have his phone, but right now, at this moment, she didn’t have the energy for that battle. She stopped the Jeep and pulled the brake. Swarms of boys and girls with their parents walked about the campground in search of their cabins. Across the lot she spotted Dolby, Max’s best friend since kindergarten.
“Max, I’m sorry, I just … There’s so much about your dad. Things you need to know, things I need to tell you—”
“What? Like he’s a billionaire and I’m the only living heir to the fortune?”
Air whooshed from her lungs, and Aubrey’s mouth went dry. Words wouldn’t form. The very bits of information she’d wanted to keep from Max he now knew.
“Did Grandpa tell you that?”
“Did Grandpa? Mom, come on. Seriously, you walk around thinking I’m like seven years old.”
Did she? She hoped, maybe wished, sometimes even pretended when Max was sound asleep that he was still her little boy with chubby fists that could be pleased with a slice of apple.
“No, of course not.” She pushed at her curls and looked into the rearview mirror. “I just …” She sighed. “Max, your dad is just so different than the way we’ve chosen to live our lives. I mean, he’s in Manhattan, and he works all the time and—”
“He has three brothers, owns the best clubs and sportswear business in the world, has a huge stake in Apple and a gigantic piece of the Yankees. Yeah, Mom, I can totally see how I’d really hate all that.” Max shook his head and reached for the door handle. He looked back at her. “I have uncles, Mom. A dad. People you’ve never let me meet. Never wanted me to meet. I’ve lived out here in the middle of nowhere because you wanted me to, because I thought I had to, and now I find out that I’ve got a billion dollars?”
Her eyes hardened. “Your father has a billion dollars.”
“Okay, fine, I find out I have a father and he has a billion dollars and I’m his only son. Okay. Whatever, Mom.”
She was losing him. She was absolutely losing him to the glitz and the glam and the no-substance life that called for exponential expenditures and girls and clubs and drugs— She reached out her hand and grasped his shoulder. “Max, I know it looks like fun, I do. But honey, I lived that life for a while. I … I …” She stumbled over her words. “I worked with your father and I know who he is and how he lives, and I’m telling you, sweetheart, it’s not a way to make a life. I wanted you to be ready for all that. The money and—”
Max’s nostrils flared. He’d been mad before. He was pissed when he was grounded or had his phone pulled for breaking the rules or being disrespectful, but the anger that flashed in her son’s eyes that afternoon was different. Hard and cold. She gently released his upper arm. The muscle in his jaw tensed.
“You know what, Mom? You keep telling yourself that it was because you wanted me to be ready, but I’ve kind of figured out the truth. About a lot of things. None of this was about me. Keeping this secret, not telling me about my family?” His eyes pierced her soul and her blood chilled. “No, Mom, this, keeping me away from my dad? That was all about you.”
Aubrey’s gut flipped and her breath caught in her lungs. Max thrust open his door and jumped from the Jeep. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and, without a backward glance, slammed the door.
Her heart cracked in two. She leaned back in her seat and for a split second shut her eyes. The decision had seemed so simple when she fled New York for Hudson. There’d been few choices, no gray, everything had appeared so clear to her. Justin hadn’t wanted her, he wouldn’t want their baby, neither she nor a baby would have fit into his lifestyle. She’d come home, had a son, built a business. But now?
She opened her eyes and stared at her reflection in the rearview mirror. Down-turned mouth, heavy eyelids, sadness in her eyes, purple rings beneath her lower lashes. Now nothing was clear. Everything appeared gray. In hindsight, all her decisions seemed nearly unfit, selfish, and unkind. A rough summer, Nina had said. Luck was on Aubrey’s side if it was only a rough summer. With the mess she’d managed to create, Aubrey guessed her relationship with Max could be rough for the rest of her life.