“Yes,” Aubrey said, a smile spreading over her face. “One of my favorite spots. Especially for seeing stars.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Justin jumped from the SUV and walked around to the back where he liberated a picnic basket and a blanket.
“Seems you’re prepared for this outing,” Aubrey said as he rounded the front of the car.
“I do plan. But if memory serves, so do you, Miss Hayes. Still have those infernal to-do lists?”
Aubrey smiled. “A new one for the day, the week, the month, and the year. How could I run a business if I didn’t?” She led the way up the path to the outcropping of rock, which was beneath a maple tree. Or so Max had told him.
“As a business owner, I keep the same type of lists.” He spread the blanket out beneath the tree on a patch of grass so Aubrey could sit down. He pulled the basket toward them and opened it. “Your sister prepared this little snack.” He lifted a magnum of Veuve Clicquot, already chilled, and two glasses.
“Looks like Nina’s doing.” Aubrey pulled out the cheese and the strawberries and grapes as well as a fresh baguette. “Can’t say I’m very hungry after that dinner she fixed.”
“She fixed?” Justin stopped twisting the cork from the champagne. “I thought you were cooking dinner?”
“Come on. With a Michelin restaurant forty feet away and a full kitchen staff? How much cooking do you think I actually do?”
“Smart woman,” Justin said and filled her champagne glass. He filled his own and set the champagne back into the cold bucket in the basket, then held out his glass toward hers.
“To our son, Aubrey, and to you, for doing an amazing job raising him.” He lifted his glass and clinked it to hers. They both drank. Aubrey had done an amazing job raising Max; he was everything that a man could want in a son. “He’s smart and charismatic. He has empathy and an inquisitive mind.”
“Thank you,” Aubrey said. She stretched out her legs and looked out past the overlook to the brilliant black sky dotted with stars. She turned to him. “Why do I feel like there’s a ‘but’ coming in your statement?”
“No buts really. I just …” He turned to her and reached for her hand, pulling her closer so that her back was leaning against his chest. “I just wonder if there’s a way for me to become a bigger part of his life now that I’m in it. You’ve created this great foundation for him here in your world, and now, well, I’d like to show him mine.”
Her breath hitched in her chest. He felt her body tighten against his. Yes, of course she was afraid she’d lose her son, or that Max would choose the bright lights and big city.
“What did you have in mind?” Her voice was soft, low, and behind the question he heard fear and sadness.
“I’d like for him to come back with me to New York. For the rest of the summer.”
She pulled away from him and turned to face him. Her eyes met his. “And what will he do all day while you work?”
“What does he do all day while you work?”
“Not the same. He has friends here and activities. His enrichment program begins next week, football practice starts in three weeks, and high school two weeks after that.”
“Yes, well, if he stays for high school here.”
Aubrey’s eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”
“He’s mentioned that he might prefer to go to high school somewhere else.”
“Where else? And he mentioned?”
Justin shook his head. “I didn’t bring that up, okay? It was all Max. We don’t need to decide that tonight, do we? I’m simply asking if I can have three weeks to show him my world. Where I live. What I do. I don’t think it’s an unfair request, considering …”
“Considering I kept him away from you? Might as well say it, because that’s where all your leverage lies in any parental negotiation we have.”
“So that’s what this has become then? A negotiation? Not what’s best for Max or in his best interest, but what I want and you want and who he loves the most?”
“No,” Aubrey shot out. She pressed her hand to her hair. “No,” she said, her voice softer. “That isn’t what I want this to become. I do want what’s best for Max.” She turned away from him and gazed out over the land beneath the plateau. Miles and miles of open space with only tiny little clusters of lights miles apart to indicate the farmhouses that dotted the open landscape. “I do want him to see your world. I really do want him to know you. But with your hours, Justin, what will he do every day? I don’t want him sitting around your penthouse or whatever place is your home and playing video games the rest of the summer. I don’t want him alone in New York City, thinking he can get around by himself. A kid his age could get in lot of trouble that way.”