Pushing his way out of the gym doors, Max was just about to head for his car before an unmissable sight caught his eye. It was very difficult to ignore that bright red hair considering it resembled his own almost identically. Those were the genes that had blessed him with the locks you couldn’t ignore, yet the person they belonged to was someone that Max was determined to escape from right now. However being unable to avoid taking a glimpse, it was them his mum caught his eye too and was not going to ignore.
“Max!” Liliana called out and she immediately began making a beeline for him.
Max let out a long sigh in frustration as he knew there was no way he could avoid this now. So instead, he just stood there expressionless, making no attempt to head in her direction, leaving it all down to her.
“Oh my gosh! Max!” She exasperated, her voice getting higher in pure glee. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you! How are you?”
Max didn’t know how to answer that question or even how to act in this situation. His mum was acting completely normal, as though there were no issues between them and it didn’t make sense.
“I’m fine.” He responded blankly, knowing that the quicker he could get this small talk over with, the quicker he could escape.
“Great!” Liliana smiled as her eyes skimmed the length of his body and back up to his face again. “Gosh look at you! It’s been only a matter of months and yet you look so different. You look so grown up… no longer a boy, more like a man.”
As Liliana reached out to touch Max’s arm in awe of the man he was growing into, Max immediately pulled away. He cringed at the thought of it, not wanting this woman anywhere near him. However, there was something about this interaction that was standing out to him. His mum seemed normal. She wasn’t drunk, she wasn’t even tipsy, he couldn’t smell any evidence of alcohol on her, which was unusual and he couldn’t help himself from pointing it out.
“Have you ran out of stash or something? Or are you out collecting the booze now?” Max asked bluntly and at first his mum’s face filled with shock at his words before she very quickly recollected herself.
“No…” she muttered, as a sadness filled her voice. “No Max, that’s not me anymore. I’ve stopped. I haven’t had a drink in months. I’m sober now, I finally got help.”
If it wasn’t for seeing her in person right now and the difference within her, then Max wouldn’t have believed it. However seeing her in this state with her own eyes made it so difficult to deny… because she did seem different. She was well dressed and put together, the bags under her eyes were gone and she looked fresh faced and alive once again.
“Right…” Was all Max said because he didn’t know what else to say. He was in shock yet at the same time, slightly unbelieving that this could possibly be true. This woman was far from the mum he had grown up with.
“I heard you moved into your own place…” Liliana said, immediately trying to change the subject. “That’s amazing Max! I’m so proud of you.”
Max just nodded his head, not wanting to hear those words from a woman who had never been present in his life to be proud of anything he did before. He had been the one who kept a roof over his parents heads for years. They had been the reason he had only just been able to do this for himself now.
“I also saw….” Liliana spoke softly before pausing and Max noticed that tears were no threatening her eyes. “I also saw that you have a baby girl now too… I…. I didn’t know… wow… I just… I’ve seen photos and she’s beautiful!”
Max suddenly felt sick at his mum’s mention of Brinley. He had wanted to keep his daughter as far out of his parents lives as possible after everything they had done to him. He didn’t trust them at all and had not wanted that toxic mess in her life. However, now hearing his mum mention her seemed to destroy the distance he had created between them.
“I would love to meet her one day.” Liliana said with hope laced in her voice yet Max immediately began shaking his head.
“That’s not going to happen.” He replied bluntly and he watched as his mum took the blow before recovering from it once again.
“I know I haven’t exactly been the best mum… I know I have failed you and for that I’ll forever be sorry Max, trust me, I feel awful. But I’m really trying to change now. I want to be better and I want to be in your life like I should have been before. I want to watch you grow into the amazing man you are and I also want to be in your daughters life… my granddaughter.”
“No.” Max bit, immediately cutting his mum off with such a sharp and angered tone. “No. She is my daughter but she is not your granddaughter. It would be a privilege to be in her life and you haven’t earned that.”
“Max…” Liliana muttered as she took a step towards him, trying to hard to get through to him.
“I want her as far away from your and dad as possible. You’re both toxic. That house is toxic and she doesn’t need such waste of space humans in her life.”
There was so much anger building up in Max right now and he was struggling so hard to keep it at bay. His chest was rising and falling at such an erratic pace that he felt like he was going to explode. The mention of Brinley had brought fourth a protective side to him to such an extreme that he didn’t really know how to deal with it. He just knew that he needed to get away from here.
Just as his mum was about to say something else, her eyes caught sight of someone behind him, making her way over. Immediately turning around to see where her gaze was lingering, Max caught sight of Grace and Brinley heading in his direction.
His eyes automatically darted back towards his mum with a warning glint in them, daring her not to make a move. Then as she stayed stationary on the spot, debating whether to comply, Max took that opportunity to immediately make his way over towards them. Sweeping Brinley off the ground and into his arms, he didn’t say a word as he grabbed Grace’s hand and pulled her over to his car.
“Get in.” He ordered, his voice coming out more demanding than he intended but right now he just had to get away from here, away from his mum.
Once they were all in the car and belted up, Max took one last glimpse in his rear mirror to see his mum still standing there, making no attempt to move. She looked sad… heartbroken even but right now that was the least of his worries. He didn’t owe her anything and he wanted to create as much space between her and his family as possible.
….
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