A few hours had passed and everyone was still happily at the bar, catching up on the couple of weeks Harvey had been away. It was quite amazing to hear the conversations the guys shared after being apart from one another as it just highlighted how similar they truly were to the girls.
As entertaining as it was to listen to them though, Grace was still feeling incredibly uncomfortable and on edge. She felt like she couldn't be her usual loud and bubbly self because she had the Max situation in the back of her mind. She wasn't lying to Harvey, it just wasn't the right time to tell him. However, there was a building guilt in her due to the fact that he was clueless.
"Max." Grace called out to capture his attention from his conversation with TJ.
While Harvey had gone to the bar, now felt like the only time to grasp him for a minute.
TJ clearly looked confused at her call and his eyes didn't really leave her or Max for a while, only making this more difficult.
"What's up?" Max asked as he took the seat opposite her on the bench and rested his arms across the table.
"Can you please stop persuading Harvey to drink more?"
"What? Why?"
Max was looking at Grace like she had completely lost her mind. This was supposed to be an evening of celebrations and all of the guys were urging him on.
"Because I wanted to tell him about the Brinley situation tonight. I can't do that if he's not sober!" Grace bit, angry that Max wasn't thinking this through.
However, at the same time she knew exactly why he wasn't. The moment Grace told Harvey, that would put their friendship in trouble and he wanted to stall that happened for as long as possible. Therefore, Max would do what he could to ensure the truth didn't come out just yet.
"I don't understand the rush." He sighed, not on the same page with Grace in this. "Let him enjoy his fucking night, he's only just got back."
"I can't do that because I feel like I'm lying to him!"
"You're not lying. We didn't tell anyone about it. It's not personal to him."
Watching Max in frustration, Grace was doing everything to compose herself. Although TJ had now been distracted by Taj, he was still glimpsing over whenever he got the chance. It was obvious that he knew something was up and that was another reason that Grace had to tell Harvey. She didn't want him being the last to find out.
"You don't get it..."
"Yeah, I do get it." Max corrected. "But you just need to chill out."
"How am I supposed to chill out, Max? This situation is so fucked up!"
Leaning forward, Max rested his chin on the palm of his hand before presenting Grace with a mocking smile. He was clearly much more unfazed by this whole situation than she was and he wasn't afraid to show it either.
"Have a drink, stop sitting here with a face like a slapped arse, and then I'm sure you'll be fine."
In that moment, Grace wasn't sure if she wanted to give Max a face like he had just described hers, or if she wanted to laugh. She was fuming at him but at the same time, she was lured in by his words. He was so carefree and was making the most of the calm before the storm hit, and Grace envied that. She wished she could be doing it too.
Max had always been incredibly reckless and never thought too much into a situation. He was incredibly good at living in the moment and that was exactly what he was doing now.
Grace had always been similar, yet things were obviously very sensitive right now. She wished she could just shrug it off and have a good night but that felt incredibly difficult to do.
"Give us a smile then, babe." Max encouraged with a grin on his face.
"Fuck off." Grace shook her head, while trying to force a serious expression to cover any positive one from breaking through. She didn't want him thinking things were okay between them after what he had done but he was annoyingly convincing.
"Come on, show them pearly whites!" Max continued, knowing exactly how annoying he was being but finding amusement from it.
Reaching out, he cupped Grace's chin as he then tried to urge her lips into a smile.
"You're so fucking annoying! Get off." Grace said as she pulled her face back and shot him a warning look however, it didn't take long for a smile to finally break through.
"There is it. I see it."
"Stop it."
"Absolutely stunning. Look at that." Max teased while Grace rolled her eyes back at him.
"You're not solving anything here."
"Maybe not but we may as well make the most of this peace while it lasts, right?"
Letting out a long sigh, Grace's eyes darted up to look at Max for a moment. As she looked into his eyes, all she saw was Brinley. She had always thought she had Max's eyes but had tried so hard to ignore it. However, now that Grace was faced with him once again, it was so difficult to do that.
"I hate that she has some of your features." Grace mumbled, saying the words out loud when she hadn't actually intended to.
"What?" Max asked, clearly confused at what she was talking about.
"Brinley."
"Oh... right..."
"I wanted to be able to block you out completely and pretend that she didn't have a dad, a biological father, whatever... but that was impossible and I still hate you for that."
"Grace..." Max trailed off, his own voice surprisingly turning serious; apologetic even.
As her gaze dropped from his, Max reached out to touch her hand, that was rested on the table. Giving it a squeeze, he attempted to regain her attention. Grace did look up at his touch however, a face in the background caught her eye first and that happened to be TJ. He was watching them again, clearly suspicious of the exchange but the moment she caught his eye, he looked away.
"Whatever happens with Harv, I'm still going to do what's right by Brinley. Trust me on that." Max reassured, as Grace placed her hand back into her lap.
With TJ now looking away, Grace was safe to look Max in the eyes once again. She wanted to hate him so badly but she knew that she was lying to him. She didn't hate him and for some reason she couldn't. Every time she looked at him she saw Brinley and it brought back so many emotions, both the good and the bad of her time with Max.
No matter what happened, Grace knew that she would always have some kind of tie to this boy. He was the father of her daughter after all.
"I don't know why I trust you after everything but for some reason I do..."
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