"Here we go." Grace muttered under her breath, as she heard the knock on the front door.
Today was the day that she had arranged with Max to meet Brinley for the first time. They had decided to do it at her parent's house so that Brinley was in her usual environment, and to reduce any of the pressure that they may have been experiencing.
Even though being at home did make it slightly easier, Grace was still feeling a little on edge. She wanted it to go well. She wanted Brinley to like Max and for it to feel natural however, she knew that it probably wouldn't be that simple.
"I thought you were going to bail." Grace said as she opened the door to see Max stood there.
"As if I would." He replied, with that usual smug smile across his face.
He looked calm and unfazed, when she had been expecting the opposite. Either he was really good at hiding the nerves or he was incredibly confident that this was going to go well.
"Before you even step through this door, you do realise that you get one chance at this right? If you fuck things up and run away again, you're out of her life for good." Grace warned, wanting to make that clear to him from the get go.
"I know, I know. I won't fuck it up." Max insisted and Grace did genuinely want to believe it, it was just difficult after everything that had happened.
"Okay then, you can come in."
"How kind of you."
Rolling her eyes, Grace lead the way down the hall and into the living room. If Max was going to act overly confident, then she wasn't going to make a fuss around him. Instead, she would just drop him in the deep end and see how he coped with it.
"She's playing in here, so you can come and sit down. You don't have to bombard her right away. It will be better to just let her do what she wants." Grace began as she entered the living room. However, when she turned around to see if Max had followed her in, she saw him stood there frozen on the spot.
He was staring directly at Brinley as she sat among cushions keeping her upright, as she played with the toys around her.
"Shit." He muttered, causing Grace to glare right at him in warning.
"Max!"
"Sorry, it's just..."
"She looks so much like you, doesn't she? Even more in person." Grace cut in, knowing exactly what he was thinking.
The resemblance had been the one thing to make forgetting about Max incredibly difficult.
"Yeah... fuck, it's..."
"Max!" Grace warned once again, raising her voice a little this time.
"Sorry!" He snickered, not seeing his language as such a serious fault. "It's not like she's gonna know what I'm saying."
"But she could pick it up! And I would rather "shit" and "fuck" were not included on her list of first words, thank you."
"That wouldn't be surprising with you as a mum though, would it?" Max teased, bringing back that cool and calm vibe to the room again, as though he had all of the confidence in the world.
"You better watch it!" Grace bit as she then headed over to the sofa to take a seat.
As she did so, Brinley immediately began crawling over to her side and grabbed hold of her leg for comfort. As Max took a seat on the sofa opposite, every so often she would sneak a look over at him in uncertainty.
"She's not usually this shy. It's probably just because she's never seen you before." Grace said, feeling the need to explain her baby's actions.
As much as she still held some anger towards Max for what he did, she couldn't help but want to make this comfortable for him. She wanted this to work, for the sake of Brinley but also because she did see some potential in Max.
"It's cool, I get it." Max shrugged it off, as though he had come here with no expectations anyway.
This was just the start, he knew there was still a long way to go with this and Grace knew that too. The most important thing here was to let Brinley see Max and get a feel for his presence, before trying to build anything more between them.
"So, what's your plan then, now that you're back?" Grace asked, as she ran her hand over Brinley's head. She watched as Max's gaze went from the little girl and back to her.
"I don't have a clue, if I'm honest. I'm living TJ and Taj as you know..."
"Which I imagine is chaos!"
"A little bit." Max chuckled as he thought about it. It was everything you would imagine a 'man only' home would be. "But it's fun."
"What about your job?"
"Is this going to turn into an interrogation or something, to see if I'm fit for this whole parenting job?"
Smiling, Grace raised her brows in a suggestive manner.
"I'm just curious... plus, I do want to make sure you're not just bumming around."
Grace wasn't going to sit here and judge, that wasn't the point in any of this. However, she did want to make sure that Max was serious, and that meant that there had to be some stability in his life before she would willingly allow him into Brinley's.
"I'm working as a waiter again but if I'm honest, I don't have a clue what I wanna do with my life." Max admitted and for a moment there was a hint of vulnerability in his voice. "Travelling was incredibly but when I came home it kind of hit me that all the guys seemed to have their shit together, while I was back to square one."
"I can totally relate to that." Grace replied and she truly understood the emotions that Max was probably feeling. "My whole life has changed and I have no vision of what the future will be like, in terms of my career and everything really..."
"It's pretty scary, right?"
"Terrifying."
It was really strange for Grace to see Max in such a calm and vulnerable state. He was usually the most impossible person to have a serious conversation with, so this was all very new.
However, she did appreciate it because this was a whole other side to him. She realised that he wasn't just this overly cocky guy, who thought he had the whole world at his feet. Instead, he was actually a little scared and vulnerable. He felt inferior to his friends because they seemed to have their lives set out, yet he was just taking each day as it came.
It seemed as though Brinley had picked up on his calm and vulnerable state too because she suddenly seemed to open up a bit. All nerves and apprehension had disappeared, as she let go of Grace and began crawling over in his direction.
Max looked a little unsure at first, cautious of how she was going to react and how Grace felt about it too. However, as Brinely reached him and held out a toy in his direction, he wasn't going to pretend that it wasn't happening.
"Is this for me?" He asked and Brinley just smiled back up to him as she continued to urge it in his direction. "Thank you." Max said as he took it from her hand.
After giving Max another beaming grin, Brinley then turned around to find another one of her toys laying on the floor and held it out for him, waiting for him to take it. As Max took it from her grip once again, with a smile and a 'thank you', the actions soon turned into a bit of a game.
Grace watched on with a smile on her own face, as although this communication was so simple, it was the perfect start. It showed that Brinley wasn't scared and that she trusted Max. It showed that there was potential here and although it would take time, everything could work out in the end.
Things may have started out rough and Max may have messed up, but this was a chance for a new beginning. Brinley deserved to know her dad and Grace was willing to put in every effort to ensure that she built the most amazing relationship with him.
If Max could agree to put in the work too, she was confident that this whole situation could be beautiful.
**
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