Leave it alone.
Well, okay, then. Max shot Jed a quick, conspiratorial grin. With Kim’s watchful gaze burning a hole in the side of his face, he could relate to a desire for privacy.
Something akin to relief colored Jed’s expression. He leaned back in his seat and watched the kids demolish their dessert with a fond fascination that made Max smile. For creatures so dainty, they sure could put a hole in a pie.
Max was about done with his own pie when Nick reappeared in the doorway, an unlit cigarette in one hand, the cordless office phone in the other. He held out the phone for Jed. “It’s for you.”
Jed took the phone, his faint grin evaporating into a smooth, impassive mask. He held it to his ear and listened silently. Then, without uttering a word to whoever was on the other end, he hung up and walked out of the kitchen.
ITTOOKMax a while to settle the kids in their beds. With their parents yelling at each other downstairs, it was hard to convince them that everything was okay.
Tess fell asleep first. Max left Flo guarding the door and took Belle to her room across the hall. He took his time tucking her in. Kim was a hurricane when she was pissed. Combined with Nick’s drunken belligerence, they could scream at each other for hours. Tess’s room was at the back of the house. Unfortunately for Belle, the kitchen was directly below her.
“Is Daddy mad at Uncle Jed?”
Max measured his words. Despite Nick’s growing indifference to his children, Max held out hope that one day he’d remember how bloody lucky he was. “I don’t think he’s mad, bug. I think it’s going to take them a while to get used to each other. Uncle Jed’s been gone a long time.”
“That’s what Mom said. Is Uncle Jed going to leave again?”
“I don’t know.” Jed seemed attached to Belle and Tess, and fond of Kim, but Max didn’t know him well enough to judge whether they were reason enough for him to stick around. “I think he’s got some stuff to figure out before he makes a decision. Would you like him to stay?”
Belle nodded, her eyes dark and solemn. “I heard Mom tell him that he needs to put his head somewhere safe. It’s safe here, isn’t it?”
Max swallowed the lump in his throat. “Sure it is.”
“Then I want him to stay. He keeps Tess from breaking my stuff.”
At that, Max had to smile. Tess was like he’d been at her age: a notorious vandal. Nothing was safe, no matter who it belonged to. “I think he should—”
The shouting below cut off. Alarmed, Max twisted his head toward the door, listening for any sound of Kim’s distress. He heard nothing, so he bid Belle a hasty good-night and ran down the stairs.
He skidded to a stop by the kitchen table, where Kim sat alone. “I thought he’d finally clocked you. Don’t tell me it was the other way around?”
Kim pushed back her chair and scowled. “Stop it. You know he’d never hit me. If you must know, Jed came back and hauled him outside. I’m hoping they’re finally talking and not killing each other. Nick can’t go on like this.”
Max scoffed. “Yeah, sure. You think Nick would have the balls to get into it with someone like Jed? In case you haven’t noticed, Jed isn’t exactly a shrimp like you.”
It was a low jibe. Mocking Kim’s petite five-foot stature in the same breath as calling her husband a spineless prick was a bad idea. Fortunately, he was saved from her wrath by Nick skulking back through the French doors.
Max watched him squeeze Kim’s arm as he passed her. He wasn’t impressed, but it was as close to an apology as Nick ever got. Max glanced around for Flo, eager to make his escape before he let his irritation get the better of him, but strangely she was nowhere to be seen.
“She’s outside,” Kim said, reading his thoughts. “I think she was looking for Jed.”
The knowing smirk on her face confused Max, but she left the kitchen before he could figure it out. Puzzled, he headed for the back door, and sure enough, he spotted Jed leaning against the back wall of the house, tossing a ball into the darkness for Flo to retrieve. They looked like they’d been playing their game for a while.
Max joined him at the wall and mirrored his pose. “Happy Thanksgiving.”
Jed kept his gaze on the shadowy gloom. “It’s not the worst I’ve ever had.”
Somehow, Max could believe it. “It’s not the worst I’ve had here either. Who was on the phone?”
“Frank.”
“Your dad?”
Jed launched the ball to the back of the sweeping garden without answering, then sighed, his face weary and resigned. “When were you going to tell me my brother’s an alcoholic?”
Again, Jed’s candor caught Max off guard. Kim was good at dodging the term, and it had been a long time since he’d heard it acknowledged so bluntly. “I thought you knew. Nick’s pretty good at hiding it, but he drinks a lot at home. I figured you would’ve seen it.”