The Better Man (Chicago Sisters)

by Amy Vastine

  Simon’s smile revealed one missing tooth. He was cute and quiet, the perfect child. Max wondered what he was doing here instead of school. Not that it was any of his business. It must have been something important, though, if Kendall had to leave in the middle of the chair delivery from hell.

  “No school today?”

  Simon’s cheeks flushed red. “I got the yucks. Mom had to pick me up.”

  The boy didn’t seem sick, but what did Max know? He wouldn’t know the first thing about how to tell if a kid was well enough to be in school or not. He had so much to learn about kids in order to be the best dad he could be for Aidan. In fact, thanks to Simon, he was going to buy a thermometer on his way home today.

  “Did your mom tell you to sit back here and color?”

  Simon nodded.

  “Are you okay? Did you need your mom for something?”

  Simon shook his head back and forth.

  “All right, then. You stay put, okay? A guy could get lost in all these chairs.” He gave him a wink. “It was nice to meet you, Simon.” Max needed to catch up with the tour and make his case for not putting in the bar extension.

  “Are you sure your name is Max?” Simon had gotten up from his seat and was following behind him.

  “That’s the name my mom gave me.”

  The boy’s blue eyes peered up at him. “Is your mom’s name Nancy?”

  The oddly specific question caught Max off guard. “Nope. My mom’s name is Joanna.”

  “My mom’s name is Kendall.”

  “I knew that. I could tell from your picture of her.”

  “I don’t have a dad,” Simon confessed. His gaze quickly fell to the floor. “He’s in heaven.”

  That was unexpected and terribly depressing. Max felt bad for both Simon and his mother. The sadness that sometimes radiated off Kendall made more sense now. The woman had her hands full, it seemed. “I’m sorry to hear that, buddy. If it makes you feel any better, I don’t have a dad, either.”

  Simon looked back up. “Is your dad in heaven, too?”

  The child’s naivety almost made Max chuckle. Even if his father was no longer alive, he hoped the deadbeat wasn’t living it up on the right side of the pearly gates. “I doubt it,” he answered.

  Confusion creased the youngster’s forehead.

  “You better go back to your table and finish your drawing.” Max placed his hands on Simon’s shoulders and turned him around. “Your mom and I have some work to do.”

  The kid wasn’t so easy to escape. He took two steps before the questions began again. “Do you like cars?”

  “I guess.”

  “What’s your favorite color?”

  “Blue.”

  “Do you have to fight in the war?”

  That was a strange one. Max squatted down so he was eye to eye with his interrogator. “No.”

  “Do you drink milk?”

  “Does drinking what’s left in my cereal bowl count?”

  “Mom says no.” Figures. Moms were no fun sometimes. Simon kept at it. “Do you like chocolate ice cream?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Do you like dogs?”

  “That depends.”

  His answer slowed the questions down for a moment. Simon’s head cocked to the side, his bangs sliding across his forehead. “Why does it depends?”

  He was still cute, but forget about quiet. This kid was quickly becoming a motor mouth. “I got attacked by this giant Saint Bernard when I was about your size,” Max explained. “I’m sure he was trying to be friendly, but he had a good hundred pounds on me and it pretty much scarred me for life. And when I was twelve, my mom rescued this sheltie and those things shed 24/7. The kids at school made fun of me because my clothes were always covered in dog hair. So, I guess you can say I like little dogs who don’t shed as long as they aren’t yippy.”

  “What’s yippy mean?”

  “It means it barks a lot.”

  Simon’s mouth formed an O when he got it. “My nana and papa have a little dog. She’s not yippy. Do you like kids?”

  Max swallowed hard and nodded his head until the words found their way out. “Most kids. I have a son.”

  At that answer, Simon eyes widened and a look of longing appeared. “What’s his name?”

  “His name is Aidan.”

  Simon’s face fell. “Aidan,” he repeated. He bit into his bottom lip.

  “He’s three. How old are you?”

  Simon held up six fingers.

  Max heard Jin say his name. As much as he wanted to answer all of Simon’s questions, he needed to get back to work. He stood up and tousled the boy’s hair. “I’ve got to go, buddy. You should go back where your mom told you to stay.”

  Jin complained loudly about him from the other side of the restaurant. Max glanced over his shoulder and tried to spot them through the chairs. He turned back to Simon. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

  “Okay.” Simon didn’t look or sound so sure.

  Max emerged from the stacks of chairs not expecting a warm welcome. “Sorry. Someone needed my attention.”

  Jin rolled his eyes while Kendall scanned the room. He could almost hear her checking off each and every person she knew to be working in the restaurant at the moment. When she accounted for everyone, she glanced back at where he had come from. Her eyes met his, full of worry. Simon was the only one back there.

  “We’ve decided the sushi bar will go in as planned,” Jin said, pulling Max’s attention away from the nervous mother.

  “Can I explain my concern at least?” Max pleaded.

  Jin checked his watch. “Kendall already shared your concerns, and I still side with her and Owen.”

  Max’s face felt flush. “I’m not so sure she presented all of my concerns as clearly as I can.”

  “I told him exactly what you told me. Were there any other issues besides the ones you brought up with me a hundred times?” Kendall’s arms folded across her chest and the challenge in her tone was enough to make him forget the sympathy he was feeling for her a minute ago.

  He could admit she had excellent taste and an eye for beauty, but the functional aspect of her design was lacking whether she wanted to admit it or not. Max had worked in restaurants long enough to get a feel for how space needed to be organized. The flow of traffic would be slowed down because of the bar placement, and in the restaurant business, minutes were a precious commodity.

  He rattled off his concerns. She nodded affirmatively to each and every one of them. How dare she play fair. It allowed her to be so smug.

  “There you have it.” Jin stepped in between them. “Like I said, I side with Kendall and Owen on this one. The new bar goes in where it was designed to go in. I need to see those applications if you can manage to get them without getting lost.”

  It didn’t matter what Max said. Jin would side with Kendall regardless of the validity of the points he made. Jin’s experience was so limited, he had no idea what he was saying. He was making decisions based on personal feelings, which was a mistake in business.

  If only Mr. Sato had come himself instead of sending his son. Max went behind the bar to retrieve his briefcase with the applications inside. As he handed them to Jin, the doors to the restaurant flew open and a blonde bombshell stormed in.

  Max pulled out his phone to check the time. He hoped this wasn’t his first interviewee. Jin might stay longer to talk to someone who looked like that, and Max wanted him out the door before he had the chance to interfere with his hiring.

  The blonde woman headed straight for them, but Max apparently wasn’t her reason for being there. Her target was Kendall.

  “Sorry, I got here as soon as I could,” she said as Kendall led her back into the mountain of chairs. She must have
been there for Simon. Jin was immersed in the applications, so Max let his curiosity get the best of him. He wandered back to Simon’s table to see what was going on.

  Kendall was helping her son with his jacket. He handed the other woman some papers before slipping his arms into the sleeves. Kendall zipped him up and gave him a kiss on the nose. “Be good for Aunt Lucy.”

  Ah, another mystery solved.

  “He’s always good for me. Right, little man?”

  Max wondered if they were sisters. They didn’t look alike. Lucy had high cheekbones and a model’s body. They were currently the same height, but Kendall was wearing heels and Lucy sported moccasins. Both women were beautiful but for different reasons. Kendall was soft to Lucy’s hard. Lucy radiated confidence while Kendall had a vulnerability about her that drew Max in.

  “Time to go already?” Max asked. Three set of eyes shifted in his direction.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Lucy said before her mouth fell open. Her eyes almost popped out of her head.

  Kendall elbowed Lucy hard in the side while her other arm pulled Simon closer to her. “My sister is here to get him. There was a...thing...at school.”

  Regaining her senses, Lucy stood beside her sister. “Yeah,” she said fiercely. She was definitely the protective big sister. “A thing.”

  “A thing?” Max repeated.

  “A thing,” Kendall said with a sharp nod.

  “I hate it when a thing happens.” Max’s lips curled into a grin. He enjoyed her discomfort more than he should. He turned his attention to the boy. “It was fun talking to you, Simon. I hope you make it to school tomorrow without any ‘things’ happening.”

  Kendall pushed Simon behind her like she needed to protect him. “I’m not sure what you said to him when we were showing Mr. Sato around without you, but my son doesn’t talk to strangers. He wasn’t being rude.”

  It always felt like he and Kendall were on a different page. “I never said he was rude. Kind of a chatterbox, but not rude.”

  Lucy let out a derisive chortle. Kendall didn’t think it was funny. She poked Max’s chest with an angry finger. “He has some anxiety issues that make it hard for him to talk to people. Don’t you dare make fun.”

  Max was more confused than ever. Why was she jabbing him so sharply? Since when was calling the kid who asked a hundred questions a chatterbox a crime? And why was Kendall even more attractive when she was mad?

  “Let’s go, Simon.” Lucy took the boy by the hand, but he grabbed the papers he had given her instead.

  “Wait,” he said, searching through the pile. He pulled one drawing out and offered it to Max.

  Both women stopped dead and stared at Simon like he had a second head popping out of his neck. It was a picture of a man holding a chocolate ice-cream cone and a leash that was attached to a little black dog. They stood next to a blue car and the sun was a mix of oranges and yellows all swirled together.

  “Thanks, bud.”

  “He doesn’t shed and isn’t yippy,” the boy said, pointing to the puppy.

  “Perfect.” Max felt this strange pull in the center of his chest. If only things could be this easy with Aidan. Maybe he only had to stick it out three more years and then his son would want to know him the way this child did. “Come back and visit when we have fewer chairs and more food, okay?”

  Simon nodded and grabbed Lucy’s hand, ready to go.

  Max watched as Kendall and Lucy exchanged a watery look. Kendall turned back to him and touched his arm with none of the aggression she’d showed moments ago. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  He was never going to understand this woman.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  KENDALL CHECKED HER watch one more time as the last chair exited the building. She was supposed to have been home an hour ago. She was going to owe Lucy big.

  “Sorry for the error.” The furniture vendor had sent a man the size of a football lineman to right their wrong. He handed Kendall a clipboard. “Can you sign here?”

  She scribbled her name on the line and sent him on his way. All she needed was to get her coat and she could head home, too. It had been a long day.

  Minus a hundred chairs, the restaurant looked more like it should. She still needed to paint the wall mural and the sushi bar needed to be installed, but Kendall felt more confident that this job would be finished on time.

  “Thanks for coming in. I’ll give you a call in a couple of days after I’ve finished with all my interviews,” Max said as he shook hands with the last of his potential employees. The young woman thanked him for his time and the opportunity. She smiled at Kendall as she passed her on the way to the exit.

  From the moment she met Max, Kendall had feared what would happen if Simon ever saw him again. The delivery problem compounded by a probable visit from Mr. Sato’s son had left her without any options, however. Simon had to come to the restaurant. She’d tried to prepare him. Tried to warn him that he might see someone who looked like Trevor but who was not his father.

  She never expected Simon to talk to him. Or for Max to be nice about it.

  Kendall watched him jot something down in his notebook. Sometimes he looked so much like Trevor it gave her chills. Other times, like now, he seemed so different. He scratched the back of head and noticed her staring.

  “Still here?”

  “Just leaving,” she said, retrieving her coat from one of the chairs by the door. “You’re okay to lock up?”

  “Yeah, no problem.” Max stepped out from behind the bar. He made his way over to her.

  Kendall tensed. The closer he got, the more she thought about Trevor. She felt like a spring wound too tight. The need to run from Max was equal to her desire to be close to Trevor. Her brain and heart were having a very difficult time working this all out.

  “Let me help you with that,” he said.

  He reached for her coat and held it open so she could slip into it. He might have been difficult to work with at times, but the man knew how to be a gentleman, a crucial trait to possess in a service-oriented business.

  “Thanks,” she said, glancing at him over her shoulder as the scent of his cologne enveloped her. He always smelled good, making it easier to be around him when his mood was more than annoying.

  He wasn’t annoying her right now.

  “Have a nice night,” he said, taking a step back. “Tell Simon thanks again for the drawing. That kid is pretty talented for a six-year-old.”

  Kendall nodded. Her love for art had fortunately been passed down to her son. “Thanks for being understanding about him being here. I promise it won’t be a regular thing.”

  Max shrugged. “I get it. Family comes first. My son doesn’t go to school yet, but he could have a ‘thing’ happen someday, so I won’t hold it against you.”

  His smirk made Kendall smile. His mention of a son made her eyebrows rise. “You have kids?”

  “Kid.” He held up one finger. “Singular. He’s why I relocated from L.A. I couldn’t stand living a couple of thousand miles away anymore.”

  Well, that added a new layer to him she wasn’t expecting. Kendall had assumed Max was driven by nothing but his own ambition, but maybe he was here to do more than impress Mr. Sato. She wondered if he was divorced or just separated. Was he here to win them both back?

  “How long have you guys lived apart?”

  “Pretty much his whole life. My ex moved back here to be close to her family when we split.”

  The child’s whole life? How could he stand to be away from his son for that long? Of course, she’d often wondered that about her own husband. The military took Trevor away so much before it took him away completely. Maybe Max moved because he was tired of flying back and forth so much to visit. “I bet he’s happy to have you closer.”

  Max g
rimaced. “He’s three and all he wants is his mom. To tell the truth, I think Simon likes me better than my own son does.”

  Kendall’s heart thudded with a mixture of emotion. It sounded so loud in her ears, she was sure Max could hear it, too. “You remind Simon of his father. You kind of look like him.”

  She almost laughed at her gross understatement. It felt too strange to tell him the whole truth. Their working relationship was strained enough as it was. She didn’t need to make it more awkward.

  “Simon told me...” Max paused, shifting his gaze to his feet before peeking back at Kendall. “About his dad. I’m sorry for your loss.”

  It was shocking enough that Simon had spoken to Max, but for him to bring up Trevor was unbelievable. Kendall couldn’t imagine how long their conversation had been or how Trevor’s passing had become a topic. The strain of the day combined with the way Max’s face messed with her head left her speechless and overcome with emotion.

  “Oh, man, I’m sorry.” His hand came up and his fingers gently wiped a tear from her cheek. The physical contact caught her off guard. It was so familiar, yet not. It made her want to cry harder. “I didn’t mean to—”

  Kendall shook her head and stepped back, out of reach. She couldn’t let him get too close. He’d see her insecurity, all of her weakness. “I’m fine,” she lied. She hadn’t been fine in a long time. “I better get home to Simon. Have a good night.”

  He didn’t stop her from going, but he looked like he wanted to. Sometimes he wasn’t like Trevor at all.

  * * *

  LUCY WASN’T THE only sister waiting for Kendall when she got home that day. Emma greeted her at the door.

  “This is serious. You do know how serious this is, right?”

  The youngest of the Everhart girls was also the tallest. She almost never wore heels for fear she’d tower over everyone around her. She was thin like Lucy but had dark hair like Kendall. Her brown tresses were long again—she wouldn’t cut her hair for a few more months. Ever since their mother got sick, Emma donated her hair once a year to Locks of Love.

  Kendall shrugged out of her coat and opened the closet. “Please don’t make this a big deal.”