Blossom Street Brides (Blossom Street #10)(75)
Andrew picked up his fork and repositioned it on the linen napkin. “Before Mom married you, Dad realized he’d made a big mistake. To his credit, he did his best to rectify that. Before the divorce, my mother’s entire life revolved around my dad and Annie and me. Then he was gone and her world fell apart.”
“By then your mother was a different woman than the one your father recognized.”
“Exactly. Dad was convinced he could win her back. He can be charming when he wants to be, and you know as well as I do how hard he tried to persuade Mom to give him another chance.”
This was really the crux of the problem between him and Annie, Max realized. “If I hadn’t been in the picture, do you really think your mother might have had a change of heart toward your father?” Max had posed the same question to Bethanne and she’d assured him that wasn’t the case. She wouldn’t have taken Grant back, no matter how much he’d claimed to have changed. Max believed her. What mattered to him was how Andrew viewed the situation.
“Frankly, I don’t know if she would or wouldn’t have,” Andrew said. “That choice belonged to my mother. As it happens, you did come into the picture, and I, for one, am glad you did.”
Max needed to hear this. His fear was that in loving Bethanne he’d brought heartache into her life when she deserved so much better.
“Mom is happier than I can ever remember seeing her. She loves you, Max. What’s important is seeing her reap the benefits that she deserves, and one of those is being deeply loved by a good man.”
It did Max a world of good to hear this. “I don’t know how good I am, but I sincerely love your mother.”
“It shows.”
The waitress delivered their salads, and for a few minutes they ate in silence. The fresh fish was cooked to perfection, and after a few bites, Max returned to the conversation.
“Do you have any suggestions how I can reach out to Annie?”
Andrew rested his elbows against the tabletop and let his fork dangle over his plate. “I wish I did, and it’s going to be harder now that she isn’t working with Mom any longer. My sister can be stubborn and unreasonable, and being egged on by my father certainly isn’t helping matters.”
“Hold on,” Max said, a little stunned. “I knew Annie hadn’t shown up at the office. Has she actually left her job with your mother? Without giving any notice?”
“Apparently so. The last I heard, my dad was getting her a job with the real-estate company where he works.”
This was discouraging news, and it was sure to upset Bethanne even more than she was already. “Annie’s going to work with your dad? Doing what?”
Andrew shrugged. “As a receptionist, I guess.”
“That’s ridiculous. Does Annie realize she’d be taking a huge cut in salary?”
“Annie’s pride won’t let her go back and work with Mom.”
This situation was worse than Max realized. He’d assumed that Annie’s little tempter tantrum would run its course and that she’d eventually return to her position, working with her mother. Max had hoped he might be able to speed up the process by talking sense with Annie. He’d hoped to smooth the way, build a bridge between Annie and Bethanne, and give her daughter the opportunity to go back and keep her pride intact.
“Would Annie actually enjoy that kind of work?” Bethanne had trained her daughter as lead in an important division of the business enterprise.
“Annie is hurting right now,” Andrew said. “She has this picture of the perfect reunited family in her mind, and she’s being completely unreasonable and silly. I told her as much, and she hasn’t spoken to me since. If she wants to shut me out, too, then so be it. I don’t have time for her games.”
To see this wedge driven between Bethanne’s children deeply concerned Max. His appetite gone, he set his fork aside and pushed his plate away.
“The thing is, before long my father will disillusion her. At some point Annie is going to wake up and be forced to face reality when it comes to our father. I love my father; I care about him,” Andrew said. “It wasn’t until my wedding when I saw how broken up he was over Mom that I realized he needed me. A part of me wanted to tell him he got exactly what he deserved, and then there was another part that helped me see that while he wasn’t the perfect father, he was still my dad.”
Max admired the young man’s maturity.
“Annie’s attention and dedication are great for Dad’s ego,” Andrew added. “It upsets me that my sister doesn’t see what Dad is doing, but she will eventually.”
The question remained how long that would take and what it would do to Bethanne in the meantime. Although Max was probably the last person Annie wanted to see, for his wife’s sake as well as his own, Max felt he had to try.
After lunch, the two men parted, and for the next few hours Max conducted what business he could from his computer. His flight back to California was scheduled for that evening. Once again, he’d be forced to leave Bethanne.
He waited until late in the afternoon before he drove over to Annie’s place. She lived in an upscale neighborhood in her own condo. Max wondered how long she’d be able to maintain the payments with her much-decreased wages. Pride often came with a steep price.
He jogged up the staircase to the second floor and rang the doorbell. He was about to turn away when he heard activity on the other side, followed by a turn of the lock.