Page 6 of The Young & the Sinner

Olivia

When I got home,Max was waiting for me. I stumbled a little in my steps, surprised he was even here. Max usually wasn’t home until much later on Mondays. He was the CFO of Kinsley Financials, a thriving lending company that opened its door a decade ago. It was where Max started working with an internship when he was still in college, and he quickly rose up the ranks. He had been with the company since they opened.

I hadn’t expected him to be there when I got home from school because he usually wasn’t. Which meant he was here for me.

“Hi,” I said, taking off my backpack and placing it against the back of the couch.

“Hi, sweetheart. How was your day at school?”

“It was okay. Cato’s Rapture isn’t happening, but Lizzie seems okay with it.”

Max’s smile disappeared. “And what about you? Are you okay with it?”

I shrugged. “I’m fine. Disappointed, but fine.”

“It’s good that you’re not letting it get to you. Besides, senior year is supposed to be about having fun and slacking off. How could you do that when you’re playing director?”

He tugged at my hair and I scrunched my face. “Playing?”

“Sorry. Wrong word choice.”

I shrugged. It wasn’t like I was getting paid for the part.

“Do you know why they didn’t say yes?”

“The school didn’t like the play.”

He frowned. “Why not?”

“Cause it’s an inappropriate topic for high schoolers.”

“What? Drugs?” Of course he’d read the play. Unlike my mom, Max always put in an effort to take interest in the things that were important to me. As busy as he was, I couldn’t remember a school play I’d been in that he had missed, even if I had only worked backstage.

I nodded. “And there might be a kissing scene or two.” And a sex scene. He knew that, because he had read the play, but I wasn’t going to mention it. That would be awkward.

“That’s stupid. As if high schoolers aren’t doing much worse. Hell, when I was in high school, I had already…” he trailed off, as if he just realizing he was talking to me and not one of his friends. He cheeks tinged red, and I rolled my eyes.

“I’m not little kid, anymore. I know exactly what high schoolers are doing these days, and what you were doing when you were in a high school, like, a gazillion years ago.”

He raised an eyebrow in mock offense, and I had to stop myself from laughing out loud. “A gazillion years, huh?”

A small laugh escaped my lips then, and Max’s expression softened. “What are you doing home?” I asked.

“I live here?”

I rolled me eyes at that. “No, I mean, why are you home at this time. You don’t usually leave the office until eight.”

“I wanted to take you out for dinner tonight. I don’t think it’s fair I make you eat dinner by yourself on your second night here.”

“Thank you,” I said, and meaning it. If anyone could help me get over my heartbreak, it was Max. “Where are we going?”

“Do you feel like eating Italian tonight?”

I nodded eagerly. I had a weakness for Italian food. “That’s sounds great.”

“Good. We still have two hours before we need to head out. What do you want to do in the meantime?”

“Ooh, can we watch the new Netflix movie that just came out?” I had been meaning to watch it, but it was almost the end of my senior year, and between school and work, I didn’t have a lot of spare time.

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