Page 54 of Maxwell

“Of course she knows. That is why she makes me work so hard to have my way.”

The kids responded to one of the scenes with laughter.

“Why are you really here?” Benicio asked, turning to look at him.

Maxwell smiled. He was never good at hiding problems from his parents. “There’s a woman.”

“Ah yes, there is always a woman. But this is unusual for you.”

“Yeah.” Maxwell kept his eyes on the screen. “We work together but met before I started at Bright Futures. On my first day, I walked into her office and couldn’t believe my eyes.”

His father murmured something but didn’t interrupt.

“She’s seeing someone, but it’s not serious. The problem is...” He was almost embarrassed to tell his father the truth. “She’s not that interested in me. She thinks she knows exactly who I am, but she’s wrong about me.”

“Who does she think you are?”

“A player. Someone privileged who’s used to getting whatever he wants.”

His father side-eyed him, and Maxwell laughed softly. “Okay, some of that is true, but it’s not the entirety of who I am, and she wants me to prove that I’m not that guy. She issued a challenge. She wants me to apologize to the last three women I... I wasn’t good to. In person. Only then will she have dinner with me.”

In the silence, the movie carried on, cheerful and animated.

“What do you think about her request?” Benicio asked.

“It’s a ridiculous, stupid test. Who does she think she is, making that kind of demand, trying to make me jump through hoops for a date with her?”

Benicio nodded slowly. “Yet you drove here on a Friday night instead of going out with your friends or doing any of the hundreds of things young people your age could be doing right now.”

Maxwell kept silent.

His father looked at the screen in front of them. “I have a question. These women she is asking you to apologize to, did you hurt them?”

The question sat in the air between them.

“Not... well... not deliberately.”

“That is not what I asked.”

Maxwell let the silence stretch out for a while. “Probably,” he said reluctantly. “Yes.”

Benicio nodded slowly, as if the answer confirmed what he already knew. “Maxwell, mijo,” he said, keeping his voice low, “I am not saying this to make you feel better or worse about yourself, but perhaps you should not only think of the apology as a bad thing. It can be healing, for those young women and for you. And... perhaps doing this will help you stop judging yourself by the worst things you have done and help you understand something you have been unwilling to see.”

“Which is?”

“The man you were does not have to determine the man you become.” He looked at Maxwell. “If you care about this woman, which I suspect you do more than you are willing to admit, then the question is not whether her request is ridiculous. The question is, are you willing to show her that you are worth the risk?”

Staring at the screen, Maxwell exhaled.

“Are you willing to humble yourself for this woman, or do you plan to walk away and move on? It is difficult to be humble, I know. Ay, es difícil. Pero on the other side of humble is happiness. Joy.”

Maxwell thought about the times he had spent with Jasmine at the practice before their disagreement. Both of them teasing and joking with each other. How they had worked together to save the workshop. How much fun they had at the arcade. Joyous. That was the right word to describe how being in her presence made him feel. Since Valentine’s Day, that joyous feeling had been sorely missing.

“I could use some joy,” Maxwell said quietly.

His father didn’t say another word. He didn’t need to.

Maxwell left before the movie ended, saying goodbye to his nieces and nephews before he slipped out of the theater room. He found his mother in the den sipping tea, flipping through a magazine.