That same evening, after heating up some leftovers for dinner, Max and Nina ended up back on their living room couch. She wrapped a large fleece blanket around her shoulders and snuggled up at one end of the couch like a human burrito. Max sat on the other side, and let Nina rest her feet on his lap. Max grew introspective. Everything Nina confessed about her past kept replaying in his mind.

I turned down the ring, and I didn't ask him to clarify what his intentions were, either.

Max no longer viewed Nina's ex as a threat since it seemed like she was ready to move on. Still, he couldn't help but wonder how much Ethan's presence still occupied her mind. And her heart.

This was when Ethan's mom reached out to me. She did this behind his back and offered to pay off every penny of our debt. As long as I agreed to break up with her son.

Based on his own experience with Lexi, Everly, and a revolving door of other females from his past, Max knew breakups tended to be awkward, at best, and, at worst, it ended up becoming a gut-wrenching shitshow for everyone involved. Yet, Nina's split from Ethan seemed to be even more distressing than most regular breakups. It was tied to the grief from her grandpa's passing, the financial stress of their medical bills, and the intrusive meddling from Ethan's mom.

Even if Nina no longer harbored strong feelings for Ethan, romantic or otherwise, Max wondered if it would ever be possible to undo the damage from so much trauma and heartbreak. He wanted to help her. If only there was a magical phrase that he could say to make all of her hurt go away.

What could he do to make her feel better?

Max glanced over to Nina with a look of uncertainty. "Did you want me to take you surfing... or skateboarding... this weekend?"

Nina paused. Then, she smiled. "That's really sweet of you, Max."

"Yeah?"

"But..."

"But?"

"I think... I wanna start practicing on my own from now on. You've already done more than enough for me. You've taught me the basics. It's time for me to start practicing on my own."

"Oh, I see how it is!" Max teased. "You squeezed everything you wanted out of me, so now it's okay to kick me to the curb?"

Nina gazed at him with a thoughtful gleam in her eyes. "Kind of... but not really."

"Explain yourself, woman."

Nina laughed. "Don't get me wrong, Max, I've always appreciated everything you did for me. I wanna keep spending time with you, too, but, for me, the decision to pick up a surfboard and skateboard was a personal one."

He sighed with feigned sadness. "I still feel kinda used."

Nina chuckled some more. "Aww, poor baby. I admit, in the beginning, the only reason I went to you for help was because I could barely stay upright on a board! I guess, in a way, I was kind of using you?"

As Max's expression began to crumble for real, Nina rushed to explain, "It's nothing personal! To be honest, I didn't start surfing and skateboarding just for fun. I'm doing it to prove something to myself, too."

He furrowed his brow. "What do you mean? What are you trying to prove?"

"I've wanted to learn how to surf and skateboard since I was a little girl, but I never found time or the guts to do it. I kept putting it off until, a few months after my breakup with Ethan, I realized that I always rationalized away this kind of shit in my head. Bad stuff that bothered me about my relationship. About my life. And good stuff that I wanted for myself. Back then, I felt like it was selfish to voice them out loud and stupid to pursue them outright. Recently, I realized that I was so busy living for other people that I forgot how to live⁠—for myself."

"Damn, girl," Max murmured under his breath. "You've been giving this a lot of thought, haven't you?"

Nina grimaced. "Yeah, I guess I have. I mean, it's the main reason I decided to leave New York. I can't take all the credit, though."

"Oh?"

"My grandma was the one who pushed me to accept my current job and move to California on my own."

"To get away from your clingy ex and his crazy mom?"

"Not... exactly. My grandma isn't the type of woman who runs from anything. She would never tell me to take the easy way out," Nina said quietly, "but I think she wanted me to figure out what I really needed in life. Without anyone's influence. Away from her, away from my friends, and especially away Ethan."

Max felt deeply touched and, oddly, a little jealous. His improving relationship with his mom was improving, but their bond wasn't nearly as strong as Nina's ties to her grandma.

"Your grandma must love you a lot. To give you up. I remember how sad and upset my mom was when I moved out at seventeen."

"I imagine that must have been rough on both of you," Nina remarked softly. "Although, I imagine it's normal for every parent to dread the day a child leaves the nest. They gave us so much of themselves. For women, especially. My grandma tells me it's like parting with a piece of her own flesh."

Max fell silent as he thought back to all the shit his mom had enduring for his sake. His shit attitude. His shit behavior. She never abandoned him, though. Not like his dad. She was simply never around because of work. Growing up, his mom hadn't been able to spend much time with him, but she also made sure that he never went hungry.

Guilt and gratitude blended into one thick emotion in Max's chest. "You're absolutely right. I don't think I realized how much my mom actually cared about me or how much shit she did for me until I left home. I should take her out to brunch... or something... one of these days."

Nina nodded in approval. "You totally should."

They fell into a comfortable lull for a few minutes, each of them a little lost in their own thoughts until Max suddenly wondered out loud, "Do you miss your grandma?"

Nina lowered her eyes wistfully. " I definitely miss her. I worry about her a lot, actually. My grandma is stubborn and independent to a fault. She wants to keep working as though she was still in her twenties, but her age is definitely catching up to her. Luckily, my dad moved in with her after I left. They don't get along very well, but I feel better knowing that he's there to look after her."

Nina sounded so homesick. Her love for her grandma warmed Max's heart, but it also worried him. He couldn't help asking, "Are you planning to move back to New York anytime soon?"

She shrugged. "I'm really not sure. For now, I wanna stay in California and focus on my career. I used to have a five-year plan for everything, but, now, I'm just trying to focus on what's right in front of me and figure out my shit one day at a time. Sometimes, though, I feel like a lost cause."

Max frowned. "What? Why?"

Nina grumbled, "Well, all it took was talking to my ex for twenty minutes at a party, and it knocked me down for two days."

A realization settled over Max as he processed Nina's words. At present, Nina was busting her ass to overcome her demons, and, like she had told him from the get-go, she didn't need anyone or anything else to complicate her life. Right then, Max knew he needed to keep his feelings on lockdown until Nina gave him the green light to act on his feelings.

Max genuinely wanted to see Nina succeed in carving out her own path, and, for the first time in his life, he experienced what it felt like to care deeply about another person's well-being over his own happiness. He had been an ass to Lexi and Everly. And his friends. And even his own mom. In fact, Max couldn't remember the last time he put someone else's needs ahead of his own. It shamed him.

Max suddenly felt the need to make one thing very clear to Nina. "You're anything but a lost cause. You're one of the most amazing people I've ever met, and I'm happy that I get a front-row seat to cheer you on as you work through everything you need to work through. You've inspired me to take a closer look at my sorry ass, you know? I wanna become a better version of me, too. I wanna do the work. Just like you. That's how fucking powerful you are!"

Nina's eyes shone with emotion. "Thank you, Max. For understanding. And for always hyping me up when I'm down."

"Of course."

The left corner of her mouth tilted up. "For the record, you're pretty fucking amazing, too."