Calendar Girl (September) Chapter 2
Max comforts Maddy and Mia (wow, it sure is annoying typing out their names together!) and this somehow leads to Maddy ranting about how it doesn’t matter that Mia is their half sister, she’s their sister and her father is still her father.
Mia tries to calm Maddy down:
“…Don’t think of it as a change as much as an addition. Just because they are Cunninghams doesn’t mean you are.”
That’s when Max made a fatal error “Well technically, she is a Cunningham but didn’t know it.”
Dude, read the room! That was such a dumb thing to say. Maddy absolutely reams him out for it. She makes it clear she’s really excited to have a brother but this doesn’t re-write her history. This makes sense, but also, as Matthew was saying yesterday, her history sounded pretty shitty so I’m not sure why she’s so impassioned right now. Also, how are Mia and Maddy not more excited about all this money they’ve now come into?
Maxwell cleared his throat and put a giant paw on the back of my sister’s head. “Sweetie, I already love you and Mia very much. You’re my little sisters, and from the moment we all met, I felt that tug of awareness, of family. I wanted you and your sister my whole life. Wanted Wanted that family. Now I have it, and I’m happy, honey. Cyndi, Isabel, and baby Jack are going to have some seriously awesome women in their lives, and I just feel fortunate. That’s all, darlin’. That’s why I’m here. To lend support while you and Mia take care of your dad.”
Sure, let’s just leave out all the deception and how you hired your sister as an escort so you could…get to know her before revealing the truth, and then you invaded her privacy and invited her sister out so you could also reveal the truth to her. Family.
Oh, apparently Maddy doesn’t know about the inheritance yet:
Maxwell directed a harsh look my way. “You haven’t told her?” He crossed those massive arms over his even wider chest.
WHERE DOES THIS MOTHERFUCKER GET OFF?
Maddy is absolutely thrilled by the news of her new wealth, which is honestly pretty refreshing at this point. I don’t think I could handle another character trying to act like they would not be jumping sky high for joy when they’ve had money problems their whole life.
Max insists that it’s time for Mia and Maddy to get something to eat and rest, and that their father would want them to look after themselves too.
I made a sound that was between a laugh and a huff but didn’t respond. Pops cared. He definitely loved us, but usually he was so far gone in the drink that he wouldn’t notice if Maddy and I had gone days without food.
Um. Wait. I thought last chapter was all about how their dad would do anything for them and was so amazing? Are we retconning the retcon now?
Mia then talks about a time they went two days without food when they were kids, so I am really struggling to understand how Mia 1) left all this out last chapter 2) isn’t happy about the money. You can want to have money and still be a decent human being, all the books we read here.
The rest of the chapter is just constant, relentless references to the fact that they’re all related. Max’s whole, “I’m the big brother, so I know what’s best for you” attitude is so unsettling and too soon. It’s so weirdly, disturbingly similar to how fast these romantic relationships like Mia and Wes’ move. I mean check this shit out:
“For Christ’s sake, no wonder you two look like death warmed over. Where the hell are your men in all this?” [He found out they’ve been sleeping on chairs in their father’s hospital room. Apparently women can’t be trusted to sleep correctly without their men to tell them what to do LOL.]
[…]
We ate for the next ten minutes, Max pointing at the plate every time one of us would take a breath, push back, and lean against the couch.
[…]
“Girls, come on.” Max nudged me, but I just leaned into Maddy’s side more.[But they’re too tired to move, so he carries them to bed.]
Mia wakes up the next day furious that Max let her sleep for so long. They argue, and he gets her to forgive him by saying he’ll try to find out why she hasn’t heard from Wes in two weeks. No, I don’t understand what these two things have to do with one another. What do you want from me, we’re reading Calendar Girl here.
“I’m going to wait for Maddy to wake up,” Max said.
“Don’t wake her up. She needs the rest.”
His eyes widened, and he smirked. “And you didn’t? I see how it is. You can call the shots for Maddy, but when I try to help you, I’m the jerk?” He smiled that crooked one that I knew made Cyndi swoon. [Ew what?]
“I’m the big sister,” I countered as if that answered all the questions of the universe.
He pointed a thumb at his chest. “Big brother.” He grinned, and I smiled for the first time in a week.
Does Audrey Carlan have siblings? Has she ever seen other humans interact? Has she even seen a decent family-centric television program? I’m honestly baffled here. This reads like bad fanfic 101.
The chapter ends with Mia actually just reiterating to herself/us that they’re family now. WE KNOW!