"Sorry, it's not much," Max said to Roxanne and Jimmy as he opened the door. "And sorry about the mess. I haven't had time to tidy up proper yet."

As Roxanne and Jimmy walked in, they saw Max's place was an apartment. It was very tiny. It was hardly bigger than a ferry cabin. The tiny kitchen was in a tiny corner of the small lounge. And there were only three doors. Roxanne assumed that two would be for guest rooms and the other one would the bathroom. Like Max said, the apartment wasn't much and was very untidy. There were dirty clothes left around all over and there were dirty plates, bowls, cups, glasses and cutlery piled up in the kitchen sink.

"It's quite… good," Roxanne said. "Good that you got a place to live."

Max went to the kitchen and looked through the cupboards. "I'm afraid all I can cook for you guys is spaghetti. Is that okay?"

"Thanks, Max," Roxanne said. "That'd be a real treat."

"I love it," Jimmy said.

"Well, I'll get busy cooking with it. Make yourself home the best you can."

While Max was got busy cooking, Roxanne sat Jimmy down on a brown couch after clearing some of his dirty clothes off and gave him some scrap pieces of papers with pencil crayons out of her bag to keep him occupied when she went to use her mobile phone. She always packed up stuff with her wherever she went out in case she broke down and couldn't get back to Dallas. She couldn't remember leaving those papers and pencil crayons for Jimmy in her bag from their last trip together, which was a vacation to Kansas City last summer. But she was glad they were there for Jimmy's sake.

Roxanne tried to call Jake to tell him that her car had broken down and his son Jake was with her and how he took the train to get to her. When he didn't answer, she left him an answering message and sent a text message as well in case he didn't listen to her answering message.

"Dinner's ready, guys," Max called.

Roxanne collected Jimmy and help him to sit at the table as Max served their spaghetti on their table. They said grace before they tucked in.

"Hmm, this is really good, Max," Roxanne said.

"Thanks, Roxanne," Max said.

"Jimmy, how is it?" Roxanne asked.

"This is really good, Auntie Roxanne," Jake said.

"Then why don't you tell Max that? He's the one who made it."

Jimmy faced Max. "This is really yummy, Max. Thank you."

"I'm glad you liked it, Jimmy," Max said. "So, are you having a good summer?"

"I am. Auntie Roxanne and I are having fun this summer. We have been baking a lot, drawing a lot and going to the parks in Dallas." Soon he finished his dinner. "That was really good, Max. Thank you. May I be excused?"

"Jimmy, come here first." When he did go to her, Roxanne wiped his hands with wet wipes. "Now, you can go back to your drawings."

"Thanks, Auntie Roxanne," Jimmy said, before he ran back to his drawings.

"He seems to be a very big art enthusiast," Max said to Roxanne, as she continued to eat her dinner.

"Yeah, he is very creative," she said. "He likes to draw and colour, write stories and bake."

"He seems to be very smart and creative for a kid his age."

"And arrogant. He probably got it from his dad Jake."

"And his mom?"

"Well, it's a long story about his moms."

"So, what have you been up to since you had to leave Spoonerville?" Max asked.

Roxanne told him that after she cleaned that penthouse for her dad's friend in 1997, she and her boyfriend Jake started dating that summer and she completed high school at his private high school. Apart from him, she failed to make new friends with the other students at the school, despite her best efforts. She never knew why or even guess why. Even the girlfriends of Jake's friends didn't want anything to do with her. Sometimes she would hear them talk badly of her when they thought she couldn't hear them.

Then Roxanne went to the only college that would take her and the only courses she could do were nursing and psychology. While she was studying, she stayed with Jake at his places, but he moved on for girlfriends and treated her like a maid. A maid he could get for free. He treated girlfriends like they were books that could be put on the shelf and pick them off when the reader was in the mood to read it and then put them back on the shelf when they were finished. "If you're going to ask why I still stick with him, it's because I feel like I have nowhere else to go or be something else. I tried making a few boyfriends and applying for other jobs, but I've always failed."

Then Roxanne went on to say that Jake got his one of his girlfriends pregnant during college and gave birth to Jimmy. But a few months after birth, his girlfriend didn't want anything to do with Jake or her son Jimmy and she left them. Saying he was too busy to raise Jimmy, Jake gave him to Roxanne as part of her busy duties with cleaning, cooking and studying college. "And that's why he calls me Auntie Roxanne all the time," she finished.

"So, you're like a nanny as well as a maid?" Max asked.

"Yeah, that's how I view it too," she said. "Jake is dating a woman called Kaleigh and they have been together for three years."

"Let me guess," Max said. "She doesn't want to be Jimmy's mommy any more than his birth mother?"

"Yeah. But someone has to bring him up, but I don't know if I'm doing it right or not."

"Don't talk like that, Roxanne," Max said. "You're doing a great job with him."

"You really think so?"

"Judging by what I've seen tonight – his good manners and his loyal devotion to you – I know so."

"Thanks."

"How's your dad?"

Roxanne sighed sadly. "I'm afraid he died more than a year ago." Then she sadly explained that he died immediately after a serious heart attack. He ate too much unhealthy food and drank too much alcohol.

"I'm sorry," Max said sympathetically.

"How's your dad?" Roxanne asked.

"He's doing well," Max said. Then he explained after he finished his college degree, he got a job at the college – being a cleaner there – and still held it (the longest of a job he ever held in his life) and is still in a relationship with Sylvia Marpole. They had been dating for nearly five years now and they seem very happy with each other.

"And from what I've seen you've been very busy since I've left Spoonerville, Max," Roxanne said. "You finished college, you've got three College X Game trophies - which I saw you in action - you got an apartment to yourself and you're helping vulnerable children the best way you can."

"You saw me compete in the College X games?" Max asked.

"I did see you compete on TV," Roxanne said. "You were amazing. Especially the first one. The way you survived that attack and saved yourself, your dad and your competitor from it."

"Thanks. Have you managed to keep in contact with Stacey?"

"Sadly, no. As you know, I tried to keep up with writing those letters, but I was moving around in Dallas so much. That's why I failed with trying to keep in contact with Stacey or you. How's PJ and Bobby?"

"They're both doing great." Then Max explained that Bobby was in working at an electrician at a stadium for concerts in L.A. and does a little background dancing himself. After going their separate ways for years after finishing high school, Bobby and Stacey had rekindled their relationship. As for PJ, he was still in his relationship with that beret girl he met in college and he is head chef at a restaurant in Phoenix. And that way he was more closer to his mom Peg and his sister Pistol since they left him and his dad Pete at Spoonerville.

After washing up after dinner, Max showed Jimmy the guest bedroom and Roxanne his main bedroom. Then, while Roxanne was showering in the bathroom, he went to the other brown couch and turned it into a bed.

"Are you sure about this, Max?" Roxanne asked, as she came out of the bathroom and saw he finished making the bed. She was now wearing her black nightie. "I feel really guilty about –"

"Don't," Max said. "It's my absolute pleasure. Now, go and get a good night's rest."

"I'll see in the morning. Good night and thanks again for everything you've done." Then she kissed him on the cheek before she went into her room. Max was speechless but very happy as he went onto his couch-bed. It kind of reminded him that night when he and his dad Goofy moved to Spoonerville and he thought he knew how Goofy felt when he met Pete and Peg again since high school.