Question G

[Jonetta]

David and Max have a heartfelt discussion about Ryan and Nick. Your thoughts about that conversation where she appears to have closed the door permanently on her relationship with Nick?

[Sharon]

I completely understand Max. She saw the relationship between Lucy and Sean and wants something similar for herself. Nick is never going to give her that. For some reason, he believes he must keep Max in a separate box from his son and ex. That mindset will never work for a long term, significant relationship.

David does the same thing to her. I'm still angry that he didn't invite Max to his father's house. As much as Max considers David a friend, he is a work friend not a true heart and soul friend.

Ryan can give her both a relationship and a friendship. Maybe David sees that and is trying to protect himself too.

[Melissa]

Max had to do something to protect herself and her heart. She knew that trying to wait for Nick was just going to be a waste of time.

[Anita]

I wanted Nick to realize how much it hurt Max to be kept separate from the issues that were most important to him. He never did and that is a character flaw in him that maybe contributed to the breakup of his marriage. Max wasn't going to wait around and see if Nick ever got a clue and changed. There was no way for her to ever know if he really wanted the relationship to be totally open and sharing the way she did.

[Jonetta]

I’m not inclined to make either Nick or Max wrong here. She explained it so eloquently here where both of them had different ideas about relationships. David finally got that Nick was more of a friend to him than he was to Max, even though he loves her.

I liked that Max made it clear that she loves that he and Nick are friends. Max deserves to get the kind of relationship she wants and needs; Nick gets to have the kind he wants right now, too. This seems like a very amicable split.

[Anita]

I don't see how any woman Nick dates in the future would be happy with just the half of him he is willing to give. Sad for Nick that he doesn't understand that.

[Robin]

Like Anita, I kept waiting for Nick to realize what he was doing and to come around and share this part of his life with Max. Max was smart and realized that it was never going to happen. She wanted more and he couldn't give it. She was right to break off the relationship.