Teenage mom Maci Bookout’s husband is skeptical about letting Ryan Edwards back into her life

After an emotional breakthrough at the recent MTV show reunion: Maci and Ryan – who have 13-year-old son Bentley together – have made real progress in their co-parenting relationshipsomething Maci revealed at Wednesday’s season premiere.

“You probably won’t even believe me when I tell you, but Ryan and I actually communicate and get along,” she said in a confessional, comparing it to the days when they couldn’t “without problems.” between them. “Since the reunion where we sorted everything out, we’ve both made an effort,” she added, saying she was “hopeful” for her son’s relationship with his father.

However, Taylor was more skeptical, telling his wife that he had seen Ryan “let Bentley and you down so many times.” He also said that Ryan was “not a good father” when he first came on the scene, calling Edwards “a black cloud hanging over us,” adding, “I’m not going to say I’m over this whole thing.” co-parenting thing.”

Maci was determined to make it work, however, and didn’t want to let her own feelings for Ryan keep him from making an effort now. When Ryan asked if it would be okay for him to take his son to dinner — it would be the first time they’d been one-on-one in a long time — Maci agreed.

Ryan was also seen talking to his parents and rejoicing before dinner, while his father Larry told him how proud he was of his son for admitting his “mistakes” and being “part of the problem” in the past has been.

Later in the episode, Taylor opened up further to one of his friends after his pal asked what Ryan would need to do to prove he had good intentions with Bentley.

“Kind of sustainability… I’ve told Maci that I don’t have high hopes or expectations. But I’m not going to be the one to maintain that,” said McKinney, who added that his skepticism has affected his relationship with his wife, too.

“She knows I will support her, but I’ve seen him talk to and treat her in the past and I know he’s hurt Bentley on a number of occasions,” he continued. “I don’t like it, it’s hard to swallow, but I’ll do anything for him.”

While out with one of her own friends, Maci admitted her other half was “frustrated” by the situation.

“I think mostly because he’s like, ‘Why does this guy keep getting chances?'” she said. “Me and Bentley are practically in a danger zone. Everyone knows it’s a danger zone and there’s nothing they can do, so they feel helpless.”

Aside from that, Maci added that she’s not really worried about Taylor’s feelings, saying it’s not about him, it’s about Bentley and his father. “There will always be a place for Ryan in Bentley,” she added. “There will always be a place.”

Despite his reservations, Taylor was the one who picked Bentley up for dinner with his father. Although he admitted to being “anxious,” Taylor urged his stepson to call him if he needed anything. The cameras did not track the teenager inside.

Speaking to his mother after dinner, Bentley said the evening was “pretty fun,” “pretty peaceful,” and something he’d like to do again. Bentley also said that he saw part of the reason his father wasn’t bothering to spend time before that was because he didn’t want to talk to Maci, so these new lines of communication were a very good thing.

“It’s not going to be perfect, but I think the difference is that now we can work through it as a team to do better,” Maci said. “But we’re only human, so we definitely have yet to figure that out and work through it. Sometimes it gets difficult again.”

“To be the mom I want to be, I have to make sure I’m the person who supports me,” she concluded. She added that while it’s possible Ryan could fail her son again, she hopes she can handle it in a way that isn’t “harmful or hurtful” to Bentley.

For your information: Maci told TooFab that Ryan’s recent jail time hasn’t impacted their relationship negatively.