Family Bonds- Ava and Seth (Amore Island Book 5), Natalie Ann [world of reading TXT] 📗

11

Make It Clear

Last weekend didn’t work out the way Seth had planned.

Here he was all excited over the date that was scheduled with Ava, but Adele started to come down with a cold and he wouldn’t leave her with his mother so he could spend time with a woman.

His mother had told him to go and she had it covered, but the guilt was too great.

Ava said she understood and thankfully she wasn’t on call this weekend either so they could reschedule. It probably worked out for the best and would save him from having to explain that his daughter had to come first.

He shouldn’t be as nervous as he was, but found out it was hard to stop that.

“Where are you going, Daddy?” Adele asked when he was in the bathroom combing his hair. He wasn’t dressed in a suit and tie like he wore daily to work. The one thing he was used to but didn’t care about. The banking institution was still old school like law. Suits and ties were the norm.

“Out to dinner with a friend,” he said. He didn’t want to lie to her but wasn’t sure he wanted to say who.

“Is it Ava?”

So much for not saying and, again, he didn’t want to lie. Adele had been asking about Ava for weeks and when she’d get to learn how to braid. He’d been trying to teach his daughter himself and found it wasn’t as easy to be the teacher as it was the student.

“It is.”

“Yay. Is she coming here again?”

“Not tonight,” he said, looking over at her. This was hard. He wasn’t ready to let his daughter know about dating, but how would he address this? “This is just the two of us.”

“Because you helped her once and need to again?” Adele asked.

He forgot how his daughter remembered everything or things he wasn’t so sure he wanted her to. “Something like that,” he said. “I think I hear Grandma downstairs. Why don’t you go down and say hi.”

“Okay,” Adele said, taking off on a run and letting him finish getting ready. Not that there was much to do. He picked up the cologne, then put it down. No, too much, he was thinking.

Why was this so hard?

He turned when he heard footsteps and saw his mother in the doorway. “Struggling?”

“It’s not my first date, you know, since Ellen passed away.”

“No, but it’s the first time you’ve taken this long off before trying again. You weren’t ready before. You said you are now. It’s different in your mind.”

“I suppose. I don’t know if anything will come of this and I’m not planning on it.”

“But you’d like the possibility,” his mother said. “It’s different because she knows about Adele when some of the other women didn’t going in. She knows your situation too. It saves you from explaining that.”

“True. I felt bad canceling last week.”

“Which you didn’t need to do. Adele had the sniffles and a slight cough that lasted for three days. I’m not sure if you got cold feet, but since you rescheduled it right away I figured it wasn’t that.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Then it was guilt?”

“Yes,” he said. “Adele has to come first.”

“And she does and I’m sure Ava is completely aware of that.”

“I think so. If not, I’ll make it clear tonight.”

His mother laughed. “She’s probably pretty smart so don’t drill it home like you tend to do and insult her.”

It might be a good reminder for him. He was used to doing things and having no one to answer to.

“Will do,” he said.

“Now stop fussing. You look fine.” He grinned and walked out of the bathroom and into his closet to grab a pair of shoes. “Are you picking her up?”

“No. We are meeting. She’s staying at her parents’ tonight. I didn’t offer and I got the feeling she was good with that too.”

“Is she going to be living with them when she transfers here?” his mother asked.

“No clue. She was looking for a place to buy or rent, but real estate is limited. I’m sure she’ll let me know more tonight.”

He felt that was a good enough explanation for his mother without going into Ava’s personal issues. It wasn’t Ava’s fault that her credit was shot and he didn’t want his mother judging her. Shit happened in life and if anyone knew how sudden a stinky pile of brown goo could smack you in the face and linger it was Seth.

“Have fun,” his mother said. “Don’t rush home. Adele will be in bed by eight. Don’t check on her, don’t call to say goodnight. She’s in good hands and you know it.”

“I do,” he said, leaning down to give her a kiss on the cheek. “I can’t even thank you enough for putting your life on hold and helping me out.”

“My life isn’t on hold,” she said “I’ve got an active life with friends. I enjoy spending time with my granddaughter. It’s not that much.”

“I should consider the before and after school program next year,” he said. “But before now she was just so young. She talks about her friends being in it though.”

“A thought for next school year. There are only about six weeks left now. Don’t think of it.”

“I’ve got a sitter lined up again this summer,” he told her.

“Take your Daddy hat off for the night. Now go out and have fun.”

He laughed. His mother was right. It’d been hard to step out of that zone, but he was determined to try.

And when he pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant he’d suggested, he noticed Ava getting out of her car, so he moved to park next to her.

“Good timing,” she said when he got out.

“I could say the same to you. But I will say you look very nice.” She had on a pair of dark gray jeans with a fitted purple and gray shirt that was cinched at the waist and showed off how tiny she really was. There