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

sick of staying with my parents, the thought of being in a hotel or the casino and all those people isn’t on my list of enjoyable pleasures. I don’t sleep well with noise and there’d be a lot there.”

“So where is this house that you might end up with?”

“The north end,” she said. “Maybe a mile or two from the port.”

The other end from where they were and about a thirty-minute drive between their houses. “Not a bad drive to the clinic then,” he said.

“No. About ten minutes. Then another five to the hospital. About fifteen more to here. It’s the same drive from my parents to the hospital and then about five more to the clinic. It’s still way better than dealing with the ferry.”

“Definitely,” he said.

“So my other news is Eli’s director of security is working on trying to track down who might have stolen my identity. It could be someone in Russia for all we know, but since you know as well as I do the purchases were locally in Massachusetts and New York, that might not be the case.”

He’d seen some of the transactions when the paperwork was going back and forth between him and Hailey and thought that this might be a local that did it too.

“No. And it might be easier to catch the person too.”

“That is what Griffin thinks, but he hasn’t said much more to me. Hailey got the information on the other three cards and sent that on too. As Griffin has said, my life is pretty much frozen.”

“I’ve met Griffin a time or two,” he said. He’d gone to the hotel to meet with Eli and assure his money was safe and secure. Griffin had been in the room both times drilling him on questions. The guy was smart and downright intimidating next to the laid back Eli Bond.

“He’s a character. I’ve never talked to him until weeks ago.”

“If there is anything I can do to help, let me know.”

“Thanks,” she said. “You’ve been a great help to me already. My father and brothers, even Eli, all say the same thing about you.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“He’s a great guy, they say.”

“Points for me I suppose. Guess I’m doing a good job at my job.”

“I think it’s more than something with your job. My family knows I’m here with you, but I appreciate you not offering to pick me up.”

He figured that might be the case. “Adele knows who I’m with too,” he said.

“And you didn’t want her to?” she asked.

“I wasn’t going to hide it. She asked who I was with tonight and I said a friend. Immediately she asked if it was you. She keeps wanting to learn how to braid. I’m hopeless to teach her. I’m still shocked I was able to do it myself.”

She smiled at him. A soft one that warmed him in places that had been cold for way too long. “That’s sweet. And this is where you say your daughter comes first, so no worries, I know that. I think it’s a great quality to have in a man to put their family first. It’s how I was raised and I’d expect no differently from someone I get to know better.”

“Thank you for that,” he said. “I worried.”

“Which means that it’s been an issue in the past?”

“It has been. I haven’t dated often because the last time a year ago left a bad taste in my mouth. She wanted more time than I could give her. I’m glad I never introduced her to Adele and had that worry.”

“But I’ve met your daughter and now you’re worried about that?” she asked.

It dawned on him that, no, he wasn’t worried at all. “Actually it hadn’t even crossed my mind. She sees you as a friend and maybe that works to my benefit.”

“It could,” she said. “Any advantage helps us both. So...you know I’m going to ask this and you can tell me to mind my own business, but I’d like to know how your wife passed away.”

He was prepared for this to come up and he owed it to her. “She died in premature labor along with my son.”

12

I Like You

Of all the things that Seth could have said, she hadn’t expected to hear that come out of his mouth.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I guess it makes me wonder how you can even be on this date with me.” At least she assumed it was a date. Yes, it was. She was doubting herself when she never did before.

“Why wouldn’t I be? You had nothing to do with it. It wasn’t doctor error. At least I don’t believe so.”

“That’s good. But still. There are a lot of people who blame anyone they can in horrible situations like that. I haven’t been doing this long and have had all good turnouts during delivery, but I know that sometimes the needle on the spinning wheel doesn’t land in the best spots.”

“No,” he said. “Do you want to know what happened? I’m sure you could understand if anyone could.”

“Of course, if you want to talk about it,” she said. Maybe he needed to get it off his chest with someone that understood like he’d said.

“Ellen, my wife, started to bleed at about five months pregnant. Not much. She was seeing a new doctor. The one that delivered Adele had left the practice. This doctor had been there for years, but Ellen had never met her prior.”

“Did she have any problems with Adele?”

“No. Perfect pregnancy. No issues, nothing. Not even any sickness. She breezed through it. I know a lot of women hate being pregnant.”

She laughed. “Oh yeah. I’ve heard it all.”

He smiled and she was glad to know he could at least do that. “She was good with it. But with the second one, she didn’t feel as good. She was tired more. Just worn out it seemed. When the bleeding started we were at the doctor’s right away. They ran tests and everything was fine.