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

to take your lead on what you may or may not want to say to Adele if we go on another date. Which I’m hoping we will.”

Might as well throw it out there. If he didn’t want to, she had a feeling he’d voice that opinion.

“I’d like that too. And so you know, I’ve dated before. The last relationship, if we call it that, was a year ago. I hadn’t introduced Adele to her and she didn’t want to meet my daughter either. At least in the beginning. Then she brought it up as a way to push the relationship faster, but it wasn’t for the right reasons. In my gut it wasn’t. I should have realized right away that was a sign. She wanted me to spend more time with her and less at home.”

“She wanted you to choose?” she asked.

“Yes. I did. It wasn’t her.”

“And no one should make you do it.”

“Thank you for that. And since Adele knows I’m here with you, I guess if you’re willing, I’d like to see if you could see her again too. She thinks we are friends.”

“I’d like to think we can be that and more, but if friends is all it’s meant to be, then that is the case.”

“You’re very easygoing,” he said.

“I think I always was, but many might not say it. Some might say I’ve got a warped sense of humor too and I’m sorry if I put you on the spot by accepting Adele’s invitation. That was that part of me coming out.”

“I’m glad you did. And yes, I’d like to see where this could go too. Friends, or more.”

And at the end of the night, when they were standing next to her car, he reached for her hand and just held it. She thought it was sweet, but she wanted more and saw it in his eyes he did too.

So she asked, “Do I get a kiss goodnight?”

He laughed. “Absolutely.”

He leaned down, his lips lightly brushing hers, his tongue coming out to trace but not seek. It was a tease and it worked because she wanted a heck of a lot more.

13

Deep Topics

A month later, Ava was moving into her new rented home on Amore Island.

No, it wasn’t perfect. Yes, it was too big. But she didn’t care.

Two of her cousins had bit the dust—or been bitten by the lore of the island—and gotten engaged the end of May.

First Mac Bond and Sidney. Drew had been right, and Sidney moved into Mac’s house, almost a minute after the ring was put on her finger. But it’d taken time to get everything of hers and Amanda’s out of the house.

The second was her cousin Emily and Crew Ackley. That would have been fun to hear about, knowing how long Emily had been engaged prior and yet only dated Crew for about six months.

But now Ava was here and it’d taken just as long for her to find a moving company to take the ferry across to bring her possessions. And when she finally did, they wanted it secured with a credit card. Which of course she didn’t have and wasn’t about to use her debit card for it. She hated calling her mother, but it had to be done.

What also had to be done was not really seeing much of Seth either and it was killing her knowing how their last date ended. Well, their first date.

Yes, they talked about some deep topics, but that was also best to do too. The air was as clear as the Antarctic. The kiss they shared at the end, not so much.

That was wrong. It was clear and somewhat clean, but it was teasing and leaving her wanting for so much more. She didn’t have to wonder if he felt the same way because in the past month they’d been talking and she knew he did.

But she’d been on call her last two weeks at her job so there was no way to get on the island. She used that time to pack everything she could and then filled her car up with as many of her possessions that she’d need for the two weeks before she could move into the house this weekend.

It wasn’t so bad staying with her parents. Or maybe that was because she knew it was short term. But she was busy at work and Seth was too. He’d said school was winding down and Adele was winding up.

She remembered those days as a kid on the countdown for summer break.

The only thing she could say was that Seth and she talked a lot on the phone at night when Adele was in bed. Not every night, but a few times a week for an hour or more.

It was definitely slow, but man, did they learn a lot about each other and had endless conversations on top of it. Some nights it was hard to get off the phone and it made her think of those old eighties movies when the teen lay on her bed on her back with her feet on the wall twirling the phone cord.

But now she was on the ferry getting ready to dock. The moving truck was on with her. Surprisingly it felt odd watching Plymouth get further away in the distance. It’s not like she’d never go back, but in her heart it almost felt like goodbye.

That her new life was starting here on Amore Island.

Unfortunately she had no idea what was in store for her here.

Her credit was in shambles. Her identity still stolen. Hailey was working hard to get that forty thousand wiped clean and managed half of it, the other half she was still hustling and sending whatever legal forms she had to.

Griffin hadn’t found anything out yet, but then again, he had another full-time job so he was fitting it in when he could.

It seemed everyone was doing something and she had to accept that and try to move on. She had to