“Do you know what happened to his wife?” Carson asked her.
“No. We didn’t get into that. It didn’t seem to be the time or the place either. I was there because Adele asked me. So, as you can tell, it wasn’t much of a date.”
“But you said you’d show her how to do it another time,” her mother said.
“That isn’t my decision to make. I put it out there, but Seth has to make the call.”
“Do you want to spend time with him?” her father asked.
“Wow, we are getting pretty personal here,” she said. “I wouldn’t mind spending time with him. He’s a widower. Three years and I got that because Adele said she was only three when her mother died and she’s in first grade. I can do the math. I’m not sure he’s ready though.”
“Do you think his daughter is pushing him?” Carson asked.
“She’s six. I doubt she knows how to be that manipulative. Nor do I think she’d do it anyway. It’s easy to see Adele is his world and I know that.”
“Are you okay with that?” her father asked.
She sighed. “I would be, but it’s moot because it may never turn into anything other than pizza at his house and a braid tutorial.”
“This is Amore Island,” her mother said. “Anything is possible if you open your heart and mind to it.”
Another thing she didn’t want to hear. “As you all have said, I’ve got other problems to deal with not only with my credit and identity but I also need a place to live. I’ll be here full time in about six weeks and Drew is still looking for places for me.”
“He’ll find something,” her mother said. “If not, you know you are welcome here even if it’s just short term. Going back and forth on the ferry daily is going to be hard. You don’t want your life split like that.”
“No,” she said. “I don’t. But I’ll figure it out like I always do and have in the past. I’m going to try to live my life as normally as I can and if that means I see Seth again, great. If not, then I move on. Just like life does.”
But the truth was, she’d love nothing more than to move on with Seth next to her at the same time and see if they could explore what she was feeling.
10
Took Care Of Their Own
It was hard to explore what she was feeling when she hadn’t heard a word from Seth in days. Seven days to be exact.
And as for moving on, she was trying and that was why she was walking into Eli’s office late Saturday morning to meet with him and Griffin. She’d been on the mainland all last week and luckily wasn’t on call this weekend and was able to make the trip over. She’d stay the night at her parents again while she drove around looking at houses for sale.
She was itching for her own place and debating about using her trust fund. And the minute she said that last week, Hailey jumped up and down and said she’d sit on her before she’d let that happen. That the last thing she should do is start acquiring assets when there was so much in the air that could be taken away.
She should have realized that and had to remind herself to have patience when she didn’t normally. Looking didn’t mean buying though.
“Ava Mills here to see Eli,” she said to the front desk. She knew there was no way she could get to the penthouse where Eli resided. Not only that, he was probably walking around somewhere like he always was.
“Let me page him,” the young clerk said. She knew paging didn’t mean over the speakers like in an office or hospital, but to Eli directly. When the phone rang a minute later, it was picked up with the worker saying, “Ava Mills is here for you.” She hung the phone up. “Follow me.”
The worker moved out from behind the desk with Ava trailing behind and down a hall that said employee access only. A badge was swiped and the elevator door was opened. “Only for Eli?” Ava asked, grinning.
“No. All staff can use it; however, none of us can get to the penthouse without the code or security overriding it. Eli said to go right up. He unlocked it to his floor.”
She held back her snort over how secure her cousin was but then realized it was probably smart too. If there was one thing Eli was, it was smart. “What if another staff wants to get on at a different floor while it’s unlocked?”
“They won’t be able to until this elevator is on the way back down.”
She nodded her head and should have figured that. When the doors shut, she took the quick trip to the top. She’d never been in Eli’s place before. Never had a reason to. Sure, she’d been in the casino; most of the family had at different points. Especially when it opened a few years ago.
Glam and glitz had been his plan and he made his statement. This wasn’t a small casino you might see in Vegas with gaudy flashing lights and drunks sitting at tables all night with rough five o’clock shadows and bloodshot eyes. This was fashioned after those in Monte Carlo but scaled down in size. Didn’t mean he catered to only the wealthy, just that Eli wanted to give off that vibe.
When the doors opened, she walked right into a foyer with white marble floors. “Fancy,” she said out loud.
Eli popped his head around a doorway. “Come in here and have some coffee with me. I just got up about thirty minutes ago.”
“Was this too early for you?” she asked, moving into the kitchen. “Oh wow. I hadn’t known what to expect,
