“No. I’m with my sister. She came to the island for the weekend and we were getting a bite to eat. Funny running into you here though.”
“Yeah,” Seth said. “It was good seeing you. Oh, here’s our dinner.”
Michaela looked as if she was going to say something else, but the server had to move in closer to set everything down, forcing Michaela to step away.
Seth was fast to put his head down and start eating, but Ava knew this would come up later with him.
28
The Right Decision
Of all the rotten luck.
He hadn’t run into Michaela once since they’d split over a year ago and she had to be in the same restaurant as him not only with Adele but Ava too.
He could see the moment of recognition on Ava’s face at who Michaela was and when his current girlfriend looked his old one over.
That didn’t bother him that much. What upset him more was that if the food didn’t come out when it did, he was positive Michaela was going to tell Adele that she’d been her father’s girlfriend too.
When the two of them split, Michaela had been pissed. Not hurt. Not upset. Not even teary eyed.
Livid. She acted like she didn’t understand why Seth was ending things even though he’d been very clear and upfront that it wasn’t working out for him, but she didn’t care.
When he found out later through his mother that she’d been telling friends and making plans for the future, he realized he’d made the right decision.
And the fact that he hadn’t seen her again even though her mother was an acquaintance of his mother had been a boon.
When they got back to his place he was starting to get one hell of a headache. Not just from Michaela’s visit but Adele’s nonstop chatter. Of course his daughter would have to announce his and Ava’s relationship to Michaela when she hadn’t done it to anyone else they’d run into.
“Everything okay?” Ava asked when Adele ran to her room to get a board game for the three of them to play.
“Yeah. Just getting some aspirin.”
She reached over and patted his arm. “Don’t worry about your ex.”
“I figured you knew who it was.”
“Even if I didn’t recognize the name, I’m smart enough to figure it out by the venom in her eyes.”
“Yeah. The food coming out stopped her from saying she was my ex to Adele. I don’t know what I saw in someone who would do that to a kid.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ve all had people like that in our past that we wondered what we saw in them. Move on from it. I’m not bothered. You should feel lucky that we haven’t run into too many of my relatives when we’ve been out. Normally I can’t go anywhere without seeing one of them or a patient.”
He thought for a minute and realized that they hadn’t been out often, but the few times they were, no one had ever bothered them before. “I normally get stopped or recognized too and haven’t. Must be our luck finally ran out.”
“Don’t worry either way,” she said again.
“I’m back,” Adele said. “I got Sorry to play.”
“Seems appropriate for today.”
Ava bumped her shoulder into his and then let out a little laugh and turned to follow his daughter into the living room.
“Stop,” she said, laughing. He was glad Ava was taking this so well at least.
Two hours later, a bowl of popcorn, and two more board games, Adele was finally ready to concede it was time for bed.
“I guess I’m tired,” his daughter said rubbing her eyes.
“It’s been a long day. You never sat still at the beach and the sun will tire you out too,” he said. “Do you need a story?”
“Can Ava read it to me?” Adele asked.
“I’d love too,” Ava said. “Why don’t you go get ready and I’ll clean up down here and then come up when you’re in bed.”
“You don’t need to do that,” he said.
“Please. It’s the least I can do. Go.”
He followed Adele up the stairs and then went into her room to turn the bed down and get her pajamas while she brushed her teeth and went to the bathroom. Once she was all set and tucked in he gave his daughter a kiss on the head. “I’ll go get Ava for your story.”
“I had a lot of fun today, Daddy.”
“Me too,” he said, running his hand over her hair. It was still tight in the braids and Adele wanted to keep them in.
“I wish we could do this every weekend.”
He smiled and found himself almost slipping that he wished they could too.
When he went back downstairs, he found Ava in the kitchen. All the dishes in the dishwasher and her looking at the buttons. “I’m trying to figure out how to turn it on.”
He smiled softly. It should trigger a bad memory, but it didn’t. Not at all. It just went to show him that he could find someone else out there that fit in his and his daughter’s world.
Once he pressed the buttons, he pulled her in for a quick hug. “Thanks. She’s waiting for you.”
“And are you waiting for me too?”
“I will be. Not patiently either.”
“Same here. I’ve been watching the clock and counting it down. It’s hard to believe we’ve only had one night together so far.”
“Is it not enough time for you?”
“I’m not sure I can get enough of you,” she said playfully. “But I know we do what we can and fit it in. It’s all good. Don’t worry.”
He was trying not to. So far Ava had given no indication that they weren’t spending enough time together and he had to stop worrying about everything.
When she came down thirty minutes later, he was flipping through the channels on the TV trying to find anything to watch but nothing was keeping his attention.
“Is she settled?” he asked.
“She was sleeping before I finished the book. I’m not
