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She tosses the disinfecting cloth into the trash before moving over to me. “I’d really like that.”
“Good.” Taking her hand in mine, I pull her closer. My free hand cups her jaw as I tilt my head to kiss her lips. The kiss is short and sweet and it leaves me wanting so much more, but with Ava in the other room I have no choice but to step away.
After we get the kitchen cleaned up, we head into the living room. She has a seat on the couch while I take Ava upstairs to get cleaned up for the night. After her bath, she gets her snack that she eats in the living room while watching TV and playing. With her sitting on the floor with her toys and snack, it gives Emery and I a moment to talk without having a kid between us.
“So, Ava’s mom?” she asks quietly.
I shrug. “No idea.”
“You don’t know where she is? If she’s coming back?”
I shake my head. “Nope. All I know is that things had been tough for a while but I just assumed we’d get over it like we always did. Then one day I came home from work and found a note that said she left and I could pick Ava up at my mom’s.”
Her eyes are sad as she shakes her head. “How does someone do that?”
“The note said that she was sorry she had to do this. That we were too young to have Ava and how she’d done everything she could to be what we needed her to be, but that she couldn’t do it anymore.” I look at Ava as she sits in front of the TV. “We haven’t seen her since. I don’t think Ava even remembers her at this point. If she does, she doesn’t talk about her.”
“You’re a good daddy to her,” she assures me.
I scoff. “I don’t know about that.”
She nods. “I do. If you weren’t everything she needed, she wouldn’t have forgotten. You’re her rock.”
13
EMERY
“She’s asleep,” Lincoln says, walking down the stairs.
I offer a smile. “So, what now?”
He sits next to me on the couch, taking a deep breath. “Now, I get to figure out how to start dating all over again.”
I shake my head. “It’s really not hard. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. I’m not expecting anything.”
“Why don’t you pour us both a glass of wine and I’ll get a fire going?”
I smile at that. “Okay,” I agree, getting up and walking back into the kitchen.
I walk into the room a few minutes later and there’s a fire burning in the fireplace. He’s spread a soft, fuzzy blanket across the floor and tossed down a couple of pillows. The butterflies in my stomach come alive as I walk across the room and sit at his side. “This is nice.” I hand over his wine.
He takes a sip before setting it aside. “I…” He chuckles. “I have no idea how to do this. Would you believe I used to be cool? I had girls fighting over me every night.”
I can’t help but to laugh. “Every night? Wow. You must have been famous or something.”
He laughs. “I was, in this town anyway.”
I pull my eyes from the dancing flames to look at him.
“I used to be in a band,” he confesses.
“Really?” I’m surprised.
He nods. “Yeah, back in high school. We were a typical garage band that only played cover songs and couldn’t get anyone to listen to us even if we paid them. But then…” His brows pull together as he thinks deeper. “Somewhere along the way, that all changed. We dedicated all of our time to the band the summer between sophomore and junior year. We started writing our own songs and we got really good. By the time school started that year, it was like everything changed. Suddenly, we were gods. Everyone wanted our band to play at their party. We even landed a few paying gigs.”
I can’t help but to smile. “What did you play in the band?”
“I played the guitar and I was the lead singer.” His face flushes in embarrassment.
