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Over the years, Tom had told me a lot about his family and growing up in Astoria, but sometimes it got difficult to keep track of everyone. There were so many of them and so many stories, it got a little overwhelming and everything blurred together.
“That’s right,” Ava said. “I was born and raised here in Astoria, like the Andersons. Mason and I started dating when we were young teenagers, but I actually moved away for several years. I went to Michigan and got a really amazing job there. I actually didn’t think I was ever going to come back to Oregon.”
“Why did you?” I asked.
“My parents needed me,” Ava said. “My father owns a construction company, and even though he is far too old to be doing everything that the crew does, he insists on being hands-on with every project that they do. So, he was up on a roof doing some repairs and ended up falling. He broke pretty much the entire lower half of his body. My mother needed some help taking care of him, and so I came home.”
“That’s right,” I said. “Tom mentioned you came back here after being gone a long time.”
“Yep. Then Mason and I reconnected, and the rest is history,” she said, smiling at her son. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Sure,” I said. “Iced tea would be nice if you have it.”
“I do.” She poured us glasses and carried them back to the living room. “So, does Tom talk about the family a lot?”
“He does,” I said. “I hear a lot of stories. He’s very proud of his family. Though between you and me, he thinks everyone should do things the way he would do them.”
Ava laughed as she curled up in the corner of the sofa to sip her tea. “Yeah, that sounds like Tom. When Mason and I were first together, he was so freaked out by the idea of Mason dating somebody who worked for him that he made us sign papers agreeing I wouldn’t sue him if we broke up.”
I stopped mid-sip, my eyes locked on her over the edge of the glass. “He did what?”
“Oh, you heard that correctly,” Ava laughed. “It was pretty ridiculous. But, in the end, I guess I can understand where he’s coming from as a businessman.”
Before I could make any more comments about that particular line of decision making, the guys came back inside. Mason went straight for the baby and scooped him up into his arms, kissing his face until Robert laughed joyously and clutched his father’s cheeks in his hands.
“You ready to get going?” Tom asked, looking at me.
I nodded. “Sure. It was really nice spending some time with you, Ava. And you, Robert.”
“Definitely come back and hang out more,” she said.
“I will.”
As Tom and I left the house, I realized I was starving. My stomach rumbled, and he laughed.
“I guess we forgot to eat,” he said. “I think the hotel restaurant is open for another hour. You want to go grab something?”
“That sounds good,” I said.
We got to the hotel and went directly into the almost desolate restaurant. Only one other table had anybody at it, and it was just an older couple nibbling their way through desserts as they both read books and held hands across the table. I couldn’t help but smile when I looked at them.
And it was the kind of relationship I dreamed of having one day. The kind when you wanted to be with the other person so much you could be doing anything else, but you still wanted to be beside them.
We sat down and looked over the menus. The waitress let us know that several of the menu items had already sold out for the night, so we chose from what was still available and she walked away. As she did, Tom took a sip of the water the hostess gave us when we sat down.
“Amanda, I want to thank you again, so much, for coming out here. I know it’s going above and beyond, and it means a lot to me.”
“You don’t need to keep thanking me,” I said. “This is what you needed me to do, so here I am. It’s fun having a change of venue. It’s like I’m a secret agent on assignment.”
As soon as I said the words, I wished I could shove them back into my mouth. I could not believe I’d said something that stupid to him. Here he was, my older, dignified, and completely gorgeous boss, and I just told him I’ve been running around playing pretend as a secret agent.
He didn’t seem to notice. Or he just had the decency to not make fun of me. I decided to try to drive back some of my dignity with a more serious direction for the conversation.
