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I don’t give Lance a reply before turning my head in the direction of the very familiar voice, and who I see has my mouth dropping open with shock. “No way,” I gasp.
Dark eyes, so similar to her father’s, find mine. “Hey, best friend.” Ava winks.
I forget all protocols and the fact that I am in a professional setting. With a loud squeal that is powerful enough to deafen everyone around here, I run towards Ava and engulf her in a tight hug, not minding the fact that she’s wet from diving into the ocean to get here.
Pulling back briefly, I stare into her excitement-filled eyes. “Are you crazy? What are you doing here?”
Ava shrugs like her presence here is not a big deal. “I missed you and I came to say hi.”
“I missed you too, but you’re in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Ava, and under water too.” I gape at her, wondering how she is so flippant about this whole thing right now.
She opens her mouth to speak, but her eyes stray behind me and her smile grows larger. “Surprise,” she waves her hands in the air while I turn to see Chris standing right behind me.
He takes a step forward to stand beside me, his hands deep in his pockets, and a pretty intimidating expression on his face. “Ava Caroline Young, what on earth are you doing here?” Ava winces. Even I wince. I’ve never heard Chris speak to anyone like this and I’m guessing from the sheepish look on Ava’s face, it’s the daddy tone he uses on her whenever she gets herself into trouble or does something he doesn’t approve of.
Is it weird that I find that tone totally sexy? I shake off that thought as soon as it drops in my head. We’ve been through this; Chris and I are done.
“I came to say hi, Dad. Is that so wrong?”
“You crossed the Pacific, coming all the way over here without informing me. You could have been in danger and I wouldn’t know. Do you think this is a joke, Ava? You think you can just do whatever it is you want when you want?”
“Chris…” I whisper softly when I notice that we are starting to draw attention.
But he just keeps on talking. “This isn’t some playground that you can impulsively take a drive to. This is real, dangerous stuff, Ava.”
“Chris…” I say loudly this time and tug at his arm.
“Not now, Charlotte,” Chris responds without looking at me.
“People are staring, okay?” I snap at him. “I get that you want to reprimand your daughter, who is a full-grown adult by the way, but we should do this somewhere more private.”
Only then does he budge. “Follow me,” Chris orders and turns on his heels.
“You heard him,” I say to Ava who shakes her head sideways.
“Oh no, you are coming with me.” She grabs my hand and pulls me along with her as we both follow after Chris. “I don’t get why he’s mad anyway. It’s not that big of a deal. You two came here and so did all these other people,” she whispers.
“It’s different, Ava. We all had to prepare thoroughly for this journey. We did research, participated in emergency drills, and did simulations until we were ready.” I whisper back. “He’s worried about you, Ava, and he’s right to be.”
“Ugh,” she groans. “Fine. I hate it when you’re being logical,” she glares at me and I wink at her.
Chris holds the door to his own section of the bunker room open for us and we step inside with Ava holding on to me for dear life. “You two, sit.” He points at the bed and we both sit.
“I’m fine, Dad…” Ava starts but she is interrupted by her father.
“This isn’t about you being fine, Ava. It’s about how reckless you were. Do you have any idea what it felt like seeing you come in with the supply team?”
“It’s not like I could call you and inform you of my plans…” Ava mumbles but we hear her anyway.
“Which is exactly why you should have either told me you were planning to come here or you should have waited till I got back.”
“I wanted to see Charlie before she got back home, plus I was bored all alone in New York.”
Chris’ reply is a formidable glare that has the power to shrivel a person up. Meanwhile, I just sit still, my eyes swinging between the two of them as they go back and forth in their argument.
At some point, when Ava retorts that she is an adult and she doesn’t need permission from her father for every single thing she does, Chris actually growls.
“This is my project; you damn well need my permission.”
