Because Forever (The Avenue Book 2)

by B. Cranford

  “Thank you, sir,” she replied, lowering herself into the seat and grinning up at him as he closed the door behind her.

  Her smile didn’t fade as he rounded the car to slide back into his own seat. In fact, it only stretched wider when he complimented her outfit and put a hand on the back of her neck, pulling her in close for another, deeper kiss.

  “Ready, Garfield?”

  She couldn’t resist the chance to tease him. “I’ve been ready.”

  “Yeah, yeah, let’s go.” He cranked the ignition and set off, telling her as they headed for the baby shower all about his phone call with Aaron and getting to talk to Finn. “Odie, he’s the cutest thing. Aaron sent me a picture of him after we hung up—he was holding his Superman and Captain America up and his smile was so damn big.”

  “I’m excited to meet him. Do we know when they’ll be back?” she asked, already wondering how the boy would fit in and what they could do to ease him into life in Madison.

  “Not yet. The father is still going on about getting his son back and shit, but Aaron and Simon aren’t going to let it happen. At least, not if they can help it.” A frown marred his brow and Odie reached her hand over to rest on his thigh. His answering smile washed away the momentary concern. “The asshole might like to overshare but there’s no one who can handle shit better than A.”

  She simply nodded, knowing that Aaron was—and had been—the backbone of the family after their parents had given up on all three of their kids. For all that they joked Simon was the responsible one, the best of them, Aaron had always been there for his younger siblings, and it was something she’d always admired about him.

  Well, that and his taste in men and clothes. Even she could admit the man looked good—and looked even better with Simon by his side.

  The rest of the drive passed in a comfortable silence. As they approached Ashton’s new place, she turned to him to make sure they had everything, that nagging feeling pinging her again. “You’ve got the present, right?”

  He slowed to a stop a couple of houses down from his sister’s place and grimaced, telling Odie all she needed to know. “I have Aaron’s present,” he replied, gesturing to the small gift bag she could now see sitting on the back seat. “But I might have forgotten mine. Ours.”

  She sighed softly, thinking that she should have reminded him that morning before he left his place to put it in the car. “Okay, well, it’s not like we never see her.”

  “That’s the spirit,” he joked, leaning over the seat to grab Aaron’s present. “Can you get the napkins?”

  Odie nodded, picking up the clear packet of plain white napkins that had been on the floorboard at her feet. “Ready?”

  “Let’s go.”

  Austin laughed at the sight of Andrew trying to put a diaper on a teddy bear.

  “I don’t get it, I thought there were supposed to be tabs?” Andrew complained, looking over at Ashton, whose bear was sitting up, wearing a perfectly placed and secured cloth diaper.

  She’d even managed to cross the bear’s arms, making it look like it was exasperated with Andrew.

  “Andrew,” she started, but before she could finish, he grabbed her bear and swapped it with his own.

  “What’s taking you so long, Kitten?” he asked, as if the entire room hadn’t just watched him blatantly cheat. “Baby Bear and I are getting tired of waiting for you to catch up.”

  His sister laughed along with everyone else in the room, and as she leaned in to plant a kiss on her man, Austin wrapped his arm around the waist of his girl, who’d just stepped up beside him.

  “What’d I miss?” Odie asked, looking up at him, a smear of cupcake icing beside her mouth.

  “This spot right here,” he replied, bending enough that he could swipe it away with his tongue. “Mmm, chocolate.”

  She giggled, swatting him on the stomach. “Idiot. God, the cupcakes are so good though. Reckon we can smuggle some home for later?”

  “Please, smuggling desserts is what I do best.”

  “I don’t know, you’re also surprisingly good at Scrabble.”

  “What’s surprising about it? I’ll have you know I have a fifty-seven-game winning streak on Words with Friends.”

  She gave him a look that told him she didn’t believe him, and she was right not to. Fifty-seven was a stretch, but he had won five in a row against Aaron and that was a pretty big accomplishment in his book.

  “Fine. It’s five games. But it’s against Aaron.”

  “Oooh,” she replied, a hint of mocking meeting with a hint of amazement. “You badass.”

  He started to retort, but was interrupted by Bianca calling out that everyone was to gather in the front room for presents. Odie briefly stiffened beside him—he knew she was annoyed that he’d forgotten their gift, but he didn’t really get why. After all, Ash wouldn’t care.

  “Hey,” he said before she could step away to follow the rest of the party out of the room, “we still on for dinner at your parents’ place tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, is that okay?”

  “’Course. Ash is going to be at the bar, one last shift before the baby comes, which means Dunk will be there, too.”

  “We should take dessert or some wine or something.”

  “We’ve never taken anything before.”

  “This is different though. They’re meeting you as my boyfriend. Not just as, you know. You.”

  “Just as me? Just as me? I’m offended.”

  Shaking her head in amusement, she dismissed his apparent hurt feelings. “You are not. So, anyway, want me to get something in the morning?”

  “Nah, I’ll stop at the bakery to get a pie or cake or something. What do you think best says ‘I’m banging your daughter but I love her too?’ I think flan. Or cheesecake. Not tart. Tart definitely sends the wrong message.”

  “As long as you make sure it doesn’t have lemon, anything. Though, you might be right about the tart thing.”

  “No lemon. Actually, no citrus at all, right?” He knew her dad had an odd allergy to citrus, which was why she was giving him the warning. As soon as he had a second, he was adding a reminder to his phone.

  “Yeah, but if you just ask, it’ll be fine.” She bit down on her lip, looking worried. “You won’t forget, right?”

  “Nope. I just told you, desserts are what I do best.”

  “Aside from Scrabble.”

  “Aside from Scrabble, yes. And, I’m going to add it to my phone—Siri will remind me.”

  “I don’t think Siri handles your calendar and allergy reminders.”

  “Siri does what I tell her too. She’s obedient,” he joked, wiggling his eyebrows at her, watching as a laugh formed on her lips and made its way to his ears.

  Perfect—the sound was perfect. He’d taken her annoyance and turned it to amusement.

  “We good now?” he asked, relieved her body had relaxed again.

  She nodded, stepping away to head into the other room, but catching his hand to drag him along behind her as she did so.

  He smiled, loving the way she grabbed his hand like she owned him—which she did—when she stopped, and made a sound that could maybe have been called a growl, if he was brave enough to suggest to her face that she growled.

  Though she was tiny, he never forgot that she could take down people much larger than her with a single blow. She was a force when she went into boxing mode.

  “What’s wrong, Garfield?” He was confused, her mood had shifted again.

  She spun around, a look of frustration—maybe even anger—on her face. “Where did you buy the swing? The one you bought for Ashton?”

  “Online. Why?”

  “When you bought it, did you remove it from the registry?”

  “Did I what now?” He shook his head, not following her train of thought at all. At least, not until he saw the box sitting in front of his sister and Duncan. “Oh, hey, they bought the same one.”

  “Yeah, they did. So not only did we show
up without a present, the one we do have is a duplicate.”

  “So?”

  “So, it sucks, Austin. If you’d just logged in and followed the instructions to say you’d bought it, this wouldn’t have happened.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m picking the next present, you got it?”

  “I didn’t know I had to. But come on, it’s not a big deal, Odie. Promise. I’ll explain to Ashton, she’ll understand, and we can return it.”

  “And I get to pick the next present.”

  “If you want to, sure.” He reached for her waist, laying his hands on her hips and drawing her closer. “What’s wrong? It’s really not a big deal,” he repeated, trying to drive the point home.

  She dropped her head so it rested on his chest and heaved a sigh. “Promise not to laugh at me?”

  “I never laugh at you. Well, no, that’s not true. That time you face-planted into the pool when you were trying to show-off for Steven Fulton, then I laughed at you.”

  She tilted her head up, and made a face at him. “I was not trying to impress Steven Fulton.”

  He snorted, making sure his disbelief was clear as day on his face. “Yeah, right.”

  “Whatever, dude.”

  “Back to the present though, why are you so worried?”

  “It’s just that Mom always said it was rude to go to a party without a present, right? And this one time when I was a kid, before we moved, I went to a party and didn’t bring a present. Dad took me and he forgot.”

  “And?”

  “And, the girl was like, ‘Why didn’t you bring a present?’ and I felt bad. They didn’t play with me after that.”

  He frowned, trying to imagine little Odie being ignored. But still . . . “Garfield, I love you, but that had to have been a good three decades ago.”

  “Twenty-seven years.”

  “I think it’s time you got over it. Ash isn’t going to not play with you because you didn’t bring a present.” He laughed. “Ash is going to not play with you because we aren’t six years old anymore and grown-ups get that people forget.”

  “You forget.”

  “I do. All the time.” He nodded sagely. “In fact, I’ve forgotten the point of this conversation.”

  She poked her tongue out at him, and unable to resist, he captured it between his teeth, biting it gently and making her try to shove him away.

  But it didn’t work. She might be able to knock his lights out, but he had her trapped in his arms and he wasn’t letting her get enough leverage to shove him back. Not when he wanted to kiss her so bad.

  “Forgot my present, huh?” Ashton asked, resting her head back against the sofa with a tired smile on her lips. The party was over and all the guests except Austin and Odie had left.

  “To be fair, I did remember this,” Austin replied, handing over the small gift bag Odie had seen in the car earlier. “Aaron wanted me to bring it.”

  “Have you talked to him?” Andrew asked, taking the bag from Austin and sitting beside Ashton. Odie watched as he carefully nudged her head up and laid his arm along the top of the couch behind her, so that when she leaned back again, she was nestled against him.

  “Yesterday. I talked to Finn, too.”

  “You did? How was it?” Ashton smiled, reaching into the bag and pulling out a small, white rocking horse. It looked antique, distressed as it was along the ridges. “The Trojan rocking horse!” She laughed, holding it up to Andrew’s inspection.

  “It was good. He seemed like a sweet kid.”

  Ashton nodded, then turned to watch Andrew inspect the little rocking horse. “Where’d it come from?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t seen it in years,” Austin answered.

  It looked familiar to Odie, but she couldn’t place it. Wanting to know, she opened her mouth to ask, but Ashton seemed to sense the question coming. “It was the first present Mom and Dad got when they were pregnant with Aaron. It was always on display on the bookshelves in Dad’s office—it was the nursery when we were babies, so they kept it there after they converted it, I guess as a memento?”

  Odie nodded, remembering all the times she and Aussie had snuck into his dad’s office to play. “I remember now. But why a Trojan rocking horse?”

  “Oh, so, our grandmother bought it for Mom, and Dad—being the idiot he was—was worried about it being kid-appropriate. Something about chewing on metal.” She smiled at the memory, one of the rare times Odie had seen any of the Andrews’ kids talk about their parents with anything other than a frown or a flash of pain. “It caused a fight. Because it was ‘for display only’ and Dad was being ungrateful.”

  Ashton paused, and Austin picked up the story. “When we were bigger, we’d sneak it out of Dad’s office and play with it. Armies and fights and stuff. And since Aaron was big into history, he jokingly called it that one day, I guess. It stuck. But when did he get it from them, I wonder?”

  A silence descended on the room.

  “Do you think they know he took it?” It was Odie who asked the question, though she really couldn’t imagine that happening. Aaron was the reason, according to their parents, that none of the siblings could go home.

  “Maybe? I’m gonna ask him,” Ashton replied, nudging at Duncan and pointing to her phone on the coffee table in front of them. When he handed it over, she tapped on the screen, sending, Odie assumed, a message to Aaron. “Anyway, back to your present. Where is it?”

  Her smiled seemed forced, but Odie played along with the subject change. “Your idiot brother,” she started, throwing a thumb in Austin’s direction.

  Ashton held up her hand. “Say no more.”

  “I’m going to return it, since you got it today—the swing—and get something else. Anything you didn’t get you want?” Odie hoped she said no. She was already picturing all the fluffy skirts and giant flower headbands she was going to buy.

  And little shoes. All the little tiny shoes.

  “I don’t think so. You don’t have to get anything.”

  “I want to.”

  “Shh, Odie. Don’t say that. She’s giving us an out,” Austin stage-whispered.

  “An out to do what?”

  A masculine voice answered from the front of the house. “Probably buy sex toys or role-play costumes. You still have that fire-woman fantasy, Tiny?”

  Aaron walked into the room, wicked smirk in place, and everyone turned in his direction, surprise written across their faces.

  Surprise that quickly turned to eye-rolling and playful disgust when Aaron added, “You know, I have this fantasy about fireman Simon and his big hose.”

  “Did you fly back here without so much as a phone call just to make us all supremely uncomfortable?” Ashton asked, while Aussie pretended to gag.

  Aaron laughed. “No. And sorry I didn’t get back sooner.” He leaned down to kiss Ash on the forehead, nodding over at Austin, who, recovered from his TMI-induced nausea, shook his head in return.

  “Man, you make me go all the way—”

  “It’s, like, less than ten minutes from your house.”

  “—to your office to get the gift, and you show up anyway. What the hell?” Though his words were cranky, his voice and the smile that took over his face was anything but. “Are Finn and Simon here, too?”

  “No,” Aaron replied, walking around the couch to sit on the other side of Ashton.

  “I don’t think we all fit on this sofa anymore. It was a tight fit—”

  “That’s what she said.”

  “—when it was you, me and Simon, and I wasn’t this pregnant.”

  Odie laughed at the way both Austin and Ashton had learned to just keep talking when Aaron interjected his opinion in to their sentences. Then paused. “Wait, when were all of you on the sofa?”

  “Oh, that’s easy. When this one was being an over-bearing fool.” Ashton patted Andrew’s leg, and he nodded along. Clearly, the man knew the score. “They came over and because they don’t have a sense of personal space, they crammed onto
the couch with me.”

  “Good times,” Aaron added, nodding like three fully grown adults on a couch was the equivalent of a party.

  Which, now that they were all in their mid-thirties probably could pass as a party. They really didn’t get out as much as they used to.

  “So anyway,” Ashton began, just as Austin asked, “Not that I’m not happy to see you, bro, but what are you doing here?” They smiled at each other, then looked back at Aaron, and even Odie waited with something close to bated breath to find out what was happening with Finn.

  “Finn’s deadbeat dad—he backed off,” Aaron answered with a shrug, like it wasn’t big news.

  But it was. The stillness that descended on the room, the weight in the looks that the siblings shared with each other, with Odie, with Andrew, the slight hint of relief in Aaron’s voice all spoke to that.

  Odie was the first to recover. “That’s amazing. How is he?”

  Her question earned her a winning smile from Aaron. “Yeah, it is. And he’s good, I think it’s starting to really hit him that he’s moving somewhere new, and he’s asking even more questions.” He paused, a look forming on his face that spoke of his affection for the little boy. “Didn’t even realize it was possible for him to ask more, honestly. Kid’s going to grow up to be a lawyer. Or one of those paparazzi that screams questions at people as they walk out of a restaurant.”

  “When will they be home?” Ashton’s question was soft, but eager.

  “They’re already home, resting. Finn was tired from the travel, so he’s napping. I came hoping to catch this”—Aaron gestured to the decorations that still adorned the walls—“but I guess I was late . . . just like your period.” He mimed a drumroll as he landed his punchline, and the room groaned in unison.

  “That was particularly bad. I swear, you gain custody of one kid and you’re already rolling out the dad jokes.”

  “I have a few daddy jokes I could tell you inst—”

  “NO!” It was a surround-sound exclamation from Aussie and Ashton, and Andrew looked over at Odie, shaking his head with a smile. Clearly, this family was crazy—and yet there they both were, voluntarily participating in the crazy.