by Natalie Ann
“I thought you might. But I also have chicken breasts I can grill or...cube up for chicken tacos too.”
“I’ve never had chicken tacos,” Adele said. “Daddy, why don’t you make chicken tacos?”
Oh boy, not what she wanted to happen. “I’ve never thought of it,” he said. “And you always tell me what you want. Why haven’t you asked?”
“Because I didn’t know there was such a thing,” Adele said. “Can we have them, please?”
“We sure can. I’ve got rice to make as a side dish too. Tacos kind of have it all for a well-balanced meal anyway.”
“I like everything. I’m not fussy,” Adele said.
Seth snorted. “Says the kid that will tell me she wants the same lunch for a month.”
“How did you make out with the tomato soup?” she asked just remembering that.
“We got through the ten cans...finally.”
“I had the last one a few days ago,” Adele said. “I got sick of eating it every day and then I forgot they were in the pantry.”
“Which is why five cans were enough to start,” Seth said and tugged on his daughter’s hair a little.
“Well, I’m going to want chicken tacos every day for a week. I know it,” Adele said.
Seth let out a big sigh and she thought she’d try to save him. “You know what makes something taste even better?” she asked Adele.
“What?”
“When you eat it in moderation.”
“What does that mean?” Adele asked.
“It means that you eat it today and you love it and want it again, but if you keep eating it, then you get sick of it and don’t want it anymore. But if you wait a week to have it again or two weeks, then you still love it.”
“Oh,” Adele said. “Maybe I should try that.”
“Maybe,” Seth said and then mouthed “thank you” to her.
“Look,” Adele said. “I did it almost as well as you.”
“You did,” she said, looking it over. “Good job.”
“Are you a hairdresser? Is that how you know how to do this?”
“No,” she said. “A friend taught me how when I was in school.”
“So, what do you do then?” Adele asked.
“I’m a doctor,” she said, looking at Seth.
“You are?” Adele asked. “There are a lot of different kinds of doctors. I know that. What kind are you?”
She wasn’t sure how to answer this. She didn’t know what Adele knew about her mother’s death. She didn’t have to worry though because Seth said, “Adele is a doctor that delivers babies.”
“You get to hold a baby right when it’s born?” Adele asked, her eyes wide as saucers. “Like some of my baby dolls?”
She smiled. “I do.” She stopped herself from making a comment about newborns not being as perfect as a doll looked. She thought she was doing a great job talking with Adele and almost slipped on that one. That could have opened up a whole can of worms that she didn’t think either of them wanted to clean up.
“That’s neat. So you must know a lot of other doctors?”
She smiled. “I do. I have older twin brothers and one is an ER doctor, and one is a radiologist. He takes pictures of your bones and looks at them. And my father is a surgeon.”
“Sweet. Is your mom a doctor too?” Adele asked.
“No. My mother never worked after she was married, but she was a nurse when she met my father. My father was gone a lot and she had three young kids at home for a long time.”
“My mom was a teacher, but she stayed home with me for a year. She was going to stay home with my brother for a year too, but they both died.”
“I know, sweetie.”
Seth looked a little stricken and put his hand on his daughter’s head. “Adele knows that her mother had some complications and didn’t make it. That sometimes things like this happen and there is no explanation for it.”
“That’s true,” she said. “And I’m very sorry that happened to you and your father.”
“Me too,” Adele said. “But he has you now.”
This time she was pretty sure her face mirrored Seth’s.
15
More On The Line
Later that night Seth put Adele to bed and called Ava. He knew he had to explain what Adele had said, though he wasn’t sure what explanation he could give or where his child’s head was at.
“Hello,” she said on the first ring, as if she was waiting on the call. He did say he’d call when Adele was settled and Ava knew school time bed was around seven thirty, then a story added to it.
“Hi,” he said. “Thanks again for dinner today. Adele hasn’t stopped chattering about how much fun she had. Now all her dolls have braids in their hair too.”
“That’s so sweet,” she said. “I enjoyed spending time with her. I will admit I was a little nervous when she asked me what I did for a living and the kind of doctor I was. I wasn’t sure how much she knew.”
“She doesn’t know much. You and I haven’t talked about this.”
Because it hadn’t come up. Half the time his nightly conversations with Ava were about her day, things she liked, where she went to school, friends she had, funny adventures with her siblings.
He’d even briefly told her about his parents’ divorce and how strong and independent his mother was raising them and taking charge. How Adam still hoped for that father son bond, but Seth had written if off years ago.
“I figured,” she said. “I didn’t want to trigger anything though.”
“All she knows is Ellen was pregnant and that there were complications and sometimes when that happens, it’s hard to save everyone, but the doctors did everything they could. She knows Ellen is watching over her too.”
“You’ve done a great job with her. I’m not sure how you tell a child something like that,” she said. “I’ve never thought of it from that end. I’m always the one trying to save the patient. I’m sorry. That was insensitive.”
“It wasn’t,” he said. “It’s life. We were a statistic. I can’t take exception to every comment about childbirth and deaths. I don’t want Adele to do that either. I’ve tried to explain as best as I can. My mother has done the same. Adele hasn’t asked details and I’m good with that. I don’t want her to be scared if I said her mother was bleeding and then every time she bleeds she thinks she will die, nor do I want her to be leery of going to the doctor’s. I guess I never thought it’d be this hard.”
“Because no one ever thinks they’d be in that situation,” she said simply.
“You’re right. One hundred percent. I know I’m going to make mistakes with Adele, it’s inevitable.”
She laughed. “Every parent makes mistakes whether they are single, married, divorced, etc.”
“I know. I tell myself that all the time. And speaking of life—what Adele said.”
“What was that?” she asked. “She said a lot of things tonight.”
“About me having you,” he said after he cleared his throat.
“I think it was very sweet.”
“You looked as shocked as I was when she said it.”
“I was,” she said. “You don’t think a child will say that, but things are simple in their world and that is what is going on in her mind. Her father found a friend that she likes too. I’d like to think maybe you’re a bit happier since you met me and she picks up on that?”
Funny how Ava pointed that out. “You might be right. Not ready to run for the hills after my kid put the pressure on that way? Even wanting to spend the night at your house?”
“I’m not,” she said. “I’m stronger than that. But you’ve got more on the line than me.”
“I do. I’m not running either. I guess that is my next question. When do you think you and I can get some time together? My mother will watch Adele for me.”
“Does your mother know about me?” she asked.
“She does. Even if I didn’t tell her, Adele did on Easter Sunday after
you came over that day. There hasn’t been all that much more to mention other than our one date, but now that you’re here on the island...”
She laughed softly. “Yes. Now that I’m here we can try to make something work. However, I’m on call for the next two weeks straight.”
He sighed. “Just our rotten luck.”
“That doesn’t mean anything. It only means I might get interrupted. There aren’t a lot of pregnant women on the island right now that I’m aware of. At least not any of the patients I’ve taken over, but there are two of us in the building and we take on call at two-week intervals.”
“So next week too?” he asked. Which she’d said if he was paying more attention. That would explain why she wasn’t on call the first two weeks she started.
“Yes. But I don’t want that to stop us from having time together either. We can plan on dinner unless I’m called in, or maybe a Friday or Saturday night.”
“My mother will gladly take Adele for a night if you want to plan for that?” he asked hoping maybe they could go back to one of their places after too.
“I think that sounds like a good plan,” she said. “I’ll let you decide what you want to do or where to go, or I can cook dinner for us again. I enjoy cooking but don’t do it much since it’s just me.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to do that,” he said.
“Your choice,” she said.
When she yawned on the other end, he said, “I can let you go. You’ve had a busy weekend with the move and then entertaining us. Adele can wear a person down in an hour if they aren’t prepared or used to it.”
“I really like your daughter, Seth,” she said. “I want you to know that. I also want you to know I don’t want her to be hurt and I will follow your lead on however you want to handle things.”
“Thank you,” he said, knowing he didn’t always get that luxury in the past.
“You’re very welcome. And when school is out, if you’d like, I thought maybe we could do a little celebratory beach day with Adele.”
“She’d love that. She gets the beach at my mother’s but nowhere else.” It just occurred to him that he hadn’t once in the time he’d lived here taken her to the public beach.
“Maybe we can play tourist on the island. Some snow cones at the beach. A little bit of mini golf and then dinner.”
“Again, nothing I ever thought of doing for the last day of school. Is that something your parents did?”
“My mother always made the first and last day of school fun when we were younger. It stopped when we got to middle school, but I remember it and wouldn’t mind enjoying it again as an adult.”
“Then we can plan on that the weekend you aren’t on call.”
“Smart,” she said. “See, I wouldn’t have thought of that and then would have been bummed if I got called away. I’ll leave it up to you to let Adele know when it will be and I’ll make it work once I’m done with my double rotation.”
They hung up shortly after that, him going up to check on his daughter and saw she was passed out cold like always. She played hard and then crashed, sleeping through the night.
Ava said she’d leave everything in his hands on how to handle their relationship when it came to Adele and he would. Once he figured out what that would entail.
Not just the relationship, which he was positive she felt was one too, but what the situation would evolve into.
And what he was hoping was that one of them would be staying the night at the other’s.
Ava put the phone down knowing that that conversation went about as well as it could.
She knew for a fact that Seth would bring up what Adele said and she was glad for it. There should be no guessing games and worries on either of their parts.
They were both mature adults and in a position where they should be able to talk freely.
She wasn’t one for secrets and she hoped he wasn’t either.
She had a mess going on in her life and he was very aware of it, even if they didn’t discuss it regularly. It’s not like there was all that much to say. Everything that could be done about it was happening.
These things didn’t get resolved fast or easily.
She had a job.
She had a roof over her head.
She had money in the bank and her bills were paid.
There wasn’t much more she could ask for and she wouldn’t have had any of it without her family’s help.
Well, there was more she could ask for. She could ask for a night with Seth.
She liked what they had going. She liked that they could be open to a point in front of Adele.
But what she wanted more of, she believed was on the horizon.
That is if her on call rotation played nice with her next weekend.
16
No Hiding
The minute Ava finished up with her last patient, she was walking out the door and heading home to change for her date with Seth.
He picked Adele up from school when his mother normally did, but they spent a little time together and then he was dropping her off at his mother’s for the night and they were meeting for dinner. She wasn’t sure what would happen after dinner, but she was packing a change of clothes and leaving it in her car just in case.
They were eating at her cousin Duke’s place. She wasn’t sure if Seth knew about her connection to Duke when he texted her the reservations earlier or not. She hadn’t had time to tell him either as she was in with patients. It wasn’t like their relationship was a secret with family knowing, but her extended family might very well find out if Duke came out of the kitchen and saw her.
Maybe she’d get lucky tonight and he’d stay in the back.
After she decided on what to wear—a pair of sexy jeans and heels again with a fitted summer sweater—she took a quick shower, then packed an overnight bag for the car after making sure she had a few condoms in her purse.
Yes, she took the Depo shot like she’d given her cousin Emily months ago. She’d started it herself a month ago. It was a backup plan because, though she delivered babies, they weren’t in her future right now and she didn’t think they were for Seth either.
She looked at the clock and saw it was time to leave since she was meeting him at Duke’s and it was about twenty-five minutes away. It would make no sense for him to come get her and she was on call so she needed her vehicle anyway.
When she pulled into the parking lot, she saw Seth getting out and took a minute to admire him from a distance.
He was much taller than her and she liked that. She was used to being around bigger men and felt comfortable with them. She felt safe, not that she ever felt unsafe, but considering what happened with her identity, maybe she should feel a little nervous.
This wasn’t a physically violent crime, but it felt personal even if it seemed somewhat random.
Though something made her wonder if it was. Seeing the purchases in and around Massachusetts didn’t make sense to her, but then again, maybe since the person had all her information, it wouldn’t look odd to the credit card company if the purchases were local. The bills had a PO box address, but were emailed to a bogus address set up under her name too.
Whoever this person was, they were smart, there was no doubt. But her team was being smarter and nothing else had happened that she was aware of since this was all discovered months ago.
Seth turned and saw her watching him, his brown hair blowing around slightly. It wasn’t that long, but wasn’t so short that it wouldn’t move in a slight breeze.
He was dressed in jeans and a nice short sleeve cotton shirt with dressier sneakers on his feet. She could appreciate him in a suit and tie, but dressed like this got her juices pumping much more.
On Sunday, they were both in shorts and she got her first look at more of his body and realized he was in darn good shape. She’d noticed muscles in his thighs when he squatted down, and his biceps flexing a little when his arm was bent holding his housewarming gift too.
> If the Amore Island lore and legend were aligned tonight, she might get to see more of what was under his clothes.
“Look at you,” he said, moving toward her as she made her way forward. “I see you went for those sexy shoes again.”
“You seemed to appreciate them more than my UGG boots and sneakers the other time I wore them.”
“Oh, I did,” he said, leaning down to give her a kiss. Yeah, that was what she was talking about. No hiding anything and he was fast to do it.
“So,” she started with, “before we go in, I should mention that Duke Raymond is a distant cousin.”
He laughed. “I knew that. Or figured it out. Gossip flows in the bank as if it were a winery ready to open. I also assumed you’d been here before and I wouldn’t have to worry about a bad meal to ruin the date.”
Which was considerate on his part. “No bad food here. And I’m hoping nothing could ruin this date.”
He winked at her. “Fingers crossed I don’t mess up too much.”
“I don’t think you will or have it in you. I’m more worried about being called in.”
“And if you are, you are. It’s your job and we know that. I’ve got the whole night free and could wait for you if that was the case.”
“Which is super nice of you, so thank you.”
“I’m not sure how many times we will get a night without Adele, so I’d like to take advantage of it.”
She wasn’t sure if she should read between the lines, but decided if he was trying to get a feel for her, she was going to let him know where she stood. “I want you to take advantage of it,” she said, running her hand down his arm.
The smile that filled his face was answer enough for her that he got her meaning.
And somehow they got through the meal without anyone coming over to their table and recognizing them. Not even Duke came out from the kitchen and she’d take that as a win.
But when she was walking back to her car, she heard her name called and turned. “Hi, ladies,” she said, moving toward the group of four women. “What are you doing on the island?”
