Scarlett is practically vibrating with nerves as we step past the front door and move inside her home.
There are low, quiet voices coming from the left of the entrance way, and that’s where Scarlett heads first. I follow after her, staying close but not too close, and breathe in the smell of flowers that seems to be in every room.
Their home is small but well-kept. It’s cozy and welcoming, like somewhere you would want to go to relax and be alone. There aren’t many family photos on the wall. Instead, they seem to be kept on a corkboard on the wall above a bin of yarn. Several photos are tacked to the board, and I make a promise to myself that I’ll remember to come look at them all when we’re done here.
Scarlett leads us to a small sitting room off the entrance that houses a moss-green armchair with a tall back and thick armrests, along with a tall lamp tucked in the corner, a television on the wall that’s playing what looks like a Hallmark movie, and an array of plotted flowers scattered along the walls.
We find Amelia staring out the big circular window beside the chair, looking out at a lush side garden.
“Mom?” Scarlett breathes. She sounds both relieved and scared, and I hate that I can’t do more for her.
As much as I try to be there for her, I’m completely out of my depths with this. I’m a fish out of water when it comes to sick family members. Or family at all, really. Or at least I am when we’re speaking of blood relation.
There’s nothing I can do or say other than offer her my support in everything she does from this point forward.
Amelia sucks in a breath before spinning around to face us. Her cheeks blossom with a blush when she notices me beside her daughter, our hands connected and our fingers linked.
“Oh my. Look at you two. I can feel the love from here,” she sighs.
Scarlett’s mother is dressed in an ankle-length, pale pink nightgown with dainty white slippers on her feet. It’s clear she wasn’t expecting me, but I’m both happy and relieved that she’s not upset with the surprise.
“Good morning, Amelia. It should be a crime to look so beautiful so early in the day,” I compliment her, smiling wide. “You’re making the rest of us look bad.”
Scarlett laughs softly as her mom brushes me off, blushing. “You’re going to give this old woman a heart attack, Adam.”
“You’re hardly old,” Scarlett says.
“Well, my wrinkled ass cheeks say otherwise.”
“Mom!” Scarlett shrieks at the same time I burst into laughter.
“You’re a natural comedian, Amelia,” I say, shooting her a quick wink.
Amelia looks innocently at Scarlett. “Was it something I said?”
“Yes,” my girl says while I say, “No.”
Scarlett turns to me, exasperated. “You are not helping.”
With a grin, I tug her close and whisper, “Sorry, baby.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Adam, you wouldn’t mind if I stole my daughter for the rest of the day, would you?” Amelia asks, almost shyly.
She’s watching our interaction with intrigue and probably has a million questions to bombard her daughter with. Scarlett looks up at me and nods reassuringly.
I meet her stare and squeeze her hand, as if to ask if she’s sure, and when she mouths a simple yes, I believe her.
“Of course not. I have a son to pick up in a couple hours and a festival to finish planning for next weekend, so I’m sure I can keep myself busy,” I say.
Amelia’s eyes flare with excitement. “A festival? I haven’t been to one of those in years.” She looks at her daughter. “Are you going, my love? Would you take this old lady with you?”
Neither of us tells her that it’s an annual event and has been for the past eight years. Scarlett smiles at her mother. “Of course, Mom. Everyone from WIT will be so excited to meet you.”
Amelia arches a brow. “You’ve talked me up, have you? That’s my girl.”
“She adores you, Amelia. Truly,” I share.
When Amelia gives me a smile that looks far too sad for someone filled with so much happiness, Scarlett inches closer to me and says to her, “What do you say I make some lemonade and we go sit on the back deck? I’ll tell you all about the festival, and you can tell me about your night. Deal?”
“Deal, my love,” Amelia replies gently. She comes at me with a hug before I have a chance to realize what’s happening. I’m only just returning the gesture when she whispers, “Thank you. Thank you for taking care of her for me.”
She pulls back quickly after that, and I’m left with a dry mouth, words a foreign concept. Her smile is sincere when she squeezes my arm and disappears through an archway I assume leads to the kitchen.
Scarlett moves to my front and places her hands against my chest as her eyes meet mine. “I actually think having you here helped. She had no choice but to try and get past her own emotions. Your flirting worked.”
I smirk. “That wasn’t flirting, Scary Spice. You’re the only woman in a decade that’s been on the receiving end of my flirting. That was me being honest. Think I’ve won her approval?”
“You’ve had her approval since the moment she ran into you with a plant in her arms.”
I place my finger beneath her chin and tip her head back the slightest bit. “Good. Although I would have been here whether I had it or not. This just makes it less awkward.”
And with that, I kiss her goodbye.
Maddox and Cooper are inhaling stacks of pancakes at the table when I enter the Huttons’ kitchen. Noah is drawing on a small kids table a few feet over, and Adalyn is sitting on Ava’s lap beside the two boys.
Addy is the first to notice me, her green eyes lighting up. “Dam! Dam!”
The two boys look over at me as Noah says, “Adam, Addy. He’s Adam.”
His sister stares at him, unblinking. “Dam.”
“Sure,” Noah grunts before going back to his colouring.
“Hey, Dad,” Cooper says through a mouthful of pancakes. He quickly drinks his orange juice. “You’re early.”
I look at my watch. “It’s eleven. And I’m here to go over festival plans with Ava. Not dragging you home just yet.”
Ava plants her elbow on the table and sets her face in her hand. “We were expecting you to be here much later.”
“Much, much later,” Oakley adds from behind me. He claps my shoulder before walking around me and to where his wife and daughter sit.
Adalyn grins and waves her hand excitedly when her dad kisses the top of her head and tugs gently on the tiny tuft of hair at the top of her head. “Daddy!”
“Hey, baby girl,” he murmurs before bending down to kiss Ava’s head. She looks up at him with a smile.
“When are we picking up Braxton, Dad?” Maddox asks while swiping a finger across his syrupy plate and bringing it to his mouth.
Oakley flops down in the chair beside him. “When do you want us to pick her up?”
Cooper snorts a laugh, and Maddox pinches him under the arm. “Ow!”
“After lunch,” Maddox says.
“Wow. I get it. You’d rather spend time with a girl than with me,” Cooper sighs.
Maddox shrugs. “She’s funnier than you.”
“She smells like flowers.” Cooper scrunches his nose.
“I like how flowers smell.”
“Since when?”
“Since I decided I like flowers.”
“Oh, what a coincidence.”
“Shut up, Cooper.”
“Make me, Doxxy Poxxy.”
Cooper cries out when Maddox shoves him off his chair, and he falls to his butt. I stifle a laugh behind my fist when Cooper reaches up from the ground and grabs Maddox by the arm, pulling him to the floor.
They continue to poke, pinch, and hit each other as Ava sighs and looks at me, exasperated.
“God help us all when they get old enough to do serious damage to one another.”
Oakley laughs. “I don’t think we’ll be waiting too long for that.”
“Especially not when they seem to love beating on each other,” I add.
“Great,” Ava huffs.
“Gweat,” Adalyn repeats. Her mom curls an arm around her and bounces her leg.
“You’ll stay away from the boys when you get older, right? For my sake? Maybe you’ll like music like your brother Noah,” she says, sounding far too hopeful.
The toddler shakes her head and points to the two boys now spread out on the floor, catching their breath. “Play!”
“Music’s mine,” Noah states, not looking away from the drawing in front of him.
“Music isn’t yours to guard, bud,” Oakley tells his son.
Noah ignores him.
“Anyway,” Ava says. She looks at Oakley and then down at the girl in her lap. “Adam and I should get started on these plans.”
Oakley pats his lap and grins at Addy. “Come here, sweetheart. Let Mom go help Adam.”
Not needing to be told again, the toddler dives toward her dad, giggling like crazy when he grabs her and sets her on his lap.
Ava stands and grins at me. “My office?”
“Sure.”
“Have fun gossiping. I expect to be updated on everything after,” Oakley shouts when we disappear down the hallway.
Ava snorts. “He’s just as bad as a teenage girl.”
“I don’t know, the boys seem to be worse gossips than any girl I knew growing up.”
“Good point.”
Ava’s office door is open, so we walk right inside. There’s no need to turn the light on with the amount of sun shining through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows.
I sit on the cream leather couch and stare out at the uninterrupted view of their acreage and the peace within it. Their closest neighbour is a half-hour drive away, leaving them the privacy they deserve after so many years under the media’s thumb.
Ava sits beside me, curling her legs beneath her. She’s watching me expectantly, and I chuckle.
“What do you want to know first?”
“How was dinner?”
I scrub a hand over my jaw, thinking of how to word what I’m thinking without just blurting out the first thing that comes to mind. There’s only one thing I can focus on right now.
Ah, fuck it.
“I love her.”
Ava sucks a breath between her teeth. Something sharp pricks my chest when her bottom lip quivers and her eyes mist over.
“Don’t cry, O,” I plead.
She leans toward me and shoves at my arm. “Don’t tell me not to cry, you asshole. You should have known this would happen when you decided to tell me that.”
“You’re right. I just . . . I can’t not say it, you know? I’m so full of it that I feel like I could explode at any time. I want to tell everyone,” I admit. Ava nods in understanding. “She’s it for me. I’m sure of it.”
“Oh, Adam,” she whispers. Her eyes shine with more than just tears. Pride, happiness, love. So many emotions swirl together to create that shine.
“I didn’t think I was going to tell her so soon, but I did. She was talking about quitting WIT, and it just burst out of me. The thought of her leaving—I never want to feel that panic again.”
“What did she say back?”
My pulse lurches. “That she loves me too.”
Ava curses. “And here I go. Hand me the tissue box on the table behind you, please.” I do, and she starts ripping them out before wiping under her eyes. “What happens next? Please don’t tell me you’re going to take things slow because I’m not sure you can get much slower. It’s been months already.”
“There’s still a lot to figure out. We didn’t have time to talk about what happens next,” I say.
“Why not?”
I lean forward with my elbows on my thighs and look at her. “Her mom is sick. Scarlett is trying to figure out how to help her, and I need to find a way to make her feel comfortable with working for me still. I also need to talk to Cooper. Beth too.”
“Work is easy. Let Banks handle payroll. Have her stay at WIT, but don’t be her boss. It’s about time Banks took on more responsibility anyway.”
“You think it will be that easy? She’ll still see WIT as my company, therefore making her my employee,” I say.
Ava hums quietly. “I think if she wants to make it work as badly as you do and wants to keep her job, she’ll accept that.”
“She also thinks us dating will make me look bad.”
“Nothing could make you look bad. You’re too damn friendly,” she states confidently.
“You’ll have to tell her that the next time you see each other.”
She laughs. “I think you can handle convincing her you’ll survive the ridicule. As far as everything else goes, let her focus on her mom while you get your ducks in a row.
“Cooper likes her, and he’s old enough to understand what she means to you and what your relationship would bring to the family. He just wants to see you happy, and I’m sure once you sit down and talk about everything with him, he’ll tell you the same thing. As far as Beth goes, you don’t need her approval, if that’s what you’re after. Your personal life is just that when it comes to her. Personal.”
I sit back and rest my head on the couch back. Staring at the ceiling, I ask, “What would my relationship bring to the family, though? Would Cooper be okay with a sibling one day? What would it mean if we got married? Cooper thinks he knows what would happen and what it would mean, but until it’s a reality, I’m not sure he could ever properly understand. They barely know each other.”
Ava grabs my shoulder and squeezes. “It would only mean that there is one more person in his life who loves him and his dad. They might not be close now, but give it time. They’ve never had the time to really get to know each other. I know I bugged you about it, but you should take your time with this if that’s what you feel you need.”
“He’s everything to me, O. I just want him to be happy.”
“I am happy, Dad.”
My head turns at the sound of Cooper’s voice. Panic has words escaping me.
“You worry too much,” he adds, entering the office and flopping down on the chair across the room.
Ava squeezes my shoulder again before getting up. “I’ll go grab us a couple drinks.”
I nod and watch her scurry out of the room, closing the door behind her. Looking at my son, I find him examining the room.
“How much of that did you hear?” I ask.
The part where I mentioned someday marrying a woman or having another damn kid? They’re both premature possibilities, things Scarlett and I haven’t talked about yet, amongst a thousand other things. Having Cooper in the conversation already was not my intention.
He looks at me timidly. “Pretty much everything. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, though. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, Coop.” Maybe this is for the best.
“Do you really love her?” he asks, catching me off guard, but despite that, I don’t hesitate to answer.
“I do.”
“And she loves you back?”
“She does.”
He smiles. “I told her she would learn to love you. Just like she will learn to love her nickname.”
I huff a laugh, remembering the day I heard him tell her that. Granted, I was half-lucid, but I remember her whispered “maybe” like she had said it against my lips.
“You’re okay with us loving each other?”
“If it makes you happy, then yes,” he says. “I want to spend more time with her to make sure she’s cool enough for us, but yeah. I’m okay with it.”
“You’re a great kid, you know that?”
He grins and lifts his chin. “I know.”
“Now, come give your old man a hug before he starts crying.”
Cooper starts laughing, and I smile, shaking my head as he crosses the room. My son is everything I could have asked for.
I’m the luckiest dad on the planet.
