Ava’s fingers hovered over the keyboard as she stared at the glow of the spreadsheet on her laptop, the numbers blurring behind her exhaustion. On the large rug, beside her, Ellie sat cross-legged with a tower of pastel wooden blocks. Each block was painted a different color, sunny yellow, robin’s-egg blue, vivid red, and etched with a letter or a simple picture of a cat, a tree, a star. The toddler then sent the whole thing crashing to the floor. Her giggle light and utterly unrestrained. Ava smiled despite herself. Ellie was such a bright little girl.
Her phone buzzed against the desktop, jolting her back to the present. Ellie paused mid-giggle and turned her cherubic face toward Ava, her mouth forming a perfect‘O’.The sight tugged at Ava’s heart, but duty came first. She picked her phone up and pressed it to her ear.
“Hi, Dad,” she said.
On the other end, her father’s voice rumbled through. “Well, it looks like Deke is on top of things. He said he’s on his way back tomorrow morning.”
The name prickled at her skin. She wasn’t sure she was ready to see him again so soon. “He is?”
“Yes,” her father continued, his tone firm. “And once he solves this case, you are to sit down and talk with him. Do you understand?”
Ava closed her eyes. “Yes, Dad. I know.”
“Good. He’s already missed two years of her life.” There was a pause before he added, softer, “I get it, Ava. But she needs a father, too.”
She nodded, even though he couldn’t see. “I’ll talk with him.”
“I’ll see you later.” The line went dead.
Ava exhaled; her chest heavy with anticipation. She forced herself back to the spreadsheet, entering employee hours for next week’s payroll, but the rows of figures swam before her eyes. She needed coffee, or a nap, or both.
When dinnertime rolled around, she opened the fridge to find nothing appealing. She scooped Ellie into her arms, grabbed her keys, and after buckling Ellie into her car seat, steered the SUV toward town, the late August heat shimmering off the pavement. The air conditioning struggled against it. She texted her father for requests; he declined.
In the drive-thru line, Ellie jabbered in her babble, her dark curls bouncing as she tried to say “truck.” Her laughter was infectious; Ava found herself giggling, too. The tray of burgers and fries came with a paper cup sweating condensation. She groaned at the greasy aroma and couldn’t wait to eat once she got home.
Once there, she settled Ellie before the TV with her fries and burger that Ava had broken into smaller pieces. Bright cartoon animals danced across the screen in bubblegum colors, and Ellie clapped at every flip and flop.
Ava organized receipts and invoices for her father’s cattle ranch, each weekly sale meant more checks to log, more ledgers to balance. She stared at the numbers, her mind drifting to Deacon coming back. Her own father tried to spend as much time with Ellie that he could, but the ranch demanded a lot of his hours. At least working fromhome let her keep Ellie close.
That night, Ava tucked her daughter into bed, smoothing soft curls from her forehead. When she finally lay down herself, sleep was elusive. What would Deacon say when he saw Ellie again? Would he push for custody? She pressed her hands to her eyes as she prayed.
“God, please let him understand how much I love her. I can’t bear to lose my little girl.” Her heart pounded in the darkness as she also prayed for courage to face tomorrow.
The next morning, she woke up feeling as if her eyes were filled with sand, but she had to get up because she could hear Ellie calling for her. When she entered her bedroom, Ellie was standing up in her crib with her little arms reaching out.
“Mama,” she said.
“Hi, sweet baby girl. How are you this morning,” Ava said as she lifted her, then placed her on the changing table to put on a fresh pull-up diaper. “Are you hungry?”
“Yeah,” Ellie said as she clapped her hands. She was saying more every day.
After getting them breakfast, Ava got to work while Ellie sat on the floor playing with her dolls. Once in a while, Ava would go sit on the floor with her.
“You’re going to meet your daddy soon and Mama is scared to death.”
Ellie looked at her and grinned. “Mama.”
“Yes, and soon a daddy.” Ava shook her head. This had to go well. It just had to.
****
As Deke walked into the hotel lobby the following morning, the woman behind the counter greeted him with a smile that quickly turned into a frown. He chuckled at her reaction as he set his bag on the floor.
“Yeah, I know. I checked out the other day, but I had to come back. Do you have any rooms available?”
“We do. It’s nice to see a satisfied customer return.” She smiled flirtatiously at him, but though she was very pretty, he wasn’t interested.
“It’s a great place.”
