21
“Canyou believe our baby girl is fourteen?” Jenna asked as she and Asher watched Blake who was talking with her friends at a booth a few yards away.
“No.” Asher responded honestly.
The annual Pine Cone Festival was in full swing. Asher couldn’t believe how many people had turned out for the event. When he’d heard that the festival fell on Blake’s birthday, he’d let the chief know that he wouldn’t be able to participate in the HFPD booth. But it turned out his daughter wanted to spend her birthday at the festival, so he’d signed up and was due over at the booth in about fifteen minutes.
“I feel like it was just yesterday that we were bringing her home.”
Asher remembered how terrified he’d felt being responsible for such a tiny life. He also remembered that after two months, he’d had to go undercover and he’d missed a good portion of the first year of her life. In truth, he probably owed Jenna quite a few more apologies. But one had been a good start.
“Thanks, again for letting me stay this week.”
“Of course.”
Jenna had shown up on his doorstep exactly one week ago today. Asher could tell that Blake had enjoyed having her mom there. And he was getting to see his daughter more because Blake didn’t spend all her time in her room.
They ate dinner together every night as a family and after dinner, they played games, watched movies, and one night the three of them had even gone in the hot tub that Blake had been so excited about.
Asher had to admit that it had been nice to spend the time all together. It was the first time he could ever remember feeling like a real family unit. There was only one thing missing this week.
Ava.
He hadn’t seen or spoken to her since the night they’d spent together. She’d texted him at the beginning of the week when he was on a shift, but he hadn’t seen it until later that night. As soon as he did, he messaged her back explaining that Blake’s mom had shown up unexpectedly and would be staying for Blake’s birthday.
She’d ‘liked’ his message, but hadn’t actually responded. That was on Monday evening and was the last interaction they’d had. He’d wanted to reach out to her, but he didn’t know if she wanted to hear from him and he wasn’t sure what he would say.
She was either giving him space or she just wasn’t that interested in him. He’d thought about reaching out to her again but hesitated because he’d overheard Blake saying that it was “cringey” to double text someone. That’s how out of his element he was. He was taking dating advice from his thirteen, no make that fourteen-year-old.
Not that he and Ava were dating.
They’d spent a night together. He wasn’t sure what that meant these days. He’d never felt more of his thirty-six years than he had this past week. This new world of dating was so different than anything he’d ever experienced before. The only woman he’d ever had anything serious with was Jenna and their relationship was different. They’d met in high school, and been on and off until she got pregnant, then they’d gotten married.
She was another reason he hadn’t contacted Ava again. He didn’t feel right about making plans with her while Jenna was in town, not that there was anything going on with his ex. This week had reminded him just how wrong the two of them were romantically. As friends, they were great. But they just didn’t have the connection that was needed to be in a relationship.
Once Blake’s birthday was over, he assumed his ex would be flying home and then he could move forward, or at least try to move forward with Ava. The problem was, he had no clue when that would be. Jenna hadn’t mentioned when she was going home.
“You and Blake seem really happy here. I wasn’t sure about the move, but being here, I can see that this town is good for you both.” Jenna commented as they weaved their way through the crowds before asking, “Is Ava coming to the festival today?”
“I don’t know,” Asher answered honestly.
Over the course of her visit Jenna had brought Ava up in conversation quite a few times. Never when Blake was around, thankfully, but when he and Jenna were alone it was her favorite topic. She’d said that even Stevie Wonder could see something was going on between them in the videos that Blake had posted on Snapchat. She’d said that Ava was pretty. She’d said that Blake really liked her. She’d said a lot.
Asher hadn’t commented one way or the other on the subject.
The truth was, he had no idea what was going on between the two of them or if she was even interested in him. And if she had been interested, if him being MIA this week had completely ruined any chance he had. Or if there was something there and he did have a chance if his daughter would accept Ava being a part of his life once she knew who she was.
Which was why he was anxious for his ex to leave. Once she did, he’d sit down and have a talk with Blake about Ava and explain who she was and that he was interested in her. That wasn’t a conversation he felt comfortable having with Jenna around, but he didn’t want to make her feel unwelcome or like he was counting the days until she went back to Boston.
Even though he was.
Jenna stopped walking and turned toward him. “You really like her, don’t you?”
In all the times she’d brought up the subject of Ava, Jenna had never come out and directly asked him how he felt about her. Now that she had, he wasn’t going to lie to her. He turned to face her, but was spared admitting his feelings when his daughter rushed up to them.
“Mom do you want to go get our faces painted since Dad has to go work at the booth?”
Asher could see that as happy as he was with the interruption, Jenna was equally unhappy. But, like any good mom, she smiled and put on a happy face as she enthused, “Absolutely!”
