“Sure, of course,” I agreed. We said our goodbyes and hung up. I shook my head, trying to forget about the question of Ava’s paternity.
When I got home, Stone was using the gym, and I gritted my teeth. But I didn’t feel like going for a run or a bike ride. I shook my head and walked over to him, waiting until he finished the rep he was working on. “Hey, man, do you mind if I work out as well?” I asked.
“Nah, go for it,” Stone said. He shrugged. “Actually might be better if we push each other a little, right?”
“Yeah, right,” I agreed. I tried not to sound too
grateful, but I knew that with him pushing me to work harder, I would have no choice but to stop thinking about Harper and Ava.
We worked out together for a little over an hour, and everything that Stone did, I tried to do one better, my competitive nature coming out. By the end of it, we were both exhausted. But I felt a little flash of pride that Stone was the first one to give up.
He laughed and set down the weights, shaking his head. “You’re a beast, man,” he said.
I snorted. “Lots of training,” I quipped.
“Yeah.” Stone cocked his head to the side, looking like he wanted to ask something, and I wondered if he could tell that my mind was still stubbornly stuck on Harper. But whatever he was thinking, he ended up shaking his head. “Well, go on. You deserve the first shower.”
“Sure, yeah,” I said, heading into my room to grab my things.
I still couldn’t seem to stop thinking about Harper, but at least now I was thinking different things: more about the previous night together and less about the possibility that Ava was my daughter as much as hers.
I turned the shower on cold, hoping to calm my body down a little. But it only made me think back to cold showers in Kuwait, and that led my mind straight back to Harper.
I was totally and completely fixated on her, I realized. But I couldn’t tell if that was a bad thing.
27
Harper
It had been a really long time since Mom came over to my place, so to have her there felt kind of weird. I’d spent half of Saturday tidying the place up, wanting it to be even cleaner than it normally was. I couldn’t remember the last time I had dusted.
Not that I thought Mom was going to judge me. She knew exactly how difficult it was to juggle the household duties against taking care of a young daughter. And it wasn’t like the place was a disaster zone to begin with. I just wanted it to be extra nice.
Now, it almost looked like the place could have been featured in some catalog. For the first time, I realized I really needed to add some more personalization to it. Maybe I’d have some of Ava’s photos printed out and hang those up. Once Ava was feeling better, when I had more time.
As weird as it was to have Mom there, I really appreciated her help. She cooked us a big breakfast on Sunday morning, and then she looked after Ava, playing with her, while I worked on a couple of pieces for the newspaper. I was just glad that I wasn’t feeling sick either. If I caught whatever Ava had, I would have been miserable.
I could tell that at this point, Ava was milking the cold for all that it was worth, though. I knew the difference between her real cough and her fake cough at this point, and I knew she was just trying to get her Grammie to coddle her. But I hid a smile, not trying to stop it.
At least, not until I walked in on her negotiating with Mom to watch Ghostbusters. “But the doggies are so cute!” Ava pleaded.
Mom frowned at the computer, reading the movie synopsis. “I don’t know, Ava. This sounds like it’s made for older kids,” she said.
“It is,” I said. “That is not something for you, little munchkin.”
Ava pouted. “But doggies,” she said.
I glanced at my watch. “I think it’s nap time anyway,” I said. “I bet if you think really hard about it, you can dream about doggies. And that’ll be more fun than watching that movie anyway.”
Ava looked like she wanted to fight me on it, but then she yawned and rubbed at her eyes.
“All right,” I said, scooping her up. “Nap time, it is. Let’s go.”
“All right,” Ava said, giving an exaggerated sigh. She blew a kiss toward her grandma, letting me carry her off into her room.
Once I’d settled her into her nap and picked up a few things in her room, I went back out to the living room. “Coffee?” Mom asked.
“I’d love some,” I said gratefully.