Second Chance Baby

“This is about me,” Ava finally said.

“No, it’s not,” I said.

She looked at me with a sarcastic scoff. “Of course it is. Why else would he want both of us to come here today?”

“Okay, so it’s probably about you. But it’s not just you. It’s about both of us. And remember what I said. It doesn’t matter what Tom thinks. It doesn’t matter what he says about us being together. It’s not going to change anything.”

Just then, Tom walked into the restaurant, striding toward us. I couldn’t help but notice the papers he held in front of him. He sat down across from us and set the papers down on the table.

“Hi, there,” he said. “Ava, how are you feeling?”

She looked hesitant, almost like she thought the question was loaded and she had to give the exact right answer.

“Better, thank you,” she said.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

Tom looked over at me. He gave the hint of a smile. “Well, I was going to say thank you for meeting me for lunch, but I guess Mason’s ready to just skip right over all the niceties of the afternoon.”

“We don’t need niceties,” I said. “We need to know what’s going on. You never just meet up with people for lunch. So, what is this?”

Tom slid the papers over in front of us. “I’m going to need you to sign these.”

“Sign what?” Ava asked. She picked up the papers and looked at them briefly, and then her eyes snapped back up to Tom. “A contract?”

“What kind of contract?” I asked, reaching over to take the papers from her so I could read them for myself.

“Don’t think of it as a contract,” Tom said. “Think of it more like a special agreement between the three of us.”

“Among the three of us,” Ava said.

There was an acidic edge to her voice, and I wondered if Tom should have been the one to be nervous about meeting her for lunch rather than the other way around.

“Among,” Tom corrected himself. “It’s about dating in the workplace. I want to make sure all of us have an understanding about what a relationship between the two of you would entail and any implications it might have on the bar.”

“I really don’t think that’s necessary,” I said.

Ava shook her head. “Neither do I. That seems like it’s going a bit overboard.”

“No, it’s not,” Tom said. “This is just a precaution so if something happens, Ava can’t sue any of us.”

Ava’s mouth fell open. She looked offended as hell, and I couldn’t blame her.

“I would never do that,” she said.

“I know that,” Tom said.

“Then why did you bring it up?” I asked.

“It’s just a precaution,” he said again. “Just a way for me to cover everybody.”

“You mean, to cover your own asses,” Ava said. “This has nothing to do with protecting me. This is about making sure I don’t run off again, then decide I’m going to sue the bar for sexual harassment.”

“Don’t sign that,” I said. I took the papers from her hand and put them back on the table, sliding them back toward Tom. “We’re not going to sign it. This is absolutely ridiculous. I told you nothing is going to change the fact that I’m in love with Ava and we’re going to be together. You can’t intimidate me into rethinking my relationship with her by some absurd bullshit legal documents.”

“Mason, Ava, listen to me. I fully support the two of you being together,” Tom said.

I blinked at him. “What?”

“You two were always meant to be together. And I’m happy for you. As long as you can keep it out of the way of work. I just want to make sure things are going to be okay for all of us, including you Ava. I don’t want anything interfering with the success of the bar.”

Ava and I exchanged glances. I nodded, and she nodded in return.

I reached for the papers, and Tom handed them over to me. He withdrew a pen from his pocket and gave it to Ava. We both signed the papers, and I handed them back to him.

“Here,” I said. “All signed and secure.”

“Thank you,” he said. “I know I might seem harsh about this situation, but I want both of you to know I love you and I’m glad you’re back together. Really. I watched you go through everything, and as painful as I know it was, at least you can see it as a positive now.”

“What do you mean?” Ava asked.

“I just mean because of how everything worked out, you two can come back together now without the complications of having a kid to juggle on top of everything else,” Tom said.

I nodded in agreement. “It’s a good place for us to be. We have time in the future for all that. Right now, I’m happy to just get to really enjoy everything like it’s the first time.”