“Honestly, I don’t really want to talk about it right now, either way,” I sighed. “Please.”
“Okay,” Maisie said, holding up both her hands. “So Ava did the most adorable thing tonight.” I smiled and let her words soothe me. I still had Ava, and everything was right in my world.
Almost everything, a traitorous part of my brain reminded me. I pushed those thoughts away. I’d need to talk to Ace soon. Tomorrow, maybe. Tell him that I couldn’t do this anymore. I’d rather lose him because I pushed him away than lose him because he never wanted to speak to me again.
I slept restlessly, caught in dreams about Ace, dreams about Ava, nebulous dreams about an unhappy future. I woke up feeling terrible, not sure what had woken me up. Then I realized Ava was there, at the side of my bed.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I said, rolling onto my side and propping myself up on my elbow. “Good morning.” I could always fake a smile for Ava if I had to. I wasn’t going to let her know there was anything bad in the world.
“I feel yucky,” Ava said, making a face.
“Uh oh,” I said, reaching out and touching the back of my hand to her forehead. I frowned. “Oh sweetie, you’re burning up,” I said. “You want to get in bed with Mama?”
Ava nodded miserably and crawled in next to me, worming her body up against mine. I lightly stroked her hair for a moment.
“I need to get the thermometer,” I told her gently. “Is that okay?” I didn’t want to leave her, but I knew that as soon as I called the pediatrician, he was going to ask what her temperature was. Ava wasn’t sick very often, but she’d been sick a couple of times, and I knew the routine.
Ava nodded and relaxed her grip on my shirt. I slid out of my bed, tucking the blankets around her, and went quickly to the bathroom. “All right, sit up,” I said when I got back. “Let’s get this thing down under your tongue. That’s perfect.”
I waited anxiously for the numbers to pop up. Only a few degrees higher than normal, but even that could be dangerous if it was prolonged. I called the pediatrician and quickly described what I knew.
“Poor Ava,” Dr. Fleischner said when I told him. “It doesn’t sound like anything too serious yet, and I’m afraid I’m out of the office for the morning. If you’d like, you can bring her by this afternoon, around three? Until then, make sure she’s getting plenty of liquids, water and juice, or ice pops if you have any. Ginger ale is a good choice, too. A nice bath is another great idea, and if her fever gets any worse, try some ibuprofen or Tylenol. If it’s really bad, you know when to take her to the hospital. But I doubt it’ll get there. There’s a bug going around at the moment; it seems like everyone’s getting it. So I’m sure she’ll feel better in a day or two.”
“Thanks, Dr. Fleischner,” I sighed. “I will still bring her in this afternoon, if that’s okay.” I didn’t want to be one of those parents who brought their kid in every time they got sick, but today, I just needed to know that Ava was going to be all right.
“I’ll see you this afternoon,” the pediatrician promised. “Call me back if anything changes.”
“Thanks,” I said again. I crawled back into bed with Ava, holding her close to me, trying to calm my mind. At least I wasn’t worrying so much about Ace now, I thought. Ava had always been my number one concern, ever since I found out I was pregnant with her.
And if that meant that Ace and I could never be together, then so be it.
24
Ace
I started out Friday feeling good. Better than I had since coming back home. Oh, there were still those nagging details in the back of my mind. Could I really handle a relationship? What about Ava? And where was Ava’s father in all of this?
But things between Harper and I had gone so well the previous night that I just felt like things were on track to work out, somehow and some way.
I whistled as I walked to work that morning.
The day only got better when George called me into his office later that afternoon. “Sit down, sit down,” he said, gesturing toward the chair across from his. He looked excited. Giddy, almost. I could tell he had big news.
“I’ve been talking to my bank. About using some of my retirement funds as the startup for the new training school,” he said slowly. “I know you already know that, I don’t know why I’m telling you again.” He rubbed his hands together. “Except that the exciting thing is, they’ve agreed!”
“Oh wow,” I said. “So what’s the next step?”
“Well, it gets even better than that. The real estate agent found a place for us that she said would be perfect. I went over there to check it out yesterday afternoon, after work, and I agreed. We’ll rent at the moment—the lease is fair—and if all goes well, we can buy the place within a couple years!”
I blinked at him, my mind moving sluggishly. I guess even though I was committed to this, I just hadn’t expected things to move so quickly. “Wow,” I said.
“You are still interested in partnering with me, aren’t you?” George asked, but I could tell from the teasing tone of voice that he wasn’t really worried. “I could really use someone with your skills over there, you know.”
“I’m definitely still interested,” I said. “I’m just surprised, that’s all.” I shook my head. “George, that’s amazing.”
George grinned at me. “So I’ve taken the liberty of having a lawyer draw up some paperwork for us. We can still make changes and everything else. But if you’re okay with it, I’ll go ahead and schedule a meeting so that we can all sit down together. Just formalities.”
“Right, sure, of course,” I said, nodding at him.