“You can stay,” she said grudgingly. “But I get to pick the movie.”
“Fine by me.”
“It might be a cartoon.”
“I’m in.”
“With singing.”
He leaned toward her and smiled. “I don’t scare that easily.”
The last thing Shannon expected for her day was to have lunch with Ava. The phone call and invitation had both been a surprise, and before she realized what was happening, she’d found herself agreeing, which had been difficult enough, but now she had to tell her mother.
Since the crying incident, she’d done her best to avoid Cindy except when they had to talk about work. As her mom hadn’t made any effort to hang out with her, not getting personal was easy. Although she knew that at some point they had to get back on the wedding planning, and yes, she really did need to come clean about the engagement, but there never seemed to be a good time. Every situation felt fraught and uncomfortable and confusing.
She hovered outside of her mother’s office for at least twenty seconds before sucking in a breath and purposefully walking in.
“Ava called me,” she said when her mom looked up from her computer. “She asked me to lunch. I didn’t mean to say yes, butyou know that I can’t seem to stand up for myself very well, so it’s happening in about an hour. Want to come with me?”
Cindy stared at her wide-eyed. “Ava called? Why? What did she want?”
“I guess to invite me to lunch. I don’t want to go. I barely know her, and I’m worried about what she’s going to ask me. It’s all so strange. That she was going to adopt me and that you kept me. I’m glad you’re my mom and my life is what it is.” At least, except for her inability to figure out her future. But even with that weighing on her, she certainly didn’t want to have been raised by someone else.
“Should I cancel?”
Cindy drew in a breath, then offered a fake happy smile. “No, of course not. You should go. Ava’s a very interesting woman. I’m sure she’s been caught up in the past like I have. She’ll want to get to know you a little. It’ll be fine. Really. It’s all good.”
“You don’t mean any of that.”
“I mean all of it,” her mother lied. “Shannon, you were going to be Ava’s daughter. She loved you long before you were born. I messed up. Oh, not in keeping you but in how I handled the situation. I hurt her very badly, which is on me. I understand why she wants to spend time with you. She won’t say or do anything to make you feel badly. You should go.”
“Come with?” Shannon asked, her voice small.
“You’ll be fine.” She waved toward the door. “You should get going. You don’t want to be late.”
Shannon reluctantly walked back to her office. After collecting her bag, she went to her car and started the drive to Ava’s exclusive, upscale neighborhood. She tried to distract herself by admiring the large houses and trying to pick the one she liked best, but the rock in her stomach kept getting bigger and bigger until she couldn’t ignore the weight of the nerves.
Finally she pulled into the wide circular drive and parked.
“It’s just lunch,” she murmured as she walked up to the frontdoor. “I can do lunch.” Later she would swing by Aaron’s work and get a hug to sustain her for the rest of the day.
Ava answered the door almost immediately, as if she’d been waiting. She offered a gracious smile.
“Thank you so much for coming,” she said, stepping back and waving Shannon inside. “I know my invitation was unexpected. To be honest, I wasn’t planning on reaching out, but when I woke up this morning, I couldn’t stop thinking about us spending a little time together. I appreciate you indulging me.”
“Of course.” She offered what she hoped was a friendly smile. “It was a quiet day at work, so it was easy for me to get away.”
“That makes me happy.”
They stared at each other for a second. Shannon had no idea what Ava was thinking, but she found herself comparing this woman to her mother. They really did look alike—the similarities were surprising.
“You look so much like my mom,” she blurted. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be rude or anything. I guess I’d forgotten.”
“You look like her, too,” Ava said graciously. “Back when she was close to your age.”
“At least I know I’ll age well.”
“You will. Now, about lunch. I thought we’d eat in the sun room,” Ava said, turning and leading the way through the house. “There’s a lovely view of the gardens.”
