Ava nodded. “Pray she doesn’t wake up.”
Walking at the same rocking pace she’d used in the living room, she took Gracie to her crib, and Chay helped her get the baby settled. She made a little moan and then shoved her fist in her mouth, sucking on it as she continued to sleep.
They both backed out of the room as quietly as possible. Neither speaking until they were in the kitchen.
“I can heat dinner up on the stovetop, which should be quiet. I have some fresh bread and a cake that my grandmother made,” Chay said.
“Sounds lovely. Would you mind if I went and got a little more date-ready?” she asked him. She didn’t want to admit it, but she needed a cry to relieve the stress of the afternoon and evening.
“You look lovely, but go on. I’ll get her if she wakes,” Chay said.
“Thanks. Did your grandmother have any advice?”
“To let her cry it out,” he said wryly. “Guess Gracie already had that idea.”
She smiled at him and then closed her eyes. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Just being you,” she said, realizing how true those words were. He’d been calm, hadn’t minded she wasn’t ready for their date or focused on him. Probably why she’d agreed to the date. There was something about Chay that she just plain liked.
“Can’t be anyone else,” he admitted. “Go on.”
She left him in the kitchen. She wanted a shower and needed it to mask the sounds of her own crying, so she hopped in, but asshe washed herself she realized that having Chay at her side was more helpful than those tears normally were. Just by showing her that he’d been unsure as well made her feel better. How the heck did first-time parents cope?
It was harder than she’d imagined having a baby. Poor Annie Ross, who’d been alone—how had she handled it? Was that why she’d been out in the wilderness? Ava would give anything to have a chat with Gracie’s mom. Anything to have her still alive so that maybe she could help Annie and little Gracie. So that their family would still be together.
Chay didn’t go on a lot of dates, so he didn’t have a standard to judge this one by, but if he had to rate it he’d say it was one of his best. To keep the noise down in the house, Ava had mentioned she had a fire pit, and they’d gone out to her patio to eat the stew in front of the fire, bundled under blankets.
She was pressed next to his side, which was doing all kinds of things for his libido, making him very aware of the shape and feel of her. But he didn’t need her close to be in this state where she was concerned. There was something about Ava that just got to him.
“When I was growing up, my dad used to do this on the weekends.”
“Make a fire?”
“Yeah, he said it was devices down and time to get our butts outside. I have to say your stew would give his chili a run for the money,” Ava said.
“Nice to know. What devices? Did you have a cell phone?”
“Yeah, but that was just for texting…remember the old days when you had to use a numeric keypad to text?”
He laughed. “You really had to work to send a text.”
“Yeah. Looking back I’m not sure it was worth it to ask Sydney or Frankie if they wanted to twin on Friday.”
“Twin?”
“Yeah, that was big in middle school. We’d match outfits for the day and do our hair the same. Like high pony, braids or straight with the straightener, with the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen products we’d all begged our moms to get for us from Walmart.”
“Wow, that sounds like something. Are there pictures?”
“Unfortunately, but luckily they are all at my parents’ house, probably in a box somewhere. What about you?”
He shrugged. “Not really. I didn’t get a phone until I left for Salt Lake.”
“To be fair, I never really needed one,” Ava admitted. “Did you have a Nintendo DS?”
“Nope. None of that. I had my grandmother, books and a big chip on my shoulder and a grudge to nurse.”
