‘But I have more than a cat to consider. What about Phoebe? What if it doesn’t last with Ava, and she leaves Phoebe?’
‘It will last, Cillian, if you’re willing to make it last. To work through issues instead of hopping on the first ferry when you encounter something that throws you.’ Beth pushes herself from my desk and into a standing position. ‘But what you need to decide is if you’re willing to put that work in. And to take the risk.’
And that’s exactly what it boils down to.
Risk.
Because it’s not just my heart I’m risking, it’s Phoebe’s too.
Friday 22ndDecember
I pull up outside the gates of St. Jude’s.
‘You won’t be late now, Dad, will you?’ Phoebe eyeballs me from the back of the car. ‘It starts at twelve. Don’t get caught up at work and forget, will you?’
I turn to face her and pat her bouncing knee. ‘I promise, princess, I’ll be sitting in the front row waiting for you to step onto that stage. You’re going to be the best Mary that ever was.’
‘And you’ll save Ava the seat next to you, right?’ Her optimistic tone tears my heart in two.
‘I think she has to work, princess, I’m sorry.’
I still haven't heard from Ava. I half expected her to breeze into my office yesterday and kick my ass for bailing on the second day of her brother’s wedding, but what did I expect?
I asked her for space and I’m getting it.
In fact, all I see is empty space.
The empty space on my couch where she sat the night before we went to Huxley.
The empty space in my car where she sat next to me, telling me how she was going to get married at the castle.
The empty space across my dinner table where she ate with Phoebe and me the night that Teagan left.
The empty space in my bed where I can’t stop imagining her beautiful body sprawled out for me.
I’m beginning to think space is overrated.
Yes, it’s a risk letting someone else into our lives, but the reward of having Ava’s stunning face and sunny personality around is worth it.
‘She said she’d be here,’ Phoebe insists, jutting her jaw out with a familiar determination. ‘Save her a seat.’
I unstrap my daughter and help her out the car. ‘She’ll be here, Dad.’ Soft grey eyes gaze up at me overflowing with hope and trust.
I need to take a leaf out of my daughter’s book. If she can let another woman into her heart after her own mother left, then so can I.
I nod. ‘She’ll be here.’
I know she will, because I’m going to do what I should have done the second she got home last night. I’m going to go and get her.
She wants the fairy tales and forever.
I’m going to give it to her. Or die trying.
But I’m going to need a bit of help.
ChapterForty-One
AVA
