by Natalie Ann
It was definitely slow, but man, did they learn a lot about each other and had endless conversations on top of it. Some nights it was hard to get off the phone and it made her think of those old eighties movies when the teen lay on her bed on her back with her feet on the wall twirling the phone cord.
But now she was on the ferry getting ready to dock. The moving truck was on with her. Surprisingly it felt odd watching Plymouth get further away in the distance. It’s not like she’d never go back, but in her heart it almost felt like goodbye.
That her new life was starting here on Amore Island.
Unfortunately she had no idea what was in store for her here.
Her credit was in shambles. Her identity still stolen. Hailey was working hard to get that forty thousand wiped clean and managed half of it, the other half she was still hustling and sending whatever legal forms she had to.
Griffin hadn’t found anything out yet, but then again, he had another full-time job so he was fitting it in when he could.
It seemed everyone was doing something and she had to accept that and try to move on. She had to put it all from her mind and concentrate on her job, her new home, and the new relationship that might be able to physically get off the ground now that they were residents in the same place.
Being on opposite ends of the island wasn’t the end of the world. About thirty minutes, it ended up being. Her workplace right in the middle. There were lots of places to meet for dinner without the other driving too far at night. She wasn’t concerned in the least, but Seth had something more important to get home to.
But the good news was...after she was done moving everything in today, he and Adele were coming with a housewarming gift tomorrow. She thought that was super sweet and offered to cook them dinner which he gladly jumped on. She’d even told Seth to tell Adele, she’d teach her to braid her doll’s hair.
“Ready to put us to work?” Hudson and Carson said when she pulled in front of her new rental home. She hadn’t expected them to be there today, nor to say that the minute she stepped out of her car.
“You guys don’t have to work at the hospital?” she asked.
“I’m on call,” Carson said. “But might not be needed. Until then, I can help.”
“I’m off,” Hudson said. “If he goes in, you can just bring me home later.”
She could always rely on her family and that was part of the reason she didn’t have any problems with Seth putting his first.
“Thanks, guys. The movers will bring everything into the house and put stuff together.”
The moving truck was backing into the driveway, so she went to the front door and opened it up.
“You can’t have that much,” Hudson said. “Your condo was only one bedroom.”
“That’s why this is a small truck,” she said. “Amanda said there is a bed in Kayla’s old room that Kayla left behind and had no need for. I told them they could leave it for now as a guest bed upstairs. But everything else is moving in on the first floor. I probably won’t even go upstairs.”
“It’s a big place,” Carson said, following behind her. “Nice though. Lots of charm.”
“Drew keeps his places up to date,” she said. “But in this case, Amanda and her roommates took really good care of it. I like the colors and will keep them.”
The front living room was a nice light taupe color, the dining room a pretty blue. She didn’t have a dining room table so she’d probably set her office up in there so she did have first floor living.
“Lots of space down here,” Hudson said. “It’s bigger than your condo was on this floor alone.”
“It is. I told Drew I’d take it without looking at it, but when I came over two weeks ago, I stopped in to look it all over while they were moving everything out and was stunned by the size. I’m actually thrilled the master is on the first floor so it didn’t seem so daunting to have all this space.”
“It’s a good location,” Carson said. “Only about five minutes from the docks.”
“True, but I don’t have a need to go back on the ferry anytime soon. I’m here to stay. Hopefully not too long in this house, but it’s nice to know I’ve got it.”
“Hey,” Hudson said, coming over and rubbing a hand on her arm. “This mess will get straightened out. We know you wanted your own place, but this is a pretty sweet house to live in and it’s all your own right now. Though you could get roommates if you needed to.”
Her brother was grinning at her. “Not on your life. Money isn’t an issue and Hailey is clearing up that debt. The issue is getting a loan and how long it will take for that to get cleared up.” She held her hand up. “Don’t say it, I know Mom and Dad would buy me a place or put it in their name if I wanted it and I could pay them or transfer it over when things cleared up. I don’t have it as bad as others would, but they are doing enough as it is.”
“I know,” Carson said. “It’s hard in your thirties to need your parents to do things for you.”
“Exactly. I’m paying my bills just fine. I’ve got a lot of breathing room, but it’s a little scary to know all my money is tied up and being held.”
Hailey had told her she didn’t need to do that. That many wouldn’t, but it was the safe thing to do until they could get all the debt swept out to sea and know that there weren’t any more cards out there incurring debt.
At the moment, until this was all squared away, she didn’t want to risk that someone could access those funds and until that debt was cleared she wasn’t taking any chances. Now, she wasn’t allowing anyone else to have the ability to go in and take her money. At this point it was safe.
“I’m sure it is scary,” Carson said.
“Hailey has done everything that needs to be done. Police reports have been filed. ID theft complaint filed with the FTC. My social security number has been locked and I’ve got a security company monitoring all my credit activity. To me, it’s best I’m not doing anything either so there is no confusion on what is legit and what isn’t.”
“You’re right,” Carson said. “It’s a nuisance, but you’re better to do it this way.”
“That’s the perfect word for it,” she said.
“Where do you want us to start moving things first?” she heard from one of the movers that made his way into the kitchen. They’d been in the truck talking when she came in with her brothers.
“Why don’t you move the bedroom furniture in first and anything for that room, then make your way to through the kitchen and living room. My desk and anything listed office will go in the dining room.”
He nodded his head and went back outside, Hudson asking, “What do you want us to do?”
“They will put the bed together. There are already mounts on the walls for a TV in the bedroom and living room if you want to set my TVs up. Internet is turned on, but all that needs to get working.”
“I’ll do that,” Carson said. “Leave the electronics to us. We’ll need passwords for your internet unless you don’t want to tell us.”
“They have to be set up. You can do it and give it to me. Maybe it’s better to have someone else set them up than me doing it. It won’t be anything I’d think of,” she said, laughing and knowing her brothers could be creative.
“Leave it to us,” Hudson said and then moved out of the way waiting for those things to be brought in while she would get to work unpacking boxes and staying out of everyone’s way.
Several hours later, the movers left and she was there still going through boxes with her brothers.
“Thanks, guys, but you don’t have to stay here and waste your time unpacking with me.”
“We’ve got nothing else better to do. Unless you’d rather put everything away on your own?” Carson said.
“No. I’m not that fussy.” She’d been telling them where to put dishes or glasses and pans, but she didn’t care if they were arranged a certain way. “My clothes are all hung up and bathroom items taken care of. I didn’t have a lot of stuff.”
>
“Which is good. By the time you put your head on the pillow tonight it will be on clean sheets and in an organized home,” Hudson said.
“Can’t get any better than that,” she said. “Other than letting me at least order us pizza for dinner.”
“See, you are the best sister there is,” Carson said.
“Only because I’m feeding you. But when it comes to brothers, no one could ask for better.”
“We’ve got your back,” Hudson said. “And since it’s just the three of us, you know what I’m going to ask next.”
She sighed, completely expecting this conversation. “Of course. And I don’t have a lot of answers for you on what is going on with Seth.”
“Mom and Dad said you went on a date with him a month ago,” Carson said.
She always found it funny that her brothers alternated with their questions and comments. “I did. Life has been busy for both of us. We haven’t seen each other since, but we do talk at night several times a week. We are getting to know each other well.”
“And now that you are on the island, when will you see him again?” Hudson asked.
“He and Adele are bringing me a housewarming gift tomorrow and I’m cooking dinner for them,” she said.
Her brothers looked at each other the way they always did with a silent language that drove her insane. “So bringing his daughter into the relationship right away?” Carson asked.
“I’m not sure what we have, but Seth has told Adele we were friends. She’d already met me and knew about the date, though she didn’t know it was a date. No reason to hide anything. If it doesn’t work out, then we can still see each other on the island and say hi without Adele knowing any differently.”
“And what do you want?” Hudson asked
“Right now, I just want possibilities and that is exactly what I’ve got.”
14
On The Lookout
Seth found Ava’s house easily enough on Sunday afternoon. The hardest part was calming down Adele who was gabbing faster than a woodpecker attacks a tree.
“I’m so excited,” Adele said, bouncing in her booster seat in the back of his SUV. “Do you think Ava remembered that she said she’d show me how to braid my doll’s hair?”
“She remembered,” he said. “I told you that.”
“I know. I forgot. You don’t think I brought too many, do you?”
He wanted to roll his eyes. They’d had a little debate this morning on how many to bring. If he didn’t stop her at three she would have emptied her room of them all. “It’s a good number.”
He shut the vehicle off, Adele knowing she could get out now. “Can I ring the bell?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said. She had her bookbag over her shoulder and he had a plant in his hand sitting on top of a bakery box. He wasn’t good when it came to housewarming gifts and figured this would be work.
Ava opened the door before Adele could lift her finger from the button and he liked to think that maybe she was on the lookout and excited for them to be here.
He wasn’t sure the last time he’d spent so much time getting to know a woman without seeing them. Not even in high school.
But the past month, they’d spent more time on the phone talking and texting back and forth than they had in each other’s presence. He was hoping now that she lived on the island they could change that.
“Hello there,” Ava said, a big smile on her face. A definite welcoming one. “I’m so glad you two could come to dinner.”
“We brought you a plant and a chocolate cake.”
“A chocolate cake,” she said, her hands clasping together. “That’s the best type of cake to have.”
“I told you, Daddy,” Adele said, looking at him. “He wanted to get one with strawberries and I told him everyone loved chocolate.”
“I like strawberries too,” she said, but then tried to playfully shield her mouth with her hand and whisper to his daughter, “but chocolate anything happens to be my all-time favorite.”
He laughed and would have to remember that.
“This is a nice area,” he said.
“It is. Bond Realty has a wide range of places they own and rent out. Some are vacation rentals, others are permanent residences.”
“Just like my house,” he said.
“You rent your house from Bond Realty?” she asked, holding the door open and then letting them walk in.
“No. The bank owns it. It’s a perk to get someone here,” he said, laughing.
“It’s a nice perk to have.”
“Especially since I know real estate is hard to come by here. It’s plenty big enough and up to date too.”
“I told Daddy if we were going to live on an island we should be on a beach,” Adele said.
“I think that’s a good plan, but not even everyone in my family has houses on the water,” she said. “Just my parents right now. It’s probably mixed between those that live on the island, depending on what side they hail from.”
He would have expected most to have beachfront homes, but then realized that her generation might not all be in a position to buy one at this point in their life. Even with the loan she was looking to take out for a home, unless she planned on putting down a massive down payment she wouldn’t have been getting a property on the water either.
“This is a very big house,” he said looking around.
“It is,” she said. “There are three bedrooms and a full bath upstairs that I won’t even use. The dining room to the left is my office.”
He looked over and saw the desk and an end table with a few plants on it and was glad he decided to do that.
“Nice,” he said, pushing the gift toward her.
She took the plant off the top. “This is going in my living room,” she said, moving to the right. She had a few more plants on tables there and she shifted some around and put his down.
“Let me bring you to the kitchen.”
He followed behind her and saw the eat-in kitchen. It was nice and modern with some older charm like his. Dark brown molding rather than the white of newer homes. “I’m assuming you’ve got a bedroom on this floor?”
“I do. That door off the kitchen is to the master suite. This floor is more space than I had in my condo so it works for me.”
“Do you have any beds upstairs?” Adele asked.
“I do. Just one that was left here. It’s for a guest.”
“So I could spend the night and have somewhere to stay?” his daughter asked, shocking him more than he could imagine. She’d never spent the night at anyone’s house other than his mother’s. She never asked and yet here she was asking the woman he wanted to get to know better.
He looked up to see how Ava would react, let alone respond. She was watching him and he could see she wanted him to take the lead. “I think Ava needs some time to get used to her new house before she has any overnight guests.”
“Just a little bit,” she said, grinning at him.
He wasn’t sure what to make of that statement. If she was agreeing with him for Adele’s sake or it’d be a while before he was here. It’s not like he could ask her that either with his daughter in the room.
“Can you show me how to braid now?” Adele asked, pulling her backpack off and putting it down. “I brought three dolls. Daddy said I couldn’t bring more, but I wanted to.”
“Three is a good number,” she said.
Adele started to laugh. “Daddy said that too.”
“Great minds.”
“Great minds, what?” Adele asked.
“Great minds think alike,” he said. “But sometimes people just say great minds and the rest is assumed.”
“Okay,” Adele said. She was such an accepting child and he should be thankful for that.
“Can I get either of you something to drink?” Ava asked. “And does that cake need to be refrigerated?”
“Probably,” he said, handing it over. “It’s got a mousse filling.”
> “Chocolate cake and mousse. Does it have chocolate frosting too?”
“Yes,” Adele said, looking up from her dolls. “I told Daddy, all chocolate.”
“I think I might need a glass of milk when I have a piece of that.”
“I drink milk with my chocolate too,” Adele said. “Did you hear that, Daddy? I’m just like Ava.”
“I did hear that,” he said, grateful that everything was going so well. “I’m good,” he said to the offer of a drink.
“I just want to learn to braid. Can you show me now?”
“I sure can,” Ava said. “Why don’t we go to the living room and get comfortable. Then we can talk about our dinner choices while we work on your dolls and give them a makeover.”
“I love makeovers,” Adele said, jumping up and running to the front of the house before them.
“She is wound today. I’m sorry.”
Ava reached her hand out and laid it on his and the contact was enough for him to lean down and give her a quick kiss on the lips. She rewarded him with a massive smile and a squeeze of his hand. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you could sneak that in with her not knowing.”
“It’s best right now if she thinks we are still only friends,” he said quietly.
“I understand,” she said. “Now let’s go give those dolls their makeovers.”
Thirty minutes later, Adele seemed to be getting the hang of it. “I like that I can look at the one already done and then do it myself the same time as you.”
“That is why three was a good number,” Ava said, winking at Seth.
“Is that why you wanted to only have three, Daddy?”
She looked over at Seth to see his reaction while Adele still had her head down working. “Yeah, sure.”
“Good response,” she said to him. “So, let’s talk dinner choices. I’ve got a few things and thought I’d let you choose as the guests. I’ve got ground beef to make burgers or...tacos.”
Adele’s head snapped up fast. “I love tacos.”