Family Bonds- Ava and Seth (Amore Island Book 5)

by Natalie Ann

  Ava had driven her own car and they’d gone bowling and then had some lunch. A beach day was out of the question as it would be too hard to get Adele there and then leave at a set time if Ava had to go.

  And yes, Ava had gotten a few calls that day, but nothing major until they were finishing lunch when someone was going into labor. They’d just started so she’d told the hospital to call when the patient was closer. A few hours later, Ava had said her goodbyes and gone to do her job.

  They’d talked on Sunday but hadn’t seen each other again and here it was Wednesday and her brother was wanting to see him.

  He’d never had an older brother seek him out when he was dating someone and wasn’t particularly looking forward to this now, but he had met the guy before. The same with his twin and their father since they all did their banking here and he’d sought them out to introduce himself long before he knew Ava.

  “Send him up,” he said. His office was on the second floor so it wasn’t as if people could come up when they wanted.

  He waited a few minutes and there was a knock at his door. He stood up and made his way forward, his hand out. “Hudson, good to see you again. What can I do for you?”

  No reason to refer to him as doctor when Hudson had told him before to call him by his first name. Most of the Bond family members that he’d met in his three years here had been that way. No one was formal. They were all friendly and laid back everyday people. Just with a lot of money behind most of their names.

  “Thought I’d stop up for a little chat,” Hudson said. “Not a bad time, is it?”

  “Never a bad time for my girlfriend’s family,” he said, throwing it out there. Might as well go on the offense since he was pretty sure that was the reason for the visit.

  Hudson laughed and sat down. “I said you were a great guy to her.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I seem to be winning over Ava myself.”

  “It sounds it. She seems happy and that’s great. That is all we care about.”

  “Which family should do,” he said. “Are you here to ask what we’ve got? That might be a question for your sister.”

  Hudson smiled at him. “She wouldn’t tell me much if I did ask her.”

  “You don’t think I’m going to give you specifics, do you?”

  “I don’t want specifics. I guess a bigger picture is all.”

  “There isn’t much I can tell you. We are taking it a day at a time. I’ve long since given up trying to plan my whole life out.”

  Those days were out the window like papers during a hurricane. The best he could hope for in life was that he made as many right decisions as possible and raised his daughter the best he could. He’d like to think he was doing a good job of it so far.

  “Been there and done that,” Hudson said. “I do want to thank you for all your help with Ava’s situation and keeping it discreet. I know she’s embarrassed over it, but it’s not anything she should be. Shit happens, as we all know, and Hailey gave her a lecture to keep an eye on things.”

  “Hailey is one tough cookie so maybe that is what embarrassed Ava more,” Seth said, grinning.

  Hudson laughed. “You’re probably right. Anyway, hopefully it all gets worked out in time.”

  “It should,” he said. “But it will take time. Until then it seems like she has a lot of support and will be fine.”

  “She’s prideful more than anything, but I might have felt the same way if it were me.”

  “Pride can put you in a lonely place,” he said, knowing he’d felt that some in the past.

  Hudson stood up. “I won’t keep you. My mother would like to meet you so be prepared that she is having a little Fourth of July cookout with immediate family. Nothing major that might put you on display.”

  “A forewarning?” he asked, smirking.

  “Something like that,” Hudson said. “I don’t know if you need time to process before you’d accept or not.”

  “No,” he said quickly. “We don’t have any plans that I’m aware of. If Ava wants to go we will make it happen.”

  “Oh, I’m not sure she wants to, but she will be pressured to. It will be next weekend and I believe she isn’t on call or doesn’t start again until the Monday after. The party will be Sunday, as both Carson and I are off.”

  “We will most likely be there. Thanks for stopping in. Should I expect to see more of your family this week?”

  Hudson laughed. “Who knows?”

  He watched Ava’s older brother walk out the door and then went back to work. It wasn’t even fifteen minutes later that there was another knock at his door, but this time it was Carolyn, the loan officer that had worked on Ava’s application months ago. “Yes, Carolyn.”

  “I saw Hudson Mills leaving. Was he up here with you?”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “Does it matter?”

  “No, I guess not. It reminded me about Ava Mills’s loan and how everything got locked up. I went to check her account and saw it’s still locked but then her personal accounts are all on hold too. Is everything okay?”

  He should have figured this would come up and was surprised it hadn’t before. “That was her choice to put holds on her accounts,” he said. “There is nothing to be worried about.”

  “People only do that when they think someone will take their funds,” Carolyn said.

  “Again, it’s nothing to be concerned about. I will tell you that there is no legal reason for anyone to take her funds and you shouldn’t be worried or even be talking about it, especially not outside of this building.”

  “Yeah,” Carolyn said. “Bet she got hacked by someone.”

  He wanted to tell her to drop it again, but everyone seemed too nosy about it all. The interest in the Bonds on this island with their family still baffled him, though he supposed it shouldn’t. “Again, this is all her choice.”

  Carolyn nodded her head and left after that. He returned to his work but sensed a presence in his doorway and saw his secretary standing there now. It was the day to get nothing done it seemed. “Yes, Brenda.”

  “Everyone knows you are dating Ava,” Brenda said.

  “Really? I didn’t know my life was that important to the employees of this bank.”

  “It gives people something to talk about,” Brenda said, grinning. “You’re young, you’re not bad looking.”

  He laughed. Brenda had been around for over thirty years and was probably older than his mother. “Gee, thanks.”

  “You’ve got that cutie pie at home too. You’re a great catch for someone if they wanted to try and many would have liked to that work here.”

  That was news to him, but he wouldn’t voice it. “It’s frowned upon to date someone you supervise.”

  “Of course,” Brenda said. “You’ve always been a rule follower.”

  “That makes me sound boring.”

  “It’s the truth and you know it. Anyway, no one wants to really say they know you are dating, but that is Carolyn’s way to get some gossip.”

  “It’s no one’s business why Ava put a hold on her accounts. Her brother was just here having a friendly chat.”

  “As you said, it’s no one’s business,” Brenda said. “And if anyone asks me again for information, I’m going to tell them to get back to work.”

  “Thanks for that. But it’s not a secret I’m dating Ava and I’m not sure why everyone is whispering. If someone asks you about it, it’s fine to say I’ve talked about her and admitted it. Maybe that will shut people up. Ava and I are two single consenting adults and what we do in our own time is not anyone’s concern.”

  “I’ve liked you from the day you started,” Brenda said. “You’re calm and always in control. Professional too. You don’t let anything get to you, but you put them in their place if you need to.”

  He wasn’t sure he’d ever been described that way before. “Thanks, I think.”

  Brenda smiled. “How is that cutie pie of yours at home? We haven’t seen her late
ly.”

  He’d brought Adele in from time to time. Or his mother stopped in with her to drop her off before he left if she was busy. “She’s doing great. Has a sitter for the summer and is excited to be around other kids.”

  “Is your mother going to miss having her?”

  “She is going to travel some this summer. She is leaving this weekend for a month.”

  “And you’ve got vacation coming in a few weeks too,” Brenda said. “Do you have any plans?”

  “Not yet,” he said. “It might be nice to do some day trips or get off the island, but nothing major.”

  He hadn’t made any plans and wondered if it’d be too soon to see if Ava could take a day trip with them or not. Then tried to think how that would go over with Adele if they stayed somewhere for the night.

  Nah, couldn’t worry or think of it right now.

  “I’ll let you get back to work,” Brenda said and left.

  But it wasn’t meant to be hours later when his phone rang and he was told Dr. Carson Mills was downstairs. Good Lord.

  “Send him up.” He put the phone down and waited. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” he said to Ava’s other brother. “I’m sure you know your brother was here this morning.”

  Carson laughed. “I do. I’m not going to grill you or anything like that. I need to get into my safety deposit box and they said only you could do it if the manager was out.”

  “That’s true,” he said, standing up. He wondered why that wasn’t told to him when Brenda told him Carson was here. Unless the staff downstairs didn’t tell her. It didn’t matter at this point either.

  He got the keys for the room that was needed along with a keycard and a security code that was randomly generated.

  They walked out and down the stairs to the first floor, then down another set of stairs to the basement. He got the room opened and let Carson go in while he stayed outside. He never went in and watched. There was no reason to unless it was legally required.

  When Carson was done, he came out and said, “Thanks. I’m sure I’ll see you for the party next weekend.”

  Seth laughed. “I’m sure you will.”

  “What do you mean my brothers were both in your office today?” Ava asked hours later. She was having dinner at Seth’s before going home. They hadn’t seen each other since Saturday and hadn’t made plans yet for this weekend either, but her mother had called her earlier in the day to talk about a July Fourth cookout and she’d said she’d bring it up tonight when she had dinner at Seth’s.

  “It started out with Hudson and then later Carson came to get into his safe deposit box. I had to bring him.”

  “So one was there for business and the other to grill you?” she asked, stabbing at her chicken. Seth was a pretty good cook.

  “There was no grilling done today other than my dinner,” he said.

  “Daddy is a grill master,” Adele said. “That is what he tells me when he goes outside to cook.”

  Ava looked up to see Seth’s face turn a little pink and suspected that maybe it was a joke between father and daughter. “I think he is one. This chicken is the best.”

  “Thanks,” he said.

  “Anyway. My guess is Carson didn’t need to do anything, but if he found out Hudson was there then he had to go too.”

  “You know your family.”

  “I do,” she said. “My mother called earlier to bring up a cookout she is planning.”

  “It was mentioned by both of them,” he said.

  “I knew it,” she said, pointing her finger with the fork in it and the chicken flew off causing Adele to laugh. “Sorry about that.”

  “No worries,” Seth said. “Keep eating, Adele, and don’t even think of doing that too.”

  “You’re no fun,” Adele said to her father.

  “I’m a lot of fun. Just asked Ava’s brothers.”

  Ava looked over and scowled at him. He thought this was funny. “What did they say?”

  “Nothing major. Hudson seemed to think I needed a forewarning about the cookout.”

  “Are we going to a party, Daddy?” Adele asked almost jumping in her chair.

  “I’m not sure,” he said. “That would be up to Ava.”

  “Thanks for putting me on the spot,” she said, going back to her dinner.

  “I didn’t think it was that big of a deal,” he said. “But if you’d rather not.”

  “It’s not that,” she said.

  “Then what is it?” he asked.

  She angled her head to Adele, surprised he wanted to talk about this in front of her. “Do you want to talk about this or not? I’m afraid certain things might be said.”

  “About our...friendship?” he asked, grinning.

  What did he find so funny about this? “Yes.”

  Seth turned and looked at Adele. “What would you say if Ava and I were more than friends?”

  She was shocked Seth was doing this. She had said she’d leave the timing of it all up to him, but didn’t think he’d do it now or at least without letting her know beforehand.

  “Like a boyfriend and girlfriend?” Adele asked, her smile lifting.

  “What do you know about boyfriends and girlfriends?” Seth asked frowning now.

  “That they hold hands and hug and do fun things together,” Adele said. “Sometimes they kiss too.”

  Ava laughed this time. She supposed that was a good description.

  “They do that too,” Seth said.

  “So are you?” Adele asked, looking back and forth between Ava and her father.

  “Would you be upset if we were?” Seth asked his daughter.

  “No. I like Ava. And I’d like it if you were.”

  “Then, yes, we are,” Seth said.

  “So you hug and kiss and hold hands?” Adele asked.

  Ava cleared her throat and waited for Seth to answer. “Would that bother you to see?”

  “No. Can you kiss her now?”

  Seth laughed. “I can if Ava wants me to.”

  Ava moved her chair and leaned over and gave Seth a kiss on the lips and Adele clapped. “Yay. Daddy’s got a girlfriend.”

  And that was one way to stop her frustration over her family’s interference today.

  22

  Slow Is No Fun

  “Calm down, Adele,” Seth said as his daughter was dancing around the room.

  “I can’t. I’m excited to meet Ava’s family. It’s your girlfriend. So, what does that make them to me?”

  He tried not to roll his eyes but was glad that Adele was taking this so well and not upset that her father had another woman in his life. A woman that he feared Adele might think was replacing not only her mother, but her also.

  He was prepared to make sure she understood everything and that she came first and no one could ever replace her mother. It was a massive fear he had. Could he balance this? Could he do right by both Adele and Ava?

  Instead, Adele was asking him questions he didn’t have a lot of answers for. Just like always.

  “It just makes them Ava’s family. They aren’t related to us.”

  “Oh,” she said. “Not unless you got married, right?”

  He cleared his throat and was thrilled that Ava wasn’t here for this conversation. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. We are all taking things slow.”

  “Slow is no fun, Daddy.”

  He was saved by a knock and the front door opening with Ava walking in. “Am I too early?”

  “Perfect timing,” he said.

  “Kiss, Ava,” Adele said. “You’re supposed to kiss her when she comes in the door.”

  His shoulders dropped, but he moved over with a grin on his face. “I’m being told a lot lately what I’m supposed to be doing and asked questions I don’t have answers for.”

  Ava grinned but went up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. “I won’t tell you what to do today, I promise.”

  “It’s fine,” he said. “Happy now, Adele?”

  “I am.” A
dele moved to Ava, “Can I have a kiss too?”

  He looked at Ava and saw her smile broaden even more. He really wouldn’t have imagined this in a million years.

  “Of course you can.” Adele went into Ava’s arms for a hug and a kiss on the top of her head like he did so often. “Are you ready to go and meet my family?”

  “I am,” Adele said. “Daddy said I could bring my swimsuit because they are on the beach and I’ve got toys too.”

  “They are on the beach and it’s a beautiful day out. If I know my mother, she probably picked up a few toys to have there too. She might even start digging in the sand with you and building sandcastles.”

  “Yay. I love the beach and don’t get to play on it much.”

  “No, I’m not getting a house on the water, Adele,” he said firmly. Every summer this came up.

  “I’ll just play at Grandma’s when she comes back.”

  They made their way to his car. It was easier for him to drive than to move over the booster seat for Adele to Ava’s car.

  It was less than ten minutes and they were pulling in front of a beautiful two-story cottage-style home. “This doesn’t look that old,” he said.

  “No. My parents had it built about twenty years ago or so. They’d had another place that was in my father’s family we stayed at a lot before that, but they wanted their own home that they’d retire to.”

  “It looks to be a good size.”

  “It is. Much smaller than the house in Boston, but perfect for them. I’d say it’s probably about twenty five hundred square feet. Plenty enough room to have space but still feel cozy.”

  They went in the front door. He looked around and noticed that the house was modern and definitely newer than twenty years old telling him that updates might be made often. They made their way to the back of the house and through a pair of glass doors to a deck where the rest of the family was sitting. They were the last to arrive.

  “Hi, everyone,” Adele shouted. “My name is Adele and my daddy is Seth and he’s Ava’s boyfriend.”

  Everyone started to laugh while he felt his face fill with heat. “Try to tone it down a bit, sweetie.” She was almost dancing around. He was overjoyed with her enthusiasm, but this was almost overkill and he just didn’t know what could be going on in his daughter’s head.