Page 83 of Unstoppable Love

“Yeah, but then you could have said no. It’s dinner with your family, Ava, not the Spanish Inquisition. We’ll have fun.”

“I know. That was just embarrassing. Like she was trying to catch Lydia and I sneaking out of the house or something.”

“Well, good morning, kids.”

Ava began unloading the groceries, slamming the food down on the conveyor belt harder than necessary. Marty glanced at me, and I shook my head as she fought a smile.

“Mrs. Haven,” Ava grumbled. “You’re in big trouble.”

“Shush, child, a woman’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”

“Ever hear of mind your own business?” She slapped down a package of chicken so hard I covered her hand.

“Food’s already dead, no need to keep beating it.”

Ava scowled up at me and then blushed a deep cherry red. “This isn’t funny. We’re adults, and they’re treating us like kids.”

“Always have been, always will be our kids. You know that.”

Marty had a point. I was never called a kid until I came back home, and then every time I saw someone my parent’s age, I became a kid all over again. I figured I could be sixty and still be called a kid whenever I stepped foot in New Haven.

I gently bumped Ava out of the way, toward the end of the aisle. “It’s all right, Marty. No harm, no foul.”

“Your mom missed you,” she said to Ava. She lowered her voice, and this time she sounded more motherly than my own tended to. “She missed you when you were gone and with that boy, and she’s plum-filled with happiness you’re with this one. Let her have her moment and her dinner, and forgive an old woman for a brief stint at being senile.”

The fight left Ava as her shoulders slumped. “You weren’t being senile. You were being nosy, and we all know it.”

“Well, at least now you know where Lydia gets it from.”

Ava grinned then and shook her head. “You’re too much, Mrs. Haven.”

“Good. Now come give me a kiss, and I promise I’ll mind my own business from now on.”

“Deal.” She moved around the checkout counter, gave Lydia’s mom a kiss on her cheek and a quick hug. “And no more callin’ my mom for any reason.”

“Won’t make promises I can’t keep. What if you’re stuck in a snowstorm and need some help?”

Ava rolled her eyes and went back to bagging the groceries while Marty finished ringing us up.

“You kids have plans today, then?”

“Yeah,” Ava drawled. “Dinner with my family, thanks to you.”

She was laughing as she said it, and Marty shot me a what can you do? kind of smile.

“I think we’re relaxing this weekend, Marty.”

“Good idea. Gotta keep that arm loose. You boys are looking good this year.”

I figured our team’s center or three-hundred-pound linebackers wouldn’t laugh at being called boys like they were still in elementary school.

“Let’s hope it stays that way. Sure would like to end the season on a higher note than last year.”

“You’ll do it. All you Kelleys are the same. You get an idea in your head, and you make it happen. Just make sure that when it comes to women, especially this favorite of mine, when you get those ideas in your head about her, make sure it’s for her and not your own.”

I stilled at the caution in her tone, the intent behind it. If she was warning me off Ava because I was far away, or if it was more motherly advice.

“Who knew you were so wise, Mrs. Haven?” Ava teased, but there was concern knitting her brows together.

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