Page 36 of Fighter
Dagny beamed from behind the counter.
“H-hi,” she cried. “I'm D-dagny. You must be our g-guest of honor.”
Ava blinked. “I'm Ava. You talk funny.”
“Ava,” I said quickly, “that's not—”
Dagny cut me off. “It's f-fine. I do t-talk funny sometimes. It's called a st-tutter. I was born with it.”
“Oh.”Ava twirled on her stool, then her expression illuminated. “Can I have a chocolate milkshake?”
“Coming up!” Dagny said. “One d-delicious chocolate milkshake.”
Ava bit her bottom lip and grinned. Dagny winked at me as I headed to one of my tables to close out their ticket. For the tenth time that day, Benjamin ran back through my mind, but I banished him. No, there wasnoreason to think about him. Or the way his eyes warmed when I'd gone to the MMA Center earlier. Or his easy help in making my schedule work. His lack of judgment for me coming back to work when another few days off may have been smarter.
“Sh-she's adorable,” Dagny whispered to me in the back when I refilled a pop. “She has her father's i-intensity though.”
“I'm realizing that,” I quipped. With a quick peek to confirm that Ava was still distracted talking to Bert, who had somehow produced both a milkshake and a sticker book with glittering hearts out of nowhere. I turned back to Dagny.
Dagny's eyes widened. “H-how is it going? Are you and Ben a thing?”
“No! I'm just his . . . something.”
“It's always thesomethingthey fall for. Y-you should know that b-by now.”
“False.”
“Not false. He t-trusts you with his d-d-daughter. That's so big for a scar-ry guy like him, I c-can't even.”
Her words, though lightly spoken, struck something in me. Perhaps it was combined with my irritation after the grocery store incident, which I couldn't bring myself to tell Ben about and I secretly hoped Ava never mentioned again.
Yes, I wanted something between me and Ben, but Ava and her past were now a very real complication in the algebraic formula of this situation. In other words—no. I wouldn't be the nanny-turned-girlfriend.
That felt not right onsomany levels.
“Look,” I said and shot her a hard stare, “there was a time when Benjamin Mercedy could have owned my heartstrings and whipped them around like a child's toy. But . . . Ava deserves better than that. When he asked me to take care of her, I had to draw the line. Nothing will happen between me and Benjamin. I'll help him stabilize his life while I'm here, then when I leave, he'll be ready for the next step. That's it.”
One of Dagny's fair eyebrows lifted. “Right,” she drawled. “Y-you think it's going to b-be that easy?”
“No. It's going to suuuuuck.” I groaned. “But it's the right thing, and it's for the best. That much I am certain of.”
Dagny grinned, a slight, adorable gap between her front teeth giving her a charming grin. “All right,” she drawled. “I c-can't wait to s-see this happen.”
Sensing something in her voice, I asked, “What do you mean?”
Her smile broadened as she gestured toward the front, through the swinging door that had just opened toward me. A familiar bright pink cardigan and head of fluffy blonde hair stood outside, barely visible as the door swung open.
“Your parents just arrived and they're with Ava right now.”
Dagny's smugness wasn't misplaced. My parents had a habit of finding little kids to sponsor as pseudo-grandchildren until my ovaries kicked into work, and said kids tended to fall in love with my parents. Some parents loved them, too. It's why Mom's daycare always had a waiting list. Her deepest joy was taking care of other people.
Twenty minutes later, I found myself shuffled outside, into the back of my parents’ car next to Ava, while we sped toward Benjamin's house to grab Ava's swimsuit. Less than half an hour later, Ava splashed happily in the river that fed into the reservoir while my dad pretended to half drown in water barely to his knees. Ava saved him with a happy screech frequently.
“What a baby doll,” Mom crooned.
I cast her a sidelong glance. We sat side-by-side on the bank, my toes stuck into the water that still held a spring chill. Although we had fluffy towels and blankets at the ready, Dad or Ava hadn't surrendered yet. I couldn't say that I was surprised. Mom had figured out what Ava wanted to do more than anything within minutes of arrival, then Dad set out to make that happen.
My childhood had been something of a dream. Which made the tragedy with Talmage all that much greater.
