Page 43 of Blame It On the Lattes

After Avery got Kennedydown for the night, she came and joined me on the couch. I had made her a cup of warm tea, knowing that she needed it tonight.

“Thank you for your help with getting Kennedy’s list done,” she said, curling into the side of me as she took a sip. “And thank you for the tea.”

“My pleasure on both.”

“Do you think it would be rude to ask your mom where she got the art set Kennedy was talking about?”

“Not at all. But my guess is that she bought her one the second she saw her interest in hers. My mom is quick like that.”

“Well, I guess we better ask before I buy anything from the list. At least we have a good range of things to work off of now. Between the arts and crafts stuff and the toys, I feel like we made some good progress.”

“That we did.” I kissed the top of her head, enjoying her being so close to me.

“And thank you for your help with the conversation about her dad.” Avery leaned forward and set her cup on the coffee table before turning to face me. “I didn’t see that coming, and unfortunately, I wasn’t prepared for it. So thank you for stepping in when I couldn’t handle it.”

“Avery, you don’t have to thank me. I’d like to think that we’re doing things as a team right now, and that’s what teammates do—they help each other out. It’s okay that you didn’t know how to handle it because it wasn’t an easy thing to handle. Not only that, but it’s impossible for you to know how to react to her emotions when yours are tied so heavily to it. Not only do you feel for her as a mother, but you have your own feelings tied to her relationship with her father. It’s a hard situation, and no one expects that you have it all figured out.”

“Thank you. I knew that eventually we’d need to talk about her feelings toward her father. I just didn’t think it would happen so soon. He’s been out of her life for so long, I’m surprised she even acknowledged his absence.”

“Was he not there much when she was growing up?” I knew some of the details that she’d given me in random conversations, but I felt the need to know more.

“He traveled for work a lot, and by travel, he was secretly living another life with his mistress. When he was home, he spent a lot of time in his office or zoned out in front of the TV. I gave up on trying to force him to have a relationship with Kennedy once I found out about the affair.”

“Wow. That sucks.” I couldn’t imagine being that big of an asshole and ruining my family.

“It does, but sometimes I think it was easier to walk away from everything because he never bothered to have that bond with her. When we separated, he made it clear that he had no interest in having custody of her. He always said he wasn’t sure if he wanted kids. I should have known then that he would be a shitty father. As much as I hate him, I’m thankful that he gave me Kennedy. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“She’s the best thing that happened to all of us,” I said softly, pulling her closer to me. “I know I’m not supposed to, but I love her, Avery. I love her like I would love my own child, and it kills me that she feels her father doesn’t love her. I would replace that love for her in a heartbeat if I were able to.”

I could feel her body stiffen beneath me and worried that I had said too much and overstepped another boundary. But then I heard her sniffle and felt the warm tear as it fell on my arm and I knew that she was trying to hide her emotions from me again.

“I don’t know if I’m supposed to say that or not, but I mean it. I would go to the ends of the earth to make her happy. To make both of you happy. He’s an asshole who isn’t worthy of either of your love and as bad as it is to say it, I’m happy he’s out of the picture. You both deserve so much more than that. You deserve the world and all of the happiness there is to give.”

“I don’t know how I got so lucky to find someone like you,” she said, sniffling before lifting her lips to mine.

I’m sure it was meant to be an innocent kiss, but nothing with me and Avery stayed innocent for long these days.

Within minutes, we had gone from a calm, gentle kiss to her straddling me on the couch and making out. We were both so distracted that neither of us heard the little footsteps as they padded down the hallway and into the living room.

“Mommy? What are you doing to Uncle Sam?”

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