“Hello yourself.”
She looked at me as I sat down beside her, taking up the remaining space on the tiny loveseat-glider combo in Madison’s nursery. Warmth spread over me as I draped my arm behind her, across the back of the loveseat. I wasn’t touching her, but I was damn sure close, and already, the fine hairs on my arms were standing up in response. I was annoyed with her— or was supposed to be— but as soon as I saw her, it was forgotten.
“I can’t believe I missed the birth. Stupid phone completely died on me while I was San Diego. I only knew Des was in labor because you called Mel. Thank you for that, by the way. I’m glad all I had to do was change my flight.”
I shrugged. “Des was asking about you, so I had to get in touch. You may have missed the birth, but I’m sure she appreciates you being here, helping with baby duty.”
“Yeah, it’s the least I can do since I wasn’t there for her. So how have you been?” she asked, turning slightly so her legs were angled toward me. “How does it feel to be an uncle?”
“Uhh… I’ll have to get back with you on how it feels to be an uncle. She doesn’t seem very interested in me right now, and I’m not sure what to do.”
Tori laughed, adjusting the angle of the bottle of expressed breast milk Madison was drinking. “I don’t think she’s very interested in anyone who doesn’t have boobs, a bottle, or both. She’s got a pretty one-track mind right now.”
“Yeah, I kinda picked up on that. As far as how I’ve been, I can’t complain too much. Signed a big deal for Ignition, so that was exciting. It put us in four new states, opened franchise possibilities… like I said, it was big.”
I wasn’t bragging, but my heart swelled with pride at the smile that spread across her face. “That’s amazing, Avery! Congratulations. I know your dad would be so proud of how far you’ve taken what he started.” Damn, my chest felt tight. This was pretty much the total opposite of the reaction I’d gotten from Maya.
I had to get the spotlight off myself, so I shifted it to her. “Thank you. What about you? I heard from Des you closed Matched.”
“Yeah,” she nodded, taking the now empty bottle from Madison, and placing her over her shoulder to burp. “It was time to move on, and I actually feel good about the decision, still. And the company that bought my system cut me a very fat check, so that helps.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I bet it does. So what are you gonna do now?”
“I’m not quite sure. I’ve been thinking about it, and my mind keeps going back to a speed-dating thing Mel dragged me to. With the right adjustments, speed dating could be a great place to meet potential partners. But not just speed dating, other singles events as well. I’m still thinking about it though.”
“But it sounds like a good start.”
Just then, the baby left out a loud burp, and when Tori lifted her from her shoulder to cradle her, she promptly fell asleep in her arms. Tori stood, and placed her into her bassinet, which she had pulled in front of the loveseat for easy access.
“Speaking of dating though… how are things between you and Maya?” she asked hesitantly as she relaxed back onto the loveseat, her tone sounding a little too controlled, and falsely light.
Why does she want to know about Maya and me. Not like she gave a shit about my feelings when she— never mind.
I pushed out a little sigh before I answered. “They’re… going. We’re in a little rough patch right now, but I’m sure it’ll smooth over.”
“Yeah, probably so. I’m sure you two will be okay.” Her smile was reassuring, but didn’t quite bring any light to her eyes.
What is that about?