Faster by West Dahlia

Author:West, Dahlia [West, Dahlia]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Dahlia West
Published: 2015-06-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Before Ava could answer, Emilio shook his head. “No, ma’am,” he called into the kitchen. “In fact, I’ve come to take Ava to dinner. With my friends.”

Adam grunted. “Good. We’re not feeding half the male population of Rapid City.”

“Adam!” Calla chastised.

Adam ignored his fiancée completely. Narrowing his eyes at Ava, he said, “If any more show up, I’m going to start beating them off with a stick.” Adam turned to Emilio. “And my stick’s made in Louisville.”

Emilio simply nodded, neither cowed nor cocky.

“And I’m going to start using it on your bike,” Adam told Ava, “if you don’t start letting me know where the hell you are. It’s been almost two hours since your shift ended. If you haven’t been with him,” he jerked his thumb at Emilio, “then where were you?”

Ava bristled at being called out, especially in front of Emilio. “Out!” she said simply.

She could tell that Adam didn’t want to argue in front of a guest, so he refrained from probing for further explanation. “Well, you could have called, in case we needed you here.”

She froze for a moment and her irritation dissipated nearly instantly. She glanced around, looking for Pop. “Where is he? Is he okay?”

“He’s in the dining room,” Adam replied. “And he’s...” He trailed off, cutting his eyes to Emilio for a moment. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I can’t tell.”

Ava immediately forgot about Adam— and Emilio. She tossed her helmet onto the couch and headed to the dining room just off the kitchen. She found Pop sitting at the head of the table, his usual spot. He was looking out the window into the back yard. His sketchbook was open in front of him.

Ava had learned that this wasn’t always a bad sign. He wasn’t always trying to remember when he flipped through the drawings. Sometimes he just wanted to.

It had barely been a full year since Mom had died. And they’d been married longer than Ava had been alive. She couldn’t imagine how difficult it must be for the old man. She hardly knew Emilio but already wasn’t looking forward to letting him go.

Building a whole life with someone, two sets of kids, one set of shared memories, would be devastating to lose.

“Hey,” she said cautiously.

He turned to look at her, but he didn’t reply. Ava recognized the look, the attempt to cut through the mental fog and retrieve a connection, a name, a relationship with the person standing in front of him.

His eyes cast down to the book and he slowly turned the pages until Ava’s smiling face appeared. His hand ran over the pencil drawing and down to the writing in the corner.

“Ava.”

She couldn’t tell if he was remembering or simply reading it.

Before Ava could confirm it, Emilio appeared in the doorway. Surprising them both.

Pop frowned at him. “You’re not in my book.”

Ava started forward, to grab Emilio and pull him away. She didn’t want anyone seeing Pop when he was like this.

Instead, Emilio sat down in the empty chair beside the old man.

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