Miles Away

Jeff laughed at me the minute we got into the car. “Really bro, she is cute, but honestly two kids that aren't yours, yuck that is a contraceptive in itself. I couldn’t do it.”

I had to laugh. Here is the guy that has a second kid on the way.

I just shrugged. Jeff would bang anything even semi-good looking in his player days and here he was lecturing me about who I picked. I didn’t know why I asked her out though. There couldn’t be a worse time. She lived in the city I used to live in. My life was changing dramatically, for good and bad, and I really shouldn’t be subjecting someone else to it. Hell, I was barely dealing with all of the changes. I was moving to Los Angeles at the end of the summer. I wasn’t happy about it, but didn’t have much of a choice.

I got back to Jeff’s house and showered and got dressed. The house was already filling with people by the time I came out of my room. “Alright have fun, don’t get into trouble. I’ll be back later.” I said to Jeff as he sat and talked to some clueless blonde on the deck. I wanted to smack him, but I knew he would never do anything to hurt his wife Pam. She had him hook, line and sinker. I headed out the door and pulled my car out of his garage and drove towards the Parkway.

I got back into Wildwood around twenty minutes to seven o’clock. I was a little bit early but I wasn’t going to wait in the car for her so I got out and knocked on the door. Michael answered the door and let me in, controller in hand. Just as I sat down on the edge of the bed in the small hotel room, she emerged from the bathroom, small hotel towel barely covering her. “Umm hi? I’ll be right back out.” She said darting to the only bedroom in the place.

She only took about ten minutes before she came back out in a pale blue sundress which brought out her bluish gray eyes. She left her hair down and put a thin headband in to hold her long brunette hair back out of her face. “You ready boys, let’s go, game off.”

“So where is good to eat? I have only been in Wildwood once.” I said to her and she smiled.

“Why don’t we eat on the boardwalk. They have a place that serves seafood that isn’t bad. I try not to do too many enclosed restaurants with these two. Someone had to mention rides to them, them are bouncing off the walls.” I grinned at her and she shook her head at me. We walked up to the boardwalk and the boys went crazy.

“No games, no treats until you eat dinner.” They mumbled a little but they surprisingly calmed down. We sat at the restaurant, which was basically attached to a pier filled with rides. We ordered shrimp cocktail and shared it while we waited for our dinners. She looked like a little kid, smile plastered across her face as the sun went down and the pier started to light up for the night. The boys were actually quiet and ate well. I was shocked.

“So do you go on rides?” she asked. I hadn’t been on them in a few years but figured what the hell.

“Yeah, we could do that, no Tilt a Whirl though. Too much food in my stomach.”

We spent several hours on rides with the kids and playing games. Even I was sick of walking as we headed back to her hotel. The boys looked like zombies. We finally got back and they were in bed and asleep within minutes. We had talked the whole night and I had learned she did x-rays for a living and that her ex was an idiot and had just took off. I learned she was an only child and was close to her dad, but not her mom. She was never married, Michael was born when she was twenty-one and Matthew when she was twenty-three.

She came out from tucking them in and handed me a beer and pointed to the deck. “Ok, I so do not want to wake them up. So tell me about you. Tell me about Mike, the guy who grew up in Kenora. I don’t want to hear anything about hockey, got it?”

I had to laugh. She was pretty forward. I talked for a while about my family and how close we all were. I let her know how beautiful Kenora was and how much I loved being Canadian. I told her about the places I loved in Philly and how much I would miss the city and people there. Before I knew it I looked down at my watch and I had been talking for two hours. She still looked interested.

“Wow, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I had been babbling on that long.” We had ten empty beer bottles beside us. She was sitting cross-legged on the beach chair and looked amazing in the dim light of the hotel sign.

“It’s ok, I am a pretty good listener” she said and she got up to stretch. She leaned over the railing and looked down at the pool. I stood up to stretch myself and joined her at the railing. “It is beautiful out tonight.” She commented, still looking down.

I threw my arm around her casually and she rested her head on my shoulder. “I have to get going. I have to drive back to Sea Isle. I don’t need a DUI. Can I have your number?” I asked and she smiled.

“Umm sure, how long are you in town for?” she asked me casually.

“I’m staying with Jeff until next Sunday. I just came in this morning. When are you here until?” I asked, not wanting to sound too eager and scare her off.

“We are here until Monday morning. We got in this morning too.” She said and I leaned over and kissed her cheek.

“Goodnight Ava, I’ll call you tomorrow.” I drove home and couldn’t help but think of ways I could possibly make this work.

Notes

This is pretty much set in the summer before my Talbot story Changes. If you haven't read my other stories, check them out. Most of them tie into this one. A Second Chance at Love is the first and centers on Danny Briere. The next is The Gentle Giant which features Danny's sister Danielle and Andrej Meszaros. Next up is Changes, with Max Talbot. This is the fourth. I'm just starting on a fifth. :) Happy Reading.