Exhausted&Lost

Chapter Twenty Seven

The next few weeks that passed had been difficult for both Ava and Dave. Ava had finally met the girls, and while Phee was instantly excited to meet her, Harper and Violet were much more reserved. They had taken it slowly at first and had gone out to lunch here, and a trip to the beach there, Ava not wanting to crowd them in their own home.

Ava felt like she was making progress though, the girls had started making conversation with her without prompting from their father and Violet had even chosen to sit beside her on the picnic blanket when they had a backyard lunch the previous day, though that was more likely because she had become absolutely smitten with Elliott, rather than having anything to do with Ava.

Dave had managed to send Jordyn on a warpath when he mentioned Violet's desire to move in, at first she had been resistant, refusing to entertain the idea for even a moment, but when Violet approached her herself, her fury focused on the fact that Dave must have put her up to this. Several arguments later, Jordyn agreed to trial Violet moving in with him when school finished for summer vacation, minus the trip to Ireland he and Ava had planned.

They hadn't spent much time together alone, Ava had been so busy overseeing various renovations happening in The Hide Out, and Dave had been holed up in the studio any moment he didn't have his girls, needing to get the weight of the last few weeks out of his head and into a song. Sure they had spent time together while with the kids, but he missed having her alone.

Tonight was the night though, they had planned dinner at his place, followed by possible drinks with the Hawkins once they secured a babysitter, then back to Dave's to finally spend the night together again. It had felt like a lifetime since he had been intimate with her when in reality it had only been just over a week when one night he had crashed at hers after dropping the girls off with Jordyn and she had just gotten Elliott to bed. They tried to make it to the bed but ended up making love right there on the bedroom floor. So close.

Ava had decided to stay at home today, letting Izzy oversee the Renos. She had woken up with a pounding headache, assuming it was from standing at close range to power tools as they ripped down walls in her precious cafe, so she arranged for her dad to pick up Elliott early and went back to bed for a few hours hoping she would feel a little better.

Her phone buzzed and roused her out of her sleep and she was shocked to see that it was after 11 AM, she had slept for a little over three hours. Her headache had subsided a little, but her throat felt raw and her muscles ached when she moved them. She realized she had a missed call from Dave and quickly called him back.

"Hey baby, I stopped by The Hide Out to take you to lunch but Izzy said you stayed home, are you feeling alright?" he sounded concerned.

"Uh, yeah, I think I might be getting the flu or something, I don't think I'll be able to come over tonight," she croaked, her voice sounding weak.

"Oh shit, you sound terrible, stay where you are, I'll be right over."

The phone disconnected and Ava trailed herself out of bed so she could at least get dressed out of her pajamas and freshen up a little. She pulled on some sweats and washed up, already feeling a little better.

She headed towards the kitchen so she could grab some Tylenol and a tea to soothe her throat. Swathed in blankets, she impatiently waited for Dave to arrive. It would seem that being sick had her feeling especially needy.

She jumped when Dave's voice broke through the silence in the room, forgetting that she had given him a key just a few days before, her heart swelled remembering the feeling of poignance when she handed over that little keychain.

"I brought tea," he said as he appeared in front of her sounding a little breathless, "though I see I'm too late."

She discarded her now empty mug that she had been cradling and reached out her hands to accept the cup in his hands, "Gimme, there is no such thing as too much tea."