Touchdown Baby (18 page)

“You have an answer for everything.” Ava swallowed at the rightness that washed over her as she sat snuggled against his side discussing their daughter. If only he knew Ashlyn was his.

“Don’t worry. I got you in this mess. You can count on me to get you out of it.” The promise in his eyes had Ava blinking back tears she refused to shed. She dreaded she was going to ruin their friendship forever with her announcement.

Chapter Sixteen

With only two rooms furnished with beds, the moms and Roxi left early with plans to stay at the Opryland Hotel. Roxi would have to miss her Monday classes, but their moms planned to spend the next day sightseeing and doing a little more discount shopping at the outlet mall.

The evening passed without problem, except for the never-ending ringing of the phone. When Alex arrived, he and Jace hung out on the deck with a six-pack, while Ava prepared herself and Ashlyn for bed.

The only other time Ava had been this nervous had been before she went into labor. The excruciating pain she’d heard about had had her wide-awake nights with worry prior to delivery. Ironically, as debilitating as the pain had been, she would go through it again to have Ashlyn with her. The real test was would she feel the same way about the job she was starting tomorrow.

The only way to face her internship was to act as if it were a job. She had to do everything to make a good impression prior to her interview. If she let herself consider it as a prolonged job interview, she would drive herself crazy. Ava tried to hide the tension from Ashlyn, but her daughter apparently felt her mother’s stress. The little girl would not settle down for the night.

She paced the floors for what felt like hours, both physically and mentally exhausted. How was she going to be able to face tomorrow on little to no sleep? When her bedroom door opened slightly, and Jace popped his head in, she wasn’t sure how she felt about this sudden presence.

The moment Ashlyn discovered his presence, she reached for Jace, and Ava happily passed her daughter off. The brush of her arms across Jace’s bare chest was intimate in a different way. The darkness and quiet of the house held them together in an embrace that felt familiar.

“Hey there, princess, what’s wrong?” Jace whispered into the tiny ear of his daughter. “Why don’t we go for a walk while Mommy tries to get some sleep? She has a big day tomorrow.”

Ava was prepared to refuse his help, but when he leaned forward and brushed a sweet kiss across her lips, she allowed him to help without a fight. The fact Ashlyn already had her head resting peacefully against his wide shoulder, with one hand holding on tightly to his chest hair, gave her the confidence she was doing the right thing by letting them continue to bond.

The click of the door as they exited the room gave her a sense of relief and yet dread. Before she could give herself time to contemplate either of those emotions, she climbed into the bed and promptly fell asleep.

****

The sound of the alarm came earlier than Ava would have liked. Turning over to get five more minutes, she realized she wasn’t alone in the bed. Ashlyn lay sprawled across the middle of the bed, and Jace mimicked her position perfectly. It was a good thing this was a queen-sized bed, or else it would have been a tight fit.

Ava snuck from the bed, escaping into the bathroom to shower and change before her daughter woke. How she had slept through their arrival last night was beyond her, and the fact this was the second night she’d shared a bed with Jace didn’t escape her notice.

You better watch yourself, or you may get used to his presence
.

The hot water washed away the sleepiness that hung on her, and she emerged from the shower with a positive outlook for the day ahead, with a promise of a bright future. It may not be with Jace, but she had a prospective new job on the horizon. She needed this job; after all, she didn’t have anything to fall back on. Jace might want to support his daughter, but she had to stand on her own two feet.

Ashlyn woke with ease, but rousing Jace was a whole other problem. The man slept like the dead. Giving up, she made her way downstairs to get breakfast while Jace snored softly in her bed.

****

When it was time to leave for the first day of her internship, Ava couldn’t find the keys to the Escalade. He said they were on the kitchen counter. Didn’t he? Ava questioned herself as she searched the kitchen for the keys. After scouring the counters and the floor for the missing keys, she gave up and went upstairs to wake Jace; she couldn’t be late on her first day.

Ava attempted everything from a gentle nudge to a hard shake, and they both did nothing; he simply rolled away from the aggravation. The man looked like a Greek god lying on a cloud of white sheets. Bronze skin that stretched across toned muscle warranted further examination, but she didn’t have time.

Ava contemplated throwing a cup of cold water on him but vetoed the idea.

I don’t want to sleep in a wet bed tonight.

Decisions on how to awake the sleeping giant went from thoughts of holding his nose, to rolling him out of the bed, but the final verdict was to try her mother’s tried and true method, whisper endearments.

The bed was too high to lean against, so kneeling on it was her only option. The moment she bent to speak, Jace flipped her over. “I was beginning to doubt your determination,” Jace murmured as he captured her lips. The kiss was gentle. “I’d kiss you more thoroughly, but morning breath prevents it.”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

“You don’t mind bad breath?”

“Yes, I mind. I meant I didn’t care how I got you up, I’m just glad you’re awake. I have to get to school. Where are the keys you promised would be on the counter?” The shock of the kiss evaporated with the reality of the time.

“I knew I would have to get up for a radio interview this morning, so I left them in my office. Let’s go get ’em.” Sliding out of the bed and causally exiting the bedroom in nothing but his boxer briefs, he gave Ava little option but to follow. The truth was if she didn’t have to go to school, she would have snuggled with him, morning breath and all. Walking behind him as they made their way downstairs, Ava thought, Damn that man is fine.

****

As first days went, Ava’s went smoothly. The security at the private school made it possible for her to escape the watchful lenses of paparazzi and reporters. Ironically, Ava felt less nervous at the school than she did on the drive in. The paparazzi hounds followed her down every street until she went on the private school property.

The only hiccup in the day was when two teachers cornered her during her lunch hour, peppering her with questions about the article. Southern women are nothing if not nosey, and Melanie and Krista were definitely southern. Their heavy accents appeared exaggerated, but they both were politely pushy.

Melanie questioned, “Are you really Jace Johnson’s girlfriend?”

Before Ava could even respond, Krista chimed in. “He’s dreamy, you sure are lucky. How did you two meet?”

“Krista, stop being so nosey.” Melanie chastised her friend but turned back to Ava as if waiting for her answer.

With the need to make a good impression and not alienate potential coworkers, Ava decided to answer. “Jace and I are friends. We’ve known each other since grade school.”

“We know that, but we want to know if you’re his girlfriend?” Melanie asked again.

Panic overtook Ava. Should she say
yes
and act the part as loving girlfriend or stick to the truth nobody believed? “Yes, I’m his girlfriend.” The lie just rolled off her tongue.

“Is that his little girl who you brought with you this morning?” Melanie asked.

At the same time Krista questioned, “How do you feel about him dating Carmen? I read they might be getting engaged in the magazine at the grocery checkout.” The image of Jace marrying the famous actress, especially after he’d explained how they originally were linked together, was laughable.

Smiling, Ava couldn’t help but to respond to Krista and ignore Melanie. “I can’t imagine him marrying Carmen since they are only friends. You know what they say, you can’t believe everything you read.”

Krista apparently took offense to the laughter in Ava’s voice. “They had a picture with the article, and she had a huge diamond on her finger.”

“I saw the picture too,” Ava admitted. “They conveniently cut out the people who were standing around them. The diamond is real.
People
magazine said it was a loan from Harry Winston, and it was worth over one million dollars.”

“One million dollars? Can you image wearing something that, if it were sold, could feed a small country for a year? I would have my hand clenched the entire time to make sure it didn’t slip off. What about you, Mel, can you image it?”

Luckily, they loved celebrities, so the women continued to discuss jewelry the rich and famous wore and then discarded without a thought. Which in turn brought up a few of the parents who sent their children to the private school that employed them.

Ava was under the assumption, since the school was private, all the students were well-off, but she was mistaken. Apparently, the school gave scholarships to children with limited financial circumstances. Donations came in from some of the families whose children attended the school, but numerous members of the Renegades heavily sponsored tuition.

On her walk back to her classroom after saying good-bye to her new friends, Ava looked around at the students. Sure enough, with a more watchful eye, the economic class difference was evident. Not in the clothes, because they all wore uniforms, but in their shoes and backpacks. Black was the required shoe color, but there was no requirement on brand; somehow, in this small part of the world, it didn’t matter. The children all seemed to get along, and no one cared about the others’ parents and what they did for a living.

The afternoon flew by when Ava was given the responsibility of teaching the reading assignment. When the No Child Left Behind Act went into effect, it changed the first grade curriculum, and as luck would have it, she had just written a paper about the effectiveness of phonics and common core.

Being with children when they discovered they could sound out compound words was even better than she’d ever imagined. Their amazement and understanding when they finally put the sounds together and came out with the correct word brought joy to her heart.

By the end of the day, Ava was exhausted but in a positive way. She’d enjoyed every moment of her day and was looking forward to finishing out her classroom studies.              

Just as she was grabbing her purse out of the cabinet in the teacher nook, Ms. Hawkins, the teacher she would be assisting for the next two weeks, asked to speak to her. Dread that she could possibly have screwed up her first day was her first emotion. The second was they were going to say she was a bad role model for the students with her picture in the paper.

Ava sat in one of the small chairs the students used for arts and crafts and waited. Her nerves always made her twist her hands, and right now, she was fidgety.

“You did a great job today.” The smile that came across Ms. Hawkins’s face was like a ray of sunshine. “I didn’t know what to expect from you after reading about you in the paper, but you impressed me, and that’s hard to do. You have a real connection with the children. They’re good judges of character, and for you to come into this classroom and win over even the most stubborn of them, you should be proud of yourself.”

The praise was welcome after the horrible scenarios that had just passed through her mind. One had her sulking back to Jace’s house and jumping into the deep end of the pool just to escape the humiliation of failing. With Ms. Hawkins’s kind words, she gained confidence.

“Thank you, Ms. Hawkins. I never considered being a teacher until the day I had my daughter. I looked into her tiny face and saw so many promises for the future, and I wanted to be able to guide her through life with a solid education and strong morals.”

Why, oh why, did I just have diarrhea of the mouth? She is going to think I’m a total nut.

“We all have our calling for different reasons, and you have a unique story. I’m sure you’ll succeed at being a wonderful teacher and mother. I would like you to work with a special group tomorrow during reading.”

Ms. Hawkins explained about the lack of classroom time to give certain children the time and one-on-one attention needed to grasp basic reading skills. After discussing specific children and their needs, Ava was excited to come back the next day. Mrs. Hawkins agreed to have a summary of each student so Ava would have a better understanding of his or her individual struggles.

Ms. Hawkins offered to leave the teaching to Ava in the hope she would find the best way to help the children grasp the necessary skills they struggled with, leaving Ava excited for the next two weeks of having Ms. Hawkins as her boss and mentor.

****

The drive home took longer than Ava ever could have imagined. The traffic around the city was brutal in the early evening and made her regret passing the last McDonald’s on their way home. Ashlyn was definitely a creature of habit. She ate at the same time every day; she slept for the same amount of time during her naps. She was predictable, so when they were trapped behind a bus that carried a load of students that stopped at every driveway, Ash began to get cranky because she should have eaten thirty minutes ago.

Jace had texted her during her lunch hour, and she was shocked to learn he and Ashlyn had only slept in her room for a couple of hours. Ashlyn had kept Jace up most of the night; only when he laid her on the bed between them did she finally settle down. Figuring she was out for the night, Jace had tried to sneak out of the room. She began to fuss again, and once he reclined back, he fell straight to sleep.