Love In Between

Marriage proposal should be the beginning of a new life with someone a lady loves, the giddiness and the feeling of satisfaction that comes with being proposed to eluded Ava and was overtaken by worry.

Andrew hadn’t officially proposed to her yet, the possibility of that happening wouldn’t be far-fetched; he had made his intentions known already.

Thousands of thoughts raced through her mind, Andrew had helped her time and time again in reviving her company but for his shares Quinn’s would have crumbled in shambles.

But even with all that, she still didn’t feel the happiness she thought she should, it was 7:30p. m the day was already far spent but Chloe would go to bed without Bruce reading her bedtime stories and giving her a series of piggyback rides.

She too, looked forward to his constant visits the nanny had told her to loosen up so the child wouldn’t notice and start asking questions —- overtime she got used to having Bruce around and he also was fast becoming used to seeing his daughter everyday.

Once Chloe had thrown a tantrum when he wanted to leave that Bruce was forced to spend the night over at Ava’s place—- at first, Ava thought overtime the little girl would be satisfied with seeing her Dad for some hours but as time went on, the bond between father and daughter deepened.

Now that Andrew had asked her to marry him with the instructions of staying away from Bruce, Ava knew it’d be a hard pill to swallow, an almost impossible one.

She tried taking her mind off the situation, but her mind was too troubled to focus on work, her mind was torn between herself and her daughter’s happiness… Even at the office she couldn’t concentrate on work.

“You don’t seem okay, you didn’t even realize when I walked in,” Roxie who had been standing by the door said.

Ava was jolted back to reality by Roxie’s voice, “I didn’t see you standing there,”

“Well you wouldn’t because you seem to have your mind focused on other things,” Roxie walked towards her desk and dropped the files she had brought for her to review.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Roxief asked, she was concerned about Ava’s welfare…

“It’s work related, it’s nothing I can’t handle,” Ava lied, she avoided eye contact with Roxie and wondered if Roxie would find that suspicious.

Roxie knew whatever was eating her friend and got her carried away might be more than office work but she couldn’t argue with Ava because before anything else, Ava was first her boss… The friendship had blossomed overtime.

“It’s nothing I promise, it’s nothing I can’t handle,” Ava replied,

She rounded up what she was working on and offered to take Roxie out for lunch,

“I’m more than most people famished,” Roxie said as they stepped out of the company in Ava’s car and headed for the restaurant.

“You can say that again,” Ava replied, during lunch both friends talked about everything, everything except Andrew, Roxie noticed that Ava avoided any topic that had to do with Andrew.

“Are you comfortable with Bruce coming around?” Roxie said over her plate of canary pudding.

“Shouldn’t I be, I mean the little girl is happy her Dad is there for her I think that’s something…. I tried to keep her away from him but I can’t,” Ava replied, scooping the last piece of dessert to her mouth.

“Hmmm… I see,” Roxie struggled to keep words to herself, if Ava insisted she was coping fine with Bruce now in the picture but for his daughter she wouldn’t argue less… Ava beckoned on the waiter to get her another plate of dessert

In less than ten minutes, the waiter a young handsome man in his mid twenties brought what Ava requested for “This is really good you know thank you,” Ava smiled to the waiter who blushed at her words.

Roxie cast a knowing eye at Ava and both friends giggled quietly to themselves, “someone’s crushing, and he’s not that bad too” Roxie winked at Ava.

“Oh please, like you don’t know I have something going on with Andrew,” she replied.

“Relax, I was just joking, let’s hurry up and leave this place. I’m sure your landline is blown up with calls,” Roxie said, changing the topic.

Later that day after work, Ava drove home tired from work— thankfully, she didn’t have to worry about Chloe anymore her father would pick her up from school, she heaved a sigh of relief that the work at the office today was too enormous. She took some files that are unattended home.

The nanny and Chloe was at the garden picking flowers when she got back home, Chloe rushed to hug and Mom,

“Sweetie, how was your school today?”

Chloe muttered some words and Ava took it as her response,

“This is for you mommy,” Chloe handed the rose in her hands to Ava.

“Oh my they’re beautiful, thank you honey,” Ava replied, kissing Chloe who was giggling on her forehead.

“Now, mommy has to go inside and freshen up, okay?”

Chloe nodded in response and ran back to the garden, Ava inquired about her daughter’s welfare from the nanny before taking her briefcase with her into the house.

As soon as she entered her room she flung her shoes and jumped into bed, she remembered Andrew hasn’t spoken to her over the phone that day, she reached for her phone and made to call him—- he would bring up the issue of getting married to him and she was too fagged out from work to engage in such discussion.

She slipped off from her work clothes and went into the bathroom. She took a cold shower and went downstairs to take some snacks from the kitchen. The nanny was helping Chloe find the perfect vase for her flowers.

“How long did her father stay when he dropped her off from school?” She asked in-between mouthful of Oreos.

“He left as soon as he dropped her off, but he promised to come back after work,” the nanny answered back,

“I see, alright take care of Chloe I’m going upstairs I have loads of work from the office,” that was Ava’s way of keeping the nanny from knocking on her door except when extremely important.

When the sun had given way to the stars and the night had taken over the sky in a black velvety covering, There was a knock on their door. Ava was downstairs with Chloe who insisted on watching her favorite TV show with her.

“Check who’s at the —-” Ava stopped talking when she noticed the nanny was already opening the door, the person came in and Chloe jumped happily, Chloe’s reaction warmed Ava’s heart and made her smile.

Bruce lifted Chloe up an threw her in the air, Chloe giggled in excitement”Hey my little angel,” Bruce said kissing her on the forehead, he looked over at Ava who appeared too engrossed with work to notice his presence he tried speaking to her but she constantly shoved him aside and went upstairs to her room.

Bruce was worried about Ava. He knew something was eating her up. After Chloe fell asleep on his chest he went to put her to bed and knocked on Ava’s door. At first she refused but after much pleading she gave in to him and opened the door.

“Are you okay, did I do something wrong?”

“Bruce I’m okay, as you can see I’m busy,” she replied coldly… Bruce couldn’t bear to leave her like this,

After much persuasion, Ava gave in to his talk, “What plan do you have for Chloe?” She asked, staring at him from across her room—- there was silence for a while and Ava knew he had nothing to tell her, this made her devastated. She held herself together and told him to leave as she was busy.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

When he left she hated herself for holding on to someone who wouldn’t blink an eyelid and disappear on both her and her child, throughout the rest of the night she tried to keep her mind off things and buried herself in work before sleep finally came.