slip them on. I throw on a t-shirt and jeans then slip on my tennis shoes. I peek inside the Target bag sitting on my table and smile. I grab it and head outside.
I’m a ball of nerves as I make my way to her apartment. What if Ava doesn’t like me?
As soon as I pull up to their apartment, I climb off my bike and grab the teddy bear in a ballerina costume out of the bag and make my way toward the door. I pull out my phone.
Chance: I’m here.
A second later the door buzzes, and I open it.
Chapter Ten
Laken
“Are you all ready for your cruise?” I ask my mom.
She smiles at me from her spot on my bed. “I am. I’m almost finished packing, and tomorrow morning your brother is driving us to the airport. Ava has been so excited about coming to see you. Last night, I swear she didn’t want to go to sleep.”
That sounds like my girl. There’s a knock and then a familiar voice speaking from the other room. Mom looks at me with a raised brow. “Chance is here?” I ask myself. “He doesn’t know about Ava, and I broke things off with him.”
“Well, let’s see what’s happening out there.” She stands, grabs my hand, and leads me into the living room.
The sight in front of me steals my breath. Chance is down on one knee in front of Ava, and he’s so focused on whatever she’s saying to him that he doesn’t even notice me. He’s giving her his charming smile, and she must be eating it up.
“Oh my,” Mom whispers from next to me. I know exactly what she means because he’s so fucking beautiful it’s not fair.
Chance finally looks up at me and my mom and smiles widely. He stands, and Ava grabs his hand and tries tugging him over to me with a ballerina teddy bear in her free hand. “Mommy, wook.” She thrusts the teddy at me. “She’s a ballawina.”
“I see that, love bug. Did you tell Chance thank you?”
Ava nods and then hugs his legs. What the heck is happening? She just met him.
Mom steps forward. “Since my daughter is being rude, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Leigh.”
“Hi, I’m Chance.” He accepts Mom’s hug and then smiles at me.
I’m so confused right now, and I’m not sure why he’s here since … well, I broke things off. How did he know to bring a teddy bear? Nicole comes walking out of her bedroom, and that’s when I know she set this up.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right back.” I grab Nicole’s hand and pull her into my room and shut the door. “What did you do?”
She runs her fingers through her hair, which is a sign she’s nervous. Good. “The day of Ava’s accident, Chance came over. It was several hours after you had left, and he was worried about you. I let him in to talk and forgot to hide the pictures, so he saw the big one on the bookshelf. I couldn’t lie to him. It’s so obvious that you’re mother and daughter.” Nicole holds up her hands. “I swear I didn’t tell him anything else. Well, except that Ava was here, and … I let him in, but that’s it.”
“I can’t believe he’s here. I assumed once he found out I was a mom he’d split.” That’s the truth too. He seems like someone who is not ready for that type of responsibility yet, and I don’t mean that in a bad way.
“He really likes you; I can tell. Give him a chance. Seriously, I wish I had a camera on him when he saw Ava for the first time. I swear I could see all of those pearly whites as he smiled at her, and it was genuine.” She walks to the door. “Now let’s go visit.” I follow her out of the room feeling more confused than ever, but that changes.
I step into the living room to find my daughter sitting on Chance’s lap and talking to him. It must be intense because she’s waving her arms and clapping her hands together. “And then Mommy sings to me, and she sounds like an angel. Dats what Papa says.”
“What stories are you telling, love bug?” I sit next to them, and my girl climbs onto my lap.
“She was just telling Chance about your nightly FaceTime chats.” Mom stands. She looks at her phone and then at us. “I need to head back.