watched a flurry of emotions cross Avery’s face.
“And even though I know you were teasing,” Suzannah said to her daughter, “I forgive you anyway for your uncharitable thoughts. Gossiping about you to Leslie, indeed.”
Avery laughed then, shaking her head at her mother’s dramatic display. “Well, you did tell me the two of you had been discussing your children.”
“Your mother has been a model of propriety, Avery.” Leslie returned his glasses to his face. “I know you have no reason to trust me, but I ask that you do when I tell you that she hasn’t compromised your confidentiality.”
“Oh, I know.” Avery sat back, appearing caught off guard by Leslie’s humbleness. “It’s just my job as a daughter to give her a hard time.”
“And you do your job so well, sweetie,” Suzannah said, causing Avery to laugh with a hint of relief, and causing David to chuckle. God, but he was enjoying himself.
Being here in this company, experiencing this warmth, this teasing, and having it all with Avery…yeah, this was good, he thought, swallowing against the tightness in his chest. This was very, very good. And he found himself smiling as he turned his attention back to Leslie, who was speaking.
“Actually, I made my comment based on observing the two of you throughout dinner,” the older man said to Avery. “Thirty-five years reporting for the New York Times has given me a fairly extensive education in reading people.”
This time Avery’s mouth quirked as she swirled her wine and stared into the glass. “And what have you read into this situation?”
Leslie glanced from Avery to Suzannah. His affection was obvious even to David. “Much more than I’m sure you want to hear me wax over ineloquently.”
“Oh, no. I do want to hear. Very much so,” Avery said, sipping her wine and considering the man her mother had brought into her home.
“Okay, but you have been warned,” Leslie said with a laugh, his eyes twinkling as he settled back, hands clasped in his lap. He looked thoughtfully around the table. “Here the four of us sit. Two generations. Old friends becoming reacquainted after years of living unconnected lives. We bring worlds of experience and expectations with us. Yet, in the end, we’re all wanting the same things. Fine food and drink, stimulating conversation, the warmth of companionship and, if we’re lucky, of a partnership.”
Again Leslie glanced at each of them in turn. “And, in what seems to be our shared case here, we’ve come to find those things by looking to the most unexpected places. I truly believe that to everything there is a season. Suzannah and I happen to be approaching the winter of our years. But I fully intend to stick around and show her the beauty of spring.”
David found himself held fast, but not by what the older man was saying. It was the rapt attention on the faces of both Avery and her mother that grabbed him by the throat. It was as if they were hearing a prophet speak. As if they’d cut out their hearts and pasted them to their sleeves.
He kept his attention on Avery’s face; she must have sensed his intensity because her lashes drifted down, and when she next looked up she stared at him with an expression of longing that left him amazed. He’d known her for so long yet until this past week, he had barely known her at all.
He’d held on to his fantasy of the girl she’d been from the time he’d left Tatem until he’d returned ten months ago. But he’d arrived to find a woman he didn’t want to live without.
All he had left to do was convince her that they were meant to be.
“LET ME HELP YOU clean up before we go,” Suzannah said, once David and Leslie had headed out into the living room and left the women to the kitchen. Suzannah and Leslie had plans to continue their evening by driving to the cinema in Alpine.
“No way. You’re cutting it close as it is.” Avery refused to be responsible for her mother missing out on a minute of her, uh, date.
Suzannah shrugged. “If we’re late, we’re late. There will always be another feature.”
Avery wasn’t buying her mother’s casual nonchalance. Not for a minute. She crossed her arms, blocking the path to the kitchen should Suzannah try to slip away to do the dishes as some sort of penance for the deception name Leslie.
“Mom, please go and enjoy your night out. I’ve met Leslie. I approve.