Page 67 of Accidentally in Love

Avery pulled her hand away and put it on her stomach.

Alarm bells went off in my head. “You okay?”

She nodded. “I thought I felt the baby, but I think I imagined it. It’s still too early.”

“You’ll get there,” her dad reassured her.

“You’re really not mad?” she asked her dad.

“Avery, you’re a grown-ass woman. Why would I get mad? Do you have any of those Christmas cookies?”

She glared at him. “I knew you had an ulterior motive for coming here! After dinner.”

After dinner, I gave Sal a refill on his beer, and I told Avery to take a load off while I cleaned up in the kitchen. Dinner had gone better than I expected. I thought her dad would hate me, but he was a chill guy. Maybe the fact I moved her into my house and we were getting married did it. In his eyes, I was doing the right thing by making an honest woman out of her.

I put the leftovers away and scrubbed the pans. In the living room, I heard the low murmuring of Avery and her dad talking about the hockey game. It turned out her dad was a huge Bulldogs fan, so we got to talking about if the team could make the playoffs this year. They hadn’t won the cup since the eighties, though. It was frustrating to be a Bulldogs fan. It made sense that Avery was such a big hockey fan now; she got it from her dad.

I dried off my hands and walked into the living room to find Sal in the armchair and Avery curled up asleep on the couch. I sat down on the other end of the couch next to Avery. I took a swig of my now lukewarm beer and made a disgusted face.

Sal chuckled. “Too warm?”

“Didn’t drink it fast enough.”

He eyed me warily. “Does my daughter know how much you love her?”

I studied the bottom of my bottle. Was I that obvious to literally everyone but the woman in question?

He gave me a hard look. “You didn’t ask her to marry you because you thought it was the right thing to do, right, son?”

I nodded and then shook my head. “No, she doesn’t know, but yeah, I didn’t ask because I felt like I had to. I wanted to.”

He pointed at the sleeping form of his daughter. “She needs to know that.”

I picked at the label on my beer. “I was married before, and it didn’t work out.”

“What happened?”

“I wanted kids. She didn’t. I don’t know if Avery told you about my parents—”

He cut me off. “I’m from Drakesville. I knew your parents back in high school. I’m sorry for your loss.”

I nodded and stroked my beard. “I had to take care of my little brother. We don’t have any other family. Kath and I got married young, but I always felt like I didn’t deserve another shot at love or a family.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Tell my daughter you love her. I know you’ll make her happy, but you have to tell her that.”

I couldn’t respond because Avery stirred on the other side of the couch. She sat up and looked around in confusion. She blinked at me and then turned to look at her dad. “Oh, dad, I’m sorry. Growing a baby is tiresome.”

Sal smiled at his daughter, but his eyes told me I needed to think about what he said. I wasn’t a man of many words. Finding the words to tell her how I felt was hard for me. What if she was only marrying me because she felt like this was her only chance at the life she wanted? What if she was settling for me?

Avery looked at her dad and me. “What are you two talking about?”

“I was asking Nolan when you’re having the wedding,” he lied.

“Oh, we haven’t discussed it, but I want a simple courthouse wedding before I turn into a whale.”

Her dad laughed.

She hefted herself off the couch. “Dad, let me make you up a box of cookies to take home.”