Page 96 of The Sweetest Mistake

Harper shook her head at him. “You could hardly call it dating. We only went out a few times, and we only kissed once.”

“Didn’t need to be reminded of that,” Finn said, knocking back his beer.

“When are Will and Megan getting married anyway?” McKayla asked.

“They’re thinking around Valentine’s Day,” Julia replied.

Up until then, McKayla and Liam had been kind of quiet, and Julia wondered what might be going on with them. She assumed that McKayla had been invited to the barbecue to celebrate Harper’s engagement, but maybe there was another reason she was there.

“February will be the perfect time to get out of Michigan for a while,” Harper said.

And then the conversation drifted off to other topics.

As Connor stumbled into the lake house with all their bags, Julia was brought back to the present.

“Do we really need all this stuff for four days?” he asked as he set the bags in the foyer and came into the living room to join her and Ava.

“Yes. We really do,” she replied, laughing.

“What all is in there, anyway?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Probably not,” he said. “Whatever it is, I trust you.”

“Here. Why don’t you hold Ava while I start to unpack?” When she went to hand Ava to him, Julia said, “Go to Da-da.”

“Da-da,” Ava repeated.

Julia froze with Ava suspended between them.

“Did you hear that?” Connor asked.

“I think she said Da-da,” Julia said.

“Da-da,” Ava said.

“Oh my God. She did say it!” Connor said, taking Ava from Julia and planting kisses all over her chubby cheeks.

They’d been trying to get Ava to say Da-da for the past few weeks, and while she’d made some attempts, the words hadn’t come out clearly until then.

As if she could sense how happy she’d made them, Ava said it a few more times. “Da-da, da-da, da-da.” She was rewarded with more kisses from Connor and a tight squeeze from Julia.

“This is so exciting! We should probably call Cam and tell her,” Julia said.

Connor shook his head. “Not yet. I want it to just be the three of us for a little while longer.”

One look into his eyes and she melted, just like always. “Okay,” she said softly.

The next two days were idyllic. They slathered Ava with sunscreen and sat with her at the water’s edge, taking turns holding her in their laps and letting her splash in the water. Julia was put in charge of picture-taking, and she sent dozens of photos to Cam to assure her that Ava was safe and having fun.

But since it was their watch, they took a few liberties, such as letting Ava play in the sand and getting completely dirty before they rinsed her off in the lake. She’d had on a pair of baby sunglasses (princess ones of course), and Julia had been diligent about keeping the sand out of Ava’s eyes. But still, she had a feeling that Cam wouldn’t have approved if she’d have known.

At night, Connor grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for them, and they ate outside on the deck, with Ava in a seat that hooked onto the table.

“I would have never known about this contraption if you hadn’t thought of it,” Connor said, shaking his head in amazement.

She smiled and said, “See. She really does need all this stuff.”