Chapter 28

"A daddy?" asked Lili, looking over at AJ. "Are you supposed to be my daddy? I can see you as my lover, but daddy, never."

Stunned at her words, because he had no idea she had been thinking of him that way, he still tried to rush in with an answer, "No, Lillian, she wanted me to be her daddy, and I told her that we would have to be in love and married for that to happen. So that I could be her Uncle AJ, but not Dada." And in a soft aside, he told Lili, "Although, I like your version too!"

"How can you possibly think of me as a lover the way I look? I will admit that I have had a few passing thoughts about you as a lover, my friend, and one hot dream, but don't let it go to your head. I'm not about to let it spoil our friendship."

"You're in incredibly attractive woman, Lillian, but I wouldn't ruin our friendship either. If there is ever a day when you can see our friendship growing into more all you have to do is let me know."

"Agreed, but the same goes for you, AJ."

"When you're ready, I will be, Lillian," he assured her.

"You care that much for me now?" she asked, in shock.

"I care for both you and Annie, and want what's best for the both of you. I think that you still need time to mourn Joe, but when you are ready to move on, I will be close by."

"Believe it or not I'm almost over Joe. He's not whom I dream about any more. He's not whom I wake up thinking about, or go to sleep with on my mind. Give me some time to adjust to this shift in feelings and we'll see what happens."

"You can have all the time in the world, Lillian, I will be here when you are ready," AJ said, making a space for her on the couch next to him and Annie.

"Have I missed much of the movie?" she asked, making eye contact with him.

"All of it, I'm afraid, but I bet that if you really wanted to see it, Annie could be talked into watching it again!" he teased.

Nodding her head and smiling she said, "es, es, es."

"I think she wants to watch it again. I have a feeling I'm going to get awfully tired of this movie in no time,' she laughed, reaching for AJ hand to hold.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly.

"Don't be, it was a lovely gift." she squeezed his hand.

"Guess I will have to get her another new one soon, so you don't get bored," he said, squeezing her hand back.

"I have too much to do at home to be bored," sighed Lili. "By the time I get home from working all day there is laundry to do and cleaning to do, and supper to fix, not to mention taking this little princess to her doctor's appointments. I have very little time for myself. That was a treat to use your huge bathtub and just soak."

"You can come by any time and use it," he smiled at her.

"I wish! It's to far a drive out in the country to come for a soak," she laughed. "Maybe when we visit I will take one every now and then."

"You could come out every weekend and have one then!" he offered.

"Be careful, you'll spoil me," she kissed his hand.

He smiled and brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it also.

When he kissed her hand she felt it all the way to her heart. "AJ, I may be closer to a relationship than I first realized," she whispered, wanting to taste his lips. "Do you think I'm awful?"

"No, I don't. Whenever you are ready, Lillian, we can take this as slow as you want, my dear."

"Thank you, AJ. I never expect to ever have these feeling ever again and this is taking me by surprise. Maybe in a week or two I will feel more comfortable with them."

"As long as we can continue to see each other during that time, I am okay with that," he smiled and caressed her cheek with his hand.

"I'll look forward to seeing you while I get my feelings worked out," she said, leaning her cheek into his palm and kissing it.

To be continued…