Livy flew back to Florida the day after the wedding. As she turned her phone on once she landed, she realized she had a voicemail.
"Hi, this is Fiona from Hadley Realtors. This message is for Olivia Thornton. If you could give us a call at your convenience, we have some news for you."
When she got off the plane, she headed straight to her gate where Matt was supposed to be waiting.
As she waited for him, she called Fiona back.
"Hadley Realtors, this is Fiona."
"Hi, this is Olivia Thornton returning your call."
"Yes, Olivia. I hope you are doing well."
"I am yes. Just getting back to town from Michigan. My brother got married."
"Well, welcome back. I just wanted to talk to you about your interview and application. Are you still interested in working for us?"
"I am, yes."
"Great. When can you start?"
"Next week?"
"Perfect. See you Monday at 8am?"
"I'll be there."
Matt walked up then. She gave him a hug and a kiss. "Guess what."
"What?"
"I'm staying here."
"What?"
"I got a job with Hadley Realtors!"
"You did?"
"Yeah. So as long as you are here, I will be too. When you go back to the cabin, I will go with you."
He was speechless. "That's great."
"Are you sure? Because you sound like you don't know."
"I'm sure. I'm just surprised."
"So I need to find an apartment. I can't stay with your mom forever."
"She has the room, honey."
"I know but what if your dad decides to move back in with her? I don't want to be in the way."
"Well, let's find you that apartment then."
It was easier said than done. Almost everything they looked at was overpriced and huge. She just needed a small studio with a month to month lease.
After contacting a few more complexes, they decided to get lunch at a sandwich shop before going back to his mom's house.
"So little Ben got married? I feel old," Matt said with a laugh.
"Me too. I always thought we would be next. Actually, I thought I would be before Kay."
"I'm sorry, Liv."
"No, honey, that's not…I didn't mean anything by it. I was just saying, because I'm oldest. That's all. I mean, I'm twenty eight…well almost."
"That's not old."
"No, I suppose not."
"So I have news too," he told her.
"You do?"
"Yeah, Dad is getting a lot better so I am thinking, by spring, we should be able to move back up north."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I feel bad because if I had known, I would have told you not to say yes to the job down here."
"Its fine, Matt. I am happy I took it because being without you every day is way too hard."
"Yeah, it is. So since we should be heading back by spring, I was thinking we could plan our wedding for April?"
A week and a half later, once winter break started, Ben took Ava on a small road trip to Tennessee to see the mountains for their honeymoon.
They stocked up on road trip food and drinks and hit the road early one morning.
He had made them coffee and they sipped on them as they drove toward the state line. "It's been a long time since I went on a road trip," she told him, as he took her hand. "And doing it with a husband next to me makes it even better."
"And when we get back, we get to find out if we are having a boy or a girl," he reminded her, even though she didn't need to be reminded.
"I can't wait. I want to paint the nursery and pick out furniture and daydream about it."
"Mom wants to help you paint. She's on a decorating kick and driving Dad nuts."
"Okay. That will be fun. Maybe Kay can come too."
"You should ask her," he told her, squeezing her hand.
"Look, we are in Ohio!"
Ava took a picture of the "Ohio welcomes you" sign as they drove past.
"Do you want to pick baby names?" he asked.
"Sure." She picked up her phone and started her notes app where she would make a list. "I found a website with tons of baby names," she told him.
"Cool."
"Okay, so let's start with boys. Arthur?"
"Um, no. He isn't an eighty five year old man."
She laughed. "Abner?"
"That's even worse."
"Alastair."
"A British Duke?"
"Okay, let's look at more modern names," she suggested. "Aiden?"
"That's cute," he agreed. "Aiden Jack?"
"I will add it to the list. Bentley? Or Brodie! I love Brodie Thornton."
"Brodie is good too. Add it."
"Cash? Cole?"
"Nah. I like Kade," he told her.
"What if we added my Dad's name in there?"
"Brodie Lee," Ben suggested. "I like it."
"Okay, so we have boys nailed down to Aiden Jack or Brodie Lee. Let's look at girls." She found them and smiled. "Brooklyn. I love Brooklyn, Ben."
"Brooklyn Ben? That's a weird name."
"Haha. Do you like it? I was thinking Brooklyn Elizabeth."
"Really? Mom would love that."
As she looked through the girl names, she found a name she loved even more. "Oh, babe. Kinsey Chayse. It has to be Kinsey."
"Alright. If it's a girl, she will be named Kinsey."
As they drove further into Ohio, they stopped to take a long walk at a park since it was a fairly warm day for December. As they walked through the tunnel of trees, he slipped his arm around her waist, kissing her temple. "I'm glad we are doing this," he told her. "Getting away is a good idea."
"I agree." She wrapped her arm around his waist and they continued walking, watching a deer that had run into the pathway and then dashed away.
Ava's phone rang in her back pocket. She ignored it. "Aren't you going to get that?"
"Nope. I'm pretty sure I know who it is."
"Who?"
"My mom."
"Don't you want to talk to her?"
"Not on our honeymoon. I want this to be fun, Ben. I don't want to get into a fight with anyone and that is what will happen if I answer the phone."
"Okay. Fair enough."
Later as they drove into Kentucky, he found a nice little inn by a lake. "What do you think? It says they have vacancy."
"This is nice, Ben. Are you sure we can afford it?"
"Dad gave us a wedding present too. He wants us to have a nice honeymoon."
"Let's get a room then."
They gave them a nice room with a stone fireplace and skylights and a king size feather bed. "Oh wow. I'm not sure I will ever want to leave here," Ava said, sitting on the bed.
Ben gave the owner a tip and accepted the key to the room. "Yeah, it's nice."
He wandered into the bathroom and smiled. A separate shower, huge, and a jetted bath. "Wow, we are so taking a bath in here, Ava."
She wandered in. "Yeah, we are for sure."
The skylight in there was huge, adding to the romantic effect of the country inn. "This is great."
Her stomach growled so at the request of the owner, Barb, they wandered down to the kitchen where she had pot roast, mashed potatoes and green beans for their dinner.
"Oh my goodness. This is delicious," Ava told her. "Thank you so much."
"You are most welcome, dear. Gotta keep your baby fed and growing."
Ava smiled. "This will do it, that's for sure."
"When are you due, dear?"
"May 8th."
"Boy or girl?'
"We find out in about ten days."
"That's so exciting."
"Yeah it is."
Ben smiled as she talked about the names they had chosen. She was excited and that made him happy.
After they ate dinner, they headed back to their room and started a fire in the fireplace and then took a bubble bath, the only light coming from the moon shining through the skylights.
It was perfect.
Livy loved her new job. There were a lot of listings in the area and she had done multiple showings already. Each day, she went home to Clara's house, wishing she had an apartment so she wasn't a burden, though Clara never made her feel that way.
In fact, they had become fast friends who just happened to be future mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
One night, Matt and his father dropped by the house. Matt took Livy out to the beach behind their house while Jesse stayed to talk with Clara.
"Is he doing ok?" Livy wondered as they sat in the sand.
"Yeah. He is making progress. He wants to move back home."
"That's great, hon!"
"It is. I'm so glad."
"I hope this isn't selfish, but I won't have anywhere to stay if he comes home."
"Well, you could stay in my Dad's apartment."
"Um, well, I don't know."
"It's run down, I know."
"Where will you stay?"
"In the second bedroom of his apartment."
"We can't live together, Matt. It's not an option." She was surprised at how forceful that came out. So was he. "I'm sorry, but my values…I can't compromise on that."
"I understand and that's a good thing. I will stay with one of my friends from work."
Her phone rang so she grabbed it out of her pocket. "Hello?"
"Hi, this is Joe from Valley Apartments. Is this Olivia?"
"It is."
"Hi, we have an opening for a studio apartment."
"You do? At the price in the ad?"
"Yes, ma'am. Pets extra and no smoking."
"That's not an issue. When can I move in?"
"Monday?"
"Great. I will stop by tomorrow and sign the lease. It is month to month?"
"Yes it is."
"Great. Thank you so much." She hung up. "I got the apartment at Valley. I can move in Monday."
"Perfect timing." He led her over to the hammock and they laid down, swinging in the warm breezes. Before they knew it, they were asleep, unaware of the discussion happening inside the house.
"Clara, please. I want to come home."
"You left me, Jesse. Left me. How do I know you won't do it again?"
"I won't. I'm getting better. My therapy is helping. I promise you, I won't leave again."
"We never talk about her, you know," she said quietly.
"It was too hard."
"What about now? It's been a long time and I think we need to get everything in the open to move forward."
His therapist had said the same thing and it still seemed insurmountable but he felt pretty much ready.
He sat down and looked up at her, waiting for her to join him. "I agree. Let's talk."
She sat down next to him on the couch and stared at her hands. "I hardly know where to start."
So he did. "She was beautiful. Just like her mother."
"She was," Clara agreed. It had been twenty eight years almost to the day and her eyes still filled with tears over their lost daughter. "I miss her every day."
"So do I." He reached for her hand and sighed when she put her hand in his palm. "Clara, I have never gotten over losing her. It killed me. Broke my heart."
"Mine too, but I needed you, Jesse. I had a brand new baby boy to take care of and you just checked out. I needed you!" she yelled, pulling her hand away. "I can't do this."
"Look I know that saying I'm sorry is not good enough but I am. I am so very sorry that I let you down all these years. I know it was hard."
"It was beyond hard, Jesse. And I basically did it on my own."
He nodded and wiped his eyes. "I don't know how to get past this, Clara. But I need you to know that I will never stop regretting how I handled things."
She stood and looked out the window, seeing Matt and Livy asleep on the hammock. "We used to be like them."
He stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders. "We could be again, sweetheart."
"I don't know if that's possible."
"I'm not pushing you. I'll wait as long as you need, but please don't shut me out."
