6

Chapter 119 Man to Man

After a Gemma free dinner the next day, Jax asked TB if they could talk. Ava gave him a nervous look before going upstairs for a calming Hallmark movie. Lately, she was finding the movies less interesting. The men seemed kind of wimpy compared to Jax. In a tough situation, she'd rather have Jax by her side than any of them because he had muscles and he would kick ass. Somehow she'd grown to like his hard muscled body.

She wondered how he'd do with her father. At least her father liked Jax. She didn't think her father liked her and that was before her behavior escalated to the point he'd actually noticed it.

TB led Jax into his private study a short walk down the hall from the kitchen where they had dinner. It was furnished exactly like the rest of the house with oxblood leather furniture and dark green drapes.

"Would you like a brandy?" he asked going over to a small bar.

"I don't think I've ever had brandy," Jax said. "Sure, I'd like to try it. Thanks."

TB poured two snifters and handed one to Jax.

"What's on your mind?" TB asked.

"I want to talk to you about Ava."

"Maybe she should be here for this."

"No, this is between us. Ava told me that when her mother died, she called you and you sent an assistant to get her."

"That's true. I was working on the biggest case of my career."

"She lost her mother and you couldn't be bothered to comfort her. It may have been almost twenty years ago, but she's still that same little girl who lost her mother whose father wasn't there for her at the worst moment of her life."

TB took a sip of brandy and frowned at the memory of his daughter calling him. At the time, he'd done what was best for him. She complained to him about this when she was a teenager. She really needed to get over it and move on.

"I did what I thought was best."

Jax jumped to his feet angrily.

"How could you leave a six year old to an assistant when she needed you? You weren't there for her. She's still that little girl. She is deeply hurt. Do you know what her favorite subject was in school? Can you name any of her teachers? Did you ever go to an open house?"

"I went to her high school graduation," TB said defensively.

"By then it was too late. I was twelve when my father died and I'm still traumatized. I miss him every day. That's never going to go away. Ava misses her mother. She has good loving memories of her even after she started to take her special medicine."

'Ava needs to get over her childhood and move on."

Jax's face flushed with anger.

"You don't fucking get it. She can't just move on. She's still that little six year old inside that was deserted by you when she needed you the most. Those scars aren't going to heal because you think they should."

TB compressed his already thin lips as he sat silently thinking about Jax's words. He had always stayed busy enough to not think about how Ava must have felt about losing her mother. He figured that her mother was a junky so Ava was well rid of her. He suddenly saw that for all of her mother's faults, Ava loved her and had suffered when she died. He was just too busy to notice or care.

Jax returned to his chair and took a sip of brandy while he waited for TB to think through what he'd said.

"I never wanted to be a father," TB said slowly. "My father died before I had memory. One of my grandfathers was never in my life. The other one died. I have pictures but that's all the memories I have of him. My mother made me feel like a burden that she got stuck with after my father died."

"And the cycle will continues. My relationship with Gemma is gone. There is nothing that can fix it, but you could fix your relationship with Ava and I'm not talking about giving her money. I'm talking about the two of you having a good father daughter relationship, but it is on you to make that happen because you were the one who fucked it up."

"I can't undo the past."

"No, you can't, but you can tell her that you are sorry for how you treated her when her mother died. That can help with the healing between you," Jax said. He'd been reading his phone about relationship stuff and some of it was surprisingly useful. "It's the only way for the two of you to start over and build a relationship. I'd like to see the little girl inside Ava healed."

"Don't you think it's too late?"

"It's not too late to tell her you're sorry for how you treated her and how you were a shit father to her. My father did everything with me. He taught me about motorcycles. Taught me how to ride my first dirt bike. Gemma knew my teachers sometimes due to my bad behavior, but she was involved in my life."

"I made sure I ate dinner with her."

"Did you ever ask her about her life? What was going on at school?"

"I figured if she wanted me to know she'd tell me."

"And she thought if you cared about her life, you would ask her. You have two ways of treating people. To your employees, you are great. They all think the world of you. You pay well and everyone says how great you are to work for. You can be kind to Ava. The honeymoon you gave us was exactly what we needed to give us the time to work out how to be married. Your giving us a house as a wedding present is very generous and I am grateful, but what Ava needs most from you is your time. Not your money. You need to spend time asking her questions about her life and listening to the answers."

"It's so much easier to use money because I can always make more. I can't make more time," TB said with a sigh. "That's limited."

"She's your only daughter. Don't you want to know her?"

"I never really thought about it. As I said, I never wanted to be a father. Now that Ava is an adult maybe it is time that I got to know her. She's changed a lot since you two have been married. She seems happier."

"You can make her happier by showing her you give a damn about her."

"And I thought you were here to talk me out of marrying your mother," TB said ruefully.

"You can make your own mistakes in life. You've earned that right. If you marry Gemma, don't make her the beneficiary of any life insurance policies and get a prenup limiting what she gets after your death or you won't live long," Jax said finishing his brandy and getting to his feet.

"I do love her."

"Gemma or Ava?"

"Both."

"You should make Ava feel loved," Jax said, "and you should tell her."

"It took a lot of balls to talk to me."

"I want to help Ava."

"I'll think about what you've said."

Ava couldn't concentrate on her Hallmark movie. She was worried about Jax talking to her father. When he returned to their room, she was relieved.

"How did it go?"

"I don't know if I got through to him or not. Sometimes he's hard to read."

"Welcome to my world."

Jax kissed Ava on the forehead.

"I told him that he needed to apologize to you for the way he's treated you if he ever wanted to have a father daughter relationship with you. I hope that the two of you can work through this."

Ava didn't think her father wanted to work anything through with her. It was sweet of Jax to try, but her father was hopeless.

"What about Gemma? Did you mention her?"

"Yeah, I told him if he married her he might not live long."

Ava thought about that. She knew she should be happy. She'd receive her guaranteed thirty million trust fund minus Jax's share once they were married for three years, but somehow, it just made her feel sad.

"

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