Page 48 of Edge of Steele
Avery giggled and looked at Ryleigh. “Do you know how to do braids?”
“I do, but I haven’t done it in a long time.”
Avery’s eyes scrunched together. “You have short hair too. How come you know?”
“My hair hasn’t always been short. It was long the entire time I was growing up, so my mom and gran braided it all the time.”
“You have a gran?”
“I do. And a grandad who live very close to me.”
“Lucky. Finn has grandparents but they live way in Portland. That’s a long way away.”
Finn continued brushing, and her fine hair tangled in the bristles.
“Ouch.” Avery’s hand flew to the brush to stop him.
Finn flushed red. “Sorry, Peanut. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“I know.” Avery looked at Ryleigh. “Can you braid my hair?”
Oh, gosh.That must’ve hurt Finn. But Ryleigh would hurt the child more by saying no, so she nodded. “I can try, but like I said, it’s been a long time so no telling how it’ll turn out.”
Finn nearly threw the brush to Avery as if he was glad to get rid of it. He offered her an apologetic smile.
She shrugged it off. Braiding hair really wasn’t an imposition. She got up and carefully cleared the tangle then set to work separating segments of the soft hair into manageable strands. Once she started, the process came back to her, and she soon had one side neatly braided.
She held out her hand. “I’ll need a rubber band to finish this.”
Avery shot a look at Finn. “In the pink box that Mama gave me on my shelf.”
“Be right back.” He bolted from the room.
Avery looked up, her eyes narrowed. “He really doesn’t get girly things so much.”
“I can see that.” Ryleigh smiled at Avery. “But he’s trying really hard because he loves you and wants what’s best for you.”
Avery frowned. “I know, but sometimes I can’t help it and I’m mean to him.”
“I know you don’t want to be, and he knows that too. It’s normal and part of grieving the loss of your mother.”
“Is it?”
“Uh-huh, and you know what?”
“What?”
“If you have a chance to talk to that counselor, you’ll figure out how to handle it better. If you don’t want to do it for yourself, maybe think about doing it for Finn.”
“I didn’t like going to the counselor. Now maybe I will.”
“That’s great.” Ryleigh heard a noise behind her and found Finn standing in the doorway. He mouthed, “Thank you.”
She smiled up at him, and her heart flung wide open to wrap around her growing feelings for him.
Oh, no. She was smitten. Totally and completely smitten again. How had she let that happen?
They couldn’t start dating. Not long-distance. He was right about that when they dated before. Long-distance wouldn’t work. And honestly, if they didn’t have the distance issue, dating could lead to marriage. All well and good if he wasn’t now a dad. Ryleigh liked Avery and all, but was she prepared to be a ready-to-order mom?
