I had given in. I'm not even sure why, but I gave in. Avery and I pulled into the parking lot first because Chad had to go pick his daughter up from his ex-wife's home. "I don't like him." Avery scrunched up her nose as we sat at our table and waited for our food.
"Avery, he seems like a nice man that asked us to go to lunch," I explained. "There's nothing wrong with that."
"I like Nick better," she mumbled and took a sip from her orange Hi-C drink in her Happy Meal cup.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I frowned. Our conversation was interrupted as the door to the fast food place was swung open.
"Hey!" Chad smiled from the door, holding the hand that belonged to a beautiful little girl. She had long blonde hair and beautiful green eyes - just like her daddy. I smiled and waved as they walked over. "Avery, Megan, I want you to meet my daughter, Tessa. Tessa, this is Miss Megan and Avery." He introduced.
"Hi Tessa, it's nice to meet you," I smiled at the little girl. She blushed bashfully and hid behind her father's legs.
“How about you girls go play on the play set while I order food? Tessa, you want a Happy Meal Cheeseburger?” Chad asked his daughter. She nodded with a smile and hurried off with Avery to play on the huge play escape that took up the back end of the fast food restaurant. I smiled and walked up to the cash register with Chad to wait while he ordered and wait for our food. “Thanks for coming. Again, I’m so sorry about the comment earlier.”
“It’s really okay,” I sighed with a smile. “I can’t imagine it’ll be the last time we get that comment.” I smiled a small smile as my tray appeared on the counter. I took it and returned to our table and waited for Chad to join me. I decided to wait until his food came to call Avery and Tessa back in.
“It’s really hard being a single parent, I completely understand,” he tried to find a common issue we shared as he returned back to the table with his tray.
“Oh, well, I’m not exactly a parent,” I tried to explain. I hadn’t really been thrown the opportunity to explain my situation. No one had really asked before. “Avery’s mom was my best friend. She was killed in a car accident a while back and she left Avery with me.”
“Wow,” Chad looked surprised. “That’s a pretty strong bond you must have had with her mother. She seems very happy with you.”
“Not all the time,” I laughed. “It was hard to become a surrogate mother, if you will. I didn’t know what I was doing for a while and it was really stressful. I actually have an old friend living with me and he’s helping me out.”
“He?” Chad questioned. He seemed awfully interested for just meeting me recently.
“Yeah, we kind of grew up together and he’s filling his position as best friend,” I smiled just thinking of Nick. In a way, it was slightly awkward. I was telling a complete stranger about my friendship with Nick.
“That’s great,” he smiled and started unloading the Happy Meal from the tray.
“Yeah,” I smiled back. “I’ll go get the girls.” I decided to leave the table in hopes that when I returned we would change the subject.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry it's been a little while. Read and review and hopefully I can get another chapter out tonight!
