Page 88 of Saving Ren

“Daniella, my sister.”

Her head moves next to mine as she nods. Tilting her head, she aims her eyes and a small smile my way.

“Tell me about her?”

“Ava?”

“No, the woman walking her dog on the beach out there.”

Despite her sarcastic tone and knowing full well I can’t even see the beach from here, I still look out the window before slicing my narrowed eyes back to Lauren. She rolls hers before shaking her head.

“Did anyone ever tell you. . .”

“That sarcasm is the lowest form of wit? Yes, but I’m funny in other ways so I can get away with it.”

We stare at each other in silence for a few seconds. I consider kissing her smart mouth, but we’re standing in the doorway of my daughter’s bedroom, and kissing will likely lead to other things I don’t want to be doing, or even thinking about, anywhere near my daughter’s bedroom.

“Yes,” Lauren finally says. “Tell me about Ava.”

“Despite everything, for Ava’s sake, me and Lena try and keep things civil. We mostly achieve this by having as little to do with each other as possible, and when we do have any kind of direct communication, she makes it blatantly obvious, she hates my fucking guts.”

“Wow,” she huffs out what I have learned is her go-to response for varying situations.

“Yeah, look, I was a dick. I was twenty-three and clueless, but I’ve always wondered why she wanted more from me, why she agreed to get married. But anyway. . . Ava.” I move from behind Lauren into the bedroom, shift the pile of clothes and soft toys out of the way, and sit on my daughter’s bed.

“Ava has never known life any other way, so she’s grown up spending every other weekend and half her school holidays with me. She’s a good kid, doing great at school, loves anything and everything One Direction, and is growing up way too fast for my liking.”

“Who does she look like?”

It hits me then, I still haven’t found frames for all the photos Dani had printed off for me, so Lauren wouldn’t yet have seen an image of Ava.

“She’s a mix of both of us—my olive skin and blue eyes, Lena’s blonde hair. We’re both fairly tall, so she gets her height from both of us. She’s a lot more outgoing than her mum, which, believe me, is a good thing. She’s sharp, funny, probably a lot like my sister.”

I notice Lauren smiling at me at the same time she rubs at her chest with her palm as she watches me talk.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Missing my kids, but love seeing the way you light up when you talk about yours,” she says with a shrug, completely throwing me off what I was saying.

“Carry on,” she orders.

I clear my throat.

“Right now, I think the hormones are kicking in as she’s clashing with her mum a lot. She can’t go anywhere without Sophie, her sidekick, and I’ve noticed she’s started wearing a little bit of makeup.”

“Is Lena married or with anyone else?”

“Yeah, she remarried around five years ago. She has a three-year-old and another one on the way.”

“Did you never want more kids?”

I spin a pink and purple octopus around in my hands as I think about my answer to that question.

“If I’d have been in the right relationship, found the right girl, then yeah, I would’ve liked more kids. But it didn’t happen. I’ve never really put myself out there enough to let it happen. I’ve never been in love. . .”

“Never?” She questions.

“Nope,” I answer with a headshake.