Episode 1155: We Are Family

“More knives out dinners?” his wife asked, her expression downright miserable.

“Dad’s been decent,” he reiterated. “There hasn’t been anything close to knives, did you ever think your mind is making it out to be worse than it is?”

Bas took his hands off the walker and shifted to loop his arms around Avalon’s waist. “He just wants to spend more time with me, that’s all. It isn’t great that he manipulated us into this, but that’s just, it’s his way.”

“It certainly is.” Ava frowned.

“Don’t worry, okay? I’m not going to let my parents be a bad influence, let them bring out that side of me. That stuff with Xavier trying to get him to leave, I know it really tested your faith in me. I won’t make those kinds of mistakes again, I won’t behave like my parents. I know how lucky I am that you ultimately stood by me, that you didn’t just end it right then let alone all that time later while I was in the hospital.”

“Son.” His dad returned to the living room after going to check in with mom in her home office to see if she was ready to wrap up work for a dinner break. “I didn’t catch all of what you said just now, but I’m sure Avalon would be the first to tell you that everyone makes mistakes and she feels just as lucky that you’ve stood by her. It takes two to keep a marriage intact, wouldn’t you agree, Avalon?”

“Absolutely,” she answered. “If you want your relationship to last you do whatever it takes, you put in the work even if it’s work you despise.”

Making an enemy of his dad wasn’t a wise move for anyone. Ava understandably wasn’t a fan, their morals seemingly formed on vastly different planets, but she needed to do a better job of disguising her dislike of the old man.

Hoping his father hadn’t caught on that the word despise seemed to have been directed at him, Sebastian turned to the first distraction he could think of, “hey, dad, do you need to take Walter out for a quick walk so he isn’t antsy during dinner?”

“Good idea, son, then I can concentrate fully on my guests.”

“Goody,” Ava muttered under her breath.

With his father outside, Bas advised his wife to, “just grin and bare him tonight, okay? Pretend you can stomach him. He’ll get over this togetherness kick soon enough and go back to being so wrapped up in his company that he makes no time for anything else. And we’ll go back to happily ever after keeping our distance from them.”

Episode 1156: Hummingbird Heartbeat