Episode 580: All I Have To Give

Nevertheless, it was so hard not to hover over her. If something had happened to her the other night while he’d been grumbling over his job, he never would have gotten over it. He could not get over the feeling that he needed to keep her as close as possible. Which had made it incredibly tough to walk out of that bookstore without her.

Twice, he’d turned back, a terrible feeling churning in the pit of his stomach.

Now that he’d finally reached his destination, everything in him brightened. After all, it was broad daylight. And she wasn’t alone. And he was on the verge of ensuring she’d never be alone. She’d be closer to him than ever.

"May I help you, sir?" A slightly balding man asked from behind the counter.

Sebastian was the one bent over the glass case, but the sales clerk only had eyes for the customer behind him. Bas didn’t care. He knew what he was doing, he knew Ava, and he didn’t need anyone’s help on this.

"I believe my son was here first."

Bas did care about that. He slowly turned to his father. The last person he’d wanted to bump into. The last thing he wanted to think about at this moment was the promise he’d made to Ava not to let his father have any influence over their lives.

"Your son, yes, of course." The sales clerk’s interest in Sebastian increased ten-fold the instant he wrongly assumed that Bas’ wallet would prove far less humble than his casual blue jeans attested. "For a man of your stature, may I suggest one of these for your lady love?" He pulled out a tray of serious rocks.

"You may suggest that, but you’d be seriously over-estimating my stature."

The sales clerk looked aghast, and Sebastian’s father sounded equally so. "Son, you can’t propose to Avalon with something she’ll need a magnifying glass to see. Women equate thses things with how much you love them."

It was a sentiment Sebastian never would have equated with Ava, but his father had this way of making unreasonable things sound reasonable.

Episode 581: A Matter Of Trust