Episode 734: My Destiny

"It’s just me minding the store," Sebastian replied, leaning on the checkout counter at the bookstore and looking as though he’d been darn close to drifting off until she and Nate had walked in. Business wasn’t exactly jumping. Bowie had been smarter than she’d given him credit for - he’d bailed out at the right time.

"Avalon’s having a late lunch with her dad today," Sebastian continued. The dad who apparently still wasn’t Sebastian’s biggest fan given the way Sebastian grimaced.

"Eventually he’ll come around," Lila offered, "his daughter did, and speaking of your fiancée, do you have a wedding planner yet?"

"No."

"Good," Lila went on, totally oblivious to her friend’s grimace that time, too caught up in her own agenda. "So then you can hire me to plan your wedding and it’ll further prove to your mother that I’m way more competent than she gives me credit for." Plus, she’d always been ambitious when it came to guys; it was only recently that it had occurred to Lila to be ambitious for herself.

Sebastian scrubbed a hand over his face. "I don’t even-"

"I know, Ava and I aren’t besties, but we’re way better than we were before. Maybe I’m not the most obvious choice to plan her wedding, but she was a huge help with mine, anyways, she’s a forgiving person, she’s forgiven you and you’ve been a thousand times worse to her than I’ve been, so maybe you could use your immense powers of persuasion with-"

"If my powers to persuade her were that immense we’d already-"

"Mom," Nate interrupted, tugging on her sleeve. "Could you buy me this? Please, please, please."

"Nate, I’m in the middle of a conversation." Which promptly slipped from her mind the moment she caught sight of the book in Nate’s hand. She snatched it from him. "Why would you want this? Since when do you consider math problems fun?"

Nate shrugged. "I was in the library a lot this summer cuz Jesse’s obsessed with Caroline who like never stops doing schoolwork, so I found these math books and it’s kind of cool, like puzzles."

"So do an actual puzzle. Why be so suddenly into numbers? How did this happen? I’m not into math and neither is your dad."

"Lila, relax already. Nate," Sebastian said, "the book is yours, it’s a treat for putting up with such a wackadoo for a mom." He smiled at her. "Seriously, Lila, what’s with you? Parents are supposed to be happy when they have a kid who likes math."

Lila frowned. It was a little hard to be happy when your kid’s interests lean toward the financier guy rather than the guy you desperately hope is his dad.

Episode 735: Inside