Episode 780: Bad Blood

“I feel bad for her,” he said, partly out of sympathy, and partly in search of reassurance from a very silent, Avalon. “I know maybe whatever she did wasn't great, but everybody makes mistakes.”

“They do,” Ava, to Sebastian's relief, agreed, “I feel bad for her, too.”

It helped Sebastian relax a little to hear that, and also to remember that on their way out the door, Avalon had embraced Lila, she'd shown her compassion, surely Ava would show the guy she loved the same, after all, he hadn't really done anything that terrible, he just wanted her to be happy, to have everything, and so he'd accepted his father's help. That had to be forgivable. It had to be.

“Bowie's going to forgive Lila for whatever this is, right?”

“I think so. I would. I do. It's not entirely her fault.”

Though Sebastian found that encouraging, the next bit discouraged him.

“Lila actually was honest, it's your mother who made things murky. She inserted herself into the situation as your parents are so fond of doing.”

Sebastian cringed. If Ava did ever discover that he wasn't as independent of his parents as he'd led her to believe, more inexcusable behavior from either of them would only make it more difficult for him to excuse his continued reliance on his dad.

“Is this about Lila's job? Did my mom have her do something shady as her assistant? Poaching guests from someone else's party or something? I think that's done a lot, you know, in those circles, it's not criminal, no one should treat Lila like it is.”

“Your mother is the one who did something shady.” Ava went on to explain the situation. When she'd told him everything, she added, “I'm just glad you've gained some distance from your parents. I know that's a horrible thing to be grateful for, distance between you, but they have this way of getting people under their thumb and squashing them. I'm so relieved that's not us.”

Episode 781: Daylight