Finding the Love Back Read Online Free Page B

a few that he was working on sitting on the table. Her bedroom was still the same. It was like there was still a high school teen living there. The only change was that her father had made a collage of all of the magazine articles and a local news article on Ava that talked about her work as a rising celebrity stylist in Atlanta.
     
    A feeling of pride swelled in Ava’s chest. She hadn’t been aware that her father was paying attention to her career. A tear threatened to fall, but she held the tears back. She still had to go to the hospital and see about her father and she needed to be as composed as possible.
     
    Ava looked at herself in the mirror and pulling out her makeup kit, she decided that a bit of eyeliner and some lip gloss were in order. She made up her face and pulled her shoulder length hair up into a messy ponytail. When she pulled her hair off of her face, she could see the resemblance between herself and her mother. She had the same olive toned skin as her mother and the only difference was that Ava had colored her brunette hair to a blonde. Otherwise, she was looking more and more like Marie Collier as Ava got older.
     
    Ava poured some food for Dolce and made him promise to be good while she was gone to the hospital. Dolce agreed by licking her on the hand as Ava pet him on the head. Although she wasn’t in a rush to get to the hospital to see her father in such a bad condition, she couldn’t stay at the house any longer. There were too many memories there and they were all fighting to come back to her at the same time.
     

Chapter 6
     
     
     
    Nadine was extremely helpful. She spent the next hour clearly explaining to Ava her options. They expected her father to make a healthy recovery, but he had some damage from the stroke to his left side. Ava sat in with her father for another few hours. At first, he was asleep but when he awoke, a tear rolled down his cheek and he did the best he could to squeeze Ava’s hand. No words needed to be spoken between them. The void of being apart for so many years immediately closed in the span of a few seconds. Ava was happy that she’d come home. She knew that she couldn’t leave until she knew that her father was settled comfortably in the house. And she knew that it would take a bit more than the four or five days that she had allowed herself. She decided to play it day by day to make sure that she took care of everything that needed to be taken care of.
     
    Ava told her father that she would be back to the hospital later that evening to sit with him. He nodded as best he could. When Ava made it out to her car, all of the emotions of the day came flooding back to her. Tears rolled down her cheeks uncontrollably. She hadn’t been home in so long and to come home to see her father in the hospital hurt her. She had the chance to make time to come home earlier when he was well and she didn’t.
     
    She knew that things had to change and she was willing to do so. She decided that she would go back to the house and take a nap before she started trying to help her father get the house in order. Once she turned down her street, she saw that there was a vehicle parked in the driveway. It was a charcoal grey Range Rover.  She didn’t recognize it and wondered who was there for a visit.
     
    She parked her car behind the SUV and hopped out, ready to see who her visitor was. When their eyes met, she couldn’t believe who was standing there in front of her.
     
    “Hey doll.” The richness of his baritone voice took her back to a time she had long forgotten. Standing there dressed in a white t-shirt and a pair of distressed jeans was Christian Carter.
     
    “Wow. I wasn’t expecting you.” Ava tried to speak without stuttering.
     
    “How did you know that I was here?” she asked.
     
    Christian chuckled and the dimple in his chin became more pronounced. He raised his sunglasses to reveal his soft hazel eyes. He still had that boyish look she remembered, but