Free A Love of Her Own by Bettye Griffin Page A

him.”
    “ I’m crazy about him. I just wanted him to have a home with two parents, but it didn’t work out. Now all I can do is hope his mother and I can manage to at least be civil to each other while I’m there.” He muttered something unintelligible.
    Ava took that to be a few choice words for the boy’s mother. “I gather you and your ex-wife don’t get along too well.”
    “ No, we don’t. And she’s not my ex-wife. I tried to get her to marry me when she got pregnant, but she refused. I didn’t realize at the time that—well, that’s another story. In the six years since our son was born I’ve come to realize that she did me a tremendous favor by refusing to marry me, but I’ll always regret that my son is growing up with the two of us at odds.”
    “ I’m sure he’ll be all right. The important thing is for him to know each of his parents loves him very much.”
    “ You do have a point. Have you ever been married, Ava?”
    “ Oh, years and years ago,” she said lightly.
    “ You don’t have children, I suppose.”
    “ No.”
    Her voice cracked a little on the monosyllable, but fortunately Hilton didn’t seem to notice.
    “ Do you like kids?” he was asking.
    “ Oh, I love them.” She added softly, “My biggest regret in life is not getting to be a mother.”
    “ Well, don’t give up, Ava. You never know what life’s going to bring you.”
    “ No, I guess you don’t.” Her words had a carefree tone, but in a display of skepticism Hilton couldn’t see she raised her right eyebrow. I may not know what life is going to bring me, but I know what it isn’t going to bring me. It was time to change the subject. “I’m curious, Hilton. What made you come to Palmdale?”
    “ I was ready for a change. I had put in twenty years with the police force in Augusta and was eligible for a pension. The situation with my son’s mother was becoming intolerable. I came down to Nile Beach for a vacation last year and explored the area. Palmdale looked like a good place to start the kind of business I wanted to run, especially with all the new construction and the restoration of those old houses in the historic district. Besides, it wasn’t too far from Augusta.”
    “ Oh, you were a policeman.”
    “ Yes. Believe it or not, I liked the idea of helping people.”
    “ But you said you studied architecture.”
    “ After high school my dad insisted I do something to stay out of trouble until I was twenty-one and old enough to join the force. I majored in criminal justice, but I took up carpentry as a hobby later and found I was pretty good at it.”
    *****
    Frank’s Fish Box was a popular informal seafood restaurant on Ocean Avenue in Nile Beach. The two-story restaurant was large and square, actually shaped like a box. Like every other building in the area it was lit with Christmas lights. Because of its boxy shape, the overall effect was that of an oversize Christmas gift.
    It was also full, but only four people were waiting to be seated in the reception and bar area in the front . The hostess took their name and assured them a table would be available within the next fifteen minutes.
    “ Let’s have a drink,” Hilton suggested. They sat at the bar, and Ava ordered a Chardonnay, Hilton a seven and seven.
    “ Ava, hi!”
    “ Linda! What a surprise! I thought you were living in West Palm.” Ava warmly hugged the attractive fortyish woman who’d been passing by with a companion.
    “ I am, but we came to spend the holiday at my father’s. It was here that we met two years ago. I guess we’re just sentimental.” She took the arm of the bespectacled man standing to her left, whose black hair contained a smattering of gray. “Honey, this is Ava Maxwell, an old friend of mine. Ava, this is my husband, Neil Carson.”
    Ava shook hands with Linda ’s husband, then introduced Hilton to both of them. “Tell me, will you be here for the entire holiday season?” she asked, beaming. She was so