Synopsis:

Seventeen years ago, Ava Langford was left alone and pregnant at nineteen—heartbroken, terrified, and determined to build a beautiful life for the tiny boy in her arms. What she didn’t expect was Ray. Her best friend. Her safe place. The quiet, unwavering constant who held her hand through every tantrum, report card, and 3AM fever. He wasn’t Sebastian’s father—but in every way that mattered, he became exactly that.

Now, Sebastian is a teenager with sharp comebacks and a hidden soft heart, Ava is still her over-affectionate, dramatic, loving self, and Ray—well, Ray’s been in love with her since the moment she held that baby in her arms.

But parenting a teenager isn't for the weak. Between school proposals, sudden kisses, teenage attitude, Ava's fear of abandonment, and Ray’s inability to say the one thing he’s been dying to, this little found family is on the edge of some big changes.

And when Sebastian’s estranged biological father suddenly returns, old wounds reopen. Ava finds herself caught between past trauma and present love, while Sebastian must decide what father truly means—and who gets to be called family.

Funny, emotional, messy, and full of tender chaos,Lavender  Skies is a story about the family you make, the love that waits quietly for years, and how sometimes the strongest kind of bravery… is letting yourself be loved back.

He was wearing the tiny yellow backpack Ava picked out a week before. It still had the tag on because she "couldn't bear to cut it yet."


And now, here we were—outside the kindergarten gates, sunshine too bright, people too loud, Sebastian clinging to her like his life depended on it.


"He's not ready," Ava whispered, bouncing him gently in her arms. "He didn't even eat breakfast properly. He barely slept. He's tiny, Ray."


"You cried more than he did when he couldn't find his left sock this morning."


"I bonded with that sock," she shot back, blinking rapidly, but the tears were already welling.


Sebastian looked up at me, face pinched, lip trembling. "Can you come too?"


I crouched beside him, my hand on his back. "You're gonna be okay, Sebby. It's just a few hours. You'll paint. Eat apples. Maybe make a cool little friend."


He grabbed my wrist with his tiny fingers like he wasn't letting go. "I don't want cool friends. I want you. And Mama."


But something in me cracked, watching him—watching her, actually—arms wrapped around him, trying so hard to stay calm but breaking more with every second. She kept trying to smile through the storm in her eyes.


"Ray," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Let's just take him home. We can teach him stuff. He's already smart. He counted to thirty last week. We'll just—just buy more books and I'll cook snacks and we'll—"


Her voice gave out. Her shoulders shook.


I didn't know who was holding who at that point.


I stood between them and the rest of the world, glaring at anyone who dared whisper. Because they were whispering. Judging.


"Who brings two kids to drop off another kid?"


But I didn't. I just stood straighter, like I always did. Like I had since we were kids in that orphanage, me shielding her from every whisper and cruel joke.


I looked at her again—Ava, holding our boy like the world was ending.


I took a deep breath. "Hey, Sebby. You're the bravest guy I know, alright?"


"You're going to go in there, smile at your teacher, eat your animal crackers, and tell me all about it later. And we'll go to the bookstore after. You can pick anything. Even that dinosaur encyclopedia that weighs more than you."


Ava kissed his cheek about twelve times before handing him to the teacher, and when she let go, she almost fell to the ground. I caught her.


He walked in. Brave, nervous, turning back every five seconds to wave at us.


And when the door finally shut, Ava pressed her face into my chest and sobbed.


"I'm not ready," she whispered. "He's my whole heart, Ray."


I held her close, trying to breathe through the ache in my throat.


Chapter 14 - Kindergarten