Sorry for the late reply, and gotcha! Sounds like that's running as intended (minus the dating note). If you did want to try James' romantic path still, the easiest way to get it is to ask him to stay on the day that he's tired, and to drop by the garden - and to accept the phone call, later. :) The game should allow you to choose his platonic or romantic path then. Please let me know if this doesn't work (if you want to try it) and I'll investigate further!
And thank you for those additional details, that should be enough for me to narrow down and resolve the issue of the dating note on the platonic path. The bug at the end of Ava's route sounds like a nuisance so I'll see if I can identify it and patch it - I'll upload the patch tonight at the earliest, and by Friday at the latest. Please don't hesitate to let me know if anything else comes up!