6. 6
“How was your week?” Aaron asked as they sat down to eat at the small square dinner table in their house.
She had wondered why such a small table, were they not planning on a family?
“It was good. Work all week then I went out night before last.” Ava deliberately didn’t tell her brother about drinking too much or not knowing how she’d gotten home. “I met someone too. We have a date tomorrow night.”
“That’s wonderful. Are you ready to move on?” Belinda asked as she forked a couple slices of roast chicken onto her plate then passed the platter to Ava.
“I’m ready to forget what an ass I married and learn to live again.” She didn’t know if she was ready to move on, as Belinda put it, but she was ready to learn what she’d missed for the last fifteen years.
“I think that’s a good attitude. But you need to be careful. Like any city, there are some,” Aaron paused as if trying to find the right word, “less than desirable sorts of people. Getting mixed up with them could get you hurt, and I don’t just mean break your heart. I love you, sis. I don’t want to see you hurt anymore. You’ve been through enough.” He picked up the next dish, scooped some mashed potatoes onto his plate and handed the bowl to Belinda.
“Thank you. I love you too. And I’m not going to do anything stupid.” She mentally added nothing more stupid than she’d done Friday night. “But I’m going to stop letting fear hold me back. Especially fear of other people’s opinions.”
“That’s good. I knew there was something off about Hank, but I didn’t know that he was browbeating you that way or what he was up to. I would have tried something to help you get out of the situation.”
“I know. I don’t know that I would have listened if anyone had told me, but there was no denying it when I walked in on him introducing Andrea to more than the holy ghost.”
Aaron closed his eyes and seemed to freeze. “I really wish you’d stop saying it like that. It’s hard to keep a straight face about something so serious when you put it that way.”
Belinda giggled. “But it’s funny.”
Ava sent a small smile to her sister-in-law. “The whole situation isn’t funny, I know that. But I do what I can to keep a positive outlook on life. I could put it any number of ways that would get the point across, but he chose to live his life at my expense, so I see nothing wrong with finding a little amusement at his.” She shrugged.
“I don’t know. It just seems a bit…” Aaron paused, looking for the right word, “sacrilegious.”
“And screwing his secretary on his desk inside the church wasn’t?” Ava countered. It wasn’t that she had turned her back on the church. But she was currently on what she considered a break while she tried to find meaning in her life again. Did she still believe? In her heart, yes. But it was difficult to get past the anger at this moment. She had no doubt she’d be back. She just didn’t know when.
“Okay, fine then. Let’s talk about something more pleasant. You said you have a date, what’s his name? I might know him.”
For some reason she didn’t want to tell Aaron and Belinda. Not that she didn’t trust them, but she didn’t want to potentially jinx what may or may not happen.
“Not important, and I’d rather not know if you know him, not yet. We’re just getting to know each other and having a little fun. If it gets more serious, I’ll let you know, then you can share what you might know. How was your week? Anything fun happen?”
He narrowed his eyes at her for a moment then went back to eating. “The most fun thing that happened to me today was we got in a new car, several actually but there’s one in particular that I think won’t last long on the lot.”
Ava let her brother talk, she knew it didn’t take much to get him to talking about work, not that she really cared. Car sales, yawn. She loved the time she got to spend with Aaron and Belinda, but sometimes she wished he didn’t have to act like such a big brother. Even if that was exactly what he was.
After dinner, Ava helped Belinda clean up and do the dishes, then she spent a while visiting with Aaron before going home. Exhausted from her partying and the recovery, she went to bed early so she could get up for work the next morning.
The morning part of her day went fast. There was customer after customer and by the time her lunch arrived, Ava was glad to get off her feet for a few minutes. She ate and looked at what movies were playing locally, wondering what they were going to see. She didn’t even know where the movie theater was here.
The rest of her shift didn’t go so quickly, partly because she was eager to get home and get ready for the date. Ava didn’t know which had her more excited. Seeing Cowboy or finally having the chance to ride a motorcycle. Her stomach flip-flopped at the idea. She was a bit nervous, but she trusted him to keep her safe.
By the time five o’clock rolled around, she was all but bouncing out of her skin with excitement. At home, she hurried inside and changed out of her work clothes, sliding into her jeans, and pulling on a tank top, then a blouse to cover her arms. Pulling her denim jacket from the closet, she carried it into the front room with her where she put on the boots she’d worn to the bar, as recommended.
By the time Cowboy knocked on her door, she’d been dressed and ready for twenty minutes, and spent the last fifteen fussing with her hair, and second guessing her choice of tops. She opened the door for him, and his gaze scanned her from head to toe then back up again.
“You look great. I can’t wait to spend some time with you. I have a couple questions, would you rather go to the movie here in town, or go to dinner in Bismarck?”
Ava frowned, not sure which option she should take.
“Is there some reason for the change?”
“I wasn’t thrilled with the options when I looked at what was playing here, but I don’t want to cut the night short. My first thought was to take you to Bismarck for a movie, but I don’t want to keep you out too late with work tomorrow.”
She tilted her head to one side and watched him for a moment.
“How about dinner and something different. Maybe bowling, tonight? Then, if we want to do this again, we can hit a movie in Bismarck over the weekend?” She tried to keep her tone friendly and hopeful without letting how badly she wanted him to agree leak into her voice.
“Bowling?” he quirked one eyebrow and looked at her from the corner of his eye.
“It doesn’t have to be that. It was just a suggestion for something other than driving all that way tonight.” Her mind raced, trying to come up with other options.
“When’s the last time you went bowling?”
She blinked as her mind went back to what he hadn’t seemed interested in.
“Years. Not sure why I even suggested it other than I see the bowling alley on my way home every night.”
“Let’s do it.” He grinned at her like it was a wonderful idea. They have food too, that I hear is pretty good. If you’re not too hungry yet we can bowl for a bit, then see if they have anything we want to eat. If you decide you’d rather eat somewhere else, we can do that too.”
“Are you sure?”
“Hell yeah. Let’s do it. You ready to go? You need to grab anything different or extra to go bowling, different socks maybe?”
She tried remembering what they’d done the last time she’d been bowling and couldn’t remember much, other than rented shoes and sliding on the floor.
“I’m good. Ready whenever you are.”
“Then come on. I brought an extra helmet. I want you to feel safe.”
They left, Ava making sure to lock up on their way out, then he led her to his motorcycle.
Ava almost stopped and stared when she caught sight of his motorcycle. It was bigger than she expected and matte black. That made her think for a moment, when was the last time she saw a matte motorcycle? The ones she could remember were bright and shiny, even the black ones.
They reached the motorcycle, Cowboy opened one of the large boxes to either side of the rear wheel and handed her a helmet. He let her put it on herself, which she appreciated. She fumbled with the strap for a moment, but couldn’t figure it out.
“I’m going to need some help with this.”
“Here, let me adjust it for you,” Cowboy helped her with the strap that went under her chin, then explained how to get on, what to expect while riding, and that she needed to be careful of the pipes or she would get burned.
He climbed on the bike, then had her climb on behind him before starting the bike. Cowboy adjusted her arms round his middle then walked the motorcycle backwards, before he twisted his wrist in an odd movement she didn’t understand, and they started moving forward.
Ava had to bite back the squeak of surprise, not that he could have heard it anyway, but she couldn’t keep her arms from tightening around him. The way his chest vibrated, she thought he might have laughed, but she couldn’t be sure. She was too busy holding on and squeezing her eyes shut.
She did as Cowboy had instructed, leaning with him, and not trying to stay up right when they took turns. She didn’t know how far they’d gone but it seemed like they’d been on the bike longer than it took for her to get to work when she’d relaxed enough to open her eyes.
Slowly, she looked around, trying to figure out where they were. Not anywhere she recognized. They were in town, but she couldn’t find her way home from here. Panic raced through her for a moment as she wondered if Cowboy had lured her out and had something in mind other than a date, or the kind of date she’d thought he meant.
She must have done something to tip him off to her worry, because he took one hand from the handlebars, patted her hands where they held on around his middle, then reached up and did something with his helmet.
“You all right back there?” Cowboy’s voice came through what had to be some kind of radio system in the helmet. She didn’t know how to turn hers on so she spoke, hoping he could hear her.
“I’m okay, I think.”
“You think?”
She checked his hands, and they were once again on the handlebars.
“I think. I don’t know where we are.”
“I thought I’d ride for a bit, at least until you relaxed some. You had for a moment then you tensed up again.”
“It—” she had to swallow and try again, “it took me a bit to open my eyes, then I realized I don’t know where we are.”
“And you wondered if I had something nefarious planned. No worries. I don’t but you don’t know me well enough to know that, not yet. I’ll take us back to an area you’ll probably know better, then we’ll head over to the alley. I just wanted to let you get a feel for the bike, and the short trip to the alley wouldn’t do that.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m enjoying riding. And I’m relaxing more now that I know we can talk to each other. The silence other than the muffled roar of the motorcycle was a little unnerving.”
“I didn’t even think about that. I’m used to it and find it soothing.”
Ava didn’t know if she could ever find it soothing, but doubted he’d find the things that she did calming, so decided to let it go. She took a deep breath and forced herself to relax while he steered the motorcycle back onto familiar streets.