Chapter 31
Avery
Vail —Two Months Later
It was late March and only a few weeks remained until the ski season ended. Preston and I had just finished skiing for the day. It was the perfect spring day with bright blue skies and warm, yet great snow on the slopes. We’d decided a chilly beer was in order, so we’d headed over to Tres Chicas and were sitting out on the sunny deck, enjoying the view.
“How do you do it, honey?”
“Do what?” I asked, puzzled.
“Move the way you do up there?”
“I just do. Remember, I’ve been doing it most of my life.”
He gave me one of his sexy grins that always managed to send shivers down my spine. “I wanna ski just like you.”
“I think you can. You’re really good.”
“I think you’re just saying that.”
“I am not.”
“You are too.” He winked at me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw this huge flash of neon green, but before it registered what it was, it crashed into Preston, threw him down, and had him on the ground.
Then I heard, “I’ve got him! I’ve got him for you.”
Jumping up, trying to save Preston, I landed on Neon Green’s back and started pounding on it, yelling, “Let him go! Let him go!”
A crowd began to form around us, clearing tables and chairs out of the way. I was still beating on Neon Green’s back, screaming at the top of my lungs. Preston was swinging his arms and scissoring his legs, but She Hulk’s massive size had my vision blocked. I couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on, until I saw this giant wad of pink fuzz poking me in the face.
“Melissa! Melissa, is that you?” I screamed.
“Who else do you think would come to your rescue and put this asshole in a choke hold?”
“Stop it right this instant! He isn’t an asshole. I love him and let him go right now or I’m gonna disown you as my friend.”
That got her attention.
“What?” she asked.
“You heard me. What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m saving you from this jackass, that’s what.”
“For the love of God. He’s not a jackass. Would you let him up?”
Melissa released her hold on Preston, stood up, and I got my first full look at her. Sure enough, she was wearing a neon green jacket and matching pants, but she had changed her hair color again. This time it was bright pink, but she’d added a couple of bright purple streaks in it. It was still as fuzzy as the last time I’d seen her, which meant she was still getting perms. I was speechless. So much so that I’d totally forgotten about poor Preston, lying on the ground.
“Well, aren’t you at least going to say hello?”
I looked at her and then gave my head a slap. Not one, but two. It came to me then that Preston was still on the ground. I yelped and turned to find him struggling to get his senses back.
“Shit, Melissa! What the hell did you do to him?”
“I put him in a choke hold, like I said I would.”
“Fuck!” Turning to Preston, I said, “Preston, are you all right?”
He looked so out of it. I was getting worried. “Maybe we need to call an ambulance.”
“Huh-uh,” he finally said. “Give me a second. She cut off my oxygen and I almost blacked out.”
I turned back to Melissa and punched her. “Damn you, Melissa. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I thought I was saving you.”
“Did I look like I needed saving?”
“Well, come on, Ava, you never really used good judgment. So how was I to know?”
“Ugh, that’s so not fair.”
“What do you mean? Remember Little Dickie? I had to save you then!”
“Yeah, but if you recall, he was trying to rape me, Melissa!”
I was tearing my hair out by this time. The management had shown up and wanted to know if I wanted to press charges. Preston now sat in a chair, rubbing his neck and head. My head hurt too, but I wanted to strangle Melissa. I told the management no but to bring us some lemon drop shooters instead. I had a feeling I was going to need plenty of them to get through this.Fuck!
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
Melissa looked at me like I’d turned into a little green alien. “Well, duh! I wanted to surprise you.”
“So, you thought by trying to kill Preston, you’d accomplish that, huh?”
“I wasn’t going to kill him, Ava.”
Our shots showed up. I downed mine and told the waitress to bring another round. Preston eyed me, because I normally didn’t drink like this. Well, I normally didn’t see my friend trying to take down my boyfriend either.
All of a sudden, the situation hit me for what it was, and I started chortling. My giggles quickly turned into huge belly laughs and I couldn’t stop. How many girls could claim that their bestie was a sumo wrestler who had put their boyfriend, who was not only six feet two inches and over two hundred pounds of muscle, but a former badass undercover DEA agent, in a choke hold and rendered him nearly unconscious? Melissa and Preston looked at me like I belonged in a psychiatric institution. Maybe I did, but by God, I’d laugh all the way there.
It finally caught on, because they joined in, and before long, we were all laughing so hard our sides were killing us.
When we all could talk again, I formally introduced Preston to Melissa and I told Melissa that if she ever laid another hand on him, I would rip her boobs off and then shave her head. Preston burst out laughing and Melissa only nodded. She promised Preston never had anything to worry about as long as he didn’t hurt me. If he ever did, well, that was a whole other story that he would live to regret for the rest of his life.
Melissa was intrigued with our story. Since Preston was officially out of the DEA and with the Durango Cartel out of business, we were able to tell her some details about it. And she was hungry for them. We invited her over for dinner that night. After we’d returned from the cabin, Preston and I had rented another three-bedroom condo in the Lionshead section of Vail.
“I always wondered about the blanks in your story. You were so sketchy about certain things.”
“Yeah, I know. I had to be at the time. But now you know.”
Preston came up to us and handed us each a glass of chardonnay.
“Hey, you got anything stronger than this? Like maybe some whiskey?” Melissa asked.
Preston chuckled and said, “Coming right up. How would you like it?”
“In a glass is good.”
I shook my head and gave Preston a look. “Melissa, he wants to know if you’d like it neat or on the rocks.”
“Oh, on the rocks, please.”
Preston returned and handed Melissa a glass filled with amber liquid and ice. “Oh, this is much better. Thanks.”
Melissa was carrying on her new neon green color. It seemed she was into themes these days. She was wearing a short neon green skirt with neon green tights. Taking that one step further, she had it paired with a neon green sweater that clung tenaciously to her more than ample bosom, and as an accessory, she had added a bright pink feather boa. It matched her new hair color perfectly. I don’t know where she found them, but she was wearing neon green pink-polka-dotted Uggs. My guess was they were Fuggs ... or fake Uggs. She was a vision in neon, fit for a night of dancing. Even her lipstick glowed, not to mention her nails.
“Tell me, have you kept in touch with Griffin and Marley?”
“I’m meeting them later tonight. We’re going to ...”
“No! I don’t want to know!” My arm shot out as I shouted.
“Gee, Ava. I was only going to say dancing.”
“Oh, okay. After your last visit, I was a little worried.”
Preston wasn’t quite sure where he fit into this conversation, so he sat by and watched, just like a good man will do when two women are chatting. Every now and then he’d get up to freshen our drinks and serve us some appetizers. He also disappeared for a time, when he wandered off to cook our steaks.
“So, Ava, when are you two gonna get hitched?”
I choked on my wine. After I coughed everything out, I said, “Excuse me?”
“You know, get married? I assume that’s your next step.”
“Melissa, I’m not quite ready for that. I want to wait a bit.”
“Why do you wanna do that?”
“Well, I, um ...”
Preston walked in then and said, “Yeah, Avery, why do you wanna do that?”
My breath caught again, but for an entirely different reason. We’d never talked about this. Yeah, we loved each other to pieces. And sure, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. I supposed he wanted to do the same, or that’s what he told me, and I believed him. But never had we discussed the “M” thing.
“Um, can we talk about his later?”
“Well, damn, Ava, I think you should talk about it now, seein’ as I’m here and all.”
Preston gave me one of his sexy smiles, the ones that sent currents of heat all over me and he said, “I couldn’t agree with Melissa more.” Then he walked up to me and boldly kissed me, like we were the only two people in the whole world.
“Jesus, Ava, if you don’t marry him, I will,” Melissa said.
Preston put his mouth to my ear and whispered, “Now you’re gonna have to save me again, honey.”
I couldn’t hold back my laugh. “You make it damned hard to refuse you,” I whispered back.
“So, what do you say?” Preston asked.
“I had something a little more romantic than this in mind, actually.”
“Ava, why don’t the two of you do it in the gym. One of my sumo-wrestler friends did that over by the bench-press machine and it was the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen. Gee, if only …”
“Hmm I bet that was some sight. But I was thinking something beneath the stars.”
“I see. Give me a minute, then.” He walked out of the room, and I clearly hadn’t a clue of what he had in mind.
Melissa leaned into me and said, “I don’t know about that star thing. It’s something everyone does and it’s boring. But, Ava, that man has some prime ass.” Then she winked at me.
“Melissa! That’s ... that’s ...”
“So true, right?”
I laughed and said, “Inarguably!”
Then we clinked our glasses.
Preston came back and grabbed my hand, saying, “Melissa, would you excuse us for a moment?”
He walked me out to the deck where he’d lit a heat lamp and about ten pillar candles. You could see the mountains in the distance dappled in moonlight and dotted with sparkles of lights. The stars shone so brightly as if they were there just for our pleasure alone. Preston had brought a chair outside and he sat down pulling me on his lap.
“What I’d really like to do is stay out here all night with you, but that’s not possible, so I’ll tell you in my own simple words. You know my life was completely meaningless before you purred your way into it. It’s never been the same since nor do I want it to be. Avery, if I could change one thing about you, it would be nothing. Not a damn thing. I’m crazy about you just the way you are. From your not blue/not green eyes, down to the way your toes sometimes curl when I kiss you. Yeah, you didn’t know I noticed that, but I notice everything about you. And then there’s my very own special Avery-kitty, whom I adore. When she shows herself, I know it’s gonna be an extraordinary time for me.” He stopped and just gazed at me for a second and my heart tripped over itself. Then he hooked a finger in my hair and twisted it around and around and pulled me to him. “I can’t even ... no, I take that back. I refuse to let myself imagine my life without you. I was so fucking empty before ... just existing day to day. You don’t know ... you can’t know because I can’t put into words how you’ve changed things for me. So, yeah, I want us to be forever. For always. Never apart again. Because, Avery, I don’t want to just exist. I want to feel alive every day with you by my side. Please say yes and marry me and I’ll promise to do my best to take you down the forever road and make you happy for the rest of your life.”
A grin spread across my face that I couldn’t keep contained. “Well, that was quite the proposal.” And then I moved to kiss him, but he backed away.
“Oh no you don’t. No kiss until you answer me.”
A huge giggle burst from me, and I screamed, “Yes! Did you think I’d say no?”
“Well, a man can’t be too sure.”
I batted him across the chest. “Preston!”
“I love you, Avery.”
“Yes, I know.”
“Wait, what do you mean, ‘I know’? Aren’t you supposed to say something back to me?”
“Like what?”
“Like I love you.”
“Oh that.”
He gave me a look and I laughed, grabbed his face, and kissed him. Before things got too heated, I told him I loved him more than anything, even catnip.
“You know, the things you told me, you must know I feel much the same as you. My life wasn’t worth a damn before you. Let’s say we’re even. Besides that, I want to go down that forever road with you because I can’t imagine going through life without you by my side.”
“So, close your eyes, then.”
I did and he held my hand as he slid a ring on my finger. Surprise couldn’t come close to how I felt. My mouth formed an O and Preston laughed as he stuck his finger in it. I opened my eyes to look at my hand. On my finger sat the most beautiful round diamond on a wide platinum band that was studded with tons of pave diamonds.
“Dear God! This is gorgeous,” I breathed.
“You really think so?”
“Uh-huh,” I mumbled, as I stared.
“I have a confession. I had a little help from Justin and Caroline.”
“Uh-huh.” I was numb from shock. I was getting married, and Preston had just given me the most amazing ring ever.
“Avery, are you okay?’
“Uh-huh.”
I think he laughed. Then his arms were around me and he picked me up, carried me inside, and shouted out to Melissa, “She said yes!”
“Woohoo!” Melissa screamed.
Still numb, I flung my hand out so she could see my bling.
“Good God almighty. Can you even hold your hand up? That fucker is huge! And you hardly have a muscle in your arm.”
Suddenly Melissa started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I wanted to know.
“I would love to see the look on your mother’s face when you tell her and when she sees this chunk of a diamond.”
“Yeah, well, that won’t be anytime soon, because I don’t want her to spoil my fun.”
My mother ... I knew I’d have to call her soon. Justin told me he’d kept her up to date on my activities, but she hadn’t reached out at all. I guess she was still angry with me for leaving. Too bad. I decided I’d call her eventually, but only when I was good and ready and in the right frame of mind. When the time came, and she met Preston, I knew there would be fireworks. God help the woman if she ever said anything derogatory about me, because he’d go after her with everything he had. It wouldn’t be pretty and I’m sure it would increase the ever-expanding rift between us. That’s why when we got married, eloping would be the best option for us.
Melissa left sometime after dinner and Preston and I celebrated with each other in every room ... on the floor, on the table, in the kitchen on the counter, in the shower, and finally in bed. With each passing day, I fell in love with him more. I remember having a conversation with Justin once and he’d told me how it was with Caroline and him. He’d said the same thing ... how it had gotten better every day. I’d found it hard to believe at the time, but now I knew it to be true. As I lay in Preston’s arms and watched the sun rise, I knew it all had been worth the long wait and sometimes you had to go through hell to get to heaven. We both sure did, but I was ecstatic that we’d finally arrived.