Chapter Twenty-Four – Avery
Chapter Twenty-Four
AVERY
Hours had passed since Beck practically ran out the door of my parents’ house. I wiped the tears away as I continued to stare up at the ceiling of my bedroom. Glancing at the clock, I saw it was nearly midnight. Picking up my phone, I checked it for the hundredth time.
Nothing.
Beck had texted when he got to the airport. He’d gotten the only flight out to Dallas and said he would text when he landed, which would have been at six his time, five mine.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, I tossed the phone and headed to the door to go find something to eat when my phone dinged with a message. I practically flew to the bed.
Swiping it open, I saw it was a text. From Lacey.
Lacey: I know it’s late, but I’m at a party and Dexter is asking about you.
I blew out a breath, causing my lips to flap. I thought about not answering, but decided if I didn’t, I would forget to text her tomorrow, and I’d already been blowing her off to spend all my spare time with Beck.
Me: Hi! I’m already tucked away in bed. Have fun.
Lacey: How about lunch tomorrow? I’ll call ya.
Me: Sounds good. Talk soon.
I pulled up Beck’s number and was about to send him a text when I suddenly hit the button to call him. When I realized what I’d done, I almost hung up. Instead, I started to chew on my thumbnail.
“Hello?”
I was so stunned by the female voice on the other end of the line that I stumbled back a few steps.
“Hello?”
“Yes, I’m sorry, I must have called the wrong number,” I said, in a voice that didn’t sound at all like mine.
“Are you looking for Beck?”
It felt like someone had punched me in my back as I struggled to find my breath. Finding air, I simply replied, “Yes.”
“He’s unavailable right now. Can I leave a message?”
Finally finding my voice, I asked, “Who is this?”
“This is Rachel, a friend of Beck’s. Who is this?”
I wanted to tell her that I was his girlfriend, but I wasn’t really sure what I was to Beck.
I heard another voice that sounded male, then Rachel said, “I answered it because it’s so late I thought it might be important.”
It sounded like the phone was being shuffled around.
“Avery? Is everything okay?”
I felt my legs give out, and thank goodness I was by my bed. I sat and said, “I’m sorry if I interrupted anything, it’s just…you said you’d call, and I hadn’t heard from you.”
He mumbled, “Fuck. I’m sorry I didn’t call. Once I got here and saw my grandfather, things sort of got crazy.”
I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “Well, I’ll let you go.”
“Wait. Hold on a second.”
I heard footsteps, then a door opened and softly closed. “I’m so sorry I didn’t call you. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”
Swallowing the large lump in my throat, I replied, “It’s honestly fine. Now that I know you’re okay, I’ll let you go. Please keep me updated about your grandfather.”
“Avery, will you please wait a second?”
“It’s late, Beck, and I clearly interrupted something with…Rachel.”
“No, you didn’t. She picked me up at the airport, and I just left the hospital. She gave me a ride home.”
Lord, jealousy was an ugly, ugly thing. “She stayed with you this whole time at the hospital?”
“Her, and her mother and father. Her dad is good friends with my grandfather.”
I wanted desperately to ask why his ex felt the need to go with him to his place, but I stopped myself. Beck had never truly said anything about us being exclusive, but the way he’d kissed me before he left made me think he was trying to tell me something about how he felt about me.
“Oh. You never really told me much about her. Anyway. Listen, I’ll let you go.”
There was silence over the phone, and I could imagine him running his fingers through his hair. He did it a lot when he was frustrated, hurting, or confused.
“Are you going to bed right now? If not, I can call you back after Rachel leaves.”
That time I did let the jealousy bug win. “How long does she plan on staying there with you?”
He didn’t say anything, and my patience ran out.
“Listen, Beck, we didn’t promise each other anything, and you’re a grown man. Don’t worry about me. If you need the comfort of an…old friend…have at it. I wish your grandfather all the best with his healing.”
“Avery, don’t say things like that. I would hope that you would know me better than that.”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “I think I do know you better than that. It’s just hard to hear that your ex-girlfriend is with you at your house in the middle of the night, Beck. I’m sorry if that makes me sound childish or jealous or whatever. I didn’t mean to add stress to an already stressful situation. I’m sorry. I’m going to let you go.”
“Her being here means nothing, Avery.”
“Okay,” I said, sounding suddenly very tired. “I’ll talk to you later, Beck.”
“Avery.”
“Goodnight, Beck.”
He sighed. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”
Hitting End, I set my phone down on the table.
I pulled my legs up to my chest and dropped my forehead to my knees. “Oh my God,” I groaned. “Stop being jealous, Avery. Stop.”
Letting out a frustrated sigh, I got off my bed and headed to the kitchen, only to find my mother sitting at the island, about to put a huge bite of ice cream covered with chocolate syrup in her mouth. She took one look at me, stood, grabbed a bowl, and said, “Take mine. I’ll make another one.”
I slid into her vacated seat and took a bite, closing my eyes. “Mmm. So good,” I said with a mouthful of dessert.
After she made her bowl, she sat down and met my gaze. “Want to talk about it?”
Mixing the ice cream some, I took another bite. I let it melt in my mouth and set my spoon down. I rubbed my hands up and down my thighs and dropped my head back.
“Oh, Mom. I acted like a total child just now with Beck.”
“How so?” she asked, clearly with her own mouthful of ice cream.
Focusing back on my dessert, I picked up my spoon and moved everything around in the bowl. “He said he was going to call when he landed. He never did.”
“Maybe he was rushing to get to his grandfather, sweetheart.”
Taking a bite, I nodded. “I thought that too, but as the hours passed, I started to worry, so I called him.”
“And?”
My gaze lifted to meet hers. “His ex-girlfriend answered his phone. Turns out she picked him up at the airport and had been with him the entire time, until she offered to bring him home. And I made a stupid comment that I regretted the moment I said it.”
Mom’s brows lifted. “Avery, I never pegged you for the jealous type.”
“Oh, me neither,” I said, pushing more ice cream into my mouth. It was so cold, and I had so much in my mouth, I was surprised my mother understood me when I said, “Turns out…I am.”
She chuckled. “I’ll admit, if I was in your shoes, I’d be a little peeved by that myself about the ex answering, but if you trust Beck, then you have nothing to worry about.”
Pointing my spoon at her, I said, “See, this is why you’re my mom.”
“Did the two of you promise each other anything?”
I sighed. “No. We didn’t. But…I really thought he felt the same way I did. Maybe he does, I don’t know.”
“Give him a few days, darling. He lost his mother, found a huge family, you, then his grandfather had a heart attack. I’m sure he’s worried he might lose his only other close family member from his mother’s side.”
Scooping up more ice cream, I said, “I know, I will. It’s just, hearing her answer his phone and knowing that they were once a couple…and I think they were really close. Like, it was his only serious relationship. I asked him once, but he really didn’t say too much.”
“He could have simply moved on and doesn’t feel like it’s relevant.”
I laughed. “Seems like it is now, since she’s in his apartment in the middle of the night.”
“You haven’t told me how you acted like a child.”
Dropping the spoon into the now-empty bowl, I covered my face and groaned. “Let’s see, I told him that we hadn’t promised each other anything, and that if he needed to find comfort in an old friend, to have at it.”
Mom’s shoulders dropped as she gave me a disappointed look.
Continuing to hide my face, I said, “I know. I know! But it hurt, Mom. I know he has a lot going on, but would Daddy have done that to you?”
She paused for a moment, then set her own spoon down. She drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Your father and I had a very complicated relationship at first. I won’t go into the details, but he hurt me very badly, Avery.”
I could feel my eyes go wide. “What?”
Smiling, she waved off my look of concern. “Obviously we worked things out, but it was a rough road at first. Sometimes men don’t always see what’s right in front of them, darling. To Beck, this woman is just there to help him. Comfort him like any friend would. I’m sure he’s upset about his grandfather and about having to leave Montana. And leaving you as well. What he sees as a kind gesture, you see as him wanting affection from someone to help him deal with his emotions. But do you really think he’d do that?”
I really didn’t have to think very long or hard about my answer. “No, I don’t think he would do that.”
She reached across and took my hand in hers. “If it’s meant to be, Avery, then it will be.”
I wiped a tear away.
Squeezing my hand, she whispered, “Don’t give up hope, Avery.”
“I won’t, but…”
“Just take a deep breath.”
I did as she said and nodded. This was all new territory for me, and I knew it was for Beck as well.
The next morning, I took a shower, got dressed, and grabbed my phone to head to work at the boutique. As I walked into the kitchen, I found my brother sitting at the island, along with my parents.
“Avery, is your phone turned off?” my mom asked.
Glancing at it, I cursed inwardly. “I forgot to plug it in, and it went dead. Why?” I asked, after plugging it into the plug my mom kept in the kitchen. It took a few moments for it to start up.
“Morgan called me and said she was trying to get a hold of you. There’s a power outage on Main, and the city isn’t sure how long it’ll be before it’s fixed. They’re not opening the store today, so you don’t have to go in.”
My phone started to ping as messages and texts came through. I glanced down to see I had a missed call from Morgan, and I saw Beck’s name as well.
“Did Beck make it okay?” Dad asked.
When I looked at my mother, she winked. She hadn’t told him about our late-night chat session.
“Yes, he did. He didn’t give me an update on his grandfather though.”
“I hope he’s okay,” Bradly stated.
My mother handed me a cup of coffee. “Thanks, Mom. Me too, Bradly. Where’s Mackenzie?”
“Already at the greenhouse. There’s a shipment coming in this morning, and she wanted to be there when it arrived.”
Glancing down at the designer clothes I had on, I decided to change and go to the greenhouse and plant some seeds. Maybe Mackenzie would have something else for me to do if I finished quickly.
“I think I’ll change and see if Mackenzie or Lou need any help. I’ll also plant more seeds and water the seedlings, since I’ve got the time now.”
“That sounds like a wonderful plan,” my mother said before she sipped her coffee.
My phone alerted me to a text, and I looked down to see it was Beck. A sudden rush of guilt hit me as I realized I was probably causing him more stress, and that was the last thing he needed. I took my coffee and headed out of the kitchen and through the house to the sun porch where I plugged the charger quickly back in. It was snowing, and it looked beautiful outside. I sat down and opened the text thread. He’d texted me four times. Three last night and once this morning.
Beck: Avery, please call me back.
Beck: I don’t know if you’re asleep, but please call me when you get this text.
Beck: I can’t sleep…are you up?
My heart broke with the last one.
Beck: I’m heading to the hospital. My phone will be off, so…
Hitting his number, I waited for it to go to voicemail, but Beck answered on the second ring.
“Avery.”
“Hey, sorry about missing your texts. I forgot to plug my phone in last night.”
“It’s okay. It’s just good to hear your voice.”
I smiled, then remembered how I’d acted last night. “I’m also sorry about last night. I was tired and had been worried about you and… I’m not going to lie…I was thrown when another woman, your ex , answered your phone at nearly midnight.”
He sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. That had to look terrible, and I swear to you, nothing happened. I don’t look at her that way, nor do I want to.”
“Beck,” I said quickly. “You didn’t promise me anything.”
He said nothing for the longest time, before he finally spoke. “I don’t want to be with anyone but you, Avery. It killed me, having to leave you yesterday, and I’m feeling… Fuck . I’m feeling so torn right now. I miss you already. The guilt I feel because I want to get on a plane and come back to you, even with my grandfather sick… Yet, I can’t just leave him because he was like a father to me growing up, and I know my mother would want me to be here for him.”
“I know,” I whispered into the phone. “I don’t want to add to your stress. So please don’t worry about me. If you don’t text, I’ll understand. I just…well, I just want you to be happy, Beck.”
“Why does it feel like you’re trying to tell me something, Avery? Are you trying to call things off between us?”
“No! I just don’t want to add to your stress and guilt. I don’t want you to feel like you have to tear yourself in two.”
I thought I heard a sniffle. “Avery, can I ask you something?”
“Of course, you can ask me anything you want.”
“Will you wait for me?”
My heart felt like it flipped in my chest. “Wait for you?”
“Yes. Don’t go on any dates with anyone. I know that’s selfish of me, especially after last night. But…I’m falling in love with you, and I really want to see where this takes us.”
Tears pooled in my eyes, and I fought to keep my composure. My breathing was labored, and I felt like I’d just run a race. Beck’s tender words completely washed away the anxiety from last night.
“Yes. I’ll wait. But only because I’m falling in love with you as well.”