Chapter 16
AVA
The tension built between Ava’s shoulders as the conversation between her and her fiancé took an awful turn. The accusations, the sharp statements, the demand for answers, all of it was something she wasn’t ready to deal with. Especially not with Alex sitting right next to her.
She sucked in a breath, desperate to stop the deluge of questions. Admitting the length of her marriage would send him into a tailspin, so she decided to hedge. “Does it matter?”
“Does it matter?” She recognized the incredulous tone as he repeated the words. “It matters to me. Okay? I’d like to know. I’d like some answers.”
“And I’ll give them to you, but I hardly think this–”
“Not the time?” he interrupted. “I don’t care. I need answers. This is gnawing at me. You tell me you’re married, you race off to the Hamptons, and then you start acting weird.”
Her heart tore in two. She understood his need to know what was happening, but the accusation about her acting weird stung. It wasn’t only anger coursing through her, though, but guilt, too.
She had been acting differently. The all-night gaming sessions, the late mornings. Life with Alex was different. But it wasn’t real. But was she never allowed to deviate from her routine?
Her indignation grew at the accusation.
“I’m not acting weird.”
“Yes, you are, Ava. If you want to do this in person, fine. I’m getting in the car right now and driving out there. I’ll be there by morning.”
Her heart stopped at the words. She didn’t want him out here.
She didn’t know why. Maybe it was because she didn’t want her two worlds colliding.
Or maybe it was because she didn’t want to lose the unscripted moments she’d been living since she arrived here.
Either way, the thought of Chris stepping into the sanctuary she’d found with Alex sent a shiver down her spine.
She glanced down at the galaxy print pajamas, printed with the phrase Super Star. Her nose wrinkled as she imagined Chris’s reaction to them. Alex accepted her like this, but would Chris?
No, he couldn’t come out here. “No!” she shouted instinctively before she slid her eyes closed, biting her lower lip as she chided herself for doing that.
“What?” he snapped. “Why?”
He heaved a sigh and continued before she could answer. “Ava, what is going on, huh? Are you…having second thoughts? Is there something that happened between us?”
“No,” she answered, her voice sticking in her throat. “It’s just…it’s a long drive, Chris. It’s seven hours. It’s almost ten. You’ll get here at five in the morning. You’ll be exhausted. I just…that’s not the way to have this conversation.”
“That’s not good enough. Honey, if you’re having second thoughts…if you just need some time, just tell me. Okay? And I’ll try to be okay with it.”
“No, it’s not…Why would I tell you I’m married if I was having cold feet?”
“I don’t know, Ava. I don’t know. I’m just…trying to play catch-up here and a lot of things aren’t adding up.”
She screwed up her face, uncertain she wanted to ask the question, but she had to know. “What isn’t adding up? I’m being honest. Okay? I could have slinked off and gotten a divorce without saying anything, you know?”
“Like the fact that you say you’re married, but you won’t tell me any details. Like who is this guy? Did he pay you? Did you answer an ad? How did you even get together? How long have you been married? Why did you never get a divorce before?”
Ava slid her eyes closed, the tension in her temples ramping up as the words spilled from his mouth. She didn’t want to answer any of this. She desperately just wanted to tell him the situation was handled and have him ask no further questions.
But that wasn’t fair to him. And now he thought she was lying just to get away from him.
“We were friends,” she admitted, adjusting her weight on the cushion that now seemed to provide no comfort whatsoever.
She wondered if she should leave so she could have privacy for this conversation, but it wasn’t anything Alex didn’t know.
And she hoped his presence would provide her with some strength or comfort.
“Friends,” Chris repeated. “Okay, and…you’re not friends anymore? This was like…what? A favor or…”
His voice trailed off. She didn’t want to give him all the details. He wouldn’t understand. He wouldn’t be able to parse through the fine details of their relationship.
“Yeah,” she murmured.
“Okay, so, you owed him a favor. You married him. When? We’ve been together for eighteen months. So…was this…two years? Three?”
She didn’t answer, chewing her lower lip as she contemplated saying the answer aloud.
“Ava? More than three?”
Her forehead pinched as she sucked in a breath, searching for the strength to give him the answer that would send him reeling. “Seventeen years.”
“Seventeen…” A gasp cut his whisper of a voice off.
The silence that stretched between them after spoke volumes about how he’d taken the news.
“You let this go for seventeen years. Is that…why? Did you fall out of touch?”
“No,” she answered. “We still talk. We’re still friends. We just…didn’t…do it.”
“You just didn’t do it,” he answered. She heard the disappointment, the disillusionment in his voice. “So, you’ve been married to this…friend for seventeen years, you never said a word to me. You’re still in touch with this guy and now you’re spending the weekend in the Hamptons with him.”
“No, it’s not like that. It’s…”
“Then what is it, Ava? Because I can’t figure you out anymore. I thought…we were so good. I thought everything was so perfect. And now this. I just…I don’t know what to think.”
Tears stung her eyes as he said the words. She understood where this was heading.
“Okay,” she answered, a hitch in her throat. “So, what do you want to do?”
“I don’t know, Ava. I need some time to think. This is just…crazy to me.”
“I understand,” she answered, desperate to control her shaky voice.
“I’ll…call you whenever.”
“Okay,” she answered, her voice barely above a whisper.
The phone clicked as he ended the call, jarring her more than she expected. She kept it pressed to her ear for a moment, her thumb still pressed against the band of the ring Chris had given her only days ago.
Her life had spiraled out of control size from the moment that ring had slid onto her finger. She’d known she would need to face her past. A past she hadn’t faced for seventeen years. A past she’d gotten comfortable with after less than two days.
She let the phone fall as she slid her eyes closed.
“Avs?” Alex’s voice softly prompted.
She couldn’t deal with him now. She couldn’t answer his questions.
With a hand clapped over her lips to stop a sob from escaping, she scrambled from her seat on the cushion and fled from the room.
“Ava?” Alex called after her.
She didn’t stop. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she raced up the stairs and into her bedroom. She slammed the door closed behind her, collapsing against it.
The weight of the situation slammed down around her. In the midst of divorcing her fake husband, her real fiancé had broken up with her.
“Ava?”
Alex’s voice jarred her, only muffled by the door separating them. It pushed against her as he tried to open it.
She whipped around and shoved it shut, twisting the lock.
“Ava? Open up.”
“I’m okay,” she answered, her voice quivering as she wiped at her cheeks.
“Look, I heard most of that conversation. You’re not okay. Open the door.”
Ava swallowed hard, a fresh set of tears falling. He’d heard all of it? Why hadn’t she left so he didn’t overhear her?
“I–I’ll be right down.”
“Ava, just open the door.”
She resisted the urge to race across the room, unlock the door, and find comfort with him. She chewed her lower lip as she wrapped her arms around her midriff, her eyes stinging and her nose burning.
A glance in her mirror showed her red-rimmed eyes and tear-stained cheeks. She needed a minute to put herself back together.
She had to stop finding comfort in a place she shouldn’t. Once this divorce was final, she couldn’t continue to do this. It wasn’t fair to Chris.
She swallowed hard. Alex hadn’t pushed it further. Either he was willing to wait on the other side of the door until she was ready, or he’d returned downstairs to wait for her.
With labored breaths, she tiptoed to the door and pressed her ear against it. “Alex?” she squeaked.
He didn’t answer. She swallowed the lump in her throat as her chest rose and fell in rapid succession, fighting back sobs until she could cross to sink onto the bed.
Only then did she allow the tears to flow freely, burying her face in her hands as her shoulders shook. The upset came from so many places, she couldn’t even count them anymore.
The sound of the lock releasing snapped her to attention. She furrowed her brows as the door popped open.
Alex strode in, a keyring in his hand. His forehead creased as he glanced at her. “Ava…”
Her features pinched, no longer able to hold back the emotions that poured from the floodgates she’d already opened.
He crossed to her, and she instinctively rose as he pulled her closer to him, his arms wrapping around her. “It’s okay, Ava,” he whispered.
She clung to him as she wept before she became able to pull herself together. She leaned back, wiping at her cheeks. “I’m okay.”
“You’re not, but…you should be.”
She squashed her eyebrows together as she sniffled and rubbed a finger along the corner of her eyes.
“Ava, he doesn’t deserve you.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat and rubbed her puffy eyes as she nodded at the placation.
“I’m serious, Ava.”
“Yeah.” She forced a fleeting and fake smile onto her face. “I’m the fabulous Ava Collins, right?”
“You are. And you didn’t deserve what just happened.”
She licked her lips. “Neither did he.”
Alex scrunched his features as though he didn’t agree.
“He’s just…thinking. It’s not the end of the world, right? He didn’t break things off.” She pulled away from him, sniffling as she paced the floor.
“Would it be so bad if he did?” Alex asked.