Chapter 8
Apparently, Mr. Chastain had told both George and Lauren what had happened the night before as they both came to visit her throughout the day, much to Ava's embarrassment.
She did appreciate the little snacks Lauren would bring every now and then and Ava could only imagine that's how a concerned grandmother would act with her grandchildren. The nuns at the orphanage weren't the caring kind and she'd always had a sneaking suspicion they secretly hated the kids.
At least she could use hurting her hand and getting an extra day off as an excuse as to why she'd finished the whole stack of books when meeting with Everly at the library again. She was definitely looking forward to it.
But Ava wasn't used to doing nothing. The orphanage would always make them do chores to keep them busy, idle hands are the devil's tools, they'd say. So by 10 a.m. she was already bored of sitting around and decided to treat herself to another day in town.
She grabbed the frayed pair of old gloves she'd had for the winter and put them on. It was just about cold enough that she could get away with it without it being too weird. After double-checking her outfit she determined that it was presentable enough to go out.
Before she left she took some more Tylenol to stop the burning aches on her hands and set off. While passing Lauren she quickly explained her plan to her. Lauren seemed to like the idea of her getting fresh air and encouraged her to go out, so she did.
The walk was quiet and long and gave her time to reflect on the incident earlier that day. She simply couldn't believe how nice Mr. Chastain had been about the whole situation when he didn't have any reason to be. She was way below him, and the fact he even bothered dumbfounded her.
Suddenly, she realized something. She never even thanked him for his kindness. Oh, she could smack herself over the head right now, how could she forget? She felt like a terrible human being.
Maybe she could buy him a gift to make up for it? But what could she give him that he didn't already have? The guy was a millionaire, possibly a billionaire. He could literally buy anything and everything he could possibly want.
The question plagued her all the way to town and when she reached it she still didn't have a clue. She'd make him something herself to make it meaningful but she didn't have any skills that allowed her to create something.
Did he have any hobbies? Anything in specific that he liked? She couldn't think of anything because she didn't know him that well. She knew he liked sportscars, but that was a little bit above her budget.
From the corner of her eye, she spotted a small sign in the window of the jeweler's shop.
'Temporary discount on
all personalized pendants
$15 - $ 25'
Would it be weird to give him a pendant? What if he didn't have a necklace to go with?
She thought back on earlier in the morning when he'd unbuckled her seatbelt and realized he did wear a necklace, then. Besides, rich people love jewelry. They probably had loads of them.
The sign helped her make up her mind and she went inside. After opening the door a wave of warm air brushed against her cheeks, making her aware that she'd been freezing before.
"Good afternoon," the elderly man behind the counter greeted her. "How may I help you?" His brushy mustached moved in strange ways as he spoke but Ava thought it was a charming characteristic of the man.
"Hello," she greeted back, "I'd like to have one of those personalized pendants from the sign out front," she said while she gestured briefly in the general direction of the sign.
"Ah yes, the perfect gift, if I do say so myself," the man replied proudly. Ava hadn't mentioned yet that it would be a gift, but she didn't want to correct him if he was right.
"We have silver and gold-plated. I can do a gold one as well but the discount doesn't apply to those, so which one would it be?"
She thought back on the necklace Mr. Chastain wore earlier and she was pretty sure it had been a silver one. "Silver, please."
"Alright, a silver one," the man replied as he opened a drawer and took out a box. He carefully opened it before turning it around for her to see. "And which pendant would you like?"
She inspected them all briefly but her eyes fell on a simple round one. It wasn't too big, and it wasn't too small. It would be perfect.
"This one," she said as she pointed out the one she liked.
"Excellent choice," confirmed solemnly but she was sure he was just trying to butter her up now. "And what would the engraving say?"
Ava had spent a little time thinking about it. Since she'd spent her entire childhood at a catholic orphanage she was more than familiar with Latin. The nuns spent a lot more time on bible studies than any other useful skill she might need and in the end, she didn't even turn out religious.
But there was one phrase that had always stood out to her. She'd read it once in a dusty old book that had been discarded in one of the cabinets, but it had stuck with her.
"Aut inveniam viam aut faciam," she replied. I will either find a way or make one.
She was sure it'd fit him as well, you didn't get as far in life as he had if he hadn't been willing to attempt the impossible. It was the first thing she'd thought of when she thought of a phrase for him.
"Oh? Latin? We usually only get 'carpe diem's," he laughed. "What does it mean?"
"I will either find a way or make one," she replied sheepishly.
"Very beautiful. I'm afraid I don't know how to spell any of those words though. Would you mind writing it down?"
After finishing writing it down and double-checking it she handed the notepad back to the jeweler who set to work. He finished it a lot faster than she'd expected, making her fear that it would be badly made or that it'd contain a spelling error.
But those doubts disappeared as soon as he showed her the final product. It was beautiful. Even better than she'd dare expect.
"It's gorgeous, thank you so much."
"Oh, it's nothing," he replied casually. But she swore she could see traces of a blush on the old man's face."
She quickly paid before leaving but not before thanking him again for the pendant. She had to admit that spending money did hurt a little bit, especially when she knew how fast it could run out when she'd lose her job.
But she needed to do this. Just thanking him wouldn't be enough.
She didn't know what else to do in the town at the moment and she decided that she'd had enough fresh air anyway. After bidding the man goodbye she opened the door only to find it pouring outside. Just her luck.
She could either try and wait it out or buy an umbrella, but she'd already spent too much money and needed to save the rest. The sky didn't look like it would clear anytime soon and she needed to be back before dinner.
With a sigh, she stepped out to start the long journey home while trying to ignore the icy coldness of the rain. If she caught a cold because of this she was sure she'd really die of embarrassment.
By the time she reached the mansion again, she was absolutely drenched. The unfamiliar car had left and so had Mr. Chastain's aunt apparently. She still took the side entrance, just in case.
To avoid the annoying squeaking of her shoes she tiptoed back to her room before pulling off her wet clothes. Her only other pair of jeans were in the laundry basket, giving her no choice but to wear her uniform again.
Since she only owned the one pair of scuffed shoes she had no choice but to put those on again. Employees shouldn't be seen without them, after all.
She did attempt to dry them a little with a towel and succeeded just enough to have them not make any noise when she walked. Her hand froze above her doorknob, what if this gift was stupid? What if he wouldn't even accept it? She couldn't return a custom-made item.
But she'd already bought it and she might as well give it to him, so she gathered all her courage before opening her door.
Only to stand face-to-face with the man himself.
She let out a gasp and almost dropped the box before being able to gain her composure again.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he said while looking down at her. She noticed that he was lowering his arm, as if he'd been a millisecond away from knocking on her door.
"No, it's fine," she assured him. "I just hadn't expected it, is all."
He nodded in understanding. "I was just about to knock," he promised her. She didn't know what else to say so she nodded, prompting him to go on.
"I just wanted to drop by to ask how you were feeling, because of your hands and all."
"Oh," she replied lamely. He wanted to know she was okay? Was he worried? Just like with before she didn't know how to feel about it. Her heart sped up and she didn't quite understand why, it hadn't when Lauren or George had asked her the same question. Maybe she did catch a cold on the way back.
"They're fine," she continued way too late. "They're not hurting." The last one was a lie, they did hurt but she didn't want him to know that.
"That's good," he nodded. "Why are you wearing your uniform, though? I told you to take the day off."
He looked her up and down and she felt her cheeks heat up. Her body apparently decided today was a good day to start feeling weird anytime he did anything.
"I went outside but it was raining. These are the only dry clothes I have right now," she said, earning her a weird look from him. She quite get why, it felt like a completely reasonable reason to be dressed the way she was.
Suddenly she realized she still held the box so she decided now was the time to give it to him. "By the way, I never thanked you," she started sheepishly. She didn't understand why this had to be as hard as it was, but she had trouble keeping eye contact with his intense ones.
In fact, he always seemed too intense, and he wasn't even trying anything. Maybe it was the way he towered over her despite her not being all that short. Or the way he looked at her like he saw straight through her.
"It's fine, don't worry about it," he replied coolly. But she didn't want to act casual, she was actually grateful but she didn't know in what ways she could express that. If she repeated it again she'd probably just annoy him so she decided to go for the gift.
"It's not. You were really nice about everything and then you even brought me all the way to the hospital, which you didn't need to do. So, I got you this," she said as she held out the box for him to take.
He looked at it for a moment before looking back at her. "You didn't have to get me anything."
"But I wanted to. To express my gratitude," she clarified, fearing that her doubts would become reality. Maybe he really didn't want to take it and she didn't know how she would deal with that kind of rejection from him.
To her relief, he nodded before taking the box from her. She anxiously waited for him to open it to gauge his reaction.
He stared at the pendant for a few moments before the corner of his lips turned upward in a small smile. She unconsciously released the breath that she'd been holding, he seemed to like it.
"Aut inveniam viam aut faciam," he read out loud. "I will either find a way or make one."
She hadn't expected him to be able to understand, Latin wasn't exactly a frequently used language after all. He had to be pretty smart, she only knew it because of the way she was raised but she was sure he didn't have the same upbringing.
Some of the fancier private schools taught Latin one of the nuns had told her once. Every now and then one of them would act as substitute teachers for these schools when their usual teacher became unavailable.
"Thank you," he told her. From reading his face it became clear that he was being truthful, much to her relief.
He probably wasn't going to wear a cheap accessory like this, but she was glad he liked it anyway. It made the price more than worth it to her.