Chapter 15 #2
Javiar peered over her shoulder. “I’m not eating that. It looks nasty.”
She had to admit the hybrid wasn’t appealing, and she doubted it would taste very good. “It’s not poisonous. It’s just watermelon
squash.”
“Still not eating any. Did you bring me more leftovers?” He sounded hopeful. “The ones from the other night were great.”
And had been gone by morning, she thought, smiling at the memory. “Sorry. I didn’t get any to go. Did you want to order something?”
He eyed the cut-up melon squash. “We need something for dinner, and that isn’t that.”
“I bet it would be delish in a stir fry,” she teased.
“You’re lying. What time is Aaron coming over? Can he stop and get something on the way?” He grabbed his phone and started
texting. Seconds later, he looked at her. “He suggests that dim sum place. You okay with that?”
She took his phone and quickly typed in her suggestions including a couple of vegetable dishes. “If you won’t eat our exciting
new discovery, you have to have a few green beans and some broccoli. Otherwise you’ll get scurvy.” She glanced at him. “Or
rickets. Either way, you won’t like the outcome.”
“I’ll always be handsome,” he teased.
“Not to mention humble.” She returned her phone to him. “He’ll be here in an hour. Let’s do yoga while we wait.”
Javiar groaned. “I hate yoga.”
“It’s good for you.”
“I work out in the gym every morning.”
Yes and he had the six-pack to show for it. But there was more to fitness than running on a treadmill and lifting weights.
“You need flexibility. I spent the day helping Aaron plant, and I’m stiff from bending over. Go get changed and meet me back
here.”
He retreated to his room, and she went into hers. Five minutes later, they were back in the living room, both dressed in shorts
and T-shirts. She turned on the TV and scrolled to her yoga app. Seconds later, their end-of-day stretching class began.
Shannon followed the instructor’s directions to focus on her breathing.
Her shoulders and knees ached from the hard work she’d done.
There had been dozens of flats of plants to put in the ground, but by the time she’d finished, the yard had looked great.
She knew the homeowners would be impressed with what they’d done.
She breathed into child’s pose, allowing her shoulders to open. The tension eased a little, but she could feel where she’d
pulled a few muscles. Maybe it was time to think about going to the gym with Javiar. Not that she was super excited about
starting her day sweating.
They both stood and shifted into a high lunge and warrior one. Shannon concentrated on the stretch in the back of her leg
and exhaling as she reached her arms to the ceiling. She was just shifting to triangle pose when Javiar asked, “When are you
going to see Victoria again?”
She lost her balance and had to take a step to keep from falling.
“I don’t know. We didn’t set up anything specific.” She straightened and eyed him. “Are you interested in her?”
“She intrigues me.”
Shannon remembered what the other woman had said about relationships. “She’s not someone interested in getting involved.”
The more specific wording had been that she was in it for the orgasm. “You’re a serial dater. You want a girlfriend. She won’t be that.”
“I don’t buy it,” he told her. “Everybody wants a connection. She’s scared.” He sounded confident. “I just have to win her
over.”
She faced him. “Javiar, no. She’s told you who she is and what she wants. You need to listen. This isn’t a game for her. When
we talked the other day, she made it really clear she doesn’t want anything like a traditional relationship. You can’t change
her.”
He only smiled. “Hey, it’s me. I’ve got this.”
“You think you not respecting her life choices makes you irresistible?”
“I do respect her life choices. I happen to know she thinks I’m hot.”
Her gut told her he was wrong, but she knew there was no point in pushing. Javiar could be stubborn. She reminded herself he was an adult, and if he ended up hurt, then that was on him. Only, thinking that didn’t make her feel better at all.
Ava sat in the living room, her hands trembling in her lap. Her stomach was a mess, and she felt cold all over. The fear was
so powerful, she was having trouble thinking. Across from her, Milton stood at the French doors, staring out at the backyard.
She wanted to beg him to say something, anything, only she knew she didn’t want to hear whatever it was.
She’d called him after Victoria had left and explained what had happened. Instead of reassuring her, he’d gone quiet before
saying, “I didn’t know you’d kept that memory box. You’d said you were going to get rid of it.”
She’d tried to explain that she hadn’t been able to let go—that she’d needed her connection to the past to process her grief,
but he’d cut her off, telling her he would stop by to see Victoria and then be home.
Now as she watched him, she felt his anger. The situation was so unfamiliar, she didn’t know how to cope. Milton was never
mad at her, and they rarely fought. When they did disagree, they were always calm and rational. They discussed the problem,
they each accepted responsibility, and they came up with concrete solutions. They followed through on those solutions and
met to reassess the situation.
After what felt like three lifetimes, he walked over to sit across from her.
“She’s shattered.”
Ava flinched at both the words and the tone of his voice. He sounded so stern, so disapproving.
“I know you treasure your memories, Ava, but this time you went too far. You hurt our daughter.”
“I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“How could it not?” His gaze was intense, his expression hard. “You know how sensitive she is about being the maid’s daughter. Finding out about Shannon was hard enough, but for you to rub her nose in it like you did . . .”
“It wasn’t like that,” she protested. “She came over and demanded to see the memory box. She insisted. She was going to search
until she found it.”
“But you shouldn’t have had it in the first place,” he said, his voice harsh with disapproval. “You shouldn’t have lied to
me.”
“I didn’t lie,” she protested automatically.
He brushed that away. “You knew if she found out she would be devastated, but you kept the box anyway. Worse, you showed it
to Shannon. What the hell were you thinking?”
She cringed in the chair. “Milton, please. You have to understand. Shannon was going to be our daughter. We loved her, and
then we lost her. I was simply showing her how much she was wanted.”
“I don’t get it. Why does she matter more than Victoria?”
“She doesn’t. That’s not fair.”
“You’re the one not being fair.”
“I had no idea Shannon and Victoria would ever speak to each other,” she protested. “There was no reason for her to ever find
out.”
“It was one thing to have the dinner. That was out in the open. You got together with Shannon without telling anyone. She
and Victoria are the ones who have this strange situation in common. Why wouldn’t they speak?” He shook his head. “I genuinely
don’t understand why you thought showing that damned box to Shannon was a good idea.”
“She needed to know she was loved.”
“She is loved,” he said loudly, glaring at her. “By her mother and everyone else in her life. She’s nothing to us.”
Tears burned. “She was our baby, and we lost her.”
“Twenty-four years ago. Yes, seeing Cindy brought it all back, but dammit, Ava, this is on you. All of it.” He turned away. “I’ve never seen Victoria so broken. How do you think she felt when she found out we were going to name Shannon Victoria? It’s as if we didn’t make any effort at all.”
“But it’s a family name, after your grandmother. We were always going to name our child Victoria if we had a girl. Didn’t
you tell her that? It’s about family connection.” She spoke quickly, frantically. He had to understand that she hadn’t done
anything wrong.
“Do you think that matters to her now?” he asked. “Do you think it makes any of this better? It’s not just the name. It’s
the mural, the room. All of it. And she’s not wrong to feel hurt. We did have all that in place for another baby.”
He stood and circled around the chair, putting it between them, as if he needed a physical barrier to keep them apart. The
rejection stabbed her.
“We should have painted it all over and started fresh,” he said, sounding resigned. “We should have realized what we were
doing.” He glanced toward the ceiling. “That damned room still exists, like a shrine to another child. No wonder she’s devastated.
We made so many mistakes.”
The fear grew, not just because Milton had never been so upset before but also because of the implied threat. But she knew
telling him she needed the room to stay the same would only make the situation worse.
“Maybe I should talk to her,” she said faintly, although she had no idea what to say.
“That’s not a good idea. What could you possibly tell her that would help?”
The harshness of the question nearly made her whimper. “I’m not a monster. This was all an accident.”
“Running into Cindy was an accident. Everything since then has been deliberate. You wanted closure, and I thought it was a good idea, but we were both wrong. That dinner put all this in motion, which is on me. You’re caught up in the past. I don’t know why.
I don’t know why Shannon is more important to you than our daughter, but she is. ”
“Milton, no! I love Victoria.” Tears spilled onto her cheeks. “I love her.”
“If that’s true, then sometimes you forget to act like it.”
He stared at her for several more seconds, then turned and walked out of the room. Ava watched him go before giving in to
the sobs that clawed at her throat and made her choke. She covered her face with her hands, wishing he would come back and
hold her. But that wasn’t going to happen. Not for a very long time.