Will
Chapter Twenty-Three
Icould already feel the headache coming on before Ava even opened her mouth.
Contrary to the past few days, Ava wasn’t perpetually pissed off, but lately every time I saw her it was with either a scowl on her face or a look of heartbreak.
Neither were particularly fun to deal with.
“Now, I understand why I got dropped off first last night.” Ava laughed unsettlingly, choosing the former for this morning. “You didn’t want me to get in the way of date night!”
“Oh, please.” I turned around, not having time to entertain her drama this morning.
We were supposed to open soon, and I already had a half hour later start than usual.
“Are you trying to tell me you didn’t spend the night with her?” Ava followed me like a shadow.
“I’m not trying to tell you anything,” I said, continuing behind the counter. “I’m trying to get the café open.”
“Well, I hope your late night was worth it, because it looks like you haven’t started anything.” She looked around in disdain.
“Then we’ll open a little late, Ava! Geez.” I blew out a breath.
“We shouldn’t have to open late. You should’ve been more responsible.”
“Jesus, Ava,” I said, losing my temper. “I made one mistake. Am I not allowed to every once in a while?”
“Why do all of your mistakes lately seem to involve her?”
“Nothing happened! We fell asleep!”
She huffed. “That sounds an awful lot like a line.”
“What line?”
“The line cheating husbands always use.”
That set me over the edge.
“In case you’ve forgotten, Ava, we’re not married. You were my brother’s wife, so I really don’t think it concerns you what I do in my free time. Or with who, for that matter.”
I didn’t know whether the blush was from rage or embarrassment, but either way, my words only ignited whatever emotion was dwelling inside her even more.
“It does concern me when it affects the café.”
“When, in the entire history of us running the café together, have I ever not done what needed to get done?”
“Well, you’re doing a lot of things lately that you never used to do, so I can’t really count on your prior track record, now can I?”
“You have no right—”
The bells jingled, and I turned to tell whoever the hell it was that, no, we weren’t open yet, when I paused at the sight of Theo in the doorway.
“Woah,” he said, pausing mid-step. “What am I walking into?”
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I asked him to pick up a shift today, since you’ve been so busy.”
“Great.” I threw my hands up, thinking that another person being there meant my avoidance of Ava for the day wouldn’t be as blatantly obvious.
To her, or any of the nosey customers who might be looking for something new to talk about.
“You can help me unload the truck,” I said, feeling eternally grateful to the driver who had just pulled up with our day’s supply of baked goods.
I couldn’t handle spending another minute of breath on this utterly pointless conversation.
Things had been weird between Ava and me for a while, but lately, she’d crossed over into a new level of boundary breaking that not only involved me but Elsie, too. And something about that didn’t sit right with me.
For the first time, I was wondering if the promise I’d been holding myself to for so long—the promise to always look out for Ava, for Matthew’s sake, was still something worth upholding.
“I heard you had quite the night.” Theo appeared beside me, elbow resting easily against the counter, during a lull in the day.
“How could you possibly have heard that?” I slammed the register drawer shut with more force than necessary before I turned to face him.
“Ava was complaining about it. She said you’ve really been slacking off lately, and it all has to do with a girl you’re seeing.” Theo raised his brows pointedly. “You can imagine my surprise when the girl in question happens to be the one you told me to—what were your words? ‘Go for it.’”
“I’m not seeing her,” I said, more defensively than I intended.
“Relax, dude, I’m kidding.” He slapped my arm. “Don’t you think I know that?”
I frowned, not understanding.
“I mean, come on, you of all people dating some girl whose passing through town?” He shook his head. “Not in a million years.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean, you’ve never been interested in dating before. Why would you start now?”
“I wouldn’t.”
“I know. That’s my whole point.” He rolled his eyes. “But, you being friends with her sort of works out perfectly for me.”
“It does?” I crossed my arms, leaning back against the counter.
“Yeah, I mean, you can be my ‘in’ now. Talk me up. Get her to agree to go out with me.”
I snorted. “If you think I, or anyone else for that matter, can get her to agree to do anything, then you really don’t know her at all.”
“Well, damn, Will. That’s the whole point of going out with her,” he said, exasperated. “But, on second thought, it would be nice to have a few talking points. What is she interested in?”
“I don’t know.” I stiffened. “I hardly know her.”
“Geez, Ava’s right. You are being kind of uptight lately. Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine,” I bit out, because what else could I say?
That I was rattled by the idea of him and Elsie going anywhere together? That I was pissed off that Ava was going out of her way to be rude to a girl who’d clearly felt the effects of her behavior?
That, although I’d only known her for two weeks, the thought of her sitting in a car with another guy—even my best friend—sat like a rock in my stomach.
For the first time in my life, I felt completely illogical. Possessive for reasons I couldn’t fathom. It wasn’t like me. And the thought of someone who wouldn’t even be here for very long being the cause of it made me realize how utterly stupid it was.
“She likes coffee,” I told him, to prove to myself it didn’t matter.
“And, uh, movies that take place in New York in the fall? And she writes. I’m not sure about what, but there’s a good chance it might be a hate-letter toward me.
” I thought with a smirk, remembering seeing my name flash across her document more than a handful of times.
“Oh, and she has no semblance of stranger-danger skills, so that’s something to be aware of. ”
“That was…oddly specific.” Theo blinked. “But thanks.”
“Don’t mention it,” I said and turned to move on to the next task.
And really, I hoped he wouldn’t.