Chapter Eighteen #2
“Time’s ticking!” The yell came from downstairs, but it was loud enough to be heard. Pat quickly looked down at his watch and winced. “Crap, we’re one minute past the thirty minutes.”
Ava laughed. “That’s okay, I think I’m ready to go and face them.”
Pat knew he should have let Ava go, but there was no one else who would be able to take care of her like he could.
He took hold of her hand, and together they made their way downstairs to face Ava’s mother. One look at Hazel, and he knew she was pissed. However, she did hide it from her daughter, so that was a good thing.
He would prove to Hazel he wasn’t going anywhere.
****
“Y ou look really happy ,” Violet said later that morning.
Ava glanced over at her sister and smiled. It was a slow morning. A really slow morning. There were not many orders to fulfill, and they were instead going through the whole shop, filling the gaps and neatening up the spaces.
They had a few customers that had come and gone, and their mother had stepped out.
Ava had already noticed the Chaos and Carnage MC men were close, but not too close as to affect the customers.
“I am happy.”
“Things go well with Pat?”
“Yeah, they did. I mean, we didn’t say we loved one another, but ... I don’t know, I think in a strange way, we kind of did.” Ava frowned. “I don’t know.”
Violet laughed. “Why not just tell him you love him?”
“Isn’t there some kind of girl code that says you’re supposed to keep that to yourself?”
Violet rolled her eyes. “Yeah, if you have an issue with the guy knowing your feelings and they’re going to take full advantage of it and not return those feelings. Then there is a code.” Violet shrugged. “You think Pat is one of them?”
“No, I don’t. How are things for you on the dating front?”
“I don’t date,” Violet said. “I’ve also not been out dancing since that disaster night when your boyfriend’s bike got attacked. I mean, what kind of asshole attacks a bike? Maybe cowards.” Violet touched her forehead and then shrugged.
“You know, not all guys are cheating assholes,” Ava said.
“I know that, sis, but honey, you have one serious boyfriend, and you can’t talk about all men. Trust me, I know there are good and bad boyfriends. Just like I know there are good and bad women. Trust me, that trophy of bullshit can swing both ways.”
Ava looked toward her sister who was arranging the fat quarters of fabric neatly.
There had been a brand-new quilt pattern released not long ago, with a load of fat quarters of fabric to make it.
They only had a couple of collections left.
Ava had been surprised by how quickly it sold out.
Not Violet, who had reminded her mother to have ordered extra.
“Is it hard ... seeing them?” Ava asked.
Violet looked at her with pursed lips, and she had the feeling her sister was going to come back with some kind of wiseass comment. Only, she didn’t. “It used to. I mean, when it first happened, I didn’t even want to see them. Then, when she was pregnant, it got worse, but now I don’t care.”
“You haven’t met someone.”
“Ava, babe, look around you. The town of Carnage is not exactly filled with available single guys that are decent. I’m not going to settle and I’m certainly not going to throw myself at every guy that looks my way.”
“Okay.”
“I want what Mom and Dad had.”
Ava looked toward her sister and nodded. “I want that too.”
“Do you think you have that with Pat?”
“I don’t know. I hope so. I mean, when I’m with him, it’s like the whole world slips away.
Even if I’m in a bad mood, I can look toward him, and he makes me smile.
I mean, he also makes me worried, you know with the fact he’s in a motorcycle club, but that doesn’t seem to matter that much. ” She shrugged. “You know what I mean?”
“You do love him.”
Ava had been so engrossed in talking to Violet, she hadn’t seen her mother come back into the shop.
“Yeah, I love him, and it is kind of scary, because I know he’s older than me. I guess I worry that he is going to realize there are a lot more mature and sophisticated women out there.” She shrugged.
“Nah,” Violet said. “That guy loves you. What I am curious about, though, is you spend a hell of a lot of time working here, not getting paid, when are you going to quit your coffee shop job, and come back here and work full time. We’ve got the place under control now.
You don’t need to take on that other job, in case we hit a bad spot. ”
“You knew about that?” Ava asked.
Hazel laughed. Violet rolled her eyes.
“We always knew why you did it, honey,” Hazel said.
“You have loved working in this place since we were kids. When we finished school at the end of the day, you didn’t want to go home and do homework, you wanted to be here. I remember when Dad finally secured this place, you were so excited.”
“I knew Mom was going to make this place work,” Ava said, looking toward her mother.
“You’re right, I love working in this place, and I would love to come back full-time.
The only problem is, I can’t do that to Lauren.
No one ever seems to stick around.” She frowned.
“Staff come and go, and I’m the only one she can rely on.
If that changes, trust me, I will be here faster than you know. ”
“It would be good to have you back,” Hazel said. “You’re here all the time anyway, but it would be nice to actually pay you.”
Ava looked toward her mother, and then went to her, hugging her. “I’m going to keep my apartment.”
“Yeah, you might want to do that, because this morning, you and lover boy were not exactly quiet,” Violet said.
“Violet!”
“What? I am only speaking the truth. It took him like ten minutes. Last time I checked, that wasn’t a long enough time to do anything right.”
Ava groaned and covered her face with her hands. “Will you stop? This is so embarrassing.”
Violet laughed.
“Actually, a good man only needs ten minutes to rock your world,” Hazel said.
Ava looked toward her sister and then they both in unison screamed, “Eww!”
“Come on, Mom, that is just sick. We know you’re talking about Dad right now, and that is gross.”
“What? I can’t tell my girls that a good man is great in ten minutes just as he is, in say an hour.”
Ava scrunched up her nose. “Gross.”
Hazel started to laugh.
Customers came in, and she was thankful for them saving the conversation.
Ava did not need to have visuals of her mother and father being intimate.
She was aware her parents were very much active up until her father passed away.
But there was a difference between being aware of it and actually knowing it. That was just a little too much.
Hazel had brought them lunch, and Ava took hers to the office, sitting on the floor as Bernice settled between her thighs, and she ate her lunch. It was peaceful. Quiet.
And she was able to just relax, at the same time thinking about the future.
Quitting her coffee shop job was going to be hard.
She didn’t want to do that to Lauren. She liked Lauren, trusted her, and they were friends.
No one else had stuck around. They didn’t like the hours, but for Ava they worked.
She liked to be doing something, and yes, it had affected other areas of her life, like her love of sewing, but she had met Pat. Sure, she had seen him around town, but she hadn’t gotten to know him like she had at the coffee shop.
Ava would talk to Lauren, make something work out. Maybe she could find someone who was like her. Either way, she was not going to leave her friend high and dry.