Chapter 2 #2
She winces, her gaze shifting down once more.
She sets the mug back on the counter and pulls on a loose thread in the stitching of the cushion beneath her.
“I went to Florida,” she finally says. “For school . . . and then more school. And then a shitty job at a high-profile law firm working for a bunch of really shitty men, which eventually turned into a better job working with those shitty men.”
Her eyes rise to meet mine, and I nearly fall right into them, so achingly familiar and yet foreign in the way they study me now. They’re . . . colder. Almost distant. So unlike the warm burst of sapphire that sparkles in the sunlight. “Why aren’t you there then?” I ask.
She frowns. “It’s complicated.”
I almost laugh. “Right. Well, I’m sure it’s not so complicated that you can’t just turn around and go back and face whatever it is you’re running from. Because you’re running from something, right?” There’s resentment bleeding through the words, and she knows it.
Ava sighs, lifting the coffee to her lips easing a tentative sip into her mouth. She leaves the creamer untouched, which surprises me. The woman has the biggest sweet tooth I’ve ever known—I bet if I got a peek inside her purse right now I’d find a handful of candy.
Another vicious reminder.
“Since when do you drink coffee black?”
“Since forever,” she retorts.
I shake my head. “Oh no, don’t lie to me, Ava. You used to drink vanilla creamer with a splash of coffee.”
She shrugs. “I’m not a kid anymore. And I know what you’re doing—this conversation is about you, Kasey. I’m giving you a solution. Marry me. Save the ranch and give that uncle of yours a good old fashioned middle finger.”
“I think that’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard in my life.
I don’t know how you think you can just waltz your way back into Saddlebrook Falls and into my life and assume I’m still eager to play these games with you.
I’m not a damn kid anymore either. You left me a long time ago. It’s ancient history. I’ve moved on.”
Ava snorts. “Oh my god, Kasey, I’m not trying to play games with you.
I’m well aware of the fact that I walked away.
” Her words slice into me, but I keep my expression schooled and pretend like they don’t.
Like nothing about this rattles me to my core.
“Me being here has nothing to do with history. I’m just a friend trying to help you out of a situation that looks pretty shitty from the outside.
Unless one of your brothers is ready to walk down the aisle with a new bride? ”
“A friend?” I almost laugh. “We were never friends, Ava.”
“Weren’t we?” She lifts the mug to her lips and takes a long pull of the coffee. My gaze trails along her jaw as she swallows it down. “It benefits me too,” she says. “If it makes you feel better.”
“How?”
“I’d rather not get into it, but it’s not just for you is all I’m saying.”
I scrub a hand over my mouth in irritation. “Tell me how this benefits you, Ava.”
She just shakes her head. “Not your business.”
“I think the ways in which you benefit from a marriage to me makes it my business.”
“No, it doesn’t,” she says firmly. “It has nothing to do with you. It just . . . helps me with a little problem I have. That’s all.”
I let out a heavy breath. “This is fucking crazy. We can’t just get married.”
She shrugs. “Says who?”
“Says me.”
“Then say goodbye to the ranch, Kasey.” She stands, as if to leave. I watch her pull her damp purse over her shoulder and walk back toward the front door.
“How long?” I ask when she reaches for the knob.
She turns to look at me, eyes glinting. The challenge in them is as familiar as the smell of her perfume in the air.
She lifts one shoulder in a lazy shrug before crossing her arms over her chest. “Not long. Just until the deed to the ranch is officially in your name. We’d have to be careful not to let anyone think it’s fraud—”
“Because it is,” I interject.
“Sure. Yeah. But I’m confident we can figure out how to make it all look real.” Her lips quirk in a small smile, and another dart of anger pierces through me.
One upon a time, Ava was the single most important thing that mattered to me.
My entire life revolved around making her happy and praying like hell I could keep her forever.
She was my first love, my first . . . everything.
And now she wants to use that history all these years later to get something.
And the worst part is she won’t even tell me what it is.
“Look, you have to tell me what you get out of this or I won’t do it.”
The statement throws her off, her chest rising with a deep breath. “Fine. But not now. Like I said, it’s complicated and requires some time to explain. But I’ll tell you anything you want to know before we seal the deal, okay?”
I nod once. “Fine.” We stare at each other, neither of us making any moves. After a while I ask, “So what happens next?”
A small smile returns, that challenge firing back to life. “Now, we tell everyone the good news and make sure they believe it.” She winks, and then turns to walk out the door, back into the rain.