Chapter 19 Ava
AVA
The coffee machine hissed for the fifteenth time that day, and the line of customers grew long enough to wrap around the lounge chairs in reception by four p.m.
I’d had a busy few days working at the café after meeting with Desmond in his office.
Contrary to what I’d initially thought, the work kept me busier than I’d expected.
And I hadn’t seen much of Desmond at all.
I caught brief glimpses of him as he walked to and from the elevator in the lobby.
While he would occasionally turn my way and we’d share a look, he never came over.
As for Hank, well, I’d gone on that date. It was nice. Just barely. We didn’t have the chance to talk much because the venue was loud, and he promised to let me decide on a quieter place where we could go next. I hadn’t gotten back to him yet.
Carolyn stood by the landline phone, trying to speak to customer service about our malfunctioning coffee machine.
“It’s whistling,” she repeated to the customer service representative. “That can’t be right, can it? I want to make sure someone comes in to take a look at it before the machine truly gives up on us.” She kept one eye on the clock and turned to me. “Ava, it’s five p.m.”
My shift ended at five, and I needed to clock out of the system, but I hung around the counter, waiting for Carolyn to wrap up her call. Only one other customer remained in the café, finishing up his drink.
“I’ll wait,” I told her, “until you’re done with that phone call.”
“Shoo,” she said. “I can manage. If I could only get off this line—oh God, they’ve transferred me to another department.” Her gaze went to something in the distance behind me.
I turned around just in time to see Desmond, Juniper, and Thomas got out of the elevator.
Carolyn stiffened. “Upper management is walking over,” she whispered, glancing between them and me as the trio ambled in. “Oh gosh. Should I hang up?”
“Don’t,” I told her as she attempted to place the phone back in its slot. “Stay on the line and get us an appointment with that technician. I’ll handle this.”
“Thank you,” she said, looking relieved as I turned back to the cash register. “You know, that’s the second time I’ve seen the boss in here today,” she muttered just before the voices of the two directors and the CEO reached us.
“Did you see the clients our Records department recently signed on?” Thomas asked the others as they slowed down next to the counter.
Juniper scanned the glass pastry shelf while Desmond hung back, looking at me while I tried to seem unruffled by his presence.
Don’t look at me.
“They got a fantastic contract. I’d not miff them if I were you,” Juniper responded.
“No one is miffing anyone,” Desmond said, his voice deep and low. He turned his head slightly, and his eyes found mine.
Every muscle in my body stiffened as I remembered how he’d touched my lips just a few days ago.
They walked up to the cash register, and I flushed deeply when he gave me a knowing smile while Juniper and Thomas took to scanning the menu on the LCD screens behind me.
“Coffee?” I asked demurely while Carolyn waved to them from her spot by the phone before turning around.
“Yes.” He gave me a brief smile while Thomas looked on.
I immediately turned around to grab a cup, trying to keep my hands from trembling.
Why did I feel like I was putting on a show? I was just doing my job, for Christ’s sake.
“There you go,” I said, handing the cup over.
Up close, Desmond looked just as stunning at the end of his workday as he did at lunch. The navy-blue suit was shiny as ever, his tie was missing, and the top button of his white linen shirt was undone, revealing a little of his smooth, hard chest.
I gulped.
“An espresso for Mr. Stein?” I asked.
Thomas beamed. “That’s right. Are you going to guess Juniper’s order too?” he asked with a sideways glance at Juniper.
I grinned. “I suspect she’s going to have the chocolate espresso cake.”
He burst out laughing just as Juniper nodded.
“You got all three right,” she said just as Carolyn wrapped up her call and walked up.
“Ava’s been a big favorite around here,” she said, an arm on my shoulders and a genuine smile on her face.
“I’m not surprised,” Desmond replied. He kept his expression neutral. “During our quarterly meeting yesterday, I heard people raving about the mocha she had made.”
Thomas turned to him. “Well, that explains why you were so keen on coming here for our caffeine fix.”
His gaze went to the cup of coffee in Desmond’s hands, and his eyebrows pinched together in mild surprise. “Already had your daily cap of mochas for the day?” he joked.
My cheeks burned while I plated the slice of the chocolate espresso cake and handed it to Juniper. The way her eyes lit up at the sight of cake told me that she would make a fantastic friend if only we weren’t separated by so many levels of hierarchy.
The phone line to the café rung, and I tore myself away to answer the call while Carolyn took my spot behind the counter.
Dear God, please don’t be the coffee machine representative canceling on us, I thought as I answered.
“Thank you for calling The Java Hobby,” I said into the black phone that hung on the side wall. “This is Ava Hale speaking. How can I help you?”
“What’re you doing, Ava?” came Kyle’s voice from the phone. It sounded raspy, like he’d just recovered from a cold.
My breath caught in my throat as I clutched the phone tighter. Goose bumps prickled my skin, and my first instinct was to hang up.
“Kyle?” I breathed out into the phone, forcing myself to not drop the phone as I wondered just how he knew where I worked.
I turned, and I could see Desmond’s gaze had silently zeroed in on me while Juniper and Thomas had walked a few steps away, in deep discussion about the bags of madeleines on the shelf. Desmond stood a full head above them, but his gaze was thunderous. He’d heard me mention Kyle’s name.
“My manager from McDonald’s said you’ve been trying to reach me,” Kyle continued without preamble. “She mentioned you were working for a swanky new firm now, and I just had to find out for myself.”
Darn it. I had mentioned my workplace to his manager.
“Listen carefully, Ava,” he said, his voice going cold instantly. “I don’t want to talk to you. And if you don’t keep your pretty nose out of my life, you’ll live to regret it.”
Before I could say anything, I heard a shout in the background, and Kyle cursed.
“Wait,” I said a second before the phone went dead.
I stared at the phone in shock for a few moments, unable to process everything that had just happened.
Kyle had tried to contact me. Even more surprising, Kyle seemed to think he could make me fear for my life.
Someone put an arm on my shoulder, and I turned in a daze to see Carolyn, looking concerned and asking me something.
I stared at her, not understanding a word. She patted my arm.
“Are you okay?” she repeated, her words slowly permeating my brain, as though I were just waking to life.
“I’m fine,” I muttered, leaning back against the wall, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of me.
Carolyn turned around, and seeing Desmond still standing there, she asked in apology, “Oh, I’m sorry. Have you not been helped yet?” She hurried over to him while Juniper and Thomas waited.
“I’m fine. Is everything okay back there?” Desmond asked, ignoring the others and looking at me.
I nodded, unable to speak. “I just need a minute,” I gasped.
Turning on my heel, I fled into the back room. I sat down on one chair, wiping my watery eyes and feeling like I was about to break down.
Did Kyle really have it in him to harm me in any way? Did I have it in me to go on with this investigation if I knew it wouldn’t end well?
I heard a few murmurs from the café, and my phone rang. I saw that it was Desmond and silenced it.
He rang again, and when I didn’t pick up, he texted me.
Desmond: Tell me you’re okay, or I’m coming in there.
I didn’t need him striding into the back room of the café to console me. Not in front of Carolyn, Thomas, and the freaking director of HR.
Ava: Just heard from Kyle. I’ll fill you in on the details tomorrow.
Desmond: I can’t wait till tomorrow. Talk to me.
Ava: Highly inappropriate. No.
His next message took a few minutes to arrive.
Desmond: If you say so.
There. I’d pissed him off already, and we weren’t even in a relationship.
I got out of the back room, and grabbing my bag, I walked past Desmond, who was sitting at the table near the restroom across the lobby.
He didn’t even look up at me, and my heart broke a little bit more as I walked into the restroom to blow my nose and wipe my face.
I looked into the mirror at the red-eyed woman and seriously questioned whether I wanted to continue to look into Kyle’s fraud.
The memory of my mom came to my mind, and I felt a sudden pang of regret. For the year I’d spent believing Mom had let me down. For the year I’d spent working at her restaurant without any passion for it. I had been grieving, like Desmond had spotted, but I didn’t want that for me anymore.
I sat down on the black-and-white tiled floor of the empty restroom and thought about Mom’s voice and her love for doing her own thing. Her desire to keep the people around her happy even if it meant lying to them. In her death, she had ruined the wonderful, loving image I’d had of her.
No wonder I’d let Kyle get away. I was a mess, not simply over Mom’s death. But her betrayal.
The door to the restroom opened, and I rubbed my eyes hastily and made to stand up when I saw Desmond walking in. My jaw dropped when he stood right in front of me and gazed at me on the floor.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“The water in the men’s restroom was out,” he said without skipping a beat. And lending me a hand, he pulled me up. “And a certain crying woman wasn’t in the men’s restroom either.”