Chapter 14
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
AVA
“Hello?” my mom’s voice echoes through the hallway. “Ava, are you here?”
Why did I give her my second key? Why did I tell her to let herself in if I don’t answer?
More importantly, why am I lying in my pajamas in Myles Salinger’s arms with the seed of his loins inside of me?
The answer to the first two is easy. Because she’s my mom and I’ve never done anything like this before. If I’m on the top floor it’s easier for her to let herself in than for me to run down two flights of stairs to open the damn door.
And the answer to the third question? I’ll get back to you, but I’m not going to lie, it feels good to be in his arms. He has this ability to make everything feel okay. I don’t know how to explain it except I want to stay here forever.
But instead I lift my head up, my horrified eyes meeting his. Except, he doesn’t look horrified. More amused than anything.
“That’s my mom,” I whisper.
“That’s good,” he says, his tone serious. “I hoped it wasn’t a burglar. They don’t usually shout out your name on arrival.”
“Are you in your bedroom?” Mom calls out. I can hear her footsteps now. “You left the coffee pot on. Do you know how much energy gets wasted keeping coffee hot?” She huffs as she reaches the hallway. “And let’s not talk about the carbon footprint of a coffee bean. You’ll never drink coffee again.”
She’s wrong, but this isn’t the time for that conversation. Before I can think of what to do next – or extricate myself from Myles’ warm and strong arms, she pushes open the door.
“Oh.” Her mouth drops open as she takes in the scene before her. Me, wearing a pair of pajamas and Myles, fully dressed, our bodies tangled up like we’ve just done something we shouldn’t have.
Thank God I threw away the specimen container and syringe.
“Mom…” I frantically search my brain for something to say. “This is Myles. Myles, this is my mom.”
It’s like a switch has been flipped. He lets go of me and sits up, sliding his legs to the floor. But instead of running like I thought he would, he stands and smiles.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he says, holding out a hand. My mom takes it. And I start to wonder which hand he used to pleasure himself with.
Dear God, is my mom shaking that hand?
“Myles, as in the Myles who works with Ava?” she asks.
“I’m afraid so.”
“The man who brought us the Great Bear Endo,” she murmurs.
“Guilty.” He doesn’t look at all perturbed by her. “But you’ll be pleased to hear his adventures in space are all carbon neutral.”
Mom quirks an eyebrow. “How can they be carbon neutral?”
“He runs his spaceship on vegetable peelings.” Myles’ expression is totally serious. “We’re doing our bit to save the world, too.”
“He’s not as nice as Dandy,” Mom says, and I send her a secret high five. “That lion is such a gentleman.”
“You’re right.” Myles nods. “Endo could learn a lot from Dandy.”
I don’t know if it’s the tone of his voice, or the fact that all three of us are in my bedroom where I’ve just tried to impregnate myself with Myles’…
yeah… but my lips start to twitch. We’re talking about imaginary animals and the imaginary ways they’re trying to save the world and I can’t deal with it.
I cough, trying to hide my laugh, but it fails miserably. Myles turns to look at me, his brows unknitting when he realizes I’m not, in fact, choking but guffawing.
“What’s funny?” Mom asks.
“Myles made a joke earlier,” I manage to say. “I was remembering it.”
“What’s the joke?” she asks Myles.
He shoots me an exasperated look. “It was crude,” he says carefully. “I wouldn’t want to repeat it in your company.”
She laughs. “Don’t be silly. I grew up in the sixties, I’ve heard everything.”
He leans forward and whispers in her ear. I can’t hear what he’s saying but I can see my Mom’s face, and her eyes as they practically bulge out of her head.
“Oh my,” she says, covering her mouth and giggling like a school girl. “He really is dirty.” She taps him on the arm. “You bad boy.”
Myles’ grin is boyish and I feel a weird sensation in my stomach. Like it’s being tipped upside down and turned inside out.
“Why don’t we go grab a coffee?” he says, offering his arm to my mom. “Ava isn’t feeling so good. We should let her rest.”
She hates chivalry, so I wait with glee to see her bat him away. Instead, she takes his bicep and actually gives a little ‘ooh’ as she squeezes it.
My stomach flips because I know exactly how good that bicep feels. He obviously has this effect on all the women in my family.
“You didn’t say you were sick,” she says to me, still clinging tightly to my could-be-baby-daddy.
“I’m not,” I croak. “I’m just tired.”
“Sleep,” he tells me, looking serious for a moment.
“I’ll make sure she does,” Mom says, before looking at me over her shoulder. “I’ll come check on you before I leave.”
They walk out into the hallway and I hear my mom’s voice.
“Tell me more about the Great Bear Endo,” she says, her tone half an octave higher than normal. “Is it true you devised him? No wonder everybody calls you the golden boy of children’s publishing.”
I lie back on my bed, letting my head hit the pillow before I give a grunt. This has turned out to be the weirdest afternoon ever.
This baby will never understand what I put myself through to become its mom.
The problem with getting potentially impregnated by your co-worker is that you still have to see him on Monday morning.
I didn’t think to ask how we should treat each other in the office.
There’s nothing in the legal agreement we both signed to say that we have to be nice to each other, or that we have to treat each other the way we have this past year.
To add to the confusion, I’m actually looking forward to seeing him. I haven’t heard from him since he left my apartment on Saturday. A few times on Sunday I thought about texting him, but what would I say?
Thanks for the sperm. And for beguiling my mom. She didn’t even ask why I was in my pajamas.
In the end, I went to an extra yoga class with Lauren, who has her eye on an account executive who’s recently moved into the Charleston area and attends yoga regularly. For a woman with a big mouth she didn’t even talk to him, so I’ve somehow agreed to go next week again.
And now it’s Monday and everything in the office is the same as last Monday. Except for one thing.
Myles Salinger jacked off in my bathroom and donated his sperm to me.
Through the window in the door I can see that he’s in his office already, talking to the computer screen. He looks as calm and collected as ever, his jacket slung across the back of his chair, his sleeves rolled up as he nods to whoever’s on the other end of his video call.
Then he frowns and says something, his lips pressing together into a thin line. He shakes his head and starts talking rapidly, and I figure whoever he is talking to is getting ripped into.
Dragging my eyes away, I open up my laptop and wait for it to boot up.
I have a full schedule this week. We have to agree on our final production run for Dandy the Lion as well as the marketing plan.
If we’re going to book advertisements and commission a designer for our Macy’s float, I need to get it all agreed on before Friday.
I spend most of the morning talking to our printing company and the distribution team. By the time lunchtime rolls around my neck is aching from hunching over the phone.
“Ava?”
I look up to see Myles standing in the doorway of his office. “Can I have a quick word?” he asks.
Nodding, I stand and smooth out my skirt, aware of everybody in the office watching me as I walk to Myles’ office. I feel awkward and unsure, like there’s a neon light above my head telling everybody my business.
“Can you close the door, please?” Myles asks when I walk in. I do as I’m told and take my usual seat opposite his. His hair looks unusually mussed, like he’s been running his hands through it.
“I have some bad news,” he says. “I wanted to share it with you first.”
For a moment I expect him to say they got his sperm count wrong.
“New York has decided to go with Endo for the float. I’m sorry.”
I swallow, my throat tight. “Even though it was my idea?”
“All of our ideas belong to the company. You know that.”
Yes I do. It’s in my employment contract, after all. But it doesn’t matter because I also thought there was some honor in this world. That they wouldn’t just take something that was mine and give it to somebody else.
“I was due to meet with the Macy’s people this week,” I say.
“The marketing team in New York will be taking the discussions over,” Myles tells me. “I’m sorry, Ava. There’s nothing I could do.”
“How long have you known?” I ask him.
“They confirmed it this morning.”
“That’s not what I asked. How long have you known that I was bashing my head against a wall? You told me to run with it and now you’re telling me to stop.”
“They told me last week that it would probably be Endo,” he admits. “But I asked them to reconsider.”
“So you knew on Saturday?” I feel raw, like he can see beneath my skin.
He nods. “Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me?” I feel hurt. And it’s stupid because he doesn’t owe me any loyalty.
“I couldn’t. It was under embargo until they confirmed today.” His eyes meet mine and I see pity there. I don’t want it. Not at all. “Ava, I did fight to have Dandy there, too.”
My guts twist. I look away because I don’t want him to see the tears in my eyes. “It’s okay. You won. Well done, Myles.”
“Ava…”
I knew how to deal with nasty Myles. I knew not to let myself get vulnerable with him. I knew not to let myself believe we were anything other than rivals.
“I need to go work on our marketing plan,” I mutter, because everything is hinged around the Thanksgiving Parade. It was going to be the anchor of the plan. The rest of our marketing revolved around getting the float, and now I’m going to have to start from scratch all over again.
“Ava!” he thunders, and I blink because as aggravating as he is, Myles doesn’t shout. “Will you listen to me for a minute?” he asks when he has my attention. “Please?”
I look at him but say nothing. There’s a little battle being waged here and I’m not going to lose.
Not again.
“The reason I hadn’t told you until now is because I’ve spent the morning arguing with finance to increase your marketing budget.
I know you’ll be having to fight for space for Dandy, and I’d like to help you with that.
Why don’t we sit down and talk this through together?
We can make a kick-ass marketing plan for Dandy between us. ”
My throat feels too tight to breathe. I shake my head and clench my jaw, knowing that in about ten seconds I’m going to run out of air. “It’s okay,” I manage to get out. “I’m happy for you, I really am. I just need to think.”
“I didn’t want this to happen,” he tells me. “I didn’t ask for it.” He swallows hard. “I’m sorry for upsetting you.”
“Can I go now?” I ask, because I can’t let him see me like this.
His gaze softens. “Sure.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, and high tail it out of there before I risk looking vulnerable. This feels bad. Worse than coming back from vacation to find Richard and Sammy gone. Worse even, than finding out that Myles Salinger had replaced my boss.
Because now I’m taking it personally, and I have no idea where to put the emotions anymore.