Chapter 29
CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE
AVA
The office is empty. I’m sitting at my desk staring blankly at my laptop and wondering what else I can do to make this better.
Myles still hasn’t called back – there’s not even a read receipt on my messages.
And Jean-Baptiste has been conveniently in meetings all afternoon and unable to take my call.
I’ve scheduled a half hour slot in the morning with him via his PA, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s canceled as soon as she talks to him.
It’s like they just want us to disappear.
There’s a tap on the door. I look over to see Catherine walk in. She’s carrying a glass of wine.
“You should come down and join us,” she says. “But just in case you won’t, I brought the bar up to you.”
I smile wanly. “How’s it going down there?”
“Everybody’s drinking like there’s no tomorrow. Ryan’s asked Derek to get the karaoke machine out.” She winces. “There is going to be a lot of sore heads in the morning.”
“Maybe starting early means they’ll finish early,” I say hopefully. “Get a good night’s sleep.”
“I wouldn’t bank on it.”
I glance at the wine she’s holding out for me and think about accepting it and pouring it down the sink when she’s gone. But there have been enough lies and subterfuge here today. Anything other than honesty seems wrong right now.
“Thank you,” I tell her. “But I can’t drink alcohol right now.”
“Are you on antibiotics?” she asks. “Those things are a killer.”
I shake my head. “I’m trying to get pregnant.”
Her eyes widen. “You are?”
“Good timing, huh? I wasn’t expecting to be jobless right now.”
She pulls out a chair and takes a sip of the wine she brought up for me. “My mom always said there’s no good time to have a baby.”
“She’s probably right about that.”
“But I know you,” Catherine says, leaning forward. “You wouldn’t have made a decision like this without thinking it through. And I bet you’ve saved enough to keep a roof over your heads while you look for a new job.”
“I have, but it’ll run out within a year.”
“You’ll be snapped up. Hey, maybe New York will ask you to transfer there. That could be an option, right?”
“They asked me before. A year ago. But I don’t want to move to New York,” I admit to her.
“I want to stay here. I love Charleston. I love being near my family and friends. I love that it feels like everybody knows everybody.” And most of all I love working at Smith and Carson. Tears prick at my eyes.
“Oh sweetie.” Catherine puts the wine glass down and reaches for my hand. “You’ll be okay. You’re a strong woman.”
The thing is, I don’t feel very strong right now. I feel vulnerable. Afraid. I made decisions thinking one thing, and now they’re being tipped upside down.
My phone starts to ring. I look down to see Myles’ name flashing across the screen. My chest tightens and I look over at Catherine. “I need to take this.”
“Of course.” She nods. “I’ll head back to the bar. Come down and join us after, okay?”
“Yeah, I will.” Because let’s face it, sitting in this empty office thinking about the future isn’t doing my anxiety any good. At least in the bar I’ll be surrounded by my colleagues.
She carries the wine glass out of the office, no doubt heading back to the Hole, and I slide my finger across the screen to accept Myles’ call. My heart is racing now. I have no idea what to say to him.
“Hello?”
“Ava. Thank God.”
“Where are you?” I demand.
“I’m in New York. That’s why I hadn’t returned your call sooner. I’ve been on a plane. Listen, I need to explain what’s happening.”
“You don’t need to explain,” I say softly. “I know. New York has stolen Dandy.”
He lets out a long breath. “I wanted you to hear it from me.”
His words feel like a stab in the chest. “Maybe you should have told me last week. Or any time really.”
“I wanted to, but Ava…”
“How long have you known?”
“A while.” He sounds edgy.
“How long is a while? Did you know last week?”
“Yes, but the announcement coming today blindsided me. I didn’t think they’d lock it down while we were away.”
“So you knew last week and didn’t tell me?” I can’t keep the hurt from my voice. “You made love to me and you didn’t tell me. You helped me try to get pregnant and didn’t bother to let me know I might not have a goddamned job or a roof over my head.”
“You’ll always have a roof over your head. I’ll make sure of that.”
“I don’t want your money, Myles. I don’t want you to take care of me. I thought we established that already. I want a baby and I want to provide for it. You knew that yet you still did what you did.”
“Ava, listen to me.” He sounds panicky.
“You know when I would have happily listened to you?” I continue. “Last week. Or any time really. I’d have listened and we could have worked it out. Maybe I would’ve stopped trying for a baby. Maybe I wouldn’t have come to your family reunion.” God this hurts. My chest is so tight I can’t breathe.
“I wouldn’t have let you stop trying. This isn’t the end Ava, it’s just a different beginning.”
Tears prick at my eyes. “Tell that to the thirty staff who you walked out on this morning. You know what they think? That you’re a coward who can’t even face them. You could have called them together, you could have reassured them, but instead you ran away.”
“Is that what you think I did?” He sounds angry now. But I’m angrier and somehow that fuels me.
“It’s what I know. You ran away to New York and you’re probably drinking a latte with your friends, laughing that you managed to steal Dandy away.” A tiny sob escapes my lips. I feel completely betrayed. “I trusted you,” I tell him. “I thought you were a good guy after all.”
I wait for him to protest, to ask me to listen again, to do anything to break the silence, but instead he says nothing. I shift in my seat, the anger slowly dissipating, replaced by a deep sadness that makes everything feel dark.
“I would never laugh at you,” he finally says.
“You didn’t tell me the truth either.”
“Just try to keep the faith. Please Ava, believe in me a little longer. I’m not a bad guy, I’m just…” He exhales heavily. “I’m just trying to do my job.”
“I can’t…” My voice breaks. “I can’t do this now. I can’t talk to you.” It hurts too much. My chest feels like it’s about to explode, I can barely breathe. “I need to go.”
“Wait…”
I hang up before I can hear anymore. His name flashes up again on my screen as he tries to call, but I ignore it. When it finally routes to voicemail, I turn the whole thing off because I can’t be dealing with this now.
It’s time to blow off some steam at The Hole in the Wall.
MYLES
I stare at my phone as Ava’s recorded voice tells me to leave a message. I manage to mumble something – God knows what – and end the call with a frustrated sigh.
“You should have let her know what’s going on,” Liam says. “I told you that.”
“Thanks for the advice,” I say through gritted teeth. “Really helpful.” I push my phone away on the table in Liam’s boardroom and drop my head into my hands. “I never should have gone to the family reunion. I should have known Jean-Baptiste would pull something like this.”
“Yeah, well we didn’t exactly cover our tracks well.
It’s hard when you’re schmoozing stockholders left, right, and center,” Liam points out.
That’s what he’s been doing for weeks. Gathering investors and creating a fund to buy Smith and Carson from Mediatech.
We’ve been planning this for the longest time.
And now it’s all shot to shit.
Without Naomi Acres and Dandy the Lion, Smith and Carson is worthless.
Even worse, we’re still obligated to buy it. And all the investors’ money – not to mention Liam and my personal funds – are tangled up in the purchase of a worthless publishing house.
In short, we’re fucked.
A fact Jean-Baptiste giddily told me this morning when he called just before he sent the email out confirming that Naomi Acres would be publishing her next books directly through Mediatech. He somehow persuaded her that if she signed it would save Ava’s job and she could come work in New York.
Which is bullshit, because Ava would never come here. But Jean-Baptiste is persuasive when he wants to be – especially when there’s nobody around to contradict him.
If I’d been in the office I would have known this was going on.
But I wasn’t. I was fucking distracted.
I try to call Ava again, but like last time it goes to voicemail. Liam lifts a brow.
“She’s not talking to you, bro.”
“Don’t you think I get that?” I ask him. If it wasn’t for the fact that he’s about to lose everything, I’d be on a plane back to Charleston right now.
Because I can’t lose her, too. I can’t.
“So how are you going to explain this to her?” he asks. “Because she sounded pretty pissed.”
“I was just trying to protect her,” I say, my voice thin. “If she knew about this she would have panicked. Let the cat out of the bag. Better to keep her in the dark until everything was done.”
“Yeah,” Liam says, nodding. “That worked out really well.”
I look at him, annoyed. “What would you have done?”
“I would have told her that I was making decisions about the company she’s worked at for fifteen years. Heck, maybe I’d have even asked for her help. Had you even thought about that? If she’d known what we were doing she could have kept close tabs on Naomi. But no, you knew best. You always do.”
“You didn’t seem so annoyed when this was going to make a ton of money for you,” I point out.
“It’s lucrative, or it would have been,” Liam says. “But it’s not worth the pain. I did this for you, because you asked for my help, so don’t turn all this around on me.”
I squeeze my eyes shut because he’s right. I have no right to lash out on my brother. When I was worried about Jean-Baptiste’s plans to close down Smith and Carson he was the first person I went to. Asked if he could help fund a buyout.
And he agreed because we’re family.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I’m just so fucking annoyed. I messed up. This is my fault.”