Chapter 17 #2
“So you’re thinking of coming back next Sunday?” she asked Lucas.
“I might. I’m not a super religious person, but the sermon hit me right where it should. I’ve been secluded lately, and we’re not made that way. I need to figure out how to be of help to people again.”
“The preacher’s message actually answered a few questions I’ve been wondering about.”
He glanced over. “Care to share?”
“It made me want to put more effort into the people who are important to me,” she replied, fixing her eyes on him.
That look of contemplation took over his features once more. “Where do you want to eat?” he asked, abruptly changing the subject.
She shook her head. “I’m from out of town, remember? And you’re driving. Where do you want to go?”
“I know a place.”
Lucas turned up the radio and put the windows down, the cool air blowing Ava’s hair behind her shoulders. She put her hand out the window and let her fingers glide over the wind as the trees, showing off their autumn leaves, whisked by.
“This reminds me of the summers before you moved. You’d learned to drive well before you should’ve, and you and I would take rides up and down the hills on your property in the old farm truck when your parents weren’t home, remember?”
He nodded, his grip on the wheel now much more mature than the young wrists that had rested on it so confidently when he’d driven her around at fifteen.
“You’d get going pretty fast along the dirt road. I felt like such a rebel.”
“When I got to Charlotte, I had to take my driver’s test. The instructor praised me for my parallel-parking skills, and I told the woman, ‘I could back up a truck to a trailer and hitch it at thirteen.’” He grinned. “I’m not sure the woman knew what to do with me. But I passed.”
Ava laughed. “That sounds so much like you. ”
“I lost that part of me years ago. You bring it back out.”
They made their way into Nashville and over to Hamilton Street, where Lucas showed off the parallel-parking skills that had earned him a driver’s license. He got out and opened her door, helping her down onto the street in her heels.
Having beat the lunch crowd, they arrived just as the restaurant opened.
The hostess showed them to the elevator that would lead them to a rooftop bar.
When they arrived at their floor, they walked through one wall of sliding doors open to the outside and found a table.
The whole space was bathed in deep yellow light from the sun shining through the large umbrellas that shielded the dining area.
Bright green potted plants dotted the space, making the atmosphere feel like summer.
“The Nashville skyline is visible from every angle out here,” Ava said, shielding her eyes from the sun as she took in the view.
Lucas pulled out a chair, and she sat down.
“Should we get a cocktail?” he asked, peering at the menu.
“I’d love one. Surprise me.”
He pursed his lips, dragging his finger down the list. “Sweet or tangy?”
“Sweet.”
When the waitress came over with two glasses of water, he ordered them both a drink called “Amore y Fuego” and got them a few tacos and tapas to share.
“I wonder what the name ‘Amore y Fuego’ means?” she asked.
“Love and fire. I took Spanish in high school.”
“Impressive. I took Latin, and I’ve yet to use it.” She laughed.
His gaze lingered on her before he focused on straightening the napkin under his glass of water. “So you’re going back to New York next weekend? ”
“I’m supposed to. They gave me three weeks off to recuperate. They did say they could give me more time if I needed it, but while I’m still a little sore, I’m wearing heels and drinking cocktails, so I think I’m probably okay to go back.”
Lucas nodded and took a drink of his water. “I was hoping you’d go to church at least one more time. Dorothy will miss you,” he teased.
“I think it’s you she’d miss.”
Humor swam around in his green eyes, making her heart patter.
The waitress brought two glasses of golden liquid on ice with speared dried oranges and a maraschino cherry floating on the top. Lucas thanked her.
“What exactly was it about the sermon that hit home for you?” he asked once they were alone. “You said it made you want to focus on people? How so?”
“You tell me how it impacted you first.”
He made a face, his chest filling with air. “I’m not sure this is the place for that explanation.”
Well, he didn’t get up and run away this time, so that’s a start.
“If you tell me your story, maybe I’ll tell you mine,” Ava said.
“I’ve got a better idea.” He took a sip of his cocktail. “Come with me to church next Sunday, and I’ll tell you everything.”
She stirred her drink with the straw. He’d given her a win-win offer.
She’d love nothing more than to go back to the little chapel and also to finally hear what he was dealing with.
But she had the tiny issue of supporting herself.
Could she get a flight home Sunday night?
If she did, would that give her enough time to recharge before throwing herself back into the madness of New York ?
“I’d love to, but I need to get back to work. I can’t live with my mother forever.”
“I could write you a doctor’s note.”
She laughed. “On what grounds?” She held out her arms. “I’m fine.”
“You’re actually not fine. You have a skull fracture. They can take anywhere from two weeks to six months to heal. I think you should take it slow.”
“I told my coworkers I’d be back next weekend. I don’t want to go against my word.”
“They can’t fire you if you’re recovering. They’d be looking at a lawsuit,” he said.
“But I told them I was getting better.”
He wanted her to stay. The request lurked behind his eyes. Ava loved that look, as if he could drink her in and savor her. She hadn’t seen it in years. If she didn’t get back home soon, she’d do something ridiculous like quit her job and move to Nashville just to be closer to him.
“I still have things I need to figure out in New York,” she said.
She needed to at least try to support Scott in his new position to see if that dynamic could actually work after all he’d done for her while she was out.
She couldn’t just leave him high and dry.
At the very least, she had to facilitate finding a replacement if she did decide there was something else she should be doing.
Lucas took a drink, thoughts clear on his face. He set the glass down, his gaze upon it. “I wonder if there really is a reason we ended up back in each other’s lives.”
“Oh, there’s a reason all right.”
He cocked his head to the side. “You know the reason?”
“You won’t tell me your secret, so I won’t tell you mine.”
“Mine is traumatic. Why won’t you tell me yours?”
She took a drink of her crisp, citrussy cocktail. “I’m afraid to tell you mine because it might impact this.” She waggled a finger between them.
“You’re telling me there’s a reason we’ve met up again, but if you disclose that reason, it might impact us? That makes absolutely no sense.”
“It might scare you away,” she said honestly. She wanted to tell him, to have him understand and say that she wasn’t crazy at all, but she wasn’t sure what he’d think.
“Believe me, nothing can scare me these days. I’ve faced mortality head-on. There’s nothing bigger than that.”
Mortality?
So had she.
“I’m telling you,” he said, “I’ve seen it all. Your thing can’t be any worse than my thing, and if it involves both of us, I think you should tell me.”
But Ava wanted to give him more time to get to know this version of her so he wouldn’t think she’d lost her mind when she told him about the near-death experience. She hadn’t told anyone but her mother, and she wasn’t sure how a story like that would be received.
“One day, maybe I will.”
He shook his head. “One day? Does that mean we’ll at least keep in touch?”
“Absolutely.”
“I can’t believe we were both in New York the whole time. If only I’d known. It might have made things a lot easier.” That veil of thought fell over him once more, but this time, he lifted his drink. “To second chances.”
“To second chances.” She tapped his glass with hers, incredibly thankful for all her second chances.
“How was your date with Lucas?” Ava’s mother asked when she walked in.
Ava waved to Lucas from the open doorway as he drove off and then shut the door. “It wasn’t exactly a date. It was lunch.”
Martha winked at her and placed a bookmark in her book.
Ava took off her heels and dropped them by the door. Then, she sat on the sofa next to her mom, folding her legs under her.
“I told the preacher I’d let you know about his church. You should go sometime. You might meet some people.”
“Maybe I will. But right now, it’s just nice to have you here. We should do something fun tonight—just us.”
Ava scooted next to her mother. “What do you say we have a girls’ night?”
Her mom perked up.
“I packed a honey mud mask that’s one hundred dollars a jar.” She made a face.
Martha’s eyes rounded. “How decadent.”
“And I have three different colors of nail polish. We can pile all the blankets and pillows on the sofa, put a romcom on TV, pour two glasses of wine, and give ourselves mani-pedis.”
Martha stood up and clapped her hands. “You’ve sold me.”
Her mom had hung back when Ava had been with her dad. This moment was for her and her mother. Ava got up and went into her bedroom to gather her things, feeling a kind of wholeness she hadn’t felt in a long time.
When she came out of her room wearing her bathrobe and slippers and carrying her bottles of nail polish, her mother was busily fluffing up the pillows on the sofa.
“I’ve got When Harry Met Sally ready to go,” Martha said, “and your wine is on the table. ”
Ava retrieved her glass while her mom hit play on the movie and then looked over the bottles of polish.
Martha chose the taupe color, while Ava opted for pink.
“I feel like a young girl again,” her mother said, wiggling her toes before swiping on the color.
“I remember when I first started dating your dad, I was only nineteen. He wanted to take me out to dinner, and neither of us had any money to speak of. We walked to the diner around the corner because he knew the cook. His name was Marshall. They played football together. Marshall had promised him double portions, so he and I could split a plate but get a full meal.”
Martha painted another nail and scrutinized it.
“I didn’t care how much food I got. I was just excited to have two straws in our soda because it meant I got to share it with him. I should’ve known we’d share everything from that moment on.”
“I didn’t know that story,” Ava said.
Her mother capped the nail polish and closed her eyes. “I have so many memories of him.”
As they settled into the evening, for the first time, Ava saw her mom as a woman, rather than just a caretaker. How had her mother coped with losing someone so incredibly close to her, with no one there to help her through it? Ava would never let it happen again.