Chapter 36 The Board Meeting
The Board Meeting
Ava walked out of the boardroom with considerably less anxiety than she’d entered with. She’d accomplished what she set out to do, even with the lingering heartbreak that took residence in her chest. The walk to her office passed in a blur as the adrenaline slowly receded from her body.
She found Morgan waiting for her, typing away on the laptop perched on her knees. At her entry, Morgan’s head whipped around so fast her curls hit her cheek.
“How’d it go?”
“Good. Better than I expected,” Ava said. She tried to smile, but she was sure it fell flat.
Morgan placed her laptop on the desk and got up to hug her.
“I’m so proud of you, even if you can’t feel proud of yourself right now.”
Ava bit her lip to ward off the tears that wanted to gather. Now was not the time to be upset. She aced her interview she spent all summer preparing, and they had an offer on the cabin already. Everything was working out the way it was supposed to. Right?
So what if there was a ragged, gaping hole where her heart beat, that ached each time she took a breath?
“Come on, let’s go celebrate. Lunch is on me,” Morgan said, releasing her.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I insist. Just need to make a stop by the ballroom before we head out. Coming with?”
“Sure.”
Ava rounded her desk to grab her purse from the bottom drawer, then followed Morgan. They took the long way there. Morgan’s eyes were glued to her phone, to the point she almost ran into an opening door.
“Watch out. Might want to put the phone down before you hurt yourself,” Ava warned.
Morgan grimaced. “Sorry. Trying to coordinate something. I’m putting it away now.”
She made a show of sliding the phone into her pocket and waggled her fingers once they were phone-free. They neared the ballroom on the ground floor, and Ava hung back to wait for Morgan outside the door.
“Come inside. I want to show you something,” Morgan said, gesturing her to follow.
Despite how weird Morgan was acting, Ava trailed behind her.
“What did you want to show m—oomph.”
The air was knocked out of her lungs, quite literally, when someone threw their arms around her waist in a tight squeeze. A mess of shaggy brown hair she’d recognize anywhere greeted her, and then a freckled, smiling face peered up at her.
“Avery? What are you doing here?”
Her mouth parted in her first genuine smile in over a week, and she hugged him back without thinking about the reason he’d be here. Because if Avery was here, then that meant …
Owen.
She pulled her attention from Avery and met Owen’s gaze.
He stood with his hands behind his back, his black shirt pulling tight across his chest from his stance.
A few strands of hair escaped his bun, and she itched to brush them back from his face.
But he didn’t deserve that from her. Not after the way they left things.
Not after the words he hurled at her like sharpened knives, aimed at making the biggest impact.
“We came to see you,” Avery said. “Dad said you forgot something, and he needed to get it back to you.”
Ava frowned. What did she leave? Aside from the obvious.
Morgan approached with her face twisted in a grimace.
“Hey, Avery. Want to get a cookie from the front desk? They’re usually hot from the oven at lunchtime.”
Avery looked at his dad for approval. At Owen’s nod, Avery readily agreed.
“What kind of cookie? Do I get to choose? I’ll bring one back for you, too, Ava.” Avery spoke rapid-fire as Morgan led Avery back through the ballroom doors, leaving Ava alone with Owen. Who still had his hands behind his back.
She wanted to say something, anything; but her pride stopped her. She had done nothing wrong. Why should she break the uncomfortable silence?
Owen closed the distance between them.
“I’m sorry, Ava. I know words aren’t enough to earn your trust back, but I am.”
Her breath came out in a whoosh, like she’d been holding it since Morgan and Avery left the room.
“You couldn’t call me to say that?”
Owen raised a brow at her, his lips quirking up on one side. “Would you have answered?”
Ava raised her own brows at him. “Touché.”
He took a step closer. Her body buzzed from proximity.
“Avery said you brought me something. That better not have been a euphemism,” she said. A suspicion flashed through her mind when he still didn’t reveal his hands from behind his back. “I swear to God if you propose to me right now, I will say no on principle.”
Owen’s half-smile from earlier broke into a full grin. He shook his head at her, knocking more strands of hair loose from his bun.
“Give me some credit. I know you better than that, Birdie.”
Her aching heart squeezed tight with hope at her nickname falling from his lips. But her ego still resented how easily he tossed her aside.
“Except when you broke up with me at the hospital. When I told you I wanted to stay.”
Owen winced. “I deserved that.”
He shifted to hold out the object he kept hidden.
The wooden loon alarm.
The one that broke at the cabin following the fight with her brothers.
The one she never thought she’d hear again.
“You came all this way to bring me that? Not sure if you know, but we listed the cabin for sale. We already have an offer.”
“I know. I went looking for you, but you were gone. I thought I’d lost my chance, but I’m here doing what I should’ve done ten years ago.
I should’ve never let you go the first time, and I definitely shouldn’t have the second time.
You’re it for me. I love you, Birdie. I love you, and I never stopped. And I never will.”
Ava bit her lip to hold back her own words. They were everything she wanted to hear, but how could she trust they were real? That he wouldn’t change his mind like he had at the hospital.
“I see your pretty mind spiraling. I came prepared. It took some persistent badgering, but I convinced Lucas to tell me about your plan you guys came up with.” He held out a manila folder in his other hand, urging her to take it.
She took it out of his grasp and flipped it open to read the first page. Disbelief lit up her chest. “Is this for real? How?”
“Matt helped get all the paperwork squared away, and Lucas combed over this with a fine-toothed comb to make sure, as he put it, you wouldn’t be ‘fucked over’.
But this is my proposition. If you’ll still have me, I want to be your partner.
Not just in life, or as a parent. I want to give you 50% ownership of Birdie’s Bed and Breakfast. It’s as much yours as it is mine. Just like my heart.”
Hope surged. Not a hesitant trickle, but a roaring flood that washed away the last bit of worry and doubt she had.
“You’re giving this to me? Shouldn’t I buy into the partnership? Dad left me some money, and I was planning to offer…” she trailed off at Owen shaking his head.
“Keep the money. I’m sure you can find a better use for it.”
“You’re sure about this?” Ava’s voice strained with emotion, but she had to be sure. She had to give him a final out, because after this, she wouldn’t be able to let him go again. Him or Avery. The family she desperately wanted.
“More sure than anything.”
A flush crawled up her chest, and she let her doubt fall away.
She dropped the folder to the ground, and Owen closed the gap between them, banding a strong arm around her back to haul her against his body.
The loon alarm pushed into her back, but she didn’t care about the discomfort.
He ran a finger down the side of her face, and she shivered in response, leaning closer to him.
A few silent tears spilled from the corners of her eyes, but she smiled widely at him. “I love you too, Owen. I love you, and I never stopped.”
The words barely left her lips before he descended on her, kissing her breathless. She allowed her hands to roam freely, her nails raking up his neck to fist his hair. When they broke apart, she had only one question left.
“Why did you bring the loon alarm?”
He held it between them and caught her eyes.
“I thought it deserved a new home at the bed-and-breakfast. A tribute to your dad. What do you think?”
“It’s perfect.”