Chapter 3
THREE
Kai
Ava gazes up at me with a furrowed brow. “A walk?”
“Yeah, there’s a path that heads through the trees and down to the water.” Tilting my head to the gravel path, it’s not too far away, but enough for some privacy with this intriguing woman.
Ava pauses, her fingers circling the rim of her lemonade cup. “Sure,” she says, standing slowly, like she’s trying to read whether I mean something more than what I’m saying.
I do. I want more. Everything, if I’m being honest—her adventures, her ideas. She’s this chaos to my calm—complete opposites. A smile a mile wide takes over as I watch her shift in her seat.
She slips on her flip-flops and we start down the path, our shoulders brushing occasionally as we move in sync.
The noise of the cookout fades behind us, replaced by the gentle rustle of trees and the crunch of gravel under our feet.
We move closer to the water as it comes back into view through the trees.
“So, Portland?” I glance over at her. “That was your last stop?”
She nods. “It was beautiful. Fun. Creative. Exhausting.”
I wait. Letting the silence stretch long enough for her to fill it if she wants to. There’s more to this story. More silence between us as we approach the bench overlooking the water. I gesture for her to sit, and I follow.
“It’s easy to keep moving when no place asks you to stay,” she adds, eyes on the water.
It hits somewhere soft inside my chest with a slight squeeze to my heart.
“Have you thought about staying here?” I ask quietly as my leg touches hers.
She’s so close to me now, it’s hard not to bring my hand to her face.
But I resist. It’s a bit too forward with someone you just met.
She’s beautiful with her messy hair on the top of her head, and those hazel eyes captivate me.
My pulse picks up, which rarely happens when I’m chatting with women.
Her pull on me is nothing I’ve ever felt with anyone.
Not even with my ex, Katrina, who I thought might be the love of my life.
She doesn’t answer right away, which is understandable. The question holds more weight than it should for two people who met less than an hour ago. Two complete strangers being pulled together.
“I have,” she says in a whisper. “Saxville’s…charming. My sister’s here, my niece, with another baby on the way. And I love being near the water.” She gazes down at her hands like they hold the answers and back up out over the water.
“But?” I prompt her, placing my hand on her thigh, but I remove it quickly. When my hand was on her, sparks erupted in my palm for a split second.
She exhales a laugh. “But I’m used to leaving. It’s what I do.” Shaking her head, she says, “It’s what I’ve always done.”
I nod, letting what she says sink in. My body is filled with care and warmth for this woman who doesn’t stay in one place too long. I have the worst luck meeting women who always leave, like Katrina, but she’s just the most recent on the laundry list of others who never stuck around.
“I’m the opposite. I renovate things in my spare time, and I like being in one place.
Having roots here in Saxville —it’s a small town, but it’s a community, it’s home.
It’s where I’m rebuilding, taking something rundown and making it shine again.
But it’s hard when people don’t stick around long enough to see it finished. ”
I’m not sure why I’m sharing this with her, but she opened up to me and was vulnerable; maybe sharing with her will help her see the other side of things.
She glances over at me. “That happened to you?”
I shrug, dragging my hand down my face. “Maybe I was too stable. Too boring.” I sit forward, resting my forearms on my thighs, almost ready to lift myself off this bench. I’m probably boring her to death, too, except I look over and her grin back at me has my heart clenching in my chest.
She snorts. “You? Boring? I’m really enjoying talking with you. I don’t see you as boring. You’ve kept my attention, and I’m like a squirrel.”
“I mean, I do own a label maker,” I say with my chest puffed out, sitting straighter now.
Ava laughs. It surprises me, and a huge grin crosses my face. She lights up the space when she laughs.
“I think boring gets a bad rap,” she says. “There’s a kind of safety in it, steadiness. I’m not used to…safe and steady.”
I nod, letting it sit between us. It’s ingrained in me. I’m a safe bet. The one who likes to stay home and cook dinner. Rooting myself in Saxville has brought me peace and a place I can call home, unlike where I was before.
I’m not privy to her story about a place that didn’t call her to stay, but if we keep talking, I hope she will share it with me.
“I’m not the type to try to change people. I’ve been there before, once, but it didn’t work,” I say.
She gazes at me, really looks, and her smile softens, and something shifts in her gaze.
“Then I guess I should ask—what’s behind the lawyer and the polo shirts? Seriously, we’re at a cookout.”
“Touché.” I chuckle at her implication, but I love my polo shirts.
She is quick on her feet, and I don’t want our conversation to end. “I mean, seriously?” she says. “Why Saxville for you? Did you grow up here?”
Where to start with my story?
“No, I didn’t grow up here, but I did a couple of towns over. After law school, I wanted a change. The best I could do was buy a fixer-upper in Saxville. It’s been my dream to own a property on the lake.”
“Wait, so you’re telling me you live on this lake too? How awesome is that!” The excitement in her voice relaxes my stiff shoulders.
My gaze shifts from her to the water and across the lake, where I see the speck that is my home. I point to it and say, “Right there.”
She leans forward, squinting her eyes. “I can see a little something, but is it there?” She playfully smacks my arm. “Why didn’t you say anything? How’s the project coming along?”
The conversation shifts to me and renovation talk, and I’m all about it.
“Well, I’m almost finished with the first floor.
The kitchen was by far my favorite project.
My brother helped with some of the finer details I couldn’t do, like the tile for the backsplash.
I tried, but it was terrible, and I had to rip it out. ”
“Kitchens are my favorite. Do you have pictures?” She’s practically jumping out of her seat with excitement.
I dig into my pocket and pull out my phone. Scanning the album with all the reno pictures, I come to the kitchen ones and hand her my phone.
Her eyes are wide, and she has a genuine smile. “Oh…this kitchen is to die for.”
It really is. We started with hardwood flooring, hung all the cabinets, which are two-toned—light grey on top and a dark blueish-grey on the bottom—and then installed the eight-foot island.
I thought it would be too big for the space, but my brother knows best. He outdid himself in the design of my kitchen.
The Viking appliances fit perfectly into the space, just as he said they would.
The countertops were by far the best decision. The blue and grey granite with deep veins crossing through accentuated the space and brought it all together.
“The before pictures are horrendous.” I shake my head, remembering the pine-wood cabinets and orange laminate countertops with silver trim.
“I have to see the before and after pictures.” She shoves my phone back into my hand.
I fumble through a few pictures before I get to the old kitchen pictures and hand the phone back to her.
She slaps a hand to her mouth, stifling a laugh. “That is horrible. I thought you might have been over exaggerating, yah know, for effect.”
A smirk tugs at my lips as I think this is easy—easy to talk to her; we have things in common.
It’s refreshing. “You should stop by sometime and check it out. I’ll warn you, there are still a lot of projects…
not started, halfway done, and it’s a complete disaster in those construction zones.
” To share this project with someone as enthusiastic about the kitchen as I am—who isn’t my brother—would be wonderful.
“Right up my alley. I’d love to come by.” The excitement swirling in her eyes stirs a flame in my chest.
Our eyes lock, and I resist the urge to touch her face and kiss her. Soaking up every drop of happiness she is giving right now, it’s infectious. None of my girlfriends or dates has ever had this reaction about my renovation projects, and I want to savor it.
She gazes at me with those big hazel eyes with flecks of gold. “What change were you looking for when you settled back down here?”
The hope in her eyes makes me want to tell her more. “Katrina, my ex, and I dated for a couple of years, and when the party life didn’t stop for her, something had to change…Here I am back in Saxville for the last three years.”
She nudges my shoulder. “Katrina…?”
Talking to Ava, her presence opens me up to telling her more.
“Katrina…she wanted to party all the time. Boston is a city where you can party all night and then work all day. I have no idea how she did it day in and day out. For me, it was exhausting, and not how I saw myself living my life long-term. I decided to propose to her because I guess it felt like the right thing to do. The same day I was planning on popping the question, she came home, packed her things, and left, saying she was done with me for not committing to our relationship and how she wanted to live her life.” My shoulders slump, and my head hangs.
It was a devastating day. “I was left holding a velvet box in my hand, watching what I thought was my future walk out the door. Instead, she did me a favor. Her true colors came out that day…well, they poked out here and there before then, but it stays with me now. It was a good lesson to learn, I guess.”
She squeezes my shoulder. “You didn’t expect it, huh?”
I glance at her hand on my shoulder and place mine over it. “No, not at the time, but looking back, there were plenty of signs. I missed her and our time together. I suspect she found someone else to party with.”
With Ava’s hand still on my shoulder, I pat her hand, but am consumed by the way my body relaxes when she’s around. I hold her hand tighter.
“Like you said, you can’t change people. They are who they are,” she says quietly.
Those words hit me like a gut punch. I tried to change Katrina in subtle ways, but she loved the party life.
“Very true. I’m a homebody. I like a good dinner out or a movie, but I enjoy being home.
My projects keep me busy. Those days when I can enjoy my deck and hot tub are the best. If you want to see the most breathtaking sunsets, you should come over and watch from my hot tub. ”
I realize how that sounds like an invitation, and see Ava’s posture straighten. Then, she relaxes a smidge. “I also have a boat…Well, I don’t seem to use it as much as I had hoped,” I continue, attempting to quell the awkward moment.
“You’re really selling it, Kai. Now, I definitely need to see your house and convince you to take me for a ride on your boat.
” She still has my phone in her hand. She taps the screen a few times, then taps it some more.
“Here, I put myself in your contacts, and I sent a text. Now, I have your number too.”
My brain is malfunctioning, and my breathing ticks up.
Why am I picturing her riding on my boat and on me?
I cross my leg over my knee to tame down the monster in my pants.
Shaking it off as best as I can, I like her confidence and boldness.
If she had waited a few more seconds, I was about to ask for her number.
I’d like to spend more time with her—maybe over dinner.
I’m replaying Logan’s words…she doesn’t stay.
Do I want to spend more time with someone who won’t be sticking around?
It appears I’m diving headfirst into the Ava vortex. “Then we’ll have to figure out a time that works.”
“Yes, we will.” Her bright smile lingers as she stares out at the water.
Glancing at my phone, I see her contact name, Ava…You Should Call Her. Yeah, good plan. The pull to cup her face and kiss her is becoming irresistible. I might have to—I slide over slightly, thinking maybe she won’t notice.
She does.