Will
Chapter Fifteen
Seeing as I’d never been the type of guy interested in the bizarre notion of one-night stands, I wasn’t familiar with that infamous walk of shame.
But after abandoning Ava to run the café all day on her own, I had to admit I felt more than a little guilty when I finally made it back to the café at the end of the day.
The bells above the door jingled as I opened it, a painful contrast to the sight of Ava sweeping alone in the darkness.
“We’re closed,” she said tightly, back turned to the door.
“I can see that,” I said, looking at all the chairs stacked atop the tables.
She turned, frowning at the sight of me.
“And where have you been all day?” she asked, leaning the broom against the wall so she could come face to face with me.
I shifted on my feet, uncomfortable at the way her small face tightened in anger. Strands of blonde hair fell free from her clip, and her makeup had smudged, as if she’d run a hand against it to wipe the sweat away.
Guilt churned in my stomach.
Ava and I hadn’t been on the best of terms the last few years, which meant we’d gotten into more than a few petty arguments lately.
Usually, they were stupid—to me, at least. She just wanted more from me than I had it in me to give.
It wasn’t usual for me to be so completely in the wrong, but there was no getting around it this time.
I’d put her in a shitty position without even so much as a phone call to let her know I wouldn’t be coming in, and honestly, I didn’t blame her for being pissed beyond all hell about it.
“I had to take care of something,” I said, not wanting to give her any more ammunition to work with than was necessary.
“No, Will.” She shook her head resolutely. “You had something to take care of here. With me.”
“I know, Ava,” I told her. “I’m sorry. I lost track of time and—”
“Do you have any idea how busy we got today? I know you don’t care about me, but I thought you at least cared about your family’s business,” she spat out.
I could take it. Sometimes she just needed to blow off some steam. It wasn’t like I didn’t deserve it.
“I do care—”
“Besides that, do you know many people showed up today looking for you? Apparently, you promised a dozen different people help with one thing or another and never showed up to do it.”
Shit. She was right. I ran a hand over my face.
“I’ll call everyone. Reschedule the things I had to do for tomorrow—”
“No!” Her voice nearly cracked. “You don’t get it. Why are you always worried about letting other people down, but never care about letting me down? I was the one who needed you today.”
I stared at her, into the brown eyes I’d been familiar with since I was a child.
“You make all these promises to everyone, all the time, but you never seem to care that while you’re running around saving everyone, you’re leaving me out to dry.”
“You’ve always been able to handle yourself, Ave,” I said stupidly.
Her shoulders tensed, and a look of hurt flashed across her face. I knew better than anyone that just because you could handle something on your own, doesn’t mean you shoulder have to.
I opened my mouth, trying to figure out the right words for an apology when she asked the question.
“Were you with her?”
I paused.
“Who?”
“You know who?”
“Is it any of your business?”
“It damn well is, since you left me here to drown today so you could go off and have a date with a girl who won’t be here in a month!”
“Okay,” I raised my voice, “you’ve had a long day. I think you should go home and sleep it off.”
She scoffed.
“And don’t worry about coming in tomorrow. I’ll handle it.”
“You’ll handle it?”
“That’s what I said.”
I thought she’d be relieved to get a break, but she looked as though I had insulted her.
“Why?” she countered. “You don’t need my help anymore?”
“Jesus, Ave. It’s one day. To give you a break to make up for what happened today.”
“Well, I don’t want it.”
“Fine!” I gave up. “I’ll see you in the morning, then.”
“Fine,” she said, pulling her jacket on with aggressive haste.
God, was I unequipped for dealing with people and their irrational emotions.
First Elsie, now Ava. At least I knew what got Ava so worked up. If only Elsie had been as forthcoming today as Ava was.
It killed me to not know what caused that haunted look in her eyes on the way home.
I was usually the type of guy to prefer silence over conversation, but damn, if I didn’t miss the sound of her voice that entire drive home.
Then I felt guilty for paying more attention to Elsie when she wasn’t even here than to the woman right in front of me.
“Ava, wait,” I said before she was fully out the door.
She turned, something softer in her eyes. More vulnerable. It got to me. I didn’t want to be the asshole in her story, but some fates were unavoidable.
And besides, the damage had already been done years ago.
“Where’s the order forms?”
“What?” She turned, eyes narrowing suspiciously. “I already took care of it. Like I always do.”
“Well, I want to add something to the list,” I said, agitated at the need to explain myself.
“We’ve placed the same damn order every month since we took over running the place for your parents, and now you think I don’t know how to do my job?”
“Damn it, Ava,” I groaned. “I didn’t say you didn’t know how to do your job. All I said was I had to order something else.”
In a swift step, she circled back to the counter, pulled a sheet of paper off the clipboard and shoved it at my chest.
“Here.” I grabbed it before it could fall to the floor. “And by all means, double count the drawer, if you think I’m too useless to do even that.”
Then she was gone, leaving me with the culpability of breaking my brother’s wife’s heart once again.
Real nice, asshole. I imagined him saying.
For once, I had to agree.