Chapter 34 #3
I nodded, tracking every little change on her face. How her eyes cut again to the window, and all the evidence of my failed escape. To think I was gonna drive off and never see her again.
“Yeah. Luke called me out today. It was brutal, but true.”
Teeth dug into her bottom lip. Her chest inflated. “What did he say?”
“Told me to sleep on it.” I met her eyes dead-on. “Thing is, everything I want is here.” She opened her mouth, probably to shut me down. “Let me finish? You can try to change my mind when I’m done.”
She pressed her lips together.
I slid my hat home, no idea what came next, only that it had to sweep her off her feet. “Have you ever had powdered eggs?”
Her forehead wrinkled.
“Hotel breakfasts. The eggs are always powdered,” I explained.
“Well, sometimes they have hard-boiled. But the powdered ones, they taste like crap.” I scanned the black counters that Ava called sexy.
“I never appreciated a good breakfast. Or good coffee. Or good company.” Color started coming back into her cheeks.
Keep going.
“But it’s more than the eggs. It’s a house full of people. And working with Luke. And horseback rides. Not so much the heat, but I can live with it.”
The day granted me a second miracle: Ava snickered, and that familiar light flashed in her eyes.
“And it turns out,” I went on, “my dad doesn’t hate me.”
“Of course he doesn’t!” When I gave her a look, she playfully zipped her lips.
I readjusted my hat, pretty sure it was going well.
“I think we need a plan, like you made for Hidden Meadows, so I know how to help you without making it more. I’ll do whatever.
At home or at your new ranch. Fix dinner, fix fences.
Watch Nina. And I promise I won’t keep you up late.
Not if you don’t want me to.” A beat passed.
Maybe I had more to say, but I couldn’t think of anything. “Okay, I’m done.”
Seconds ticked by, and she didn’t respond. I considered polishing off the rest of her beer. Instead, I held my breath. My heart revved a million revolutions a minute until finally, she spoke.
“Somewhere in there, you’ll have time to run a youth program?”
“I was thinking before and after school. The middle of the day would be for you.”
“Even in triple digits?”
“I’ll throw up some misters. Shades. Whatever it takes. I wanna be on your team, Ava. Part of your Hidden Meadows family.”
Her smile faded. “Eli, I don’t need your help with Hidden Meadows.”
“I know you don’t need it, but I want to–”
She stood abruptly from the table, making the bench drag across the floor. I stood too, fear taking over. No, I blew it! I should’ve waited. Thought it through. “Ava, I didn’t mean you weren’t capable enough.”
Her voice cracked when she asked, “Are you hungry?”
“What?”
She hopped across the kitchen, using the counter for support. I followed her to the fridge, where she started pulling food out. This all felt so familiar.
“Ava, what are you–give me those.” I took the loaf of bread and the condiments. “Look, I know you want less, but what I’m trying to say is, I can make it less. Let me take stuff off your plate.”
She added sliced cheese and ham cold cuts to my load, then hopped to the cabinet and pulled down an actual plate.
I dumped the food on the counter. “Please don’t shut me out. Let me try.” Then I watched helplessly as she started making a frigging sandwich. “Will you talk to me? Did I get it wrong? Am I just being an idiot here?”
She topped the thing with bread and slid the plate across the counter to me.
My gut bottomed out. “Thanks, but I’m not hungry.”
“Seriously?” Annoyed–that’s how she sounded.
Well, join the club! I was giving the woman my heart, and she responded with a damn ham sandwich? Maybe I said too much? Not enough? What more could I do?
She inhaled sharply and spread her fingers wide on the countertop. “You told me once about a stray you lured home with a ham sandwich.”
I blinked.
“Best dog you ever–Forget it.” She reached for the plate. “Never mind.”
I shot out a hand to stop her. Something big was filling me from the inside. So full I would probably rip right down the center, but it just might’ve been the best feeling I’d ever felt in my whole damn life. “You’re trying to lure me home?”
“Never mind. It was stupid. I don’t even have a home right now. I–” The words got stuck, and she cleared her throat. “I gave up Hidden Meadows.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I can’t build a future if I’m living in the past.”
My head exploded with possibilities, like watching a science video of the Big Bang. She and I, working side-by-side. Family horseback rides. Dancing under the stars with her in that dress.
Maybe even a dog.
“Okay,” I said, “this is gonna sound dumb, but am I in that future?”
“I hope so.”
I grabbed the butter knife she’d used for the mayo and cut the sandwich in two, taking one piece for myself and pushing the plate back her way. I held my sandwich in the air. “To finding homes?”
She picked up the other half and tapped the corner of her bread to mine.
Hands down, it was the best sandwich I’d ever had.