Chapter 2
two
AVA
Finding Declan in a crowd of people is easy. At six-foot-six, he’s generally one of the tallest people around. And even though I’m his sister, I can admit his features are striking, causing most people to pay attention to him. He’s tall and fit, has shaggy brown hair, and wears glasses. He exudes a confidence and grace that’s always made me a bit jealous, but I couldn’t love him more. So the second I see him waiting for me at baggage claim in his worn jeans and cable-knit sweater, I rush toward him.
“Hey, big brother,” I say as I pull him into a hug.
“Hey, squirt.” His hug is tight and long, but I let him get away with it. Boston and Baltimore really aren’t that far from each other, but we don’t get to visit each other often, so these moments are rare. “Thanks for flying down so quickly,” he says as he takes my bag.
“Of course. You know I love Ashford Falls. I would take any excuse to visit. Plus, Scott has loved your mopey ass for years now. He deserves my awesomeness in his life for a little bit.”
He laughs and throws his arm over my shoulder. “Did you check any bags?”
“Yeah, just one. I’m not sure how long I’ll be here.”
“You’re welcome as long as you want, but don’t you have to get back to work?”
I hesitate for only a moment. I know I should tell Declan exactly what happened back home, but I’m not ready to talk about it with him. I know how disappointed he’ll be—not with me, but with our parents.
Declan always went out of his way to keep me away from all the problems he had with them when he got divorced. He didn’t want his relationship with them to impact my relationship with them. I know it’s already so strained, but I won’t be the reason for more stress in his life. Not when I can handle this myself.
“I’ve got plenty of saved up PTO, and I’m between cases at the moment, so this really couldn’t have happened at a better time for me.” He looks at me curiously, and I know he doesn’t totally believe me. “So, anything new going on here?” I ask before he can say anything else.
“No.” Now it’s my turn to doubt his honesty. I stare at him, waiting for him to break. “What?”
“You seem a little fidgety.”
“Fidgety?”
“Yeah, I don’t know how else to describe it.” I cross my arms, giving him a stern look. “What’s going on?”
He studies me for only a moment before finally telling me. “I may have kissed Quinn last night. And by kissed, I mean made out with.”
“You may have? You don’t know?” I ask, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this look on my brother. Ever since his divorce from Melissa, Declan hasn’t shown much interest in anyone—at least not in a serious way. And I know if he’s making out with his best friend's younger sister, he’s taking it very seriously.
“No, I definitely did. In the middle of the town square at the Fall Harvest Festival. Where everyone could see.” I can see him looking at me from the corner of his eye. He clearly has some feelings about this, but maybe he isn’t entirely ready to share all of it.
“Go big or go home, huh?” I tease. But the annoyed look on his face has me second guessing myself. “Okay, sorry”—but I’m me and I can’t help myself—”wait, one more. You’ve really got a thing for your best friends’ little sisters, don’t you?” I laugh so hard and loud people stare.
“You got it out of your system now?”
“I’m sorry, but you have to admit, that was a good one. First Ryan and now Caleb?” I’m still laughing when I see my bag come around the carousel and rush forward to get it before it passes.
I don’t know how Caleb would feel about his little sister dating Declan but I know Ryan hadn’t cared one way or the other when his little sister and Declan started dating. It wasn’t until Melissa and Declan had gotten engaged that Ryan showed any real emotion toward their relationship, and at that point Ryan was just happy Declan would be his brother for real.
The divorce complicated things, but Ryan understood why they were getting divorced and ended up supporting both of them. While Melissa and Declan weren’t the closest of friends after, they were cordial with each other, and the rest of our friendships went back to exactly how they were before they started dating.
“If I were in a joking mood, I would probably agree with you, but I’m not there yet,” Declan says when I get back to him, taking the suitcase from me. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
“Okay, I’m sorry, I’ll be serious.” We’re quiet as we walk to his truck. I can’t help but wonder how I’ve missed whatever is happening between Declan and Quinn. We talk at least once a week, and we’ve talked about Quinn, but I had no idea he had feelings for her. “I know I’ve heard about Quinn from everyone, you included, but you’ve only ever talked about her as a co-worker and friend. What changed?”
“Nothing changed. She’s still very much those things.” He puts my bags in the back of his truck and opens the door for me.
“Okay, but it’s more than that now.” I know it’s not a question, but I expect some kind of response from him. He closes the door and moves around the front of the truck, climbing into his seat before saying anything else.
“I think it’s actually meeting and seeing her with her family. Hearing her talk about her students, even the ones that piss her off.” He pauses for a moment. Whatever he’s thinking has the goofiest smile forming. “She really cares. Like in her soul, she cares about all of them.” He glances at me, and the smile falls, his eyes taking on a serious look. “After everything she’s been through, and not just with her mom, but everything in her life, the fact she still cares so deeply blows me away.”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen my brother look this way when talking about anyone—even Melissa. He’s a man who is falling madly in love with a woman, and I couldn’t be happier for him.
“I knew she was a great woman based on how Scott and Caleb talked about her, but you’ve made me a little jealous. I’d love to have someone talk about me the way you just did Quinn.” I reach out and squeeze his hand. “I can’t wait to meet her.” I turn forward in my seat and buckle myself in. “As for kissing her in front of the whole town, if it’s meant to be it’ll all work itself out. I have no doubt you’ll fight to make sure that happens if that’s what you want.”
My brother has always been a man to go after everything he wants. Take his art, for example. Even when my parents told him no, he still did it. He may have caved to many of their demands, but he still made his art a priority.
Declan will respect whatever Quinn wants, but he’ll only accept defeat when he truly believes it’s what she wants. Declan is one of the best men I know. I have no doubt he’ll make it very hard for her to say no.
He studies me for a minute before finally buckling his seatbelt. “Thanks, Ava.”
“Of course. Are we going straight to Scott’s now, or are you taking me to the inn to get settled?”
“In what world am I letting you stay at the inn? You’re staying with me. If you’re good with it, we’ll head straight to Scott’s. It’s Sunday, so everyone will be there for breakfast.”
“Yeah, you know I don’t need much sleep to function. As long as they have coffee I’ll be good to go.”
Declan is quiet for a moment, his gaze focused on the road in front of him before he finally responds, his voice quiet. “I’m really glad you’re here. I’m not happy about the reason, but I love when you visit, and it’s been a while. I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too.” I reach over and squeeze his forearm, resting on the center console. “I wasn’t kidding about all the time off I have saved up. I could stay through Thanksgiving. We could celebrate with the Marks instead of going home.” I shouldn’t continue with this lie, but thinking about going home and trying to act like nothing’s going on with my parents makes me exhausted. I just can’t do it—not yet.
He glances at me, concern evident in his eyes. “What’s going on?”
I look out the passenger window, avoiding his line of sight. I’ve never been a good liar, not when it comes to him. “Nothing. Like I said, I have a bunch of saved up time.”
“Ava, you can talk to me.”
I hate the worry I’m causing him, but I’m just not ready to get into all of it again. I know he'll believe me and support me however he can, but I don't want to see pity in his eyes when he learns the truth about my situation. “I know, but I’m not ready to talk about it.”
“Okay, but you’ll let me know when you are?”
“Yeah, I will.”
“Thank goodness you’re here.” Caleb rushes to pull me into a hug the second he opens the door. “Quinn is driving me crazy with her pacing. I don’t know what’s gotten into her. She’s normally so calm under pressure—like, scarily calm.”
I pull back but keep my hands on his shoulders, squeezing slightly. “Custody battles are always scary, even when the other person doesn’t have a leg to stand on. We’ll get this all figured out.”
“Well, come on in, everyone’s inside.” Caleb turns and leads Declan and me into the house. “Ava and Declan are here,” he announces as we enter the kitchen.
“Ava! Did you bring me anything?” Max asks as he rushes over to me.
“Max! That’s so rude!” A woman, I assume Quinn, stops pacing and looks at her brother in shock.
Everyone else laughs, used to this interaction between Max and me.
“It’s fine.” I chuckle, looking at Quinn before turning back to Max. “This was such a spur-of-the-moment trip I didn’t have a chance to get anything good, but I did bring you this cool deck of cards I found at the airport in Boston. They’ve got fun facts about the city on each of them.” I reach into my bag, pull the cards out, and hand them to him.
“Awesome.” Max turns for the living room, tearing into the pack, mind now focused on the playing cards.
“Hey, Ava. Good to see you,” Emily, Caleb’s wife, says from the stove.
I give her a wave before catching Scott trying to stand from his seat at the kitchen table. A few weeks ago, Scott fell while coming down the stairs and broke his leg, requiring surgery to fix it. He’s been in a cast since and shouldn’t be moving around more than necessary.
“Sit back down. I’ll come to you.” I make my way over to him, bending to hug him. “How much longer are you in that cast? I can’t imagine you’re enjoying it much.”
“Just a few more weeks in this one before I can switch to a walking boot, but you’re right, I’m ready to be done with this thing,” he says, reaching out to squeeze my hand. “It’s wonderful to see you.” A look of gratitude crosses his features. “Sorry for the circumstances.”
I offer a small smile and squeeze his hand in return. “I’ll take any excuse to be here. I’m thinking about making this an extended trip. Maybe crash your Thanksgiving dinner.”
“You could never crash something in this house. We would love to have you and your brother with us.”
I squeeze his hand one more time before releasing it and turning to Quinn. She’s gorgeous. I understand why my brother is so twisted up about her. Her brown hair is down in waves, falling to her shoulders, and her eyes are so blue I’m struck by their brightness. I’m only five-foot-four so most people are taller than me, but she seems taller than normal. She’s fit but curvy and giving off a very nervous energy that I can only imagine is due to the circumstances.
I never doubted my decision to come here to help, but knowing how everyone in this room feels about Quinn and seeing in this brief moment how concerned she is, I’m even more sure I made the right decision.
“Hi, I’m Ava, Declan’s younger and much more outgoing sister.”
Quinn chuckles slightly, making her way over to me. “Nice to meet you, I’m Quinn.” Quinn puts her hand out for a handshake, but I quickly push it away, pulling her into a hug.
“Oh no, I feel like I’ve known you forever with how much this group talks about you. I’m hugging you.”
Quinn is tense for a moment before she returns my hug, but when she does, I feel her entire body relax into me.
“I promise that we'll figure all of this out. I won’t stop until we know Max is safe,” I whisper in her ear before pulling away. Quinn offers me a small nod before we both turn back to the group. “So, what’s for breakfast? And can I help with anything?”