Chapter 9
Ava picked Ruby up from school and brought her back to her and Cole’s place.
She hadn’t heard from her mom or stepdad yet, so she was going to pretend they didn’t exist. When Ava had brought Ruby by her parents’ house before school to get her backpack, neither of them was there.
Ava wasn’t surprised, but was also thankful to avoid any altercations.
After she and Cole finished the movie, Ava sat down to work on the paperwork to gain guardianship. She researched it and saw that it was recommended she get a lawyer just to make sure everything was filled out properly.
She hadn’t looked beyond that as it had been time to get Ruby, and she didn’t want to discuss it in front of her.
“Do you have homework tonight?” Ava asked.
Ruby nodded and sighed. “Yes. I need to do spelling words.”
“Let’s get your homework taken care of and then you can watch a little TV before bed.”
“Okay,” Ruby said.
“Hey, Ruby,” Cole said, coming out of his bedroom.
“Hi, Cole. Are you feeling better?”
“Much better,” he said.
Ava watched as he sat down across from Ruby and carried on a conversation with her as if it were a part of their everyday life. While it didn’t happen often, she still always marveled at it. Her phone pinged, so she picked it up off the table.
Kelly: I’ve been patient, but I am no longer.
Ava: About…?
Kelly: You and Cole. What happened? It’s been far too long.
Ava: Nothing.
Kelly: You’re as bad a liar as he is. Even through text, I can tell when you’re lying.
Ava’s heart picked up its pace. Kelly had already talked to Cole about it. She looked up at Cole, who was busy helping Ruby with something on her homework.
Ava: What did he tell you?
Kelly: Nope. I want to hear what you have to say.
Ava rolled her eyes.
Ava: You forget that I also know you well enough to know when you’re lying through text. He didn’t say shit.
Kelly: You guys are no fun. Fill me in, please.
Ava: We drunkenly tried to hook up one night and then he rejected me.
Kelly: ???!!!???!!! WHAT?!
Ava: Exactly. Who could reject me? That’s what I want to know.
Kelly: Stop deflecting and tell me what happened!
Ava: I already did.
Kelly: Details!
Kelly: On second thought, no details. He’s my brother, and that’s gross. But how did he reject you?
Ava: He put an end to it.
Kelly: Why?
Ava: He didn’t want me.
Kelly: Bullshit. Even a blind man can see he’s in love with you.
Ava raised her eyebrows. That was news to her.
Ava: Elaborate.
Kelly: There’s nothing to elaborate on. It’s in his eyes. Even Miles saw it when he was there.
Ava: This is a joke, right?
Kelly: I’m serious, Ava. Ask him why he stopped it. I doubt it had to do with him not wanting to be with you. In all honesty, it was probably because you two had been drinking.
Ava: But wouldn’t he have just said that?
Kelly: Well, I mean, did you give him a chance to?
She hadn’t. She knew that much. Cole had tried numerous times to talk to her about that night, but she constantly shut him down. And the night itself was a blur. While she was belligerent, she had had enough to drink that they definitely shouldn’t have been sleeping together.
Ava looked across the table at Cole once again. Then she looked at Ruby. She was about to get into a messy guardianship battle with her mom and stepdad. She needed anyone she possibly could get on her side… and that included Cole.
Perhaps it was time they had that conversation after all.
Once Ruby went to bed, Ava went to Cole’s room and knocked on the door.
He had retreated to his room after dinner while she got Ruby settled.
She thought back to what Kelly had said and sighed.
It was a valid point, and she knew she had been unfair not listening to Cole every time he tried to talk to her.
But she had been embarrassed about the entire thing.
“Come in,” he called.
Ava opened the door and peeked inside. He was sitting on his bed with his laptop in his lap.
“Hey, can we talk?”
He closed his laptop and set it aside. “Of course.”
She moved around his bed and sat on the other side. “So…”
“So…”
Her face flamed. “I wanted to talk to you about that night.”
He scooted in the bed so he was facing her. “Ava, I want you to know I only stopped things because we had been drinking. If we had both been sober, I wouldn’t have hesitated to be with you that night.”
“Oh. Okay. We’re doing this.” She hadn’t expected him to jump right into the conversation.
“Well, every time I’ve tried to talk to you, you’ve shut me down. So, I’m just going to dive right in.” He took her hands in his. “I care about you, Ava. I don’t want this to come between us.”
She looked down at their hands clasped together, and a small glimmer of hope bloomed in her chest. “Really?”
“Of course. You know I care about you.”
Her eyes bounced between his. “I just felt so rejected.”
“I know. And that was never my intention, but unfortunately it came across that way. I just thought it would be better to explain everything once we were sober.”
“But then I iced you out.”
He didn’t comment, but he didn’t need to. She knew she hadn’t allowed him to explain, and she had avoided him like the plague.
“So where do we go from here?” she asked.
Cole remained silent, but Ava knew he was turning it over in his head. He was always a thinker and didn’t like speaking rashly. “I think we should focus on getting you custody of Ruby. That’s going to take enough energy.”
Her chest deflated, but she knew he was right. She couldn’t worry about anything between them right now. “I think that’s probably the right move.”
He released her hands, and she suddenly felt the loss. But he picked up his laptop and opened it back up before turning the screen to her. A website was opened up to a photo of Eli’s friend, Jameson.
“I’ve been researching everything, and I think we should talk to Jameson,” Cole said.
Ava frowned. “Jameson?”
“Yeah, I think he could provide some insight into the guardianship battle.”
Understanding dawned on her. “That’s right. He’s a lawyer. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.”
“Probably because you don’t see him nearly as often as I do,” Cole said. “He comes to the bookstore at least once a week. I don’t think it would hurt to talk to him.”
“It definitely wouldn’t.” She put a hand to her chest as tears sprang to her eyes. “Thank you. It means a lot that you’ve been doing research.”
He looked at her, and the smile he gave her was disarming. “Anything for you, Ava.”