“Nonsense. I see this kid all the time. You aren’t intruding.” This time, he doesn’t give her a chance to say anything before walking away.
I watch him go and am honestly grateful for him in this moment. He’s just given me an excuse to spend more time with Ava. “I’d like to say you can ignore him, but he’s not one to take no for an answer.” I give her an apologetic smile. “He’ll probably come back here and steal your beer or burger to take them over to the table.”
She looks at me, a little dumbfounded, before Walt jumps in. “Unfortunately, Gage is right. Nick is not the kind of man to take no for an answer. Best to just get on with it and follow him.” His kind smile is back on his face, his dimple popping through. “I’ll bring you a fresh beer—on the house.” And just like my dad, he doesn’t wait for Ava to respond before he walks away.
“I—I’m not going to be good company. You literally just saw me in tears. Please don’t make me do this.”
Her voice is pleading, and the look in her eye makes me want to wrap her in my arms, but I hold myself back. Instead, I place my hand on her forearm, squeezing it. “Ava, you can do whatever makes you most comfortable. But, I can tell something is weighing on you, and truth be told, my dad's likely going to tell you any number of embarrassing stories about me that will be sure to take your mind off everything, so if you want to be distracted a little longer, you're welcome to join us. Otherwise, I’ll see you around town.”
I squeeze her arm once more before standing from my seat and joining my father at the booth he found for us across the room.
“She not going to join us?” he asks as I take the seat across from him.
“I don’t think so.” I reach out to stop him when he starts to stand from his seat. “Normally, I’m all for your meddling ways as I find them quite entertaining, but I think we let her be this time.”
He falls back into his seat, mock outrage on his face. “What do you mean ‘meddling ways’? I don’t meddle.”
I laugh louder than I intend to, but Dad is oblivious if he thinks he doesn’t meddle. “Dad, you’re always getting in Asher and Leo’s business, just like you did mine in high school. Leo just told me about the impromptu get-together you organized for him and his friends last weekend. I don’t know how I’ve avoided it the last three years.”
He stares at me with a serious expression on his face long enough that I think he might actually be hurt by what I said, but then he’s laughing with me, and the conversation carries on like it normally does with us—easy and carefree.
When a beer and a basket of food are placed on the edge of the table, I’m honestly surprised it’s Ava standing there and not Walt with our regular order.
“Is the offer to join you still open?” Her voice is strong, sure of herself, exactly like it was at the courthouse on Monday, but she shifts nervously, waiting for a response.
I feel my dad kick me under the table, knocking me from my trance.
“Of course.” I slide over in the booth, giving her room to sit down.
Ava takes the open seat, pulling her food in front of her. She gives me a small smile before she turns to my dad. “So, tell me you have some embarrassing stories to help shrink a bit of Gage’s ego.”
Now it’s my father’s turn to burst out laughing—loud and boisterous.
And I can’t help the smile that forms on my lips.
nine
GAGE
Without any ofus realizing it, we close down Murphy’s. It’s not until Walt comes over telling us everyone else has left and he’d like to close up that there’s a break in the conversation.
Once Dad started talking, he didn’t stop. He had an endless supply of stories about my childhood, and even a few second-hand stories from my days in the army to help “shrink my ego” as Ava said.
I couldn’t even be upset about it, not when I heard Ava's first real laugh since meeting her. I thought she was beautiful when I first saw her from a distance and even more gorgeous when I saw her up close, but when she laughs, free and unafraid of what people think, she’s breathtaking.
The longer we talked and the lighter she became, the more open she was to sharing about herself.
“Has he mentioned that he graduated a year early yet? He likes to say he doesn’t brag, but it amazes me how often he finds a way to tell everyone he meets about that little detail.”
“I do not!” I’m defensive and I know it, but not really upset when I hear Ava’s laugh.
“He did! But I don’t think I’ve met anyone who’s done that, and I did go to Harvard, so it might be something worth bragging about.” Ava shrugs like it’s nothing.
“You went to Harvard?” I ask, forgetting anything my dad said.
“You meanDeclanhasn’t bragged about that?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
