Audrey leaned forward, “Is Viv right? Are you okay?”
She had been until she saw Christie Brinkley Jr.
“Are you upset because his baby mama’s here?” Viv stated, clearly reading her mind.
Her sister might be right on the money, but there was no way that Ava wanted to admit her insecurities to her sisters. She didn’t even want to admit them to herself.
Ava sighed, “It’s just...it’s complicated.”
Viv stared at her and it was clear that she was not going to be let off the hook. “This is not a rom com and you are not Diane Keaton. It’s not that complicated. You either have feelings for him or you don’t. It’s actually quite simple.”
Ava looked around. There was no one within earshot of them. She’d been dealing with all of this for a week, turning it over and over again in her head. Maybe talking it out with her sisters would actually help.
“First of all, I just got out of a very long relationship.”
“In which you hadn’t had sex in over a year.” Vivien dismissed her point. “Next.”
“It didn’t mean anything. We’re not even dating.”
Vivien once again lifted her hand to count on her fingers. “He went to dinner with you. Danced with you for eight hours. And spent the night with you. What else ya got?”
Ava lowered her voice so it was barely a whisper. “His daughter is a patient of mine.”
“So?” Viv shot back.
“Ethically, it’s just a gray area.”
Viv wagged her brows. “A fifty shades of gray area.”
Ava and Audrey both chuckled before Aud reached across the table and put her hand on Ava’s forearm. “It’s okay if you have feelings for him. Even with all of that. We’re here if you want to talk about it.”
Apparently, the support her youngest sister showed was all it took to break the damn of emotions that had been building in Ava. “I know that it makes no sense, and I don’t even know how he feels, but I miss him. And I care about him. A lot. And I really do wish things were different. I’ve never felt more like myself than when I’m around him.” Ava felt tears beginning to pool in her eyes, but she tried to sniff them away. “He’s just so… he’s everything.
“And I know it might sound crazy but I think I started falling in love with him on the day of the shooting. I mean, I never stopped thinking about him over all those years and then on the day I’m supposed to get married he shows up in a random town that I just happen to be in too. I mean, I know that none of us ever bought into Mom’s lovey dovey stuff, but that has to be fate, right?”
Viv and Audrey both nodded in agreement, which spurred Ava on to continue.
Tears began to fall down her cheeks. “I can’t stop thinking about him. It’s like I’m obsessed and I don’t know what to do. I would have thought that there was no way he could have measured up to the man that I’d created in my fantasies, but the real-life version is a million times better than the made-up version. He’s smart, funny, capable, and just… ridiculously hot. I feel so much stronger about him than I ever did for Ian. I mean, if that’s not love I don’t know what is. I love him and I have no idea what to do about it.” Ava sucked in a shaky breath as she wiped her tear-stained cheeks with her napkin. She actually felt better now that she’d said all of that out loud.
Or at least she did until Viv’s eyes widened as she looked just past Ava’s shoulder.
“Oh my God,” Ava’s stomach dropped as she whisper-mouthed, “Is he behind me?”
A smile broke out on her sister’s face. “No, but wouldn’t that have been hilarious if he was?”
Ava checked over her shoulder to make sure her sister wasn’t lying and when she saw that no one was there relief flooded through her. She turned back and threw her spoon at Viv’s head.
“Hey!” Her sister dodged the plastic utensil as she laughed. “I was just trying to lighten the mood. Look, I think it’s great that you feel all those things. That means you’re not just alive and breathing, you’re actually living. And who knows what’s going to happen? I don’t. You don’t. Hell, even TDD probably has no idea. You just have to decide if the risk is worth the reward. If you tell him how you feel and risk getting hurt, or keep it inside and miss the reward. That’s what you’re going through now. Figuring that out. It’s the fun part.”
“Feeling confused and like I want to throw up all the time is the fun part?”
“Yep.” Viv lifted her Dippin’ Dots container and bumped Ava’s in cheers. “Welcome to the wild world of dating, heartbreak, and hopefully really good sex.”
Well, her sister had a point…there was that.
