“Fine, but you’re not getting anything to drink. Say your piece and leave.” It was a small stand to take, but she was proud of herself for taking it.
Instead of joining him on the couch, she lowered down in the accent chair that sat adjacent to the couch.
He scooted forward and leaned in her direction, obviously not picking up on the fact that she’d chosen this seat because she didn’t want to be close to him. When he looked into her eyes, he stared for so long she wasn’t sure if he was waiting for her to speak first.
Finally, he said, “Things with Kylie and I didn’t work out.”
She waited, thinking he was just taking a dramatic pause, but when he didn’t continue, she asked, “Is that what you came all the way here to tell me?”
“Yes.” He closed his eyes as he nodded. “We can be together again. The wedding is back on.”
Ava was already shaking her head before he even said the word wedding. “No, Ian. We can’t.”
“Yes, we can,” he said as if she wasn’t understanding. “Kylie is completely out of the picture. She moved in and it was just… It didn’t work. She ate a plum and left the pit sitting on a paper towel on the kitchen counter.”
“Wow. How could you possibly live with a monster like that?” she said flatly.
Her sarcasm went right over his head. “I know! It’s disgusting and that’s not all. She never made the bed the right way. Or remembered to pick up my dry cleaning on Wednesdays, she always forgot and had to get it on Thursday after I reminded her. Her hair would fall out in the shower and clog the drain, we had to call a plumber twice. She flossed her teeth with picks and didn’t wrap them in toilet paper before throwing them in the trash. I mean, it’s not like you don’t have your quirks, but I know now I can live with toothpaste being left on the sink.”
Ava wanted to laugh, but she managed to keep it in. Not because she was worried about hurting Ian’s feelings, he would have to have feelings for her to hurt them. No, it was because she was scared if she started laughing, she wouldn’t be able to stop and there were things she needed to say to Ian.
“Ian, I need you to listen to me, okay? Really listen to me.”
“I know. You’re mad about the wedding. I’m sorry, okay but if you keep bringing up the past how do you expect us to move forward.”
“Ian, there is no moving forward because there is no us. I’m not mad about the wedding, I’m grateful to you for not going through with it. You did the right thing. We should never have been together. Maybe when we were kids, but definitely not after we went to college. You don’t love me and I don’t love you.”
“That’s not the point. This is real life, not one of your ridiculous romance novels.” He motioned dismissively to the book that was lying on the couch which she’d tried to use as a distraction. “I need a wife and we work together.”
“We don’t work together. And you don’t need a wife, you need a maid.”
“Stop being difficult, Ava. I said I’m sorry —”
“I don’t want your apology, Ian.” Ava stood and started for the door. She was done with this conversation. “You need to leave.”
“You promised your mother you would marry me. It was her dying wish.”
She stilled for a moment, but then turned and smiled at him. “Thank you, Ian. Thank you for making this even easier on me. You’re right. I did promise my mom that. But if my mom could see the horrible excuse for a human being that you turned out to be, she would tell me to run as far away from you as I could get. Which is exactly what I’ve done. You need to go, or I’m going to call the police.” Ava grabbed her phone from the coffee table.
“Stop being so dramatic.” Ian sat back against the couch.
“Ian, I’m going to count to five and if you are not out of this fucking cabin, I’m going to call the police and my second call is going to be to Viv. One, two, three—”
She saw the switch in his eyes when she threatened to call her sister. He’d always said that Viv was unbalanced and Ava knew that her sister had put the fear of God in him. She only made it to three before he pushed up off the couch and stomped across the room as he muttered, “Petty bitch,” beneath his breath.
“If anyone’s a bitch in this situation, it’s you Ian.”
His face registered shock before he walked out and slammed the door.
Ava had never spoken to him, or anyone like that before. Viv must be rubbing off on her.
Her eyes shot down to the phone in her hand and she saw that there was still no call or text from Asher. She almost pressed his name to call him, but she stopped herself. She’d just handled that situation all on her own and she didn’t need to tell Asher or Viv or anyone about it.
Of course, she would tell her sisters about it at some point, but she didn’t need to call them tonight. She could be by herself and be okay. She didn’t need anyone else to feel complete, or happy, or validated. Just her.
All of that was true, but…it would be really nice if Asher called soon.
