27
“I needa flight out of Oakland tonight. Make it happen.” A man in an expensive suit and even more expensive shoes who looked totally out of place surrounded by pine trees, barked into a phone as he passed Asher on the path that led to Ava’s cabin.
He wasn’t sure what the man’s issues were but he was glad he was leaving Hope Falls.
As he continued down the path, he couldn’t help but wonder how Ava would feel about Jenna doing the opposite of the man in the suit. She was staying in Hope Falls. Asher knew it was the right thing for Blake. He didn’t have any doubt about that. But he wasn’t sure that Ava would see it that way.
And even if she did, if she would still want to date him with the new modern family situation. He understood that he came with baggage. And he’d just added another suitcase to his luggage set that belonged not only to his ex-wife, but also the mother of his child. It was a double whammy.
In his heart, he knew that this wasn’t going to change anything between him and Ava. He’d just never really counted on his heart before, and he hoped that it was a reliable witness.
Asher knocked on the door and he heard Ava yell. “Are you fucking serious?” Before the door flung open. “Ian, I told you—” she stopped mid-sentence when she saw that it was Asher who was there. “Oh, hi. I thought you were…”
“Ian,” Asher finished her thought.
“He was just here,” she explained.
“Yeah.” Asher motioned over his shoulder. “I think I ran into him on his way out. Seemed like a real sweetheart of a guy.”
“Yep. That’s Ian, a real sweetheart.” Ava’s face softened as she smiled up at Asher. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He smiled back as she opened the door further and he walked inside.
As soon as the door shut, Asher pulled Ava into his arms and buried his face in the sweet nook of her neck. He inhaled the citrusy scent of her shampoo and moaned, “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.”
As much as he loved holding her in his arms, and wanting nothing more than to strip her out of her clothes and show her just how much he missed her, he knew that would have to wait. “So how did your talk with your ex go?” he asked knowing it would kill the mood.
If that asshole did or said anything to upset her, he wanted to know about it before he crossed the county lines.
She lifted her head up and shook it back and forth in the most adorable way. “Nope. I’ve been waiting all night, you go first.”
“Okay,” he agreed because he couldn’t say no to that face.
They settled beside each other on the couch and he sighed as he leaned back.
“That good, huh?” she grinned nervously.
“It’s not bad. It’s just a lot and I don’t know where to start.”
“Start at the beginning.”
The past few hours had felt so much longer, like days of his life had passed. So much had transpired. But as usual, Ava was right, he should just start at the beginning.
“I got home and asked Jenna when she was planning to leave. She told me that she wasn’t because she’d found out that her husband was cheating on her with her best friend.”
Asher paused thinking that Ava would have had at least some reaction to that news, but instead her expression remained unchanged. Then he remembered that her job was to keep her face neutral when people revealed shocking details of their life.
“Anyway,” he continued. “I guess she’s talked to Lauren about places and had been putting out feelers for jobs in the area.”
“She’s staying in Hope Falls?” Ava asked.
That news had certainly gotten a reaction.
“Yes. She wants a fresh start and she really likes it here and more importantly Blake really loves it here. She thought she could be away from her but, she realized that she can’t. And she shouldn’t. Blake needs her mom and her dad. So, when Jenna asked if it was okay with me if she stayed, I told her it was.”
Ava nodded, and he could see the reservation in her eyes. He knew once he finished talking to her, it would no longer be there.
