Always & Forever: A Sweet Romantic Comedy (ABCs of Love Collection, Books 1 - 4)

by Brenna Jacobs

  Call work. Take a shower. Find David.

  Avery’s stomach growled loudly and Avery amended her list again.

  Call work. Eat food. Take a shower. Find David.

  “Are you ready to tell me what’s going on inside that brain of yours?” Melba said. She leaned against Avery’s counter where, bless her, she’d already started a pot of coffee.

  Avery rifled through her purse that hung over the back of one of the chairs at her kitchen table and pulled out the letter David had given her when he apologized. She pulled the letter out of its well-worn envelope and handed it over to Melba. “Here. Read this.”

  Avery had told Melba about what Tucker had done and about David’s involvement in how she had figured it out. But she’d never told her about his apology. She’d never told her about the letter.

  Melba gave her a quizzical look but took the letter and read it without asking any questions.

  Avery bit her lip, growing antsy while she waited for Melba to finish.

  When she looked up from the letter, Melba’s eyes were misty. “Child, why are you standing here with me when there’s a man close by that feels this way about you?” Melba gave the letter back. “When did he give this to you?”

  “A month ago. Right after everything happened.”

  Melba frowned. “And you never did anything about it?”

  “I didn’t know what to do,” Avery said. “I was angry at him, Melba. I needed time to sort out how I felt, plus I had to give myself a little time to get over Tucker, to get him out of my system.”

  Melba huffed. “Bet that didn’t take long.”

  Avery’s pride wouldn’t let her admit it out loud, but Melba was right. It hadn’t really taken long to get over Tucker. She could still work up some anger if she thought about him for too long, but she didn’t miss him.

  “He kissed me this morning,” Avery said.

  Melba’s eyes went wide. “Who? David?”

  Avery nodded. “He was out on the beach and was feeling pretty emotional, I guess. He said he lost a patient last night. I just sat with him for a little while, figuring he probably didn’t want to be alone, and then he kissed me. He told me life was too short and he was tired of waiting. It’s now or never. I either want him or I don’t.”

  Melba couldn’t stop smiling. “Well, which is it? Do you or don’t you?”

  Avery grinned. “I do, Melba, I really, really do.”

  “Land sakes, I thought you’d never figure it out. I’m so glad you finally have.”

  After a shower and a meal and two full cups of coffee, Avery finally felt settled enough to find David. Since he’d worked the night before, she expected him to be home, but by the time she was ready to go, his car was no longer in his driveway. Hoping he’d only made a grocery run, or gone out to get coffee, Avery waited an hour, and then another.

  Still, he didn’t show.

  Melba had gone home when Avery had gotten in the shower, but she texted every twenty minutes or so, wanting to know if Avery had found him yet. It wasn’t helping. It made Avery feel as though she needed to be actually searching, rather than just waiting for him to come home.

  She paced around her kitchen. Should she call him? Text him to check on him? He’d been pretty raw that morning. Maybe she needed to wait a little while? But waiting felt impossible. Now that she’d owned up to her feelings, she couldn’t bear the thought of living one more minute without telling David how she felt.

  When two more hours passed and David still didn’t return, she decided he had to be at the hospital. Maybe a Tuesday afternoon at the ER would be slow enough she’d be able to see him. Did they let people do that? Just show up at the hospital and ask to see specific doctors? Would she need to fake an injury to get anywhere but in the lobby? Maybe she could show up at the hospital and then text David and see if he had a minute to spare? Something about that last option felt wrong. She didn’t want to text him. She wanted to see him. See his reaction to her. See if he noticed that she was different.

  She pulled into the hospital parking lot ten minutes later and made her way into the ER. The waiting room was mostly empty, which she hoped was a good sign. Avery stopped in front of the desk.

  “Hi,” she said to the nurse. “I’m hoping I might be able to see Dr. Daniels. Is he available?”

  The woman gave her a tight smile. “That’s not exactly how the ER works. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on and we’ll get you checked in. Whatever doctor is available will be able to take care of you today.”

  “Oh no, I’m not sick,” Avery clarified. “He’s a friend, actually. A good friend. I just, really need to talk to him.”

  The woman lowered her glasses and studied Avery. “While he’s working? Saving lives?”

  Avery’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “I definitely don’t want to interfere with any life-saving. Can you just tell me if he’s working right now?”

  “If he’s such a good friend, wouldn’t you know whether or not he’s working right now?”

  Avery sighed. This woman was not making things easy for her. “You’re right. But, you see, we had a little bit of an argument and . . .” Avery paused when a familiar face floated into view. She couldn’t quite remember her name, but it was the woman David had been on a date with when the entire movie theater fiasco had happened. “Oh!” Avery said. “Her! She knows me. Can I talk to her?”

  The woman must have heard Avery’s words because she approached the desk, giving Avery a questioning smile. Her nametag read Haley. “Can I help you?”

  “Hi. Sorry. You maybe don’t remember me. I’m Avery? David’s—I mean, Dr. Daniels’s—friend?”

  “Ohh, right. How I could forget?” the woman said, her tone a little less friendly than Avery would have preferred. But it wasn’t like she could blame the woman.

  “I know you probably don’t have a lot of reason to want to help me, but can you tell me if David is working right now? I really, really need to talk to him.”

  “Talk to him in a ‘I’m going to make him even more miserable than he is now’ kind of way? Or in a ‘maybe I can snap him out of this funk he’s been in for the past month’ kind of way?”

  Avery’s heart jumped. “That one. The last one. At least, I hope.”

  Haley took a deep breath. “Give me a minute. He’s here. Let me just see if he can talk to you.”

  Avery walked back to the lobby and perched on the edge of a chair, too anxious to really sit and relax. Everything—all of her emotions—made such perfect sense now, she couldn’t believe it had taken her so long to figure things out. Now that she had, she felt ready to explode.

  Fifteen minutes later, a woman in scrubs and a lab coat came through the large double doors that led into the ER. She looked right at Avery. “Hi. Are you Avery?”

  Avery nodded.

  “I’m Lucy, David’s friend. Come with me.”

  Avery followed Lucy back through the double doors and through a number of confusing turns she hoped she didn’t have to repeat on her own before they finally stopped in a curtained exam area. Lucy pulled the curtain all the way closed around them and turned to look at Avery, her arms folded across her chest.

  “I’ve known David a long time,” Lucy said. “Since residency. I care about him a lot and I don’t like to see him hurting.”

  “Okay,” Avery said with a nod, unable to manage much else. The woman was intimidating as all get out.

  “He’s been hurting a lot the past few weeks.”

  Avery dropped her gaze to the floor. “I know.”

  “I get that his feelings can be a little intense sometimes,” Lucy said. “There’s not a lot of middle ground with David which sometimes makes it hard for him to navigate relationships.”

  Avery offered a wobbly smile. “I get that, too.”

  “But Avery, he’s the best there is. He is loyal and trustworthy and good all the way to his core. There’s no one in this world that will treat you better or love you more.”
<
br />   At that, Avery smiled again, wide and true, the stupid tears that had kept her company off and on all morning filling her eyes again. “I know. That’s why I’m here.”

  Lucy finally smiled. “You know, I told him he should give up on you.”

  Avery sniffed. “I probably would have given up on me. But I’m really glad he didn’t.”

  Lucy nodded, apparently satisfied with Avery’s answers. “Let me go get him. He’s with a patient now so you might have to wait a few minutes, but no one should bother you in here.”

  Avery nodded. “Thanks, Lucy.”

  Avery kept herself busy, playing mindless games on her phone, too preoccupied to do anything that required brain power. When she heard David’s voice coming toward her, her heart lurched, and she dropped her phone into her bag before clenching her trembling hands into fists. When the curtain slid back and David stepped into view, her heart nearly fell to the floor.

  He wasn’t wearing the typical scrubs she’d grown used to seeing him in. He wore dress pants, a shirt and tie, and a lab coat, a stethoscope draped over his neck. He looked so achingly handsome, Avery almost couldn’t breathe. “Hi,” she said, her voice catching in her throat.

  David smiled. “Hi.” He stepped more fully into the room, pulling the curtain closed behind him. “I was told I was seeing a woman with a heart condition?”

  Avery laughed. “I guess you could say that.”

  David pushed his hands into his pockets and looked up at her through his lashes, his expression sheepish and adorable. “I’m really nervous right now, Avery.”

  She smiled and laughed, then walked toward him, reaching out both her hands for his. “Don’t be nervous. I came here with something very important to say. I just need you to listen.”

  He nodded. “Okay,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

  Giving his hands a squeeze, Avery moved them to the small of her back, so she stood in the circle of his arms, her hands pressed gently against his chest. He felt warm and solid and real under her palms. She kept her eyes down, certain that if she looked at David directly, she’d probably start to cry. “I came here thinking I was going to tell you that it was time for you to just jump in the pool already, but then I realized you already did. You jumped when you sent me that letter.”

  “That letter felt a lot bigger than jumping in a pool,” David said.

  Avery laughed softly. “Just go with the analogy, all right?” She slid her hands up to David’s shoulders, finally looking into his eyes. “It isn’t you that needs to jump in the pool, it’s me. I was scared, David. Scared of feeling too much, too fast. Scared of forever, which I’m pretty sure this thing between us has the potential to be.” She shrugged her shoulders. “You said it was now or never, so I choose now. I mean, if you’ll still—”

  In one swift movement, David pulled her against him and lifted her chin, cutting off her words with a kiss. Avery gave in completely, letting him lead, opening herself up as he deepened the kiss, his arms wrapping fully around her. Several moments later when he pulled away, she had to lean against him for how dizzy she felt, for how intensely her blood pounded through her veins.

  “I think this definitely qualifies as a heart condition,” she said softly.

  David pressed a kiss against her temple. “Want to get out of here?”

  Avery looked up. “You don’t have to work?”

  He shook his head. “I only came in for a meeting with the hospital board.”

  “Which is why you’re so dressed up,” Avery said.

  He nodded. “There’s a new initiative they want to implement in the ER to improve response time and overall patient care. They’ve asked if I’ll head it up.”

  Avery smiled. “That’s amazing.”

  “It comes with a little bit of a pay raise, so I’ll take it. Though at first it will mean less time with patients, and I don’t love that. Hopefully that will just be temporary. It was Dr. Stevenson who recommended me for the job,” David said. “I didn’t expect it at all.”

  Avery thought back to her conversation with Tucker when she’d threatened to go public with his raunchy behavior. Was it possible her threat had something to do with David getting a promotion at work? Maybe. But she’d never say as much out loud.

  “Let’s go celebrate,” Avery said. “I’ve got a gift card to the Darling Oyster bar that I still haven’t used.”

  David threaded his fingers through hers and led her out of the ER. “Oysters, huh?” They stepped into the parking lot and he turned, pulling her into him and wrapping his arms around the small of her back.

  “They do say oysters are an aphrodisiac,” Avery said with a knowing grin. She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed David with all the longing she possessed.

  “Actually,” David said, breaking the kiss, “that’s a myth. There’s not anything in oysters that would make someone more inclined to romance. Research indicates it might be the slurping motion of eating raw oysters that turns people . . .” His words trailed off and he cleared his throat. “I should stop talking and just kiss you again, shouldn’t I?”

  “Yep,” Avery said, her tone matter of fact. “That’d be good.”

  And it was good.

  That time, and the next, and every time after.

  Epilogue

  Avery stopped at the end of the wooden walkway that led to the beach behind her house and took off her shoes before stepping onto the sand. She didn’t see David, but she’d find him soon enough. They often met out on the beach after work, and his text had told her he’d be there. The sun had long set, but the moon and stars were bright enough overhead, it was easy to find her way without a flashlight.

  Someone had built a fire in the distance, and Avery could see groups of people gathered around the dancing flames. The closer she got, the more she thought she recognized someone standing around the fire. But it didn’t make sense. The person she thought she recognized was her brother. And she’d know if he was in town. Another few feet closer, and someone broke from the group and ran toward her. A very tiny someone.

  Seconds later, her three-year-old nephew jumped into her arms. “Aunt Avery!” he said, burying his head into her shoulder.

  “Charlie! What are you doing here?”

  “I came wif Mommy and Daddy,” he said. “And Gwa-ma and Gwan-pa.”

  Avery looked back to the bonfire. “They’re all with you? Right now?” She lowered Charlie back to the ground.

  “Hmm-mmm.” He tugged on her hand. “Come on.”

  Avery let her nephew lead her to the bonfire, immediately seeing her brother standing off from the rest of the group, watching their approach.

  “Daddy, I found her,” Charlie said.

  “Good job, man,” Shawn said. “I knew you could do it.”

  Avery gave her brother a hug. “What are you doing here?” she said. “It’s so good to see you.”

  “Come on. Everyone’s here.”

  Shawn really had meant everyone. Shawn. His wife, Ellie. Charlie. Mom. Dad. Melba. Shelley. Avery’s boss, Nancy. Avery’s two best friends from high school. Her college roommate. Lucy and John. Even Haley from the ER was there. The only person missing was David.

  Avery made her way around the group, greeting the people she hadn’t seen in a while, growing more and more puzzled when no one would answer why they were all gathered together, or where her boyfriend was. She spoke to Melba last. “You know what’s going on here, don’t you?”

  Melba only grinned. “Of course I do. We all do.”

  “Is anyone going to tell me?” Avery wasn’t exactly frustrated, but she hated being the only one in the dark.

  Melba motioned over Avery’s shoulder. “I’m guessing he might.”

  Avery turned around, finally seeing David as he approached the group. He wore dark jeans and a white t-shirt, a button-down shirt over top, untucked and open at the front. It was a relaxed look that suited him.

  When they’d officially started dating six months before, it ha
dn’t taken long for Avery to realize she was desperately in love with David. She would have claimed early on that it was impossible for her to ever love him more. But every day, their love seemed to grow, eclipsing anything she’d ever experienced before.

  David stopped in front of her, a smile on his face. “Hi,” he said, before leaning in for a kiss. “I hope you don’t mind that I invited a few people over.”

  “How did you find my college roommate?” Avery asked. “This is crazy.”

  “That took some work,” David said, “though it wasn’t quite as tough as fresh hushpuppies from the Darling at eight in the morning.”

  Avery shook her head. David still hadn’t told her how he’d managed that one.

  “I don’t understand,” Avery said. “What is everyone doing here?”

  “You know I’m not very good at getting my words out. Not when I’m nervous.”

  “I know,” Avery said. “You know I don’t care about that.”

  “I know. But tonight, I wanted you to be surrounded by perfect words. No . . .” he swallowed and closed his eyes for a moment before starting again. His hands trembled slightly and Avery squeezed encouragement into his fingers. She was pretty sure where this was going, and knowing David like she did, he needed all the encouragement he could get. “No hesitations,” he said. “No false starts. Just all the reasons why everyone loves you. So I asked for some help.”

  David dropped her hands and turned her around so she faced her family and friends, his hands resting lightly on her shoulders.

  One by one, everyone in the group stepped forward, saying a few things that they loved about Avery. Her mom told a story about when she was a little girl and guarded a nest of sea turtle eggs night and day for a solid week; her dad said that he’d never known anyone to live with as much passion and find as much joy in the ordinary things as Avery; Charlie stated that no one on the whole planet gave better hugs.

  By the time it was Melba’s turn, Avery was already in tears. She sniffed. “Oh man, now I’m really going to fall apart.”