Ava's Prize

by Cari Lynn Webb

“I’m Rick Sawyer, Dan’s dad.” The man was as tall and wide as Dan, but with deep red hair. He gripped Kyle’s hand, looked him in the eye. “Ava is the daughter I never had. I couldn’t miss this.”

  A blush tinged Ava’s cheeks. Her fingers shook before she smoothed her hands over her dress.

  At least Kyle wasn’t the only one uncomfortable. That slowed the tailspin into a slow slide. Enough for Kyle to regain his balance and his words. “You’re Ben’s grandfather and the one that supports Ava’s ideas in the You-Know-What-We-Need game.”

  Rick laughed, the sound booming and infectious. He pointed at Ava. “It’s always wise to remember the ones who stood beside you before you made it big, my girl.”

  “Well, let’s hope she didn’t submit her idea for mood-changing hair dye.” Dan’s smile stalled. He stared at Ava; alarm stretched his words out. “You didn’t submit that idea, right?”

  Ava hugged Rick as if she needed an anchor and frowned at Dan. “Rick, you’ve always been my favorite Sawyer.”

  Kyle would like to be Ava’s anchor. The one she reached for without question. Without reserve. No. What was wrong with him? He hadn’t even decided if he wanted her as a friend. Kyle shifted his weight from one foot to the other to regain his footing. If Ava truly was a finalist, he couldn’t be Ava’s anything. Nothing more than an advisor. That thought churned like sour milk inside him.

  Dan shrugged as if unconcerned about Ava’s allegiance to his dad. “You need someone to keep you grounded. I accepted that role the day you climbed into the passenger seat in my rig.”

  “I love you, too.” Ava blew Dan a kiss and settled her head on Rick’s shoulder.

  Jealousy bit Kyle hard. Unbidden. Unstoppable. As if he wanted Ava’s head on his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his waist, his arms around her. Like they meant something more to each other. As if he wanted that kind of trust.

  Kyle clenched the back of his neck to stop that churn of sour need from creeping up into his throat. He had to get it together. He had to breath and collect himself. Focus on something other than Ava. She couldn’t be his focus. Definitely not a confidante. Because he could never open himself up to someone else. That wasn’t a risk he’d ever take. His family accepted him. That had always been enough.

  Kyle excused himself and tracked down his head judge, Barbra Norris. Barbra had been his freshman professor in his computer engineering program at college and later his mentor. He’d consulted her before he’d signed his contract with Tech Realized, Inc., although he hadn’t taken Barbra’s advice two years ago. She’d cautioned him not to be swayed by the money. Warned him about agreeing to the terms of a second idea, as it’d taken him years to perfect his Medi-Spy. But he’d been full of himself and riding on cloud nine. Yet he hadn’t realized that clouds were no more substantial than his own inflated ego. A mistake he was paying for now.

  He might’ve called Barbra a friend, but he feared that label. He’d never wanted to disappoint her. If she was a friend, there’d be something sharper. Something more lasting about disappointing the woman who was someone he wanted to grow up to be like. Someone with integrity. Principles. Standards.

  He guided Barbra behind the outdoor kitchen for more privacy, praying he was wrong about Ava and the contest. “Is Ava Andrews a finalist?”

  “Ava was slotted in early this morning. The other finalist used an idea that was patented three years ago.” Barbra grimaced, making her opinion on cheaters quite clear. Then she clasped her hands together and her eyes widened with delight. “But it’s wonderful that we have two military veterans as finalists. It’s a publicity windfall for everyone involved.”

  “That’s terrific.” Kyle’s smile cracked his lips like sandpaper. More publicity—not exactly what he’d intended. Barbra expected the contest to continue for years and build into something that aided young inventors across the country. Kyle only expected to aid himself. This one year. This one time.

  Back to his current problem: How had Ava finaled? “I thought you told me there were well over four hundred entries.”

  Barbra tapped a finger against her mouth like a seasoned librarian quieting a noisy kindergarten classroom. That had always been the clue that she was calculating something inside her brilliant mind and interruptions would not be tolerated. Her finger stilled, and her hand lowered. “The exact number was five hundred and thirteen. Seventeen were disqualified immediately for false applications. Of the four hundred and ninety-six, seventy-seven contained copyrighted and patent-pending ideas. That left us four hundred and nineteen solid entries to choose from.”

  Yet Ava Andrews had finished in the top two. The top two. “Do you know what the finalists look like?”

  The contest couldn’t have been about appearances. Ava had qualified on her own merits. She was a paramedic who saved lives and, it seemed, a legitimate inventor. Kyle only saved himself and was willing to pay for someone else’s idea to use as his own. He was everything Ava was not. He couldn’t want her. She’d never want someone as damaged as him.

  “Not until tonight.” Barbra grinned. “The two finalists make quite the pair. The press is going to adore them.”

  Kyle resisted the urge to run his hands over his head and yank on his hair. Part of the contest rules stated that Kyle would work with each finalist to help refine their ideas. To make sure one of those ideas met Tech Realized, Inc.’s terms. To make sure one of those ideas would save him from financial ruin.

  The finalists were supposed to be strangers. It was easier to ignore his conscience with strangers.

  Ava was not quite the stranger he needed her to be. Something inside him knotted at the thought of using Ava’s idea. What if he convinced her to drop out? It wasn’t too late to stop this disaster. They’d slot in a stranger. An unknown.

  Barbra checked the time on her watch and grasped his arm. “Time for the announcements. I’m so glad you convinced me to take part in this.”

  Would Barbra be glad when it all ended? When he was outed as the fraud he pretended not to be? No, he wouldn’t let that happen. There was time to figure something out. Still time to find the right thing and actually do it. He had thirty days to turn in his proposal to Tech Realized, Inc. One month to develop an idea that wasn’t already on the patented list. Miracles happened in less time. He only had to believe. “Let’s find that microphone.”

  Barbra walked beside him toward the small stage set up in the middle of the rooftop. “The next four weeks are going to be exciting.”

  Exciting or excruciating, Kyle couldn’t decide. But there was no way to stop the ball from rolling down that mountain. He just needed to keep two steps ahead of the ball and jump out of its path before it flattened him. Nothing he couldn’t handle.

  Ava was a contestant. He’d keep her at an arm’s-length distance. He’d been with Ava less than a handful of times. She was more stranger than friend. He rolled his shoulders, knocking that tap of his conscience away.

  His gaze landed on Ava in the crowd as if guided there by an invisible hand. That wasn’t good. He had to stop looking for her.

  His gaze shifted to Ava’s mom, smiling and cheerful in her wheelchair. That invisible hand punched him in the gut, stalling his breath. He knew without asking that Ava needed the money from the contest. Ava needed to win for her family, too.

  He had to fulfill his contract for his family and the women at Penny’s Place, who depended on his support to keep the doors open and the heat on in the building.

  Ava must have read the rules and requirements surrounding the contest. She had to click on the “I agree” box to submit her entry. He wasn’t responsible for any confusion. She shouldn’t have entered if she hadn’t understood the expectations. The expectation that her idea belonged to him if she cashed the prize check. She had to win first.

  He cleared his throat, tried to swallow around the sudden dryness. If he hadn’t known better, he’
d have thought he’d choked on his own lies.

  Barbra accepted the wireless microphone from Iris and quieted the crowd. She put her glasses on and read from her prepared notes. Kyle scanned the rooftop that had become standing room only. Surely the crowd violated some sort of city code. When had so many people arrived? Were they all related to the finalists? All family and friends of two people who’d selflessly served their countries?

  Kyle’s head buzzed. He was about to take advantage of a veteran of the United States military. He struggled to remain upright on the stage.

  The contestants were supposed to have been starving college kids. Not two adults with families, friends and expectations. Not upstanding citizens and overall good people. Because Kyle wasn’t a good person.

  His neck strained against his too-tight tie. He wanted to remove his suit jacket, unbutton his collar and inhale a clean breath. He grabbed a glass of ice water from the tray of a passing server.

  He’d double the prize money. Triple the bonus. Money always solved any problem, didn’t it?

  It had to. That buzz shifted into a roar inside his head.

  He needed to call a stop to this fiasco. End it here and now.

  Be a man.

  His sister waved at him from the seating area. She’d linked arms—as was her habit—with another familiar woman. Penny Joyce was the house manager of Penny’s Place. Penny had rescued Iris from the streets after her divorce. She’d moved Iris into her house, gave her food, shelter and solace. Penny had saved his sister. He couldn’t fail the generous woman or the countless women she protected. The pride on the women’s faces lodged in his chest like a blade.

  Barbra finished her welcome and thanked everyone for their patience. She held up an envelope and asked who was ready for the finalists to be announced.

  Excitement hummed through the air around the crowd.

  Kyle clenched the cold glass. A numbness radiated from Kyle’s very core.

  Barbra read the first finalist: Grant O’Neal.

  At least Grant was a stranger. Still, the numbness squeezed into Kyle’s throat.

  Barbra announced the second finalist: Ava Andrews.

  Definitely not a stranger.

  That massive ball flattened Kyle as if he was nothing more than an ant.

  Cheers filled the night air, bouncing off the high-rises crowded around Kyle’s building. Guests jostled each other to offer congratulations to Grant and Ava. Several members of the press demanded Kyle’s attention, cornering him near the makeshift stage.

  Several glasses of water and too many questions later, Iris linked her arm with Kyle’s and leaned into his side. “My feet are about done in these heels. Tell me that we’re about done tonight, too.”

  “I’m ready to call it a night.” Kyle switched directions when someone called out his name. He headed toward the group gathered near the empty dessert bar at the far end of the rooftop.

  “That’s Drew Harrington calling your name.” Iris waved to the tallest man in the group who was also one of her former employers. “Finally, I get to talk to your friends and learn more about them than their first names.”

  He’d promised Iris that he’d introduce her to his new friends. He just hadn’t expected that to ever happen.

  After Drew released Iris from a bear hug and shook Kyle’s hand, the city’s best assistant DA introduced them to Dr. Wyatt Reid and Mia Fiore.

  “Do you mind?” Mia aimed a large, intimidating camera at Iris and him. “The Chronicle contracted me to take pictures of tonight’s event.”

  “The only recent family photographs I have with my brother are from events like these.” Iris edged closer to Kyle and smiled. “Although we managed to avoid the cameras at your mother’s fancy charity event last week, Drew.”

  “I’m jealous that Kyle has such a lovely plus-one for his events,” Drew teased.

  “Drew, you don’t turn on the charm unless you need something.” Iris set her hands on her hips and faced the lawyer who towered over her by a good foot. Ironic she confronted Drew yet cowered from her ex-husband, who’d never accepted his lack of height. “What is it?”

  Drew’s shoulders slumped. Chagrin dampened his voice as if his mother scolded him, not Iris. “My paralegal’s birthday is Monday.”

  Iris stared him down, her foot tapped. Even Kyle shuffled from one foot to the other under his sister’s disappointed look.

  “I might’ve forgotten to make lunch reservations,” Drew rushed on.

  “You forgot, or you have no idea where to take her?” Iris’s foot tapped double-time.

  “Both,” Drew admitted. “But Elena mentioned you guys still take yoga classes together several days a week.”

  His sister had found a workout partner in Drew’s paralegal. Kyle wanted to be surprised. His sister’s circle of friends grew in proportion to every failed job. Kyle had tried to expand his circle after he’d signed his lucrative contract. He’d hosted rooftop parties that were featured in the gossip pages weekly. Then one night he’d discovered he was more alone inside that crush of people on his rooftop than he’d ever been. The gatherings became more about social climbing and attention. And Kyle retreated back into his safe zone and the parties became gossip history. He grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter, certain that the scratch in his throat was from the crisp night breeze, not regret at his lack of friends.

  “Skip lunch,” Iris said. “Elena started a new detox program last week. Get her a gift card from Bits and Bites Pantry. They have the organic juices she likes.”

  “Iris Quinn, you’re the best.” Drew picked her up in another hug.

  “Tell my brother that.” Iris laughed. “He can’t hear it enough.”

  Kyle liked the sound of his sister’s joy. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d made her laugh. But finding a job wasn’t a game. Kyle wasn’t sure he could do enough to make up for the years he hadn’t been there for Iris. There wasn’t a time he could recall growing up that Iris hadn’t been there for him. When his sister had needed him the most, he’d been absent. True she’d shut her family out, but Kyle should’ve tried harder to get in. He shouldn’t have given up on her then. He refused to give up on her now.

  Drew pointed at him. “Your sister is terrific, but you’ve both been holding out.”

  Kyle drew back and sipped his champagne. Drew’s brother was a PI in the city. He’d seen Brad Harrington and his fiancée, Sophie, circulating through the ballroom with Mayor Harrington, Brad and Drew’s mother, last Friday night. What had the Harrington siblings discovered about the Quinns? Kyle crossed his arms over his chest. “Not sure I’m following.”

  Drew glanced at Dan and then grinned at Kyle. “Both Ben and Dan haven’t stopped talking about your game room on steroids.”

  Kyle coughed.

  Drew handed Kyle a napkin. “We’ve all read the newspaper articles about this legendary arcade space that’s supposedly part of your offices. But there haven’t been any photographs published in the paper to verify the stories.”

  Mia lowered her camera and turned toward Kyle. Laughter drifted through her voice. “What they want to know is if they can tag along the next time Ben and Dan get to play at your place.”

  Kyle blinked at his glass as if searching for an answer in the champagne bubbles. Inviting Ben and his family over had been a onetime offer. The contest preparations had been his focus, and now seeing the contestants to the finale would be his priority. If a repeat of that afternoon with Ava and her friends filled him with anticipation, he’d have to get over it. He hadn’t started the contest to expand some unnecessary friendship circle. He’d done it to ensure his family—the only circle he wanted to be a part of—could return home, where they belonged.

  “You don’t have to tag along.” Iris bounced on her heels, appearing to have resolved her earlier foot pain. “We’ll head down there as so
on as Kyle escorts his other guests out. Shouldn’t be much longer.”

  No. He wasn’t heading to his suite with a group of people, as if he intended to throw an after-party at his place. He never held parties at his place. But Drew had lined up three of Iris’s past jobs. He owed him. Surely a gift card to Rustic Grille would be more than fine.

  “Where’s Ava?” Iris asked. “I’m ready to accept her Skee-Ball challenge.”

  Iris grinned wickedly at Kyle, as if daring him to rescind her offer. She’d vowed retribution for Kyle making her do interview speed dating at the Harrington event in the crowded ballroom last week. Clearly, she intended to make him pay now.

  Those champagne bubbles burst inside him. Why wasn’t he putting his foot down, opening his mouth and saying no? Kyle switched out his champagne flute for a glass of water. His sister hadn’t pressed the mute button on his voice. Surely Ava wasn’t the reason for his hesitation. As if he had a crush on a redheaded paramedic and the mention of her rendered him tongue-tied.

  “Ava never mentioned a challenge.” Wyatt scratched his chin and glanced at Mia.

  What had Ava mentioned? Not that Kyle cared. He crunched on a piece of ice to numb his tongue and keep that question from escaping.

  “Ava doesn’t really know about the challenge.” Iris sipped her wine. “She was the high score on Skee-Ball until last week, when I replaced her.”

  “She’ll want another chance to take back the top spot.” Mia laughed. “Ava hates to lose.”

  “Then it’s settled,” Iris said.

  Nothing was settled. Kyle didn’t want a game tournament or friends. He wanted an idea. A proposal for his contract that would keep away his financial doom. Tongue thawed by his worry, he worked his voice free. “It’s been a long night. Maybe everyone would rather head home.”

  The entire group around him grinned like middle school kids invited to the cool kid’s house. Kyle had never been the cool kid.

  Drew said, “We’d love to keep the party going.”

  “Should we tell Grant and his friends?” Iris never waited for Kyle’s reply; instead, she motioned for Grant to come over.