“This coming spring,” Ava said. Her voice slipped, slowing her breath and her steps.
“Then we have to schedule appointments as soon as possible.” Barbra pulled out her cell phone and opened her calendar. “Can you be ready to pitch your idea as soon as next week?”
“I’ve never done that before other than the contest.” Ava had only done mock presentations with Kyle’s marketing team.
“I’ll help with the presentation and get you into the conference rooms with the right people.” Barbra buttered a roll and handed it to Ava. “Selling it will be up to you.”
“I can do this.” Ava accepted the bread and wished she could accept her abilities to succeed as readily.
“Yes, you can.” Barbra sat back and waited for the waiter to set down their meals. Then she added, “You just have to believe.”
That was the very same advice Rick had given her earlier in the coffeehouse. “What else can I do?”
“Call Kyle.” Barbra sliced into her steak. “He can make those presentations in his sleep. He’ll help us, too.”
Ava dropped her roll onto her plate. She had avoided Kyle’s calls the last two days. She owed him a return call. Now she had a reason to phone him. She wanted to ask for his help, not his heart. Although she’d accept his heart, too.
After all, she was in a race to change her future.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“I’VE FULFILLED MY CONTRACT.” Kyle stretched his arms over his head and spoke into his speakerphone. The royalty payments from Tech Realized, Inc. would continue. His family’s lives would remain the same as yesterday. The construction crew could break ground on the family estate in Sonoma. Except a tightness stretched across his chest as if a fist slammed against his ribs. Kyle rolled his shoulders. He should be taking a victory lap. Instead, he slumped into his chair.
The sound of fingers tapping on a keyboard came through the speakerphone, followed by Terri’s voice. “Got your proposal. I’m forwarding everything to the committee now.”
“So, everything is good?” Kyle asked. That fist never pulled back, never relaxed.
“Unless they reject your proposal.” The air over the speakerphone stalled. Terri’s laughter finally filled the silence. “Kidding. I’m certain that won’t happen with one of your ideas.”
Except that proposal wasn’t one of his ideas. That idea belonged to Grant O’Neal, the winner of his contest and the recipient of a one-hundred-thousand-dollar check. An uppercut combination smacked against his chest. Kyle caught his breath and lied, “If that’s all you need from me, I have another meeting to get to.”
“I’ll be in touch if the committee has questions.” Terri clicked off.
Kyle stuffed his phone in his pocket, shoved out of his chair and paced around the empty development lab. The computers were powered off. The printers asleep. The dry-erase board wiped clean. He hadn’t been in the lab in four days. That was the last day the entire contest crew had been together. The stillness in the lab stifled, rather than comforted. He used to prefer the quiet to think and design. Now he wanted the laughter, the debates over lunch options and the bottomless candy bowls inside the room. He wanted the creative energy bouncing around the hallways. He wanted his friends.
Was that his problem? He was lonely. But he’d chosen to be alone. He preferred to live his life this way, didn’t he?
His gaze landed on the laptop. A copy of the proposal he’d submitted to Tech Realized, Inc. was open on the screen, mocking him. He’d taken the easy way out and passed off Grant’s idea as his own. But that had been the plan all along.
He slammed the laptop closed and walked out. What was his problem?
Grant was good with the outcome. Really good, in fact. Grant was sunbathing on a white-sand beach in the Caribbean with a margarita in one hand and sunscreen in the other. Grant had already texted a series of pictures from the pristine beach that morning to let Kyle know what he was missing. Yesterday, Grant had sent a series of photographs from his first-class plane seat to his private bungalow sitting over the ocean. The tagline read, Thanks for making all this possible. #bestvacationever #noregrets
Why, then, wasn’t Kyle good? Why did nothing inside Kyle’s body seem to fit right—as if someone had removed several key bones, letting his spine shift sideways? Kyle had abided by the rules he’d created for his contest. Grant had signed the waivers without hesitation. No questions asked. Grant hadn’t even asked Kyle what would happen to his invention. He’d simply cashed the prize-money check, traded in his jeans for swim trunks and his glasses for a snorkel and mask.
Kyle should have no regrets, either. He’d done nothing wrong. He hadn’t even lied. At least not to the contestants or his friends. The management of Tech Realized, Inc. wanted an original idea. They hardly cared where the idea originated from as long as it wasn’t already patented.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. Kyle latched on to the chance to disrupt his circular thoughts. “Hello, Barbra. I thought we had lunch scheduled next week?”
“We do.” The noise of passing cars disrupted the connection. “Ava and I are on our way over to your place.”
Ava. His heart slammed around his chest. Ava hadn’t returned his calls. He hadn’t seen her since the finale party. He hadn’t held her hand in over two weeks. He missed that the most. She’d pulled away. He had to follow her lead. “What if I’m not home?”
“Kyle Quinn, it is eight o’clock in the morning.” Barbra’s voice took on the parental tone that suggested now wasn’t the time to mess with her. “You’re always home at this time. You’ve never scheduled a meeting before ten in the morning since I’ve known you.”
Except this morning. But that hadn’t been a meeting. More of an email exchange with Terri and a quick phone call to ensure his contract remained in place, along with his future. “I might not be dressed.”
“Get dressed,” Barbra ordered. “We need your help.”
Before he could ask anything more, Barbra hung up.
They wanted his help. Surely assisting Ava and Barbra would right whatever had slipped out of alignment inside him. He’d spend the morning with the women and rediscover his balance. By lunchtime, he expected his world would return to normal. Whatever weighed him down would be nothing more than a minor glitch.
The doorbell for the main entrance downstairs buzzed through the suite. Kyle glanced at his wrinkled T-shirt, jeans and bare feet. Not exactly the put-together look he might’ve chosen for his get-together with Ava. But it was the best he could do. At least he was dressed.
He pressed the button to unlock the doors at the main entrance, opened his suite door and rushed toward his bedroom for shoes.
“You don’t need to change for us.” Barbra’s voice stopped him in his kitchen.
Ava trailed behind Barbra. A quick smile shifted across her face, but disappeared too soon. She hung back as if hesitant to step fully into his space.
Kyle padded back toward the women. “I was getting shoes.”
Barbra waved her hand as if bare feet were his usual attire. “You don’t need shoes in your lab. Besides, cold feet are often reserved for your wedding day. Fortunately for you, this is not that day.”
Cold feet? Wedding day? Why did Barbra sound disappointed, as if she couldn’t imagine Kyle ever getting married? Kyle glanced at Ava.
Ava shrugged and followed Barbra toward the development lab.
Kyle dropped in step beside Ava. “What is she talking about?”
“Sounds like she believes you’ll have cold feet on your wedding day.” Ava bumped her shoulder into him.
He hadn’t translated Barbra’s words wrong. He muttered, “I won’t have cold feet on my wedding day.”
Barbra glanced over her shoulder at him. “Because you don’t ever intend to get married.”
When had this become about him and his as-yet-t
o-be-scheduled marriage? Kyle tugged on his T-shirt to smooth out the wrinkles and the confusion in his voice. “Why are we talking about this?”
Barbra eyed his bare feet. “Because you have cold feet.”
Kyle closed his eyes and pinched the skin between his eyebrows. “Can we rewind and start over?”
“If your feet are that cold, get some shoes.” Barbra pressed the power button on one of the desktop computers. “Ava and I will get started in here.”
Started with what? Planning his wedding? He frowned at Barbra, not appreciating the bridal brain worm she’d seeded in his head. “What exactly are we doing?”
“We’re putting together a pitch and presentation for Ava’s Vital Buddy.” Barbra rolled a second chair toward hers and motioned for Ava to sit. “You’re going to help us once you get over your cold feet.”
Kyle touched Ava’s shoulder. His grip was casual and impersonal, but still the tension inside him released. He wanted to take her hand and pull her into his side. Remind himself not to let her go again. “You’re pitching your invention? When?”
“Soon. Next week. Barbra is lining up the meetings.” Ava’s gaze locked on his. Words waited in the swirl of copper in her green gaze.
Would she stay this time if he asked? Kyle squeezed her shoulder, trying to draw in more of her with that one simple touch. “That’s fantastic.”
“It will be if we get the presentation nailed down.” Barbra peered at him over her glasses, her voice stern. “And to do that, we need to focus.”
“Got it.” Kyle walked to the dry-erase board, picked up the pen and wrote across the board. “Here are the slides we’re going to need for a complete, sellable presentation. We’ll create the pitch from this information.”
Ava stood up and asked, “Can I really do this?”
“You can. Barbra wouldn’t be here if she didn’t believe in you.” Kyle stepped toward her, linked his hands with hers. Nothing felt more right. “I know you can do this, but you have to believe.”
She inhaled and firmed her grip in his hands. “I have to try.”
That was a start. He’d get her to believe before the end of the day. He had to. Already he felt more like himself. Helping Ava seemed like what he’d been meant to do. He tightened his grasp on her hands rather than kiss her. That would happen later. Now he tried to press his confidence into her.
“Let’s sell your invention, Ava.” The enthusiasm in Barbra’s voice paired with her wide smile and her bright gaze.
The morning dashed into the afternoon as if someone pressed fast-forward on the clock. The time for lunch to be delivered exceeded their eating time by only about five minutes. Energy and excitement burst against the white walls in the development lab. The loneliness inside Kyle that had absorbed him for the past few days dissolved. He felt alive and useful again.
Ideas were shuffled, handed out and discarded like cards in a Crazy Eight game. Still, the trio never relented, never gave up.
Barbra pushed away from the desk and rolled her shoulders. “I think we have everything.”
“Except the pitch.” Ava rose and stretched her arms over her head.
“It’s in there.” Kyle pointed at the slides of the presentation filling the computer screen. “We just need to find the right combination of words.”
“You’ll have to create the pitch without me.” Barbra picked up her purse.
“Wait, you can’t leave now.” Ava grabbed Barbra’s arm, her voice rose.
“I have several calls to return to schedule those meetings.” Barbra covered Ava’s hand with hers and smiled. “And I have dinner plans with your mom.”
“My mom?” Ava glanced at Kyle.
He shrugged at her.
“It might surprise you both to learn Karen and I have a lot in common.” Barbra hugged Ava. “Most of which we discovered during our afternoon together here.”
“But I need a pitch.” Ava released her hold on Barbra and her voice dropped away.
“There’s no one better at creating pitches than Kyle.” Barbra stopped in the doorway and turned back. “I’ll stay with your mom until Joann arrives, so you can work as late as you need to. Remember, your pitch has to be spectacular to hook them from that one line. Better yet, make them buy it from that one line.”
“No pressure there,” Ava said.
Barbra laughed and waved her hand at the computer. “This is the easy part. The hard part is standing in that conference room and giving the perfect presentation.”
Ava slumped into her chair and dropped her head back.
Kyle stepped behind Ava and set his hands on her shoulders. “Enjoy your dinner, Barbra. We got this.”
“Most importantly, have fun.” Barbra let her last command hang in the silence and left.
“Fun?” Ava stared at the ceiling, her voice strained. “How are we supposed to have fun with all this pressure?”
Kyle ignored her and listened to the front door shut. “Barbra’s right. Let’s go.”
“Where?” Ava pointed at his bare feet. “You still don’t have shoes on.”
“Trust me.” Kyle held his hand out toward her.
She eyed him for more seconds than he preferred, but finally slipped her hand in his.
He guided her through the suite, into the elevator and up to the rooftop. He released her and turned on the string of soft white lights over the outdoor kitchen area. He left the seating area dark and private. He’d always preferred the rooftop like this. No strangers. No crowds. The roof looked more like a welcome oasis. A private retreat, guarded by the city’s high-rises, standing like sentinels around the building.
Kyle flopped onto one of the couches, stretching his legs across the entire length and adjusting a pillow under his head. He wanted to pull Ava down beside him, but she had to want that, too. She had to decide that for herself.
She sat in the chair beside the couch. “It’s sooooo quiet. I’ve never been up here when it’s been like this.”
Neither had he. At least not in a very long time. He was glad he’d brought Ava up there with him. Everything was better with Ava. He almost groaned at his lack of elegant words.
“I like it.” Ava relaxed into the chair, stared at the sky. “I prefer it a lot more like this.”
He liked her. A lot. Her arm rested on the chair. He had only to reach up and he could link his fingers with hers. He stuffed his hands underneath the pillow. “I used to come up here all the time to think.”
“Why did you stop?” she asked.
He’d only stopped thinking. Instead, he came to the rooftop and counted the lights on in the apartment buildings around him to remind himself he wasn’t alone. Then he’d invited strangers to the rooftop. Again, to not feel alone. He’d never quite figured out how he could feel more alone in a crowd than by himself. “The parties ruined it.”
“Yet you keep having them,” she said.
“The ones for the contest were the only two I’ve hosted this year.” He stared at the night sky and ignored the lights in the apartments around him. He liked sharing this space and the night with Ava. It was easy, comfortable, natural. Less lonely, both on the rooftop and inside his heart, with Ava beside him.
“Your weekend gatherings made the newspaper every Sunday. According to the society pages, this was the place to be on a Saturday night,” she said. “Why did you stop?”
He tipped his head and looked at her. “The truth—I couldn’t breathe with so many strangers around me.”
“Funny, I prefer not to breathe.” She held his gaze, yet her voice was fragile.
“Then you’d have liked my parties,” he said. He’d liked them for a time. Until the evenings became more about business networking and social climbing and less about meaningful interactions.
“Perhaps,” she said. “I liked the past few weeks in the lab with the crew. I
didn’t realize how much I’d miss coming over here. How much I’d miss the break from the real world.”
He’d missed her. Too much. “Why don’t you like to sit and breathe?”
She shifted and stared up at the sky again. Although, from the distance in her voice, he doubted she focused on anything. “If I stop, the past and the present collide. Wounds from a battlefield and wounds from a domestic fight become interchangeable. Both leave me gutted and fighting for air.”
Kyle reached over and linked his fingers with hers. He admired her inner strength and courage and so many other things about her. “Still, you put yourself back out there every night you go to work.”
“It’s my job,” she said. “Anyone would do that.”
“Not anyone.” He wasn’t sure he’d have the guts or the fortitude. He was a little in awe of her. “And you take care of your mom. Not everyone would do that.”
“I feel like I’m not doing enough for her.” Pain and regret echoed through her soft voice.
“I think your mom would disagree.” He knew Karen would argue. The pride Karen had in her daughter was second only to her love for Ava. “She wants you to have more.”
“The more is marriage and a family.” Distaste coated her words. Her grip on his hand never relaxed.
“You don’t want that?” he asked. She had to want that, too. Otherwise he’d have to change her mind and he had no idea how he was supposed to do that. Ava made him consider marriage and children. For the first time ever. He didn’t want to be alone in this new, unchartered territory.
“It’s impossible right now,” Ava said.
But she never said she didn’t want all that. Kyle relaxed back against the pillows. “My grandfather used to say, ‘Lead with your heart and suddenly the impossible becomes possible.’”
“Perhaps we’ll see next week if your grandfather was right,” Ava said.
“You’ve put your heart into the Vital Buddy?” he asked. Before, he’d have claimed her heart was in her family and the people she helped.
“Vital Buddy will give me the chance to follow my heart.” Her voice faded into the breeze. “If I’m successful next week.”
Ava's Prize Page 22
