That Weekend...

by Jennifer Mckenzie

  “She is. Just like Claudia.”

  “No.” He pinned his sister with a stare. “She’s not like Claudia.” Ava was nothing like Claudia.

  He waited until his sister nodded. “Okay.”

  She didn’t say anything for the rest of the meal. But Jake knew it was only a matter of time.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  LYDIA DURHAM LAID THE ROAST in the middle of the dining table and took her seat. “This is nice, isn’t it? The whole family together under one roof again for Sunday dinner.”

  Jake didn’t respond that he didn’t see what was so nice about it. His mom looked so happy, smiling at all of them, and her cheerful demeanor wasn’t what was bothering him anyway. He’d been irritable ever since his conversation with Rachel last week.

  Getting a phone call from Hanna to talk about how much she was enjoying the job and in particular her new cohost, one Ava Christensen, didn’t help his mood.

  That Ava had gotten the job wasn’t a surprise to Jake. Hanna had asked him for his opinion when Danica had up and quit on her and he hadn’t hesitated to recommend Ava. She was the best choice, and putting aside his own feelings about her behavior with him in her attempt to get ahead, he knew she’d do a great job.

  But he hadn’t expected that the two of them would become friends. They’d gone out to celebrate the night Hanna had offered her the cohost position and had made a habit of it since. It irked him and in some odd way felt like a betrayal. Like the two of them shouldn’t have gotten along because Hanna was his friend and Ava had done him wrong, which sounded like a bad country-and-western song.

  But he was not mentioning it to his family. Aside from that one night last week with Rachel, he’d managed to avoid talking about Ava entirely, and he wasn’t about to change that now.

  He forced a tight smile for his mother, who was watching him expectantly, and then tucked into the food. She’d made all his favorites—not a zucchini in sight—and she’d be disappointed if he didn’t eat at least two plates. He only needed to keep up appearances for a couple of hours and then he could make his escape.

  He’d driven himself over, since Rachel and Rob had been visiting friends earlier in the day on the opposite side of town, and it was silly for them to come all the way back for him, so he didn’t have to wait for them. Rachel and his mother could sit over coffee for hours gabbing about nothing.

  Dinner was a leisurely affair, lasting longer than Jake had anticipated, but since he didn’t have anywhere to be and no one asked probing questions, he didn’t mind. He even agreed to stay for coffee. He figured another half hour or so and then he could excuse himself. It would make his mother happy.

  They’d shifted into the great room at the back of the house with the two-story fireplace and large sectional couch when he got pinned. Like a bug on a fourth-grade science project.

  His father, seated in a leather chair that faced the arm of the sectional Jake had sunk into, cleared his throat. “We need to talk about Vancouver.” His tone was gruff and brought back childhood memories of getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

  Jake closed his eyes for a half second. He should have excused himself after helping his mother clear the table and made up an excuse to leave before coffee. Maybe not about work, since his father was aware of his projects there, but he could have come up with something.

  But no. Instead, he’d allowed himself to be lulled by the peaceful conversation about opening the family cottage for the summer. And now he was surrounded. He opened his eyes and looked at them. His father directly across from him, Rob and Rachel on his left and the empty space beside them that would be filled by his mother when she returned.

  “What about it?” There was still a chance he could handle this, but only if he went on the offensive. “You planning on filming something there?”

  “No.” His father leaned forward. “We need to talk about whatever’s been eating at you.”

  Jake stared his father down, knowing it was best not to show signs of weakness. “Nothing’s eating at me.” But seriously, he was going to kill his sister.

  Rachel snorted. “When is the last time you were out somewhere that wasn’t for work?”

  Jake turned his attention on her. “I didn’t realize my personal life had become your business.”

  “Well, it is.” She frowned at him. “You aren’t yourself. Haven’t been since you came back.”

  He knew he shouldn’t have told her about Ava. She’d probably blabbed to Mom as soon as he’d gone upstairs.

  “Sweetheart.” His mother stood behind his father’s chair, her hand on his shoulder. “We’re just worried about you.”

  His father’s hand came up to cover his mother’s. A small protective gesture that linked them as a team as clearly as if they’d shown up wearing matching uniforms. “Your mother and I are aware that you aren’t happy.” The gray eyes identical to his own were concerned. “We want to help.”

  “I’m fine,” Jake insisted.

  “You aren’t,” his father insisted back. “Look, I had a chance to see your pilot. It was good—really good.” Jake’s irritation that his father had somehow dug that up was only slightly tempered by the news that he’d liked it. “I want to send it to a friend of mine who works for an airline in Europe. See what he thinks.”

  “No.” Jake shook his head. “That’s in the past. I’m moving forward.”

  “Are you?” Rachel piping in again, her eyes bright behind her glasses. The square red frames gave her a scholarly hipster vibe. “Because that’s not what it sounded like when we talked last week.”

  When she’d blindsided him with her barrage of questions about Ava. He scowled at her. “Yes, I am.”

  “Jake.” Even his mother’s calm tone didn’t soothe him. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about whatever happened there. We don’t want to intrude on your personal life.” Jake couldn’t resist shooting a glance at his sister. He was sure as hell going to repeat that verbatim the next time she tried to butt in. “But I want you to be honest with yourself about what you want. Whatever you choose, we won’t be mad. We just want you to be happy.”

  “Exactly.” His father closed his hand more tightly over his mother’s fingers. The familiar gesture made Jake’s heart ache. He’d thought that he’d find that kind of intimacy for himself one day, but was beginning to believe that maybe he was meant to go through life alone. “And if working at the family company isn’t for you, then it isn’t for you.”

  “It’s fine,” Jake interrupted before they could convince him to try again. He didn’t want to try again. Been there, done that. Got slapped down by the gods of karma. “It’s been a big change and I’m just adjusting, okay?”

  There was a short pause and then his father cleared his throat. “It’s been five weeks.”

  “So give me six.”

  Their eyes met again, held, and his father nodded. “All right. Six weeks. Then we talk.”

  * * *

  AVA WAS FINDING her new career in the spotlight less satisfying than she’d anticipated. And it was all Jake’s fault.

  Hanna had let it slip last week that it had been Jake who suggested she be promoted. That he’d said she was a hard worker with a ton of charm that drew an audience in. Ava had almost snorted out loud.

  Charm, her ass. She’d like to show him where she wanted to stick that charm.

  If that were true, not only would he have given her the cohost job the first t
ime through, he definitely would have hired her to host his travel show. Since he’d done neither, she could only assume that he’d encouraged Hanna out of a sense of guilt. Ava didn’t need his guilt. She could do this on her own. Had done it on her own.

  Though she’d called her mother to tell her the good news, she hadn’t seen her. Barbara, shocker of shockers, had been busy that weekend. Jilly had wanted to take her out Saturday night and celebrate in style, but Ava had convinced her that a quiet dinner was a better option and had been back in her apartment by nine o’clock.

  What was so wrong with wanting a little time to herself anyway? She could lounge in the tub with a book, maybe play some Tori Amos on repeat and slowly wash away the marks that Jake had left. And finally forget about him.

  But she shoved all that aside at the office. There she was the consummate professional. She doubted anyone had any idea about the war her emotions were waging inside.

  She met Hanna for what was becoming a regular lunch date at a small café about a block from the station. It was one of those bright May days that promised summer was coming soon. Vancouverites were out in droves, walking their dogs, riding their bikes and just generally soaking up the sun. Ava lifted her face to the light as they sat at one of the small wrought-iron tables set out on the sidewalk.

  She was halfway through her veggie sandwich—selected for the cream cheese rather than the alfalfa sprouts—when Hanna asked, “Did something happen between you and Jake?”

  So much for her consummate professionalism. Ava choked, as if it wasn’t hard enough to eat those sprouts without being asked invasive questions. She finished coughing and guzzled some water. Hanna watched her, a sympathetic expression on her normally cheerful face.

  “I don’t mean to intrude, but I just thought maybe...”

  “No,” Ava managed to say between swallows of water. “Nothing happened.” Unless she counted dream-smashing. Since her appetite was suddenly gone and she was pretty sure she’d heave if she even tried to bite into the sandwich again, she clutched her water instead.

  “Because I saw your face when I mentioned that he recommended you. You were surprised.”

  “No,” Ava lied. “I don’t remember that.”

  “We were having drinks at that bar on Thursday after work. Almost as soon as I said it, you left.”

  Yes, because when the surprise had worn off, she’d realized she was furious. She’d been so proud of her accomplishment, of achieving cohost status on her own. Take that, Mr. Big-Shot Producer. And then he’d gone and taken that away from her.

  “I had things to do.”

  “And you canceled on Saturday night.”

  “I wasn’t feeling well.”

  Hanna eyed her steadily. “You seem fine now.”

  “It was a twenty-four-hour cold.” Ava noticed that she’d shredded most of the label off her water bottle.

  “And when I talked to Jake on the weekend, he acted funny, too.”

  Funny? Funny how? Funny like he’d realized he was a horse’s ass? Or funny like he was so unmoved by what had happened that he was cracking jokes? Ava couldn’t bring herself to ask.

  Fortunately, Hanna answered. “It was sort of odd, actually. Like he was jealous.” She nibbled at her ham-and-cheese croissant, leaving perfect little bite marks.

  “Jealous of what?” The question popped out before Ava remembered that she no longer cared about Jake and wasn’t going to waste any more of her brain power thinking about him. Her face flamed and she wondered if she could blame it on her skin being exposed to the sun for the first time in months.

  “I think that we were hanging out.” Hanna shook her head. “Like I said, it was weird. Anyway, coupled with your reaction, I just thought maybe something had happened.”

  Ava forced a cheery smile. “No.” Nothing to see here. Don’t pay attention to the man behind the curtain.

  “Too bad. Jake is a great guy.”

  Ava went back to shredding her label.

  Hanna kept talking. “He was really happy when he first moved here.” Ava steeled her heart, which tried to soften. Treacherous, weak thing. “I was pretty surprised when he decided to go back to Toronto.”

  “Guess things just didn’t work out.”

  “No, I guess not.” Hanna shook her head as though shooing the thought away. “Anyway, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that he didn’t meet someone. Not after what happened in Toronto.”

  Ava couldn’t prevent her heart from speeding up. “Oh?” She wasn’t being nosy; she was merely showing interest in Hanna’s conversation. It was only polite.

  “Yeah, it was pretty ugly. But maybe it’s good for him to go back. Face all that down.”

  Now Ava was dying to know, but she couldn’t ask without indicating that there was more going on between her and Jake than she’d admitted. Bah. She was down to plastic on the bottle.

  Of course, Hanna changed the subject and started talking about the station then, some ideas she had and some changes she’d like to make so that the show stood out a little more from the competition. Ava was still stuck on the ugly something that had involved Jake. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Okay. I have to know. What happened with Jake in Toronto?”

  Hanna couldn’t quite hide her little smile that Ava had broken so easily. “I thought there was nothing going on between you two.”

  “There isn’t. Not anymore.”

  “What happened?”

  “It was ugly here, too.” She told Hanna the PG-rated version. “And then he walked out and I haven’t spoken to him since.”

  But Hanna was more astute than Jilly. That, or Jilly had put her up to this and warned her not to let Ava get away with anything. “That doesn’t sound like enough for you two to never speak to each other again.”

  Ava swallowed the rest of her water and rolled the empty bottle between her palms. A fly buzzed around her sandwich and she swatted it away before continuing. “He said that he thought I’d gotten involved with him to advance my career.” Her face was burning again.

  “He said what?”

  Ava couldn’t meet her eyes. “He said that I used him, implied that I’d traded...sex, for the job.”

  “That idiot,” Hanna said.

  Ava let out the breath she’d been holding. She hadn’t realized that she’d been afraid Hanna would take Jake’s side until now. “I know. It was so insulting I kicked him out.”

  “I’d have kicked his ass.”

  “I thought about it.” Still thought about it, in fact. “After that, he went back home and never made any attempt to contact me, so I returned the favor. That’s it.”

  Hanna took another bite of her sandwich, chewed thoughtfully. “I don’t want to make excuses for him.”

  Ava held up a hand. “Please don’t.”

  “But,” Hanna continued, “did he ever tell you about Claudia?”

  “No, he didn’t.” Who was Claudia? Some long-lost love he’d left behind and had now run back to? The part of the sandwich Ava had eaten rose up her throat.

  “She is not a nice person.” Which made Ava feel a little better or at least able to keep her meal down. “Ambitious, driven, but cutthroat about it. She wouldn’t think twice about backstabbing someone to get ahead. She dated Jake for a while.”

  Ava began to shred the lettuce from her sandwich.

  “He wouldn’t tell me exactly what happened, but I got the impression that she was up for a big job at Jake�
�s station.”

  “Which he gave her, no doubt.” When he wouldn’t even consider Ava.

  “No. Actually, he hired someone else, and when she found out, she started dating someone at a different station. That guy did promote her and that’s when she broke it off with Jake.”

  “Oh.” Ava began working on making a pile of bread and sprouts.

  “That might have something to do with what he said to you.”

  Ava shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. He’s still a jerk.”

  “Completely. And I plan to tell him that the next time he calls. Come on.” Hanna stood up, waited for Ava to join her. “I’m treating you to ice cream.”

  But the ice cream, though delicious, did nothing to ease the pain in her heart.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “YOU’RE FIRED.”

  “Excuse me?” Jake looked up from the file folder sitting on his lap. He’d only just settled down in the chair across from his father’s desk intending to discuss a project he’d like to head and some concerns he had with it.

  “You’re fired.”

  For a fraction of a moment, his old insecurities swelled, whispering in his ear that he’d known this would all come to an end, that he really wasn’t good enough to carry the family name. Then he spotted the smile on his father’s face and they slithered away. “Since when are you Donald Trump? Since you had to get a rug?”

  “This is all natural.” His father tugged on his silver hair to prove it. “And you’re still fired.”

  Jake considered that. He’d only been at the office for a short time, but he felt confident that he’d done an average job. Actually, better than average. Which meant this was about something else. “Look, I told you last week that I was fine. I even went out the other night.”

  Granted, the date with one of Rachel’s colleagues had been an utter disaster. The woman was a professor of French literature and had not been impressed when Jake joked that his only experience with her area of expertise was watching Les Misérables on Broadway and being elbowed by his date when he fell asleep. Ava would have laughed and told him he deserved it for being so uncultured.