by Karen Pokras
It was an innocent question, yet if felt so very dangerous to Ava. Despite the response she wanted to give, she shook her head and lied, “No, thank you. We’re meeting friends.”
“Well, maybe another time then.” Reaching into his pocket, Gregory pulled out a postcard and handed it to her. “Shameless promotion, I know, but here’s the information about my exhibit. The opening is in a few weeks. I came early to catch this show. I’m a big fan of Henri’s. Anyway, it was a pleasure to finally meet, and I hope you can make it over to the gallery for the opening.”
“Thank you,” Ava said, her eyes darting from the card back to his face. “I’d love to be there.” This time, she wasn’t lying.
“Great, I look forward to seeing you.” His eyes lingered on her long enough for her to feel her blush return, before he turned toward Ryan and patted him on the back. “I enjoyed our chat, little man. Maybe one day I’ll have a chance to show you some of my paintings.”
“Bye, mista,” Ryan said.
“Good-bye,” he chuckled.
Ava watched as Gregory left the exhibit before she put Ryan down beside her, still clutching his hand. In fact, she didn’t think she’d be letting go of his hand anytime soon.
“You know him, Mama?” Ryan asked.
“I used to, a long time ago.” She was still looking at the doorway Gregory had just walked through. “In another life,” she added with a whisper.
Chapter 14 - Holly
“Are you sure you’re doing okay?”
Holly forced herself to smile even though Ava couldn’t see her on the other side of the telephone. It was an old trick her mother had taught her. No matter what your mood, if you were able to smile, your voice would come across as happy. She’d used it many times over the years, particularly during the time Ben was dating that floozy Michelle Floyd.
“Yes. Ben and I had a long talk this morning. I’m feeling much better now. Oh hey, remember that cabin I was telling you about?”
“The one you guys were going to go to this summer?” Ava asked.
“Mmm hmm. Ben’s boss told him it’s just been sitting up in the mountains empty, and he offered it to us anytime.”
“So when are you going?”
“In a couple of weeks. We’re going to make a long weekend out of it. We really need to get away, just the two of us.”
“It sounds like heaven,” Ava murmured wistfully.
“Well, maybe Max can take some time off, and you guys can spend a weekend up there, too. Like I said, it’s empty, so I’m sure Ben’s boss wouldn’t mind. We’ll watch the kids, of course. You two could use a romantic weekend away, right?” Holly waited, but there was no response. “Ava? Did I lose you?”
“What? No, I’m here.”
“Is everything okay?” she asked, detecting the sound of a sniffle in her sister’s voice. Was it possible she didn’t want to go away for the weekend with Max?
“No, everything’s fine. I think a weekend away sounds lovely. Perfect in fact. Just like things used to be.”
Yes, there it was again. Another sniffle. “Ava, honey, something’s wrong. I can hear it in your voice. Come on, talk to me.”
“No, I’m fine … and you have more than enough on your plate right now.”
“Now you listen to me, Ava Haines Wallis,” Holly said, her voice getting louder with each word, “A: I just got done telling you I feel much better, B: You’re always there for me and Tessa, and you never let us help you, and C: You’re always there for me and Tessa, and you never let us help you. Now tell me what’s wrong. Right now.”
“B and C were the same,” Ava remarked.
“That’s not the point,” Holly told her. “Well, yes, that was the point. Come on. You don’t always have to carry all of your burdens on your own. For once let someone else in.
“Okay,” Ava said. Holly could hear her sigh before she continued. “I lost Ryan at the museum today.”
“What?” Holly shrieked so loud the crystal in her china cabinet rattled. “Oh my God! Why are you so calm right now? Why didn’t you call me?”
“Um … probably because you have a tendency to freak out a little. Everything is fine. We went to go see an exhibit, and he wandered into the next room without me realizing. I only took my eyes off him for a second. At least I think it was just a second. Oh, Hol, I completely lost track of time. To be honest, I don’t know how long my son was lost. I mean, what if I hadn’t found him? What if—”Ava’s sobbing stopped her from finishing her sentence. “I’m a terrible mother,” she finally said when she had calmed down a bit.
“No, you’re not,” Holly assured her, now feeling awful about her outburst. “You’re one of the best mothers I’ve ever known. Scratch that. You are the best mother I’ve ever known. Every time I think about being a mom, you’re the person I think of, the one I want to be exactly like. Don’t beat yourself up. What happened today could have happened to anyone. The important thing is that Ryan is fine. See? This is why a weekend away is exactly what you need.”
“There’s more,” Ava said with a hesitant tone to her voice.
“More?” Holly asked, not sure she was ready for part two of this story, but she had offered to be her sister’s sounding board. Now was not the time for her to back down or overreact.
“Ryan was talking to a man when I found him. He was telling the man about the paintings … about things I had taught him.”
“That’s good, right? I mean, not good that he ran away, but good that he’s so into art.”
“The man was also an artist,” Ava continued, ignoring Holly’s last statement, “someone who was a client when I worked at the gallery on the West Coast.”
“You knew him? That’s random.”
“I’ll say. We’d never met face-to-face. We’d only spoken on the telephone.” Ava explained to her sister the nature of their business dealings, and why they’d never had a chance to meet.
“What a strange coincidence. I have to tell you, Ava, this story is turning out much better than I expected. So, are you going to go to his opening?”
“I don’t know,” Ava said.
“What do you mean, you don’t know? You just got done telling me how disappointed you were that you had worked so hard on setting up this guy’s exhibit only to have to miss it. This sounds like a great opportunity for you to finally get to see his collection all together, even if it is arranged by someone else. You’ll still get the same basic gist, won’t you? Plus, it gets you out of the house without kids, which you really need, if you don’t mind me saying. Are you worried about leaving Jenna alone with the kids?”
“No, Jenna will be fine. It’s me I’m worried about,” Ava responded.
“I don’t understand.”
“Hol, I couldn’t take my eyes off the guy.”
Chapter 15 – Tessa
“Next!” Tessa yelled out as the actress left the stage.
“I’m afraid that’s it, sweetheart. You’ve heard all thirty auditions. Please tell me one of them met your high standards and was good enough to be your leading lady.”
“What?” Pulling off her glasses, she felt completely lost. Thirty auditions? She’d just sat through thirty auditions? She didn’t recall a single one. Her mind was lost on the email from Scott. Shuffling through the pile of headshots and resumes, she paused at the face of a brunette with matching brown eyes looking back at her. Dawn Thewer. Funny, this entire time she’d pictured her lead as a blonde with blue eyes. Dawn’s resume was light with only one real acting job in a small community theater. In actuality, on first glance, everything about this woman seemed wrong, but she didn’t have the energy to sift through the credentials of each actress. She’d deal with her shortcomings once she got on stage. “Her,” Tessa said, pointing to the resume in front of her. “Let her know rehearsals start first thing in the morning.”
“So you were paying attention after all,” Nicholas remarked, looking at Dawn’s headshot. “I have to admit, when you didn’t hire her
on the spot, I was surprised … and nervous. She’ll be thrilled, I’m sure.”
Tessa managed to smile and threw her head back as she watched her husband leave the room. It was a lucky guess, but at least one thing was going right today.
She slid her laptop out of her briefcase and placed it on the table in front of her. Did she dare look again? Maybe she’d imagined the email. After all, she hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep, and she’d had a lot of alcohol to drink last night—more than she’d had in a long time. Plus, despite all of the laughs, the SHOES meeting did get a bit intense at times. As much as she’d tried to avoid it, the topic of Scott’s sudden departure did come up with her sisters, along with the pain that never fully went away. The possibility that her brain was playing tricks on her earlier, especially after the walk down memory lane they’d all taken last night, wasn’t entirely farfetched.
She slowly opened the top to her computer and waited for the piercing beep, signifying her Wi-Fi connection. Reluctantly, she brought her eyes over to her email still open on the screen … hoping … praying, that despite the fact that Nicholas had seen it, the message never really existed.
Unfortunately, no amount of hoping and praying would make that wish come true. There it was, the email from Sophie’s father that she’d read earlier—the first type of any contact from him since her pregnancy. Her heart raced as she read through it one more time.
“What do you think he wants?” Nicholas asked, his words startling her so much, she jumped clear out of her seat, nearly knocking the top of her head into his jaw.
“I don’t know,” she whispered as she sat back down, hand over her racing heart. “But I don’t like it. I don’t trust him, Nicholas.”
“You could always just ignore him, pretend like you never saw his email. Frankly, he deserves it after the way he ignored you and Sophie all these years. Except …”
Tessa turned around to look at her husband. She knew exactly what he was going to say, and he was right. Damn it. “Except then I’d be denying Sophie a chance to meet her biological father. And no, I wasn’t going to say real father,” Tessa said, finishing his sentence. Standing up, she wrapped her arms around Nicholas’ neck. “Lord knows you’ve been more of a real father to Sophie than that bastard ever will be. Thank you for that.”
“I do love that little girl.” He pulled Tessa in tight. “And I’m pretty fond of her mother, too.”
“Fond?”
“Oh, okay, I’m head over heels, hopelessly in love. Better?”
“Much,” she said, managing a smile before sighing. “I still don’t know what to do. I mean, I know I have to tell Sophie I heard from him, but do I let her meet him? What if it’s too much for her?”
“There’s something you’re forgetting here,” Nicholas offered.
“What?”
“Well, there is a chance Sophie may not want to meet her father. If you were seven, would you want to meet the man who deserted you?”
“No, but I never worded it that way to her, not exactly at least. I believe the story I gave was that he wasn’t able live near us, but that I was certain he loved her and thought of her often. I also told her that one day he might come back.” Tessa cringed at the sound of the groan coming from her husband. “I wanted to tell her the truth, but she was so young, I didn’t feel right telling her he was a coward who had no heart or conscience. I figured once she got older, then maybe I could explain it better. I don’t know. Maybe, I’m the one who’s the coward.”
“No, you were trying to protect your daughter.”
“It’s just Sophie always looked so sad when I talked about him, and I wanted to give her something to hold on to. Like you said, I didn’t want her thinking the asshole just up and left her.” She paused to rub her temples. “Of course she’s going to want to see him. She’s been waiting seven years for him to return.”
“I still think you should give her the option before you respond to his email. If you decide to respond that is.”
“Yes.” Tessa nodded. “It’s the right thing to do. But she’s not going to meet him alone. There’s no way in hell that’s happening.”
“Agreed.”
“So we’ll wait for Sophie to get home from school and then talk to her?” Tessa asked, searching her husband’s eyes for reassurance.
“Yes. Don’t worry, sweetheart. Everything will be fine. I won’t let anything happen to either of you. Promise.”
“Okay.” Tessa wished she could honestly believe her husband. “Tell me something, Nicholas,” she asked, looking up at him.
“Anything,” he responded, gazing back with adoring eyes.
“This woman we just hired to be the lead. She was good?”
“Outstanding,” he said with a chuckle.
Chapter 16 – Ava
“So you thought the guy was hot, what’s the big deal? You didn’t throw him down in the middle of the museum and rip his clothes off, did you?” Holly asked, laughing.
“Of course not,” Ava replied. It was just like her sister to make a joke out of something that seriously bothered her. There was a reason she kept most of her problems to herself, and this was a prime example. “It just made me uncomfortable that someone other than … Max?” Did she have her dates mixed up? She watched as his car drove up the driveway. She could have sworn he told her he wasn’t coming home for another few days.
“Other than Max what?” Holly asked. “Ava? Are you still there?”
“I have to run. Max just got home. I’ll talk to you later. I’m glad you’re feeling better. Love you.”
“Love you, too … and don’t beat yourself up. You’re allowed to think another guy is—”
Ava clicked end and tossed her phone on the counter before Holly could finish her sentence, although she knew exactly what she was going to say. For the record, she disagreed. In all her years of marriage, she had never once swooned over another man … well, not one that was standing two feet in front of her. Rock stars, nineteenth century artists, and actors on the big screen didn’t count.
“Hey, Av,” Max said, dropping his airline issued luggage in the middle of the living room. His coat, cap, and suit jacket quickly formed a pile on top of it, all to stay until his dutiful wife unpacked, sorted, laundered, and put everything away.
“Babe.” She gave him a hug and quick peck on his lips before reaching for the cap and coat to hang up. “Are you home early?”
“Yeah. Two of my flights were cancelled at the last minute. Not enough tickets sold, so they consolidated them with other trips. I left you a message this morning. I guess you never got it?”
“Oh,” Ava said, feeling flustered at his unexpected arrival. “No, I haven’t had a chance to check my messages. But … this is great. I’m glad you’re home,” she said, smiling. Of course she was happy. Her husband was home. Where he belonged. She hugged him again and took his hands in her own. “The kids will be so excited. Ryan,” she yelled. “Ryan! Come in the living room. I have a surprise for you!”
Little footsteps scrambled down the hall and stopped suddenly in the doorway to the living room.
“Daddy! You’re home!”
“There’s my little big guy,” Max said, beaming at the sight of Ryan running toward him. Lifting him up, Max twirled him around before squeezing him tight and returning him down to standing. “I sure did miss everyone. So, Ryan,” he started, squatting down to talk to his son, “what have you and Mommy been up to?”
“Oh, we had the funnest adventure this morning, Daddy!”
“Adventure, huh?”
Ava looked nervously from her son to her husband, wondering just what exactly Ryan was about to tell Max.
“Yup, Mommy took me to the museum this morning. We went to a big room where there were lots of paintings.”
“Well,” Max said, smiling, “that sounds like lots of fun.”
“It was. Especially the part where Mommy fell asleep with her eyes open and was dreaming. That’s when I met the man.”
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“What?”
Crap. There was no good way to explain the situation. “I wasn’t sleeping or dreaming, sweetie,” Ava began.
Max stood up, furrowed his brow, and looked at Ava. “So who was the man?” he asked.
“See what happened was,” she started, “we went to see this exhibit that was a one week only show of Julien Henri. Well, you know how much I adore his work, right?” She waited for some sort of acknowledgement from her husband, but he only stood there with his arms crossed over his chest. Taking a deep breath, she continued. “Anyway, the place was pretty much empty, so we sat on the bench in the middle of the room. Just the two of us. I guess I kind of got lost in the pieces, because the next thing I knew, Ryan was in the next room having a discussion about the paintings. My little art lover.”
“You didn’t notice him wandering off?” Max asked with a raised voice and wide eyes.
“No, it’s okay,” Ava assured, rubbing his arm. “See? He’s right here. Everything’s fine.”
“Ryan, why don’t you go back to the playroom? Mommy and I need to catch up for a little bit.”
“Okay, Daddy,” he said before skipping back down the hall.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Ava said, hoping to calm her husband down before things got too out of control, “but he was honestly fine. I found him right away. He just wanted to look at some more paintings. We had a talk about not going anywhere without me.”
“And hopefully about not talking to strangers. I’m guessing that’s where the man comes in?” Max asked, running his hands through his hair.
“Well, that’s the thing. He wasn’t a stranger after all,” she answered.
“I don’t get it.”
“Remember when we were getting ready to move here from California, and I was in the middle of setting up a big exhibit for that artist Gregory Douglas?”
“Sort of.”
That meant no. She couldn’t blame him, though. It was a crazy time in their lives. They were worried about the move back to Forest Hills, worried her pregnancy with Logan was taking too much of a toll on her, worried about finding enough time to properly care for Jenna, and worried the airline was about to make another round of massive cuts.
