Page 74 of The Charming Checklist
“Ava.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “I can’t do this anymore.”
Her head jerked back like he’d slapped her. “Can’t orwon’t? You want something easy, don’t you? Love isn’t easy all the time. I’m challenging you to give me more, to be more, and you can’t take it. Can you?”
“That’s not true. I don’t mind a challenge. Most of mylifehas been a challenge. Maybe now I want easy. Uncomplicated.”
“And again, you want something that doesn’t exist.”
“Yeah. I’m sure you’re right about that. I’m sorry, but it’s over.”
The tears in her eyes spilled now, running down her pink cheeks, and destroying him.
“Take me home.”
And just like that, Max ruined the only relationship that had ever mattered to him.
Just when Ava thought life had finally started to make sense, she got sucker punched with a sharp bang and explosion. So, Max loved her, but she was too “complicated.” She wanted too much from him, for which she refused to apologize. He apparently both loved and hated her because she’d made chaos out of his utterly controlled world.
The next day, she took time to have a good cry, then pulled herself together and took coffee over to Susannah’s.
“I’ve missed you,” she said, shoving Doodle into Ava’s arms. “But I know you’ve been otherwise occupied with that extremely handsome Max Del Toro.”
Extremely handsome and emotionally constipated. “We’re done.”
“Oh, honey, I’m sorry.”
Ava cuddled Doodle closer, who seem to know something was wrong. He licked her chin. “I’m okay.”
She wasn’t, but she would be, given time. It had been an experiment in a way, a risk daring to fall in love with a man who had such preconceived notions. Had she been able to help herself, she might have chosen not to fall this hard. But in many ways he’d made it easy.
“That’s the spirit! Plenty of fish in the ocean.”
“Sure! Of course!” But Ava didn’t feel much like a cheerleader today. For anyone.
Fake it till you make it.
After Susannah invited her over to the next Almost Dead Poet Society meeting, and Ava promised to be there, she went off to the post office to ship Mom’s artwork. Fortunately, it was covered, as she wouldn’t appreciate the wolfish looks it might draw. Only one man could get away with looking at her that way. Only one man was allowed to give her the sultry, “I want to rip off your clothes right now” look.
Her phone buzzed while she was waiting in line and she answered and said hello to Valerie. “I’m in line at the post office. I’m shipping the vagina print to Mom.”
Oops. The woman standing in front of her turned and gave her a censuring look.
“Sorry,” Ava whispered to the lady and winced.
“Thewhat?” Valerie laughed.
“You heard me. I’m not saying it out loud again.”
“What happened between you and Max?”
“Why? What did he say?”
“Nothing, but he came over last night. He and Cole hung out and there were a whole lot ofFbombs being thrown around. I took a migraine pill and went to bed. I take it you had a fight?”
“We broke up.”
Mrs. Judgy Lady turned to her with a smirk, as if to say that of course the woman who bought vagina paintings and shipped them to her sainted mother couldn’t have lasting relationships. Suddenly Ava was pissed. Really pissed.
“What? Why did you break up?”
