Page 31 of A Little Too Late
But Ava just lifts a hand and waves.
“Fuck.” The bartender throws down a towel. “She couldn’t wait ten minutes?”
“I got this,” I say. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t wander into the snow.”
Halley growls, but I don’t stick around to hear what she thinks. I hurry after Ava, who has almost made it to the double doors.
I catch up with her as she is trying unsuccessfully to hit the button on the wall that will open them. “Whereisyour coat?” I ask as she finally nails the button.
“Not sure,” she grunts. “I’ll find it tomorrow.” The doors part, and a blast of cold air greets us. But she steps outside.
Shit. I step out, too. “Ava, hey,” I say, tailing her into the bitter cold and shrugging off my jacket. “At least take my suit jacket. You’re going to freeze to death in that dress.”
“Nope,” she says. “No help from you.” Even as the words leave her mouth, she stumbles, and I have to catch her elbow to stabilize her.
Once she’s steady, she jerks her arm away again. “I’m fine, Reed. Go home. Go back to California where I don’t have to see your face.”
I open my mouth to promise to do that, if only she’ll put the damn jacket on. But she’s not done.
“Just get back on the plane with your minions and your hot clothes and your gym body and—could you please get ugly before you ever come back? Like, really ugly. And with a dad bod.”
I choke back my laughter. “Will do, Ava. I know you don’t really want to see me. But it’s probably a good thing that we finally saw each other again.”
“What? No, it isn’t.” She makes a face, like she’s tasted something bitter. Then she stumbles again, and I catch her forearm one more time. She shakes me off. “How could you say that? Ihateyou.”
Pain slices through me. “I know,” I say carefully. “And I’m sorry. We should probably have this conversation when we’re not drunk. But I’m happy to see you doing well. It’s good to see you smile.”Even if it’s a drunk smile. She’s moving slowly now and rubbing her arms against the cold. So I make an attempt to drape the jacket over her shoulders.
“I smile all the time,” she announces, shrugging the jacket off. I barely catch it before it hits the sidewalk. “I didn’t smile for like three years after you left me. But I’m better now. I’m good.”
“I’m very glad to hear that.”
“I’ll bet,” she mutters.
“No, it’s true. I left you so you could be happy eventually.”
Ava stops walking abruptly. “What? That makes no sense. I’m super drunk right now. And still a hundred percent sure that makes no sense.”
Yikes. Ava deserves this explanation, but she’s probably too drunk to hear it. And I’ve had more lucid moments, too. “You know, we’ll discuss this in the morning.”
“No, we won’t. But just so you know—telling a girl that the reason you abandoned her after she had a miscarriage was so she could be happy? That’s pretty much the definition of cruelty.”
I heave a sigh. “Yeah. I know that now.” At the time, though, I’d thought of myself as a toxic cloud of darkness. Removing myself from Ava’s life felt like the only option. But she doesn’t need to hear me arguing with her. “Okay. You’re right. I’m a monster.”
“You are,” she agrees. “A hot, irritating monster. Your assistant is nice, though. You should give her that raise.”
I bark out a laugh. “Everyone likes Sheila. She’s a great kid.”
Ava’s eyes narrow. “Stop doing that.”
“What?”
“You’re smiling. Don’t. That smile makes me stupid.”
I can’t help it. I laugh, because Ava hasn’t been stupid a day in her life.
“Cut. It.Out!”She gives a full body shiver and snatches my jacket out of my hands. “Give me the jacket. But save the smiles for your girlfriend.”
“Right. Except I don’t have one.” And now the smile falls right off my face. I’ll have to call Harper again tomorrow and apologize. And also, I should just break off our casual arrangement. She deserves better.
