A Broken Fate (The Beautiful Fate Series book 2) (30 page)

“Oh, well I was worried about you.”

Ari ran his thumb across my cheek. “Ava, I was at my parent’s house next door. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“You
’re right,” I said and put my arms around his neck. I took one big, painful breath so I could inhale his sweet, wonderful, comforting scent.

“Listen Ava,” Ari said in to my ear, “she feels really bad about how she
’s been acting and she wants to get together with you tomorrow.”

“I don
’t know, Ari,” I said as I bit down on my bottom lip. “Will you come with us?”

“I can
’t. I have to go to work tomorrow.”

“Are you serious? It
’s the day after Christmas.”

He laughed at me.

“Margaux doesn’t view the day after Christmas as a holiday.”

“Well, I
’ll only go with your mom if I can bring Julia or something.”

“Ava, are you for real? You want to spend the day with my mom
and
Julia?”

“No, I don
’t want to spend the day with either of them, but if I have to do something with your mom, I want to have backup.”

“Ava, you are being ridiculous. I think your meds are still messing with you.”

“They aren’t,” I said holding my side in pain as I got up off the couch and walked down the steps to see if Julia was still awake. I knocked on their bedroom door and Rory yanked it open wearing just his boxers. I shielded my eyes.

“Where
’s Julia?” I asked.

Rory pushed the door all the way open and I nearly flipped. Their room was a complete mess. Julia was lying on the bed reading a magazine.

“Hey,” she said smiling up at me.

“Um, hey,” I said, “sorry to bother you, but umm… what are you doing tomorrow? Would you please hang out with Aggie and me? I need a buffer.”

“Of course, what do you want to do?” she asked, tossing the magazine aside.

“Uh, well I feel like getting a tattoo, so we had better do something you want to do.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like fun to me. I have to return some things at a few shops in town, and then we can grab lunch or something.”

“Sure, that
’s fine. See ya tomorrow,” I said, then closed the door and turned around; I nearly walked right into Ari, who was quietly standing behind me.

“Another tattoo?” He asked raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know. I was thinking about it.”

We walked upstairs and down the hall to our room and Ari arranged my gaggle of pillows. Then he handed me my meds. I situated myself and took my last pill for the day. Ari gently wrapped himself around me and put his head on my pillow.

“So what are you going to get?” he asked.

“Hmm?”

“Tattoo?”

I looked down at my arm and traced the wing of a bird on my half-sleeve.

“I don’t know, why?”

“Just wondering.”

“Would you ever get one? A tattoo?” I asked.

“Not unless I needed to,”
he answered then kissed me goodnight.

Chapter 25

Hide and Seek

Ari kissed me goodbye early the next morning before he left for work. I had my head buried in the blankets and he had to dig through them to find me. I grabbed his shirt collar and gave him one last kiss.

“I put your meds on the nightstand,” he told me, “and you should take them and then try to go back to sleep for a little while.”

I pulled all the blankets off and looked at my phone. Eight o’clock already.

“I can
’t. I have to get some work done before I go out with your mom.”

“Ok, but take it easy, Ava, and call me if you need anything.”

“K, I love you,” I said and he closed the door and left for work.

I got ready and then walked down the steps to Julia
’s room. I called from outside the door, afraid of what Rory might or might not be wearing or not wearing.

“Julia, I
’ll be in the study...just come and get me whenever you’re ready.”

I didn
’t wait for her response, just walked back upstairs and sought refuge in my study for a few hours. I worked on a project for Andy, phoned Juan at Pacific Rehab to notify him about Ari’s donation, then opened my mother’s journal to the page I had been working on last.

Julia saved me from a growing pile of post-its a couple of hours later and sat down across the desk from me.

“Nothing more?” she asked.

“Just a few things here and there, but nothing coherent,” I said, looking up at her.

“That’s cute,” she said, nodding at the bracelet Margaux had given me.

I half glanced at it.

“It’s weird.”

“Well, are you ready?”

“I guess,” I said and peeled myself up out of my seat. Julia grabbed the items she had to return and I slipped on some shoes. We walked out the front door and across the lawn to Aggie’s. We walked in through her front door, a first for me, I think, and there in the foyer sat Max. He was crying and his eyes were red and puffy. I scooped him up in my arms.

“Max, what
’s the matter?” I asked, holding him to me as best as I could with my still very sore ribs. He couldn’t answer me. He was crying so hard that he was forgetting to breathe. I carried him into the living room and sat him down on my lap. I wiped all the tears off his face and rocked him for a minute while he calmed down.

“Ok, Max, what happened?” I asked again.

“Aggie scared me,” he said and started to cry a little bit again. Aggie came in through the kitchen and I looked up at her.

“What
’s going on?” I asked in as civil a voice as I could manage.

“Oh,” she said waving her hand as if she were brushing Max off, “we were playing hide and seek and I guess I startled him.”

“Oh…okay.” I rocked Max back and forth a few more times.

“Julia is coming with us today; I hope you don
’t mind.”

Aggie pursed her lips when she saw Julia walk into the living room, but she didn
’t say anything.

“Well…. are you ready to go?” I asked her.

“Sure!” she smiled. “Let me just grab my keys.”

We rode with Aggie to town. I sat in the tiny backseat with Max and read him a book that I found under the seat and he bounced back to normal after a few minutes. We spent the late morning wandering through Aggie
’s favorite stores and for the most part, she seemed back to her normal self. She was personable and loving and seemed to have moved on from whatever had been bugging her.

We went for a quick lunch at Aggie
’s favorite restaurant. I was thankful to be able to sit. My side ached and Max kept holding his arms out to me, wanting to be held. I could tell he was getting tired. We sat at a table that looked out over the ocean and Max climbed out of his chair onto my lap. He put his little head on my shoulder and his hand on my cheek and fell asleep. Max was a sound sleeper and his body was still having issues adjusting with the time difference between Dana Point and Greece.

While Max slept, Julia babbled on with Aggie. They gossiped about actors breaking up and some Hollywood starlet
’s dramatic weight loss. I was incredibly glad that Julia had agreed to tag along. She was the perfect person to have as backup – she and Aggie always got along; in fact, she was much more like Aggie than I ever would be. Or so I thought.

Julia started to talk about New Year
’s Eve and how she and Rory were planning to go on a trip to some B&B a few towns south of Dana Point.

“I don
’t care about the breakfast; I just can’t wait to do what I have planned in the bed,” she said with a little grin. I didn’t think anything of the comment. It was mild coming from Julia, but Aggie’s jaw hit the floor.

“That
’s not an appropriate thing to say in front of Max, Julia, and you are in a public place here.”

Julia shot me a “what-was-that-about?” look and I gave her a confused grimace in return. Aggie normally thrives on girly conversations like that. I thought that maybe having Max around had toned her flirty behavior down a touch. But Max was clearly sound asleep and wouldn
’t have understood what Julia meant even if he had been awake.

“Sorry, Aggie,” Julia said, trying her best to look sincere.

Aggie ignored the apology.

“What do you girls say we walk next door after this and get a pedicure?”

I looked down at Max sleeping on top of me and then back at Aggie; she couldn’t be serious.

“What about Max, Aggie?”

“Oh, Ava, he’ll sleep like that for hours. I’m sure you’ll be fine holding him.”

I bit my tongue and smiled. I didn
’t want to get back on Aggie’s bad side, but Max weighed nearly thirty pounds and his body was pressed up right against my ribs.

I carried him next door to the salon after lunch and sat in a chair to have my toes painted. I shifted him to my other side, which gave me a little relief, but still my ribs screamed out in pain, while Aggie and Julia carried on an animated conversation about their nail polish color choices.

I asked for the girl who almost always painted my toes – we had developed a nice relationship over the past year and she worked quickly and efficiently, keeping small talk out of the process. She grabbed my standard color and started right away.

I was done before Aggie and Julia so I got up and readjusted Max. I paid for all three of us so I could get the two of them out the door more quickly and announced that I was going to put Max in the car seat.

By the time I got to the car, I was nearly in tears. I managed to maneuver a still-sleeping Max into his seat and buckle him in, then climbed into the car myself. I took a few careful breaths of relief and dug out my cell phone from my purse, causing half of my purses’ contents to spill out on the floor of the car. I hastily shoved my belongings back in to my bag. I called Ari’s cell, but he did not answer. I toyed with the phone for a moment then broke down and called his office, but the call went straight to his voicemail. I opted out of voicemail and got his assistant.

“Thank you for calling
baio
! You have reached the office of Ari Alexander, Fauna speaking. How may I assist you today?”

“Hi Fauna, this is Ava. Is Ari busy?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Mrs. Alexander. He’s tied up in a meeting with Ms. Baio. They’ll probably be a few more hours. Is there something I can assist you with?”

Yeah, you can put Ari on the phone, I answered impolitely in my mind.

“No,” I said. “Just tell him to call me, please.”

“Okay, Ava, sure thing, buh-bye!”

I put my head against the car seat and closed my eyes. Aggie and Julia got in the car a few minutes later and we finally drove home.

Aggie pulled up in front of m
y house to let Julia and me out, “that was so much fun girls --thanks a bunch for such a relaxing day!” Aggie said, all smiles.

“Sure, Aggie. See you later,” I said, trying to get out of the car.

“Oh, Ava,” she called, stopping me, “could you watch Max tomorrow for me? I have an appointment.”

“Sure, Aggie; I
’d love to.”

“Okay. Why don
’t you come to my house and watch him so he doesn’t have to lug his new toys over to your place.”

“Yeah, okay, Aggie, great. I
’ll see you tomorrow.”

I climbed out of the car and softly shut the door behind me so I wouldn
’t wake Max.

Julia walked with me to the front door.

“Do you think she was acting strange?” I asked, digging in my bag for the house keys.

Julia shook her head.

“No, not at all,” she said and tried door handle before I found my keys. Surprisingly, it pushed open with ease; I must have forgotten to lock the door.

“Hmm...okay, well, I guess I
’m just losing it.”

“Yeah, Ava, go soft on Aggie. She feels really bad about how she
’s been acting. She almost started to cry after you left to put Max in the car. All she could talk about was how awful she feels for treating you unkindly. She said she can’t even sleep at night because of it.”

“She sure does have some crazy mood swings going on.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Julia said and turned towards her bedroom with her bags in hand.

I tried to work in the study and finish up on some lose ends
but my side ached too much to do anything else but rest. I took my pain meds and curled up in bed, on Ari’s side because the sheets and pillows smelled like him. I fell asleep in a matter of seconds.

****

I woke up in a very dark room. My eyes were soggy with tears and Ari’s pillow was soaked. I grabbed my cell phone off the nightstand and saw that I had missed three calls from Ari and one from Margaux. I started to panic. It was ten o’clock at night and Ari should have been home hours ago. I called him back and could hear his phone ringing in both of my ears, and it was getting louder by the second.

Our bedroom door opened and Ari walked in holding his ringing phone.

“Oh, my God,” I said, closing my eyes as relief washed over me. I was shaky and I didn’t know why. I couldn’t remember what I was dreaming but apparently the dream had gotten the better of me.

“Hey, are you alright?” Ari asked and took a seat next to me.

“Where were you?” I asked.

“I was watching a movie with Collin in the living room. I didn
’t want to wake you; my mom said that Max wore you out today.”

“Were you alone with Margaux today?” I asked.

“Yeah, but only for a little bit,” he rubbed the stubble on his cheeks.

“Ari, I don
’t feel comfortable with you working for her right now. I just keep getting this really uneasy feeling that she could use you to get to me.”

“Ava, don
’t worry about that. She is perfectly fine. She is always professional and all she did was walk in my office for five minutes to talk.”

“Fauna said you were in a meeting with Margaux for hours.”

“I was in a meeting with her...and the whole rest of her staff. Ava, you know, it’s probably better that I am there, so I can keep an eye on her.”

“She called me tonight.”

“Yeah. She said she needed to talk to you about something.”

“Do you know what?”

“She wouldn’t say. Try calling her back to see what she wants.”

I looked at him as if he had gone crazy. I didn
’t think his idea was a great one.

“Ava, it
’s just a phone call.” He kissed my forehead, stood up and left the room.

I took a few quick breaths and called Margaux.

“Ava?” she answered.

“Um, yes, Margaux. I saw you called.”

“Yes, did you get your gifts?”

“Oh, uh huh...Thank you.”
I guess.

She paused for a moment.

“Did you get the message?”

“What message? No, I only saw that you called. You didn
’t leave a message.”

“Ava, you don
’t understand – I need to talk to you.”

“So talk.”

I could hear a lot of noise in the background, voices and the clinking of glasses, as though she may have been at a party or out to dinner.

“Can you call me tomorrow at work?”

“Bye, Margaux,” I said as I hung up; I wanted no part of her little game. Margaux had gone over the deep end and she was trying to take me down with her. I couldn’t let that happen.

I shook my head, trying to keep back the emotions I could feel bubbling up inside me. I took a few minutes to gain some composure and then got up to find Ari.

He was stretched out on the couch and Collin was sitting in the chair. They were watching a movie, just as he had said.

“Everything okay?” he asked, making room for me to sit down.

I nodded and took a seat to wait for a chance to talk with him. Eventually the movie ended, but Ari and Collin talked for almost twenty minutes about the movie and then for a few more minutes about the sequel. He finally stood up and Collin left to go out back.