In return for Luxe Hotels’ investment in my restaurant,they got a controlling stake and decision-making authority. I did not like the sound of that, but I was in no position to argue. We really needed the investment—even if Luxe Hotels’ major business investments were in extravagant hotels around the world, not restaurants.
“We’re going to meet him and decide if we’ll work together or continue our search for another investor,” Gabi insisted. She had been more in favor of the new investor than I ever was. “I need you to promise me you’ll keep an open mind. Going by how little Ray could invest in the restaurant, he couldn’t keep it running for much longer, Ava.”
Gabriela kept her eyes on me, her gaze watchful. “I know you dream of buying our investor out someday, and it seems like we’re going in the opposite direction. I want to tell you, your dream can still come true. You just need some temporary help from someone else—that’s all.”
“This restaurant might not be standing a month after Luxe Hotels takes over,” I said, voicing my fears at last. “They can convert it into a branch of Olive Garden or tear down our restaurant completely.”
Gabriela was the only person in the world who could see through my complaints. Well, she and Desmond. Back in high school, Desmond had seemed to have the same uncanny ability to do so. I shuddered. He’d caught me lying that I didn’t have knee pain and carried me up three flights of stairs during a trip to a mall. We’d caught a lot of eyes that day, but Desmond hadn’t cared.
Darn. I needed to stop revisiting those memories.
“Give the new investor a chance,” Gabriela said. “For all you know, you might really like the guy.”
5
DESMOND
Igot up from my office chair and took a quick walk around the room, stretching my legs. I stopped by the glass wall, looking down. The car on the road below me swerved in and out of the lanes, most likely to cause an accident soon. I looked away from the window of my office almost immediately. Anyone who’d ever witnessed a car accident could never drive like that. Anyone who had ever witnessed a car accident could never see someone drive recklessly either. I turned back to my desk, taking a few deep breaths and forcing myself to unclench my fists.
You would often see jerks like that driving the roads in New York. That was all it was. A jerk driving high.
I hung my head and sat back down. A jerk driving high who could take away someone’s life in an instant.
I gulped and focused my attention on the monitor in front of me. The unread emails had piled up in my inbox while I ended up reliving memories from a painful past.
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I was clear why these thoughts had come back up in the first place—running into Ava. Seeing her had brought back the memories I’d tried sohard to bury. Memories that lived on anyway, just under my skin, ready to flare to life in an instant.
I forced my shoulders to relax. I needed to forget about her and what she represented—a carefree life that had cost me heavily. I’d spent the morning with the person I was in love with and failed to answer my phone calls, and one of those missed calls was my last chance to speak to my mom. It was the reason Ava and I’d broken up, but even then, she hadn’t known the entire picture.
That Mom had been alive for a few hours in the hospital, asking to speak to me. An opportunity that had been stolen from the two of us because I’d spent those very hours in bed with Ava.
When I found out about Mom’s requests later that day, I was riddled with guilt. When I saw Ava in the waiting room at the hospital, shaking and teary-eyed, I thought,What’s the point in burdening her with my guilt?So, I lied and told her that Mom had passed away instantly in the accident.
And three weeks later, when Mom’s death was still fresh and when every sight of Ava reminded me of my grave mistake, I broke up with her in the most painful way I could. I’d lied and told her that I hadn’t seen a future together anyway. That I’d been planning to break up with her all along when, in fact, I’d been waiting for her to get her college admissions offers to celebrate when we found out if she’d be going to Brown with me. Or to take my second choice or third choice or even my last choice of college, just so long as we could be together.
So, while my fingers tried to reach for my phone, itching to send her a text, I clasped my hands together and breathed deeply for a minute.
When I had dropped Ava off four nights ago, I’d had onevery distinct thought in my head.I’m happy that I met you today, I had thought.I don’t think we will meet again.
Because when I’d left her, I’d still loved her. Deeply.
I broke my own heart when I broke off our relationship, and I didn’t realize it because I couldn’t separate the pain of losing a parent from the pain of losing my girl. When I had come out of the daze eight months later and realized I was still hung up on Ava, she had been dating someone else, and that had been the end of that.
I turned my focus back to the notes my director, Thomas, had sent me. I usually trusted Thomas with his decisions and didn’t interfere in his meetings, but today, I needed a distraction.
Absently, I looked at the notes that he’d sent over. All month long, he’d been raving about a restaurant that his investor buddy Ray had recommended to him. Thomas believed that it would make a great addition to our investment portfolio department, and I’d given him the go-ahead. He should be meeting with the folks now.
A name stood out to me from the paragraphs and sentences that Thomas’s secretary had typed out in neat font under the headingThe Galley.
Ava Hale.
I pulled the paper closer, breathing rapidly as I read the paragraph that contained her name. And then the entire paper before rereading the three-page document.
I set the paper down and leaned back in my chair, letting go of a big breath. We were buying Ava’s mom’s restaurant. How had she not mentioned it when I met her four nights ago? Didn’t she know that I owned Luxe Hotels?
I checked the time of the meeting and my watch before I let out a curse. The meeting was already in process. It had been for the past ten minutes.
I got up and strode out of my office, letting my assistant know that I’d be at a meeting before I jabbed the button of the elevator. Getting in, I rode down to floor five, wondering if I would be in time to see Ava again. When I got out, I walked toward the meeting room. I paused and allowed myself to smile when I heard voices, one of which was very familiar.
