She shook her head, her eyes filling with tears again. “I can’t believe Ethan. He never said a thing, even when he saw how miserable I was.”
“Ava, please, I didn’t want to make things weird between you two.”
She glared at me. “You should have fought for me. It was between you and me, not my brother.”
The silence that followed was suffocating.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
With a huff, she scrambled out of bed and took off. After a beat, I went after her. “Ava, come on, let's talk this out.”
She sent me a withering look over her shoulder as she marched to the staircase. I followed her to the guest room, where she still had her things. When she aimed for her suitcase, panic clawed its way up my chest.
“What are you doing?”
“Leaving,” she snapped. “I might as well head back to Springfield a day early and kill my meddling brother.”
“Ava, come on...” As she threw things into her luggage, I scooped them back out. “Be reasonable. You’re overreacting.” She had a hot temper at times, which I typically found stimulating. But this was too much.
I realized I’d put my foot in my mouth when she stopped and turned to me with the scariest calm expression. “Bereasonable?Overreacting?I found out that my brother went behind my back and inserted himself intomyrelationship. I cried for months after you broke up with me, and that asshole pretended not to know why I’d sunk into depression. Andyou?—”
I swallowed hard.
“Instead of telling my brother to get lost, you decided that you knew what was best for me as if I weren’t an adult with a mind of my own. You both did!”
“You said you forgave me, Ava. We’re supposed to be over?—”
“I did forgive you.” Her mouth tightened into a line of disapproval. “When I thought you were young and stupid, and made a mistake like you said.ThatI could understand. You were twenty-one and in college, going after your dream. Maybe you realized that you weren’t really in love and ended things rather than stringing me along. I forgave that, Lincoln. But you and my brother lied to me for twelve years. I feel like a fool. I feel betrayed by two people I trusted. If I amoverreacting, I’m entitled!”
Ava was typically calm. That high-pitched voice told me that if I uttered another word about the subject, she’d lose it.
I nodded. “Just… don’t leave. I’ll leave you alone.” Although each step I took out of her room was reluctant and painful, I left to give her time.
29
AVA
The hum of the room was familiar. Keyboards clacked, phones rang, and people whispered among themselves. However, it all felt distant. I sat in my cubicle, staring blankly at my computer screen. I was supposed to be wrapping up the final edits of Jaden’s feature, but the blinking cursor mocked my inability to focus.
I tried comforting myself with the knowledge that Allan loved my work. He said it was better than expected… I wasn’t even sure how to feel about his obvious lack of faith in me. Springfield was exactly how I’d left it, but it no longer felt comfortable.
A part of me had gotten used to LA… or rather, I’d gotten to love the people there in a short time. It felt more like hometherenow thanhere,which was crazy. My entire life was here.
I sighed. The soft flutter reached my neighbor. I immediately heard the soft hum of wheels on the carpet. As expected, Melody’s head popped around the partition between us.
“You know I can’t ignore the sound of a heavy sigh,” she said.
“I know. It’s like a bat signal for you.”
We laughed like we always did at each other’s jokes. I gazed at her smiling face, which I’d been looking at since high school.See? Springfield was supposed to be home. My family was here, my best friend, my job, my apartment…
But no Lincoln. That was the problem.
“You okay, hon?” Melody asked.
I stuck out my lower lip and shook my head no. I replayed every moment of my last day in LA. The tension, the way Lincoln moved around me as if he didn’t know whether he was allowed to touch me. The way I’d packed my bag in silence.
I’d stayed at his place as he suggested. Getting a hotel for one more night was inconvenient. Although the air between us had been uneasy, Lincoln still took care of me. He didn’t push, didn’t try to apologize again. He gave me space, bought me coffee, cooked me dinner, and drove me to the airport.
