With a grimace, he left the mirror behind. He’d just have to remain quiet so he didn’t give anything away. Hopefully, if Julia noticed anything, Kyle could convince her that it was just a blip.
He unzipped his hoodie and shed it on the chair before he grabbed his laptop. He couldn’t deny how much lighter he felt knowing Ava wasn’t dead.
Her miraculous appearance at the cabin had almost been surreal for him. As he opened his laptop, he found himself wondering if she had been a figment of his imagination.
No, Kyle had seen her, too. Or at least heard her.
He drummed his fingers against the laptop as he waited for the man to return and tell him he’d heard Ava, too. That it wasn’t all his imagination.
With a crinkle of his nose, he kicked himself for not installing spyware on Sebastian’s laptop to make it easier for him to hack it and turn on the webcam to see Ava.
He’d have to install a camera in something and leave it at the cabin on his next visit.
As he vetted options for the device, a knock sounded at the door. Kyle peered in with a frightened glance on his face. “Hey, Mav, so…hey, why don’t you come downstairs with us for a while?”
“Uhh, no,” Alex said with a shake of his head.
Kyle wrinkled his nose, tilting this head awkwardly. “I really think it’s for the best, buddy.”
“We talked about this. It’s not.” Alex tried to read the odd nervous tic the man repeated over and over.
Julia pushed into his bedroom next. “Alex, I really think you need to come downstairs. I’m uncomfortable leaving you alone like this. I understand this is a shock, but you need people right now. Not to sit alone in your room.”
“Julia,” he said, shifting the laptop off his lap, “thing is…I’m used to being alone. You know? It feels normal to me, so…”
“Alex, no,” she said with a shake of her head. “Being alone right now is a bad thing. I know you’re used to it, but you haven’t been without Ava before.”
Alex tried to let his features twist with upset.
“Alex? Are you sick?”
“Huh? No, I just…look, Julia, I need time to grieve. I need to be alone.”
“That’s the last thing you need.”
Without warning, Sierra burst into the room. “What’s going on here?”
“I’m trying to convince Alex that he shouldn’t be alone right now,” Julia said.
Sierra scoffed. “Umm, well, duh. Your wife just died. And you weren’t in the middle of a bitter divorce or anything, so you are too upset to be alone.”
“I’m not,” Alex tried.
Sierra poked a finger at him. “You are. Look, if Ava were like Lydia, I’d get it. But she was nice. So, you’re probably, like, super upset. As upset as I was that time I tried to buy that Gucci bag, only to find out my so-called best friend got it first.”
“Uhhh, yeah, maybe even more upset than that,” Alex said with a bob of his head.
“Exactly,” Sierra said. “Which is how I know you shouldn’t be alone.”
“I’ve already offered to stay up here with him. He won’t be alone,” Kyle tried with a grin.
“That’s even worse.” She held her hands up, acting like a scale. “Alone, with Kyle. Hmmm, yeah equally bad. Both of you, downstairs, now. Don’t make me say it again.”
Alex winced as he shot Kyle a glance. The man shrugged, offering an apologetic glance.
With a sigh, Alex climbed from his chair with a heavy sigh. He didn’t want to have to play the grieving widower when he was ecstatic, but he’d do his best.
As they trailed behind the others on their way downstairs, he leaned closer to Kyle, his voice a whisper. “Hey, you heard Ava on the phone, right?”
