There was panic in her voice. Fear. I wished I could rewind back three years and make better choices about how it all ended, about the state I’d let myself get into afterwards. I’d fallen apart without the tacky glue that Cassie had used to somehow keep me together.
“No. Jesus, Ava, no. I did see her on Wednesday though. She was at the function we had to attend.”
“What level of emotional blackmail did she apply?”
I managed to chuckle.
“None. Georgia saved me.”
“The new partner with the little girl?”
I nodded. “Yeah, Georgia.”
Ava folded her arms. Amelie dropped a coffee off for me, not even having asked what I wanted to drink.
“‘Yeah, Georgia’? That sounds like there’s more to it. Mum said she’s really pretty.”
I gave another nod and looked away. “How are your wedding plans?”
“That was a bad dodge, Joseph. Tell me more about Georgia.”
“She’s about the same age as me. Has a four-year-old daughter. She has a…”
“That’s not what I was asking. I know all this already. Tell me about you and her.”
“There is no me and her.”
Ava tipped her head back and laughed. “I won’t tell anyone. You know I can keep a secret.”
I knew this and more. As the youngest, all of our siblings thought they had the right to know everything about Ava’s life and tell her exactly what to do. They’d calmed down, mainly because she just outright ignored them and did exactly what she wanted anyway.
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“Disagree. I’ve just watched your face as you’ve said her name twice and you had this dreamy look on your face.”
I remembered the willpower it’d taken not to murder her when she was thirteen and she’d caught me staring at Melissa Powers. I needed that level of willpower now.
“I’m thirty-two. I don’t have a dreamy look.”
“You do. In fact, if you say her name again I’ll take a photo to show you.”
“Don’t even think about it.” I caught her wrist as she reached for her phone.
“Now, now, brother dear. Tell me about Georgia. Mum said you helped her out when her little girl hurt herself.” She left the phone where it was and placed her arms neatly on the table, looking at me as if she was about to start an interview.
I inhaled deeply. I’d confided in my sisters when I was a teenager and when I was in my twenties. They’d been there when Cassie and I had finished, helping me get over the wreck she’d left me in, but the last eighteen months I’d not said as much because there hadn’t been anything to say. I didn’t want a relationship. I’d got my rocks off with two night stands and flings with women I knew wanted nothing more than some arm candy with a brain.
“She’s a single mum and she’s way too good for me. Can we leave it at that?”
Ava shook her head. “I’m just going to unpick that sentence. What does her being a single mum have to do with it?”
“If we dated and it didn’t work out, that would upset her daughter.”
Ava nodded. “But that’s up to Georgia to manage. Not you. Her daughter doesn’t have to know that you’re anything more than friends. About her being too good for you – why do you think that? You’re gorgeous, clever, decent, your sense of humour is okay and sometimes you hold a decent conversation. If Max can get someone like Victoria to marry him, you should be able to sort a few dates with a decent woman.”
“Thanks for that endorsement.”
She gave me a toothy grin that looked more like she was baring her teeth at me. “So I take it you like her because you haven’t denied it yet?”
