“I will, thanks for the heads-up. I’m heading to the gym first, though, so you guys drive safe.”
Ty came around to shake my hand right before I made my exit.
The gym was empty. Not surprising for a Friday afternoon. Most people weren’t thinking about workouts but rather what they were doing that night. It gave me the run of the place, use of any machine I wanted.
I got in a full workout within ninety minutes, which was unheard of at this place.
The campus was equally deserted as I made my way to my truck. The sky had the look of snow on its way. There was always that feel in the air before a storm. A gloomy gray coldness with an edge to it wrapped around quiet solitude. The animals sensed it. They knew it was coming and were in hiding, preparing.
Very different from humans rushing to the market to stock their refrigerators with food for a few days of being indoors. Utter chaos. I was going to stay away from the food store. Thankfully, I didn’t need anything.
Pulling up to the townhouse, my frog friend greeted me. As I approached him, I decided to move him further under the bushes. He was close to the edge of the walkway, and I didn’t want him getting disturbed by shovels or snow blowers.
Pushing him into the dirt to make him straight, I stood back to take a look.
“What are you doing?”
My head snapped to the sound of the voice behind me. The tiny spitfire was standing with her hand on her hip, looking judgmental as shit.
Standing to my full height, I faced her.
“I’m moving the statue away from the sidewalk. We’re supposed to get snow, and I didn’t want him to get damaged.”
She guffawed. “What is it with you and that thing?” Her key was in the lock, opening the front door before she finished speaking.
“I don’t know,” I said as I stepped up behind her. “He was the first thing I saw on the day I moved in. It was like his smile welcomed me.” The risk of opening up to her suddenly made me stop talking.
And there was good reason.
“A statuesmiledat you?” The incredulity in her voice was almost vicious.
I was stunned, but I shouldn’t have been.
“Oh, I see. Tink is back, and Ava is gone.”
She turned to look at me, venom in her eyes.
“Funny, I had no idea you even knew my real name.”
That was how our snowy weekend got started.
CHAPTER 13
Ava
Fuck. Fuck…fuck…fuck. Why did I always resort to being a bitch with him? He did or said nothing to me that warranted me speaking to him like that. And before I had the chance to say anything, even try to apologize, he’d gone upstairs.
Who was I kidding? I knew full well why I wanted to alienate him. The past few days scared the shit out of me.
We weregetting along.
And that couldn’t happen. Because if we started getting along, then these feelings that were fluttering around in my belly would start making a mess inside my head. I’d start making decisions with the wrong part of my body: my heart instead of my brain.
So, bottom line, we couldn’t get along.
“Hey, girl,” Macie said as she came bounding into the kitchen. Her smile was bright as she slung an overnight bag across her shoulder.
That could only mean one thing.
