“Hey, Avery. Want to get a cookie from the front desk? They’re usually hot from the oven at lunchtime.”
Avery looked at his dad for approval. At Owen’s nod, Avery readily agreed.
“What kind of cookie? Do I get to choose? I’ll bring one back for you, too, Ava.” Avery spoke rapid-fire as Morgan led Avery back through the ballroom doors, leaving Ava alone with Owen. Who still had his hands behind his back.
She wanted to say something, anything; but her pride stopped her. She had done nothing wrong. Why should she break the uncomfortable silence?
Owen closed the distance between them.
“I’m sorry, Ava. I know words aren’t enough to earn your trust back, but I am.”
Her breath came out in awhoosh, like she’d been holding it since Morgan and Avery left the room.
“You couldn’t call me to say that?”
Owen raised a brow at her, his lips quirking up on one side. “Would you have answered?”
Ava raised her own brows at him. “Touché.”
He took a step closer. Her body buzzed from proximity.
“Avery said you brought me something. That better not have been a euphemism,” she said. A suspicion flashed through her mind when he still didn’t reveal his hands from behind his back. “I swear to God if you propose to me right now, I will say no on principle.”
Owen’s half-smile from earlier broke into a full grin. He shook his head at her, knocking more strands of hair loose from his bun.
“Give me some credit. I know you better than that, Birdie.”
Her aching heart squeezed tight with hope at her nickname falling from his lips. But her ego still resented how easily he tossed her aside.
“Except when you broke up with me at the hospital. When I told you I wanted to stay.”
Owen winced. “I deserved that.”
He shifted to hold out the object he kept hidden.
The wooden loon alarm.
The one that broke at the cabin following the fight with her brothers.
The one she never thought she’d hear again.
“You came all this way to bring me that? Not sure if you know, but we listed the cabin for sale. We already have an offer.”
“I know. I went looking for you, but you were gone. I thought I’d lost my chance, but I’m here doing what I should’ve done ten years ago. I should’ve never let you go the first time, and I definitelyshouldn’t have the second time. You’re it for me. I love you, Birdie. I love you, and I never stopped. And I never will.”
Ava bit her lip to hold back her own words. They were everything she wanted to hear, but how could she trust they were real? That he wouldn’t change his mind like he had at the hospital.
“I see your pretty mind spiraling. I came prepared. It took some persistent badgering, but I convinced Lucas to tell me about your plan you guys came up with.” He held out a manila folder in his other hand, urging her to take it.
She took it out of his grasp and flipped it open to read the first page. Disbelief lit up her chest. “Is this for real? How?”
“Matt helped get all the paperwork squared away, and Lucas combed over this with a fine-toothed comb to make sure, as he put it, you wouldn’t be ‘fucked over’. But this is my proposition. If you’ll still have me, I want to be your partner. Not just in life, or as a parent. I want to give you 50% ownership of Birdie’s Bed and Breakfast. It’s as much yours as it is mine. Just like my heart.”
Hope surged. Not a hesitant trickle, but a roaring flood that washed away the last bit of worry and doubt she had.
“You’regivingthis to me? Shouldn’t I buy into the partnership? Dad left me some money, and I was planning to offer…” she trailed off at Owen shaking his head.
“Keep the money. I’m sure you can find a better use for it.”
