“If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the bar for another drink and to make the rounds,” Matt said and took off to the back of the room.
Ava grabbed her near full glass of bourbon and offered it to Owen. “Drink? Matt got me a bourbon, but it’s too strong for me tonight.”
Owen closed his eyes and finished the tumbler in one go. “I needed that,” he said. He put it down and extended his elbow. “Dance with me?”
Ava took his arm and followed him to the dance floor. He pulled her close with a firm hand on her exposed lower back, his fingers indenting her skin.
Owen whirled her around and gathered her close again, catching her gaze.
“You’re killing me in this dress tonight, Birdie.” His hand dipped lower, down the curve of her ass without being too inappropriate.
Ava smirked. “I wore it just for you.”
“I’m a lucky man.”
Owen took their clasped hands and placed them over his heart, holding her hand captive against his beating chest. He looked at her with such gentleness and adoration it hurt.
“You know, I couldn’t help but have some ideas as you were presenting,” she said.
“Dirty ideas?”
Ava laughed, unsurprised at his train of thought. “Ideas for the bed-and-breakfast. Have you considered hosting events and potential collaborations? The dining room would be a beautiful wedding reception venue with its view of the lake. And we could work with localbusinesses on wedding packages, including photography, flowers, and a nightly rate for rooms.”
“We?”
“What?”
Owen smirked. “You said ‘we’. Like you were planning to be part of these ideas for the bed-and-breakfast.”
Now was her chance to tell him. The ball of nervous excitement threatened to burst in her stomach. There was no better time.
“I—” Ava began to tell him her decision when Matt came up behind Owen, bringing their dancing to a halt.
Concern creased his face as he waved his phone in the air. “Sorry to interrupt, but Summer’s blowing up my phone. She says it’s an emergency, Owen.”
Ava’s heart plummeted, immediately swamped with worry for Avery.
Owen patted his pockets for his own phone, coming up empty.
“Shit, our phones are in my clutch,” Ava said.
Owen grabbed her hand and rushed back to their table, Matt on their heels.
“Did Summer say what’s going on?” Owen demanded.
“No, just that she’s on the way to Portland Memorial Hospital with Avery and she couldn’t get a hold of you or Ava.”
They reached the table, and Ava’s hands shook so hard she couldn’t undo the clasp on her clutch. She thrust it at Owen to open, too flustered to keep trying. He got it open and retrieved their phones, both of them showing dozens of missed calls from Summer.
Ava scanned her texts for more information while Owen listened to his voicemail.
“It’s Maddy. There’s been an accident.”
Chapter 32
The Accident
Nervous tension filled the truck on their drive to the hospital. Matt followed behind them in his own car, keeping the pace with Owen’s speed. Owen wasn’t one to break the speed limit on a normal day, but guilt wracked him, knowing his son needed him and he wasn’t there.
