Ever After (The Christmas Cottage - Book 2) (5 page)

“So, the flowers?  Everyone okay with the possibility of bee stings?” Ava asked, hoping her sarcasm wasn’t too obvious.

“Knock it off, brat,” Ean said.  “What’s the deal with this guy?  Isn’t he Mason’s best friend?”

“He is,” Ava nodded in agreement. 

“So why is he with you?  What’s up with that?”

It was the implication that bothered her and had her snapping and getting defensive.  “What’s up with that?  Well,
let’s see; he’s a nice guy who happened to want to help out some unappreciative people, apparently.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Ean snapped back.  “I’m just wondering why he would even want to help out.  You broke up with his best friend; does this guy know anything about loyalty?”

“Please, Ean, stop being such a chick,” Ava sighed.  “First of all, it’s not like I broke Mason’s heart; our break up was mutual.  Secondly, Mason’s engaged and getting married so clearly he’s doing okay and finally, I never did anything to Brian.  He’s just a good guy who wanted to help us out.  Do you have a problem with that?”

Four pairs of eyes stared at her in disbelief and then everyone started talking at once.

“Mason’s getting married?”

“Did you know?”

“Do you think he was cheating on you with her?”

“Are you okay?”

“How did you find out?”

“I never trusted that guy…”

On and on it went and the funny thing was, for all of their questions, none of them seemed to wait for an answer before asking another question!  She listened half-heartedly to the conversation and was relieved to see Brian heading her way.  A smile tugged at her lips as she took in his appearance.  He was dressed semi-casually in dress pants and a polo shirt, his sandy brown hair in disarray from the heat and running back and forth to the car.  His brown eyes twinkled when he caught her smiling at him and when he winked at her and broke into a smile of his own, his dimples made an appearance.

All in all
, he was quite a fine example of the male species and for the first time in a long time, Ava found herself appreciating the male form.

When he got back to her side he noticed all of the chatter going on around her.  “What’s going on?”

“Oh, I just told them that Mason’s getting married.”

Brian stopped and listened.  “
Interesting.  Do they ever come up for air or will this continue for a while?”

“If you say something to them, you’ll break the spell and we can get this photo shoot back on track.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re new and shiny and a distraction.  Trust me on this one.”

“Shiny, huh?  Do I distract them or do I distract you too?” he asked softly so that only she could hear.

Before she could answer, however, the Callahan’s noticed his return.  “That was fast, Brian,” Jack Callahan said.  “I’ve got the camera and a tripod and you just tell us where you want us to pose and we’ll get you set up.”

“Thank you, sir,” he responded and then turned back to Ava.  “Here’s your cap and gown,” he said as he handed her the garment bag, “and here’s a little something extra,” he said as he handed her a beautiful bouquet of tulips.

Tears welled in her eyes.  “These are my favorite,” she said reverently.  “How did you know?”  How did she not notice them as he approached?  How was it possible that this man who she hadn’t seen in eight months and who she never really spent a whole lot of time with before that, knew her so well?

“I told you a long time ago, Ava, I pay attention.”  His voice was soft yet firm and it sent thrilling little chills down her spine.  With that, he turned and walked toward her family and helped them get set up for their perfect shot.

****

Two hours later Ava’s head was spinning.  She liked order and control and to know exactly what was going on, and right now, seated next to Brian in her favorite restaurant, she had no idea how she had gotten here.

He had dazzled and won her family over.  They had taken dozens of pictures all over the park and he managed to find something to converse with each family member about to keep them all engaged and entertained.  And all the while he somehow managed to make her feel like it was only the two of them.  Something was up; something was going on and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

Suspicion had her glancing around as if looking for obvious clues as to why it was that Brian McCabe had managed to charm the people who were originally against his being with them.  How had he managed to finagle an invitation to lunch and if she hadn’t been mistaken, did her dad just invite him to play golf next week?

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” she said out loud.  “Did you just invite Brian to golf?”

“Well, yes,” her father responded, suddenly cautious at his daughter’s tone. 

“In the year that Mason and I dated, you never once invited him to play golf,” she accused.  “And you!” she turned to Ean.  “A couple of hours ago you were wondering why Brian would want to do anything nice for us and questi
oning his loyalty to his friend and now here you are inviting him over to your house!”

Everyone was staring at her; except for Br
ian.  He was merely smirking into his water glass.

“Well, of course we invited him to our home, Ava,” Ean explained.  “We want to do some renovations on the house and he can’t bid the job if he doesn’t come to the house.”

“Bid the job?” she looked around, confused.  “Renovations?” she asked, turning her attention back to Brian.  “What do you do for a living?”  She cringed after she asked because she probably should have known that bit of information.  In all of the times that she’d been around him while dating Mason and all of the times that Mason had talked about him, shouldn’t his career have come up in conversation?  She felt ashamed that he had taken the time to remember that she loved tulips, a silly little fact about her, and she hadn’t even taken the time to learn anything about him.  How self-absorbed was that?

Brian cleared his throat and took a sip of water before facing Ava.  “I’m a
contractor.  I have my own firm and while we primarily do commercial work, I enjoy taking on residential jobs, too.  I’m more than happy to take a look at what your brother wants to have done and hopefully we can work together.”

She nodded and reached for her own water, embarrassed by her outburst.  Conversation resumed around her and she excused herself to run to the ladies room.  Lacey followed.

“Are you okay?” Lacey asked when they were alone. 

“Am I a good person?” Ava asked.

“Of course you are.  Why would you even ask such a thing?”

“Really?  Because I can remember a time not that long ago when I was so wrapped up in myself that I couldn’t even see that you were struggling with your feelings for Ean.”

“You were planning a wedding, Ava; you were under a lot of pressure.”

“Was I?  Because really, it was a home wedding.  There was no big venue, no church nothing big or important that needed the constant attention that I gave it.  I made you and everyone around me crazy with tiny details and didn’t seem to take note of the fact that I was acting that way!”

Lacey took a deep breath and looked at Ava.  Something was going on and she had a fairly good idea that it had to do with Brian.  “Ava, we all understood why you were so consumed and we all love you and got over it.  Now come on, what’s this all about?”

“Did you hear me out there?”

“When?”

Ava rolled her eyes.  “When I snapped at everyone for being nice to Brian?”

Lacey didn’t bother arguing the point with her.  “What about it?”

“Did you notice the bouquet of tulips that he gave me earlier?”

“Of course I did!  They were beautiful!”

“Yes, yes, they were beautiful
, but do you know why he got them for me?”

“Because he’s a nice guy?” Lacey suggested.

“No, I mean yes, I mean…he got them for me because he remembered that one time that I mentioned that tulips were my favorite.  Mason never remembered that tulips were my favorite.  He got me roses all the time and no matter how many times I commented on my love of tulips, he never once got them for me.”

“And this makes you mad at Brian why?”

Ava sighed impatiently.  “Geez, Lace, I think the bump is sucking too many brain cells from you!  You used to understand me!”

“Well in my defense you are being extremely difficult to understand right now!  It has nothing to do with the bump
. Now will you please tell me what has you all upset?”

“Brian remembered that tiny detail about me and I never even bothered to learn what the man did for a living!  A person’s favorite flower is a minute detail, what someone does for a living? That’s huge!  That’s like in the top ten things you cover with someone when you first meet them and then again every time you see them, you ask about their job.”  She tried and failed to stifle a sob.  “And I never once did that,” she cried.  “Why?  Because I was too damn focused on myself!  I’m a horrible person!”  And then she burst in to tears.

“Oh, gosh; oh, Ava, honey, no you’re not.  Come on now, no crying.  My hormones are a mess and if you keep crying, I’m going to cry and if I go out there and Ean thinks I’ve been crying he’s going to freak out and think that something’s wrong with the baby.”  She grabbed a fistful of tissues and shoved them in Ava’s hands.  “So if you care anything about me and your unborn niece or nephew, you’ll stop this crying right now!”

Amazingly enough, Ava stopped crying.  “Lacey Callahan, that was low; using your unborn child to bribe me to stop crying!”

“Worked didn’t it?”  They laughed and then they hugged.  Ava took a minute to fix her make up before they turned to head back to the table.  “Are you going to be okay?” Lacey asked as she checked her reflection for any signs of tears. 

“I don’t know, Lace.  Brian showed up the other day and it’s like he’s everywhere.  I can’t escape him and now he’s charmed the family and he’s asked me out and I don’t know what to do!”

Lacey punched her in the arm.  “Ow!  What was that for?”

“A handsome man asked you out and you didn’t tell me?  How could you?”

“Well, you slept with my brother and didn’t tell me.  Now we’re even.”

“Gosh you can be such a child,” Lacey mumbled
.  “So he asked you out.  Are you going to go?”

“I don’t think so.”

“What?  Why?”

Ava sighed.  She had sworn that she would never let anyone know about the night before her wedding but suddenly, it seemed like the natural thing to do.  She gave Lacey the Reader’s Digest version and then stood back and waited for her reaction.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally, when she couldn’t take it any longer, Ava stamped her foot and said, “For crying out loud, don’t you have anything to say?”

Lacey looked at her sympathetically.  “I honestly don’t know what to say.  First, I’m upset that you kept such a huge secret from me; you gave up your wedding and graciously gave it to me and Ean.  In the midst of all of that, you weren’t just dealing with ending your relationship with
Mason; you had to deal with the fact that Brian had feelings for you.”

“I wanted to tell you, Lacey, I really did,” Ava began but Lacey interrupted her.

“I hate that you felt that you had to keep it to yourself,” Lacey said sadly.  “We’ve been friends our whole lives and in the last year we’ve kept some pretty big secrets from one another.  I don’t want that to become a habit.”

Ava sighed with relief.  “It’s not; I swear it’s not.  From this point forward, no more secrets.”

Lacey nodded with approval and smiled.  “That brings me back to my original question – are you going to go out with him?”

“I don’t think it would be a good idea.”

“Please don’t tell me it’s because of Mason,” Lacey said, exasperated.

A guilty flush stole across Ava’s face. 

“You listen to me, Ava,” Lacey began, her voice firm.  “Sometimes it’s okay for you to lead with your heart even when your head is saying that it isn’t a good idea.  If I had listened to my head, I never would have given my relationship with Ean a chance.  So speaking from experience, I can tell you that you need to give this a shot.  Do you find Brian attractive?”

The blush on her cheeks answered Lacey’s question.  “It isn’t all about being attracted to him,” she said hesitantly and then broke into a huge grin, “but the man kisses like nobody’s business!”  They broke into a fit of giggles and stopped short when Linda Callahan opened the ladies room door.

“Is everything okay in here?  Ean was getting worried!”

“Of course he was,” Lacey mumbled.  She checked her reflection one last time before smiling at her mother in law.  “We were just on our way out.”

“Oh, good.”  Linda looked at her daughter and quirked an eyebrow at her.  “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, mom,” she replied and for the first time in days, she really believed it.  “Did I happen to thank you and dad for taking me to lunch today?”
  Leaning over, she gave her mom a kiss on the cheek and linked their arms together as they followed Lacey back to their table.