Finding the Love Back (2 page)

Ava hadn’t really returned home since she left so long ago. Her mother passed away when she was eighteen. Until then, she had been the picture perfect southern belle that her parents wanted her to be. She’d been salutatorian in high school and had gone to University of Georgia, her father’s alma mater, and had declared accounting as her major. Accounting was her father’s idea and she was willing to go with it.

When her mother died, it changed her life. Ava decided right then and there that she would live her life the way that she wanted to, and not the way that anyone else wanted to. So she packed up her dorm room after her freshman year and took an opportunity in Atlanta to work as an apprentice for a fashion stylist.

Her father told her that he would never speak to her again if she didn’t return to school in the fall. Ava told him to hold his breath and wait to see what she would do. She knew that she wasn’t going back to college. She would finish a degree in whatever she wanted and that she would have the career in fashion that she always envisioned.

It was tough to walk away from her father like that. He was pretty much the only family that she had left. Being an only child, her parents had her late in life. Her maternal grandmother was the only grandparent that she knew and had passed away when Ava was around twelve. Both of her parents were only children as well; her father’s only sibling had died in a car accident when they were in their twenties. Ava grew up with her parents doting on her. She was not only popular in high school, but she had done pageants from the time she was five years old until she was in high school. But she’d stopped when her mother became too sick to travel with her to participate.

Life had changed for her when her mother died. It had caused a rift between her and her father and by the time she had thought to try and repair it, they had spent too much time apart and out of each other’s lives.

She always sent a Christmas card so he would know where she was, but he never called or returned the favor. She had spent the last nineteen years without so much as a birthday card, a Valentine’s day card, or any correspondence from her only living parent. She simply lived her life as if he had died when her mother did.

Being alone was something that she was used to by now. She’d made a whole new life for herself and she enjoyed the fruits of her labor.

Staring at the phone, Ava just let the call go to voicemail. She waited a second and when her voicemail notification didn’t chime, she relaxed. She hoped that whoever it was didn’t bother to call back. She didn’t have time to give out money to yet another person on Conner. She’d promised herself that she wouldn’t keep doing that. She was open to offering jobs to people who wanted to work hard, but she had no sympathy for someone who just sat around with their hands out.

She’d busted her tail to get to this point and she had more work to do to get to where she wanted to be. There was no way that she could respect things any other way.

By the time Ava made it home, she was starving. She lived in the suburbs of Atlanta about twenty miles north of the city. She loved it that way. She could enjoy the hustle and bustle of the city, but come home to the quiet of the suburbs. Suburban life was the closest to the small town life she had enjoyed as a child.

She opened the door to her home and was greeted by her dog, Dolce.

“Hey sweetie,” Ava said greeting her terrier by blowing kisses at her.

Ava walked back to her bedroom and put down her purse and her laptop bag. Kicking off her heels felt heavenly. She rubbed her feet and started to take off her clothes to put on her pajamas. There was a light knock at the door when she went to the kitchen to grab a glass of wine and feed Dolce a treat.

She wasn’t expecting any company. Fortunately, she could see out of the windows in her living room to see a blue Benz parked outside of the house. It was Bobby coming to visit. Ava and Bobby Thompson, also known in the music business as Bobby T, had been seeing each other for the past two months. Bobby was handsome and charming. She thought he was a nice guy, contrary to the aggressive, no holds barred entrepreneurial image that he put forward in the industry. The problem was, there was no spark, no passion between them.

“Hey Bobby,” Ava said as she opened the front door and invited Bobby inside. He had a bag full of food with him.

“I thought you could use a little dinner after a hard day at work. You know since we missed our lunch date this afternoon.” It was his way of gently reminding her of the fact that she had Lisa call and cancel their lunch date. She had a business lunch come up with a client and it took precedence over a leisurely lunch with her beau.

“I appreciate it, Bobby. You’re right on time. I’m starving.” She didn’t really want to discuss her decision to work versus play.

Bobby followed her inside the house and Ava told him to have a seat on the living room couch. Dolce came running in the living room at the sound of company. Bobby sat back on the couch trying to shrink away from Dolce. Ava laughed as she saw Bobby wincing. It was funny to see a man so big and brawny shy away from a small dog. Dolce jumped up on the couch, quickly sniffed Bobby, and with an uninterested expression, jumped down off the couch and walked away.

Ava swore she saw Bobby breathe a sigh of relief when Dolce jumped down. He spread the food out on the table.

“I hope that you are happy with some sub sandwiches. I’m trying to eat light.”

Ava brought in a tray with some bottled water and a few sodas. She wasn’t sure what Bobby wanted to drink. There were two glasses filled with ice as well.

“Thanks, babe,” Bobby said as he took a glass.

“Sure thing. What did you bring?” Ava took a seat next to him on the couch and Dolce jumped back up and sat next to her.

“Well,” Bobby said, looking at the dog from the corner of his eye. “I brought myself a hot Italian cold cut and I brought you a turkey and roast beef mix with cheese.”

“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you I’m lactose intolerant,” Ava said, trying to sound playful. She was actually kind of annoyed. Every time Bobby ordered food for her, he always had some kind of cheese or dairy on it. She’d explained that she couldn’t eat dairy and he accused her of acting like a diva and would often tell her to just pick the cheese off. All she wanted was for him to respect the fact that she had a dietary restriction.

She tried to contain the frown as she picked the cheese off of the sandwich. “So, how was your day?”

“Great,” Bobby replied. He then launched into recounting his entire day to her. Somewhere in between talking about sitting in the studio with a boy band he was managing and discussing an upcoming trip to New York City to accompany his female pop singer while she made a television show appearance, Ava stopped listening.

She gazed at the television and ate her sandwich, thinking of all of the things that she had to do the next day.

“You’re not listening to me are you?”

“What? Oh, I’m so sorry, Bobby. I’ve just had such a long day at work. I’m just so tired and I have so much to do tomorrow.”

“Come here,” he said as he pointed at her feet. “Let me give you a massage.”

Ava put her feet on the couch and laid back. Dolce jumped in her lap and curled up. Bobby was fantastic at giving foot rubs. He kneaded and massaged her feet and Ava was in heaven while she gently stroked Dolce’s fur.

“Tell me about your day,” Bobby offered.

“Oh no. Completely boring. There’s no way that I would share all of that with you.”

Bobby shrugged and continued massaging her feet. “Well, just make sure that you can pencil me into the schedule this week when I get back from New York.”

“I will do that.” She leaned back, enjoying the massage. “You are sensational at this. Maybe you missed your calling as a masseuse.”

Bobby smiled. Ava loved to see the dimple peak out of his left cheek. He was gorgeous; dark hair, chestnut brown eyes, and the most amazing smile she’d ever seen. He had the build of a football player. Bobby was a great catch.

“I just may have.” Bobby’s hand slowly rose up toward Ava’s thigh. Dolce jumped from Ava’s lap, just as Bobby leaned over to kiss her.

Bobby’s lips were soft as they touched hers. Ava closed her eyes and tried to find the spark. Even as Bobby’s tongue danced around playfully with hers, Ava still didn’t feel the passion ignite. Bobby leaned closer, embracing her as he intensified the kiss.

“I could stay the night,” he offered. Bobby stared into her blue-green eyes.

Bobby’s touch was tender. He lightly stroked her chin. The offer was tempting, but they had only been dating a few months.

He gently kissed the freckles on her cheeks.

“Very tempting, but I have a lot of work to do in the morning.” It was truth that she had a lot of work to the in the morning, but it wasn’t the reason that she didn’t want Bobby staying over. She just didn’t want to lead him on.

“Fine. But I’m holding you to lunch this week when I get back.”

“I’ll have Lisa make us some reservations.” Ava smiled and kissed Bobby again. There was still no spark. She wondered if he noticed it as well.

“Alright. I guess I should get out of here.”

“Thanks for dinner. I’ll see you later this week.”

She walked Bobby to the door, Dolce trailing behind her. Bobby kissed her gently on the cheek then he left.

Ava turned off the television in the living room and retired back to her bedroom. Flipping through the channels, she found something to watch on television. Dolce snuggled up in the bed next to her.

As they watched television, her cell phone rang again. Once again, it was a number that she didn’t recognize. She figured if it was important, they would leave a message. Ava laid back and did something she hadn’t done in a while. She opened up a book out of the stack of romance novels that had been collecting dust on her book shelf.

Ava had fallen in love with romance novels when she was in her teens. She loved the happily ever after formula and hoped one day to find her Prince Charming. Until then, she would just have to settle for spending her evenings snuggled up in bed with Dolce. 

Her phone chimed notifying her that there was a voicemail. She looked at the phone and threw it on the bed. She’d check it in the morning. For now, she was going to read her book and enjoy a quiet evening with Dolce.

The afternoon flew by quickly. A successful lunch with Baxter Brody, then a wonderful photo shoot with The Dream Boys. Things were looking up for Ava M. Consulting and Ava couldn’t be more proud. Lindsey had done an outstanding job handling the photo shoot and Ava promised her that there would be a raise in store for her soon.

Ava’s voice mail messages had piled up and she promised herself that she would take the time to check them this afternoon. First a quick stop for coffee, then she would make her way back to the office.

After stopping for a latte and throwing in a brownie as a treat to herself, Ava started back to the office.  She pressed a button to phone Lisa.