“This is important to you?” she asked.
“Not to me, but it is to my mom and dad, and they’re important to me.”
No matter how she spun it, she couldn’t find any bad in that answer. She smiled and leaned in to kiss him. “Okay. I could use a reason to get dressed up.”
He tipped his head back and whispered a triumphant “Yes.” Then wrapped her in his arms, kissing her neck. “Thank you. It’s in the city, so I’ll pick you up. And I promise, it won’t be on a bike.”
14
A knock sounded on Ava’s door as she touched up the foundation on her cheek. She startled, dropping the makeup sponge in the sink. Her building was secure, and she hadn’t given Isaac any codes. They also had a doorman who would have called up before he allowed anyone into the elevator—a thought that made her realize she hadn’t given the doorman Isaac’s name like she should have. She couldn’t have. She didn’t know it. They’d never gotten around to last names. Seemed crazy, considering all the intimacy they’d shared.
She smiled at the realization that last names didn’t enter into their attraction and affection for each other. And after a lifetime of being part of the Jennings’ steel monarchy, Ava found that utterly freeing.
Ava took one last look in the mirror and started for the front door. When she glanced through the peephole, her stomach dropped. Matthew stood on the other side.
Her shoulders fell, her stomach knotted, and she squeezed her eyes closed on a soft but emphatic “Fuck.”
Ava took a deep breath, blew it out, and steeled herself. Then opened the door a few inches and demanded, “What?”
He looked up from the floor and scanned her dress with surprise. Then a smile lifted his mouth. “You are going tonight. Fantastic. I’ve got a taxi waiting downstairs. We can talk in the cab.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” He looked good. Great, actually. His tux sharp and crisp, his hair gelled, his jaw clean. But he wasn’t the least bit attractive to Ava. In fact, he disgusted her. “We’re not going anywhere together, ever again.”
She started to close the door, then thought about what he’d said and jerked it open again. “Where in the hell are you going?”
“The IEA awards. Jennings Steel is—”
“I know. But you’re not part of Jennings Steel anymore.”
“Oh, but I am.” His mouth curved in an annoyingly superior smile. “Your father hired me back.”
Ava’s jaw unhinged. Her brain buckled. “He did not.”
“Not to the job you fired me from, no. I understand I need to earn back your father’s trust.” Matthew gave a one-shouldered shrug. “I hoped that if you saw your father taking another chance on me, maybe you could too. I know I made a mistake. I was stupid, and I swear it won’t happen again. I’m ready to prove it to you, Ava.”
“I… That’s… You can’t…” she stuttered, unable to formulate an answer to that ridiculous underestimation of both the problem and an attempt at a solution. “I will never trust you again. If my father hired you back after such a disgusting display of character, he deserves what he gets. As for me, I never want to see you again.”
She slammed the door and walked to the balcony. With fury vibrating through her, Ava wrapped her hands around the railing and squeezed until her fingers went numb. “That bastard.”
Her shoulder blades pinched with the stab of the knife in her back. No one in her family had bothered to tell her they’d rehired Matthew. No one had contacted her about the event. No one had called to check on her after she’d walked out. Not even her mother.
Ava had never felt so insignificant.
So betrayed. Just when she thought it couldn’t get worse. “Sonofafuckingbitch.”
This bullshit only amplified her feelings for Isaac. He made her feel the way someone who cared about her should make her feel. His dedication to his own family reinforced her belief of how a family should act.
Ava released her anger on a deep breath and took a cleansing lungful of the warm air while she soaked in the city’s twinkling lights. Isaac had brought great perspective to her life in such a short amount of time. Even though she didn’t know where this new path would lead, she felt strong about following it because Isaac believed in her. Isaac built her up, where Matthew tore her down. She could see now that her values had never been aligned with her family’s. She’d only followed the path that had been expected of her.
Ava returned to the bathroom. She rinsed her sponge, cleared the countertop, and looked in the mirror one last time. She might not need her family, but she still wished they were what she’d always wanted. What she’d been pretending they were all these years. The same way they’d been pretending.
Her phone chimed, startling her out of the dark thoughts. She glanced down at the counter where she read Isaac’s message: I’m downstairs.
Ava smiled, and her belly tingled with the whisper of butterfly wings. The turmoil in her gut eased.
Be right down, she replied and checked her reflection in the mirror one more time, praying the calf-length silver-sequined dress wasn’t over the top for his father’s dinner. But he’d said black tie, so…
She slid her wallet into her clutch and made her way to the elevator. On the ride down, Ava thought of all the changes in her life over the last six weeks. For the first time, she was living for herself.