by Cat Mann
Chapter 8
Surprise
On Monday morning Ari left for Pepperdine with Julia and Rory fighting in the SUV’s back seat. In the kitchen with a fresh cup of coffee, I poured myself into old news articles that mentioned the Kakos, trying to see who else might be out there intending to do me harm. I was putting together a list of people who had worked with or for the Kakos over the years. Surely, close associates might hold some kind of grudge against me.
I was becoming quite frustrated with myself for not being able to remember clearly the events of the week that I had been with No. 6. I still had no clue how I had suffered some of my injuries. My ribs had been broken; there were rope burns around my neck and a slash, now scarred over, on my wrist. How these injuries had been inflicted, I had no idea.
I did eventually remember putting my Cubs shirt on for my run the day of my kidnapping; it was long gone. I had already replaced my cell phone along with the bloody shoes my rescuers found in the basement where I was tortured. Ari had found my cell where it lay, murdered by seawater, on the beach where I was abducted, a mile and a half from our home.
Ari no longer felt comfortable when I ran by myself and with Rory living in L.A. I had no partner. Ari ran with me sometimes. He was actually just as fast as and possibly more athletic than Rory, but he preferred activities he saw as more fun than running for miles on a hot, sandy beach – activities like surfing.
He bought me a membership to a local fitness club so that I could keep up my daily running routine – a nice gesture, though I was going to miss running outside. But my saner self told me the gym would be a safer place to run and I took the membership with gratitude. Ari didn’t know yet that I suspected someone existed who sought my demise, someone biding his time, waiting for me to slip up, to give him the chance he needed to kill me. Ari was worried about regular crazy Californians and I was worried about much more.
I went to the gym every morning after Ari headed out to class or work. Aggie and Gianna went to the gym, too, so I rode along with them. I thought again about calling Margaux about getting my car back. I had a nostalgic fondness for it and wanted it, though buying something new would have been simpler than dealing with the devil, Margaux.
Aggie and Gianna went with me to the gym, but they didn’t do much working out. They were there for the socializing that went on at the fruit bar. I got a kick out of seeing them standing around and gossiping, but in all fairness I must say that they sometimes joined me at the treadmill station for a … slow walk. There they could continue their gossipy chatter and never break a sweat.
After a particularly pathetic morning at the gym, I sent a text to Margaux asking how much she wanted for my car and she quickly replied with the price. I choked on my granola, took five minutes to regain my composure and then sent a text back.
We negotiated the price of my car, Margaux and I, for about an hour before we settled on a number and then I told her I would send the cash with Ari on Thursday. Rory and Julia could drive the car back home on the weekend.
At that point, Margaux gave up on the texting and called me.
“The price is fine, Ava dear, but I will be out of town for a couple of weeks. Is there any way you can just wait? I won’t see Ari again until I return.”
“So Ari will be off work for two weeks?” I asked, any thoughts about the car flying from my mind.
“Yes, that’s what I said isn’t it?” she snapped with her usual lack of grace.
“Does he know you’ll be gone?”
Margaux sighed as if I were wasting her time.
“I don’t know, Ava. I have no idea if Delia has spoken with him yet and I don’t care.”
“Margaux,” I said, “I will get you the cash for the car as soon as you come back from your trip, but please do me a favor and tell Delia not to tell Ari that he will be off for two weeks, okay?”
“Whatever, Ava,” click!
I was looking forward to spending the next two weeks with Ari and no work. I racked my brain for something fun I could surprise him with; classes weren’t being held the next week either and I wanted to do something special for him. I was playing around on the internet, looking into concerts and gigs, but no one we really liked was touring this fall and the locals weren’t names I knew, so I closed my old MacBook just as my phone started ringing.
The number was from Montréal, so I answered it and found François, the caretaker of my childhood home, on the other end of the line. My mother had left my home to me when she passed. Ari and I stayed there together with August, Rory and Julia the past summer, before our wedding. Before we left, I packed up the house and had François list the home on the market. He phoned to say that I had received a cash offer on the house and wanted my opinion and possibly a response. I put him on hold and went to dig out the house’s paperwork. I looked through the figures and decided the offer was a fair one, very close to what I was asking and I told him to go ahead and accept it. He emailed me the documents a few hours later and I signed them, scanned them in, and emailed them back. I asked him to have the money put into my Montréal account and thanked him for all of his help.
I spent Wednesday catching up on household chores, listening to Lily Allen as I worked. The house was in pretty good shape. Most of the time I was the only one there and I tend to be clean and tidy. Nevertheless, the mundane duties of dishes and laundry could not be ignored any longer.
When Ari got home from work, I told him about the sale of the Montréal house and we went out to dinner to celebrate. Ari and I had not been out of the neighborhood together since we spent the evening in L.A with Rory and Julia. Ari was a bit apprehensive about going out in public. He hated people coming up to me even more than I did. I reassured him that everything would be fine. I had gone to the gym and the market with Aggie dozens of times and no one said a word to me. And no one approached Ari and me while at dinner either. We had a quiet time in Dana Point and it was nice and relaxing.
Later, I helped Ari with some research for a paper he was writing for his Literary Study class. He finished up and emailed the document to his professor around ten o’clock and then went to bed.
I couldn’t sleep so I grabbed my phone off the charger and went out to the sun porch to call August. His phone rang for a while.
“Allo?” August finally answered, sounding annoyed.
“August, allo! C’est ici Ava. Comment ça va? Que fais-tu?” I asked.
“It’s six o’clock in the morning, Ava. What the hell do you think I’m doing?”
“Right, sorry, I’ll talk to you later I guess.”
“No, it’s fine,” his tone softened. “I actually need to get up; what’s going on?”
I found it a bit strange that he jumped right into English as soon as he knew it was me. Since I grew up in Montréal, I learned French as a first language. August is Parisian and prefers to speak in French, even though he is more or less fluent in half a dozen other languages, English included. I could hear someone’s voice in the background but I chose to ignore it and carried on with our conversation.
“I dunno,” I said running my fingers through my hair, “I guess I just miss you that’s all.”
“Aw… listen to you, Ava, going all soft on me.”
“Hardly! So when are you coming back to California?”
“Well,” he said, drawling the word out, “I accepted a teaching job at your old school in Dana Point and I start next month. I’m leaving for Greece in a few days and then I am going to fly out from there to L.A. in a week.”
“A week!” I shouted. “When did you plan to tell us?”
“Ha, well Ari and I were going to surprise you. So don’t tell him you know I am coming or he will kill me. I need to stay on Ari’s good side so I can live in that awesome house of yours.”
I smiled into phone. “How about we trick Ari and the two of us surprise him instead.”
“Oui!” August said, excitedly.
I powered on Ari’s iPad and, with August’s help, I booke
d a flight that would leave for Greece the next day. Then I made reservations at a B&B in Athens and even managed to get us on the same flight home that August would be on. I was excited to surprise Ari with our impromptu vacation in the morning.
Rory and Julia had a knock-down drag-out and he had been staying with his family for the last week. I sent him a text asking him to pick Ari and me up at seven the next morning to take us to the airport. I called Aggie and told her my plan and she agreed to bring Ari’s passport over in the morning along with a guide to Greece she said I could borrow.
I got busy packing all of our things without waking Ari. Thankfully, most of our clothes were still folded and stacked in the laundry room so I just moved them straight into our suitcase. Once my preparations were done and our bags were packed, I had a few hours to spare so I curled up in Ari’s arms. He blinked his eyes a few times, smiled and kissed my forehead before drifting off back to sleep.
I woke up what felt like only minutes later to Ari’s alarm. His alarm is set daily for quarter to six. Ari pushes snooze at least three times each morning. I shut the alarm off before Ari stirred and snuck into the bathroom. I took a shower and did my hair and makeup. I wrapped myself into a towel and opened the door to our room to hunt down some clothes that weren’t already packed away in my luggage.
Ari was just starting to wake up, he stretched and yawned.
“Morning,” he smiled, tugging on the hem of my towel, bringing me closer and closer to him in bed.
“Morning,” I smiled back, barely able to hide my excitement. Ari kept pulling on my towel, one gentle tug at a time. As soon as I reached his side, he gave my towel one final pull, causing it to fall unceremoniously to the floor. He hooked his hand around my thigh and brought me onto the bed with him, while he covered me with kisses. I giggled at his playful mood and Ari’s eyes turned dark, my body tingled with heat. Rolling me over, Ari locked my wrists in his hands and held them tightly on the pillow above my head. With a mischievous grin on his face, he wanted to play and it was clear that he was up to no good. Holding his body away from me, depriving me of his touch and his skin, my need for him grew deeper. Our breathing turned heavy. The heat in my body began to spread like wildfire. When I was sure I was going to explode into fireworks, my eyes searched for something to bite down on; Ari’s eyes twinkled with excitement and he gripped my wrists even harder. “Let me hear it,” he whispered in a husky plea. I couldn’t hold back anymore, my body melted into pleasure and screaming out, I did as he asked, then Ari followed after me.
Triumphant, Ari finally let go of my arms and settled back down next to me. I rolled around to face him; his eyes were bright, and his smile was huge.
“You did that on purpose.”
“Guilty as charged, but it was worth every sound.”
“Yeah, it was.”
I looked past him and happened to see the time on our bedroom TV – 7:15!
“Oh, no!” I exclaimed. “We’re going to be late!”
“No, it’s fine, I have time,” Ari said, thinking he had to be at baio at nine thirty.
“I could even call in sick,” he said hopefully. “I still haven’t found that third freckle, Baby. I could excavate all morning.”
“You can’t,” I jumped out of bed. “I have a surprise for you.”
I tossed him a pair of jeans, a button-down shirt and a pair of loafers. I threw on a light dress with a cardigan and my baio mocs.
“What is it?” He followed me out of our room and down the staircase into the kitchen.
Unfortunately, the first surprise was for me! I stopped short when I saw Rory leaning back against the counter, eating an apple, trying to mask the smirk on his face.
“Oh, my God!” I said for the second time that morning.
Rory put his hand up to stop me.
“Please, Ava, don’t remind me,” he laughed.
I was absolutely mortified.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Ari asked Rory.
“I’m taking your ungrateful behind to the airport,” Rory said, hurt by Ari’s lack of appreciation.
On the table sat a Greece guidebook and a passport.
“Oh, my God,” I cried, holding up the book.
“Seriously, Ava, stop,” Rory laughed and I hit his shoulder with the book.
“Was Aggie here?” I asked completely humiliated.
“Oh yeah, she was here alright,” he smiled again. “Told me to tell you to have nice trip.”
I shuddered with embarrassment.
“What’s going on?” Ari spoke up, annoyed.
I held up the book.
“Our flight leaves in a few hours.”
“What! We’re going to Greece?”
“Surprise!”
“Ava, what about baio?”
“Margaux is out of town for the next two weeks; ergo, you don’t have to go to work! We’re meeting August there and we’re doing Greek things for a few days and then we are going to fly back early next week – you won’t miss a thing.”
He picked me up and kissed me full on the lips.
“I can’t take this anymore,” Rory grumbled. “Are we going or do I need to step outside for a while?”
I rolled my eyes and headed to the garage. Rory drove us to LAX in the Rover. When he thought I wasn’t listening he said quietly to Ari, “Dude, you’re gonna have to tell me what you are doing in there because I haven’t been able to produce those kinds of results.”
Ari rubbed at his scruffy face and patted Rory on the shoulder, smiling. Thankfully, he did not offer up any advice, instead he turned the music up and played Daft Punk through the car speakers for the rest of the ride.
Since I had very little sleep the night before, I slept through the first half of the flight while Ari read over some documents for Margaux. Our attendant was very pretty in that sleek, too-much-makeup kind of way and she hung around our row a little more than necessary, offering Ari cold drinks and pretzels. I had become used to that kind of attention when I was around Ari. Ari has a magnetic personality. He unintentionally makes friends everywhere we go and this plane ride was not an exception. He became involved in a conversation with a man across the aisle. The man told Ari his life story, for what seemed like hours. Ari didn’t seem to mind. He listened, engaged in the conversation the whole time. How could we be so different?
Happy to be tucked away in the window seat, I nevertheless became more and more bored. As Ari’s conversation with the man across the aisle droned on, I picked up Ari’s paperwork and started looking over it. Might as well help get it done. The summer before, Margaux had offered Ari a job at baio, but not just any job. He had landed a cozy executive position that had been my grandfather's before his death. Perry and Margaux had been married, but they also made up the baio team. Margaux had wanted to keep the business in the family after Perry died, but I was the only family member she had left; she offered it to Ari instead. In all honesty, I didn’t care. I had no desire to work for Margaux. I stared down at Ari’s paperwork and after some time, I figured out what Margaux wanted him to do and finished it up for him.
He put his glasses back on and saw what I had done.
“I don’t know why you didn’t take the job instead of me. You’re a much better fit for this, Ava.”
“It’s bad enough that I have to be somewhat related to her, I am not working with her, too,” I said with a shrug.
“I get that you don’t like Margaux, but I don’t know why.”
I stared at him disbelieving.
“Are you serious, Ari? She is a complete nightmare. A total she-devil.”
“I dunno, Ava; she absolutely loves you. She asks me every day how you’re doing, and feeling. She has an ungodly number of photos of you in her office. The entire baio company was on shut down when you went missing, and she was a total wreck.”
I took a deep breath, taking all of this information in, then finally decided that her concern must have been all for show.
“Well, you must see a side of Margaux that I don’t.”
The man across the aisle who had commanded Ari’s attention for the last few hours had begun doze. We still had several more hours until we touched down in Athens. I changed the subject.
“Did your family go on vacations when you were young?” I loved learning little bits about Ari as a child.
He smiled brightly at my question. “Yes, quite a bit.”
“Where all have you been?”
“Well… my parents tried to plan some place new and different each year. We always traveled with Thais and Gianna, too. So of course every vacation memory I have involves Rory.” Ari squinted his eyes. “Except for the last trip, Rory wasn’t there. Anyway, when we were kids, our parents took us to the Disney parks, Lego Land, we went on cruises, we spent a week in Jamaica once and we visited all the big zoos – places like that. We went camping once in Glacier National Park. Lauren had a miserable time; she cried every day and faked an ankle injury so she wouldn’t have to hike. When we got older, we just started going to this awesome resort in Mexico every year. It's got a great golf course,” he added with a nod and I giggled.
“Why didn’t Rory go on your last family trip?”
Ari let out a breath. “He and I were fighting. We hadn’t spoken in months over that crap with Julia. My mom planned the trip. She had hopes that it would bring Rory and me back together. Our fight was tearing the family apart. I came home from class on a Thursday afternoon to find my bags had already been packed and the entire family waiting to go. Rory trailed in the house after me. Our parents tried to surprise us all with a long weekend at the resort I mentioned in Mexico. Rory said he'd stay if I were going. He caused a major scene. My mom cried. Gianna cried. Truth was, I didn’t want to go either but I saw how important the trip was to my family. Rory turned around and left. He drove right back to DPI campus for the weekend.”
“Oh, poor Aggie.” I said. “Rory must have really hurt her feelings.”
“He did. However, I have to say I didn’t make her feel any better. I was a jerk through the whole trip. Nick and I stayed out late each night. I slept the day away and kept mostly to myself.” Ari laughed a touch and rubbed at the stubble on his cheeks. “My dad got so mad at me one day that he got the key to my hotel room from the front desk. I was still asleep at the time and it was well past noon. I was sleeping in the buff. My dad barged into my hotel room and ripped the blankets off me. I was sleeping on my stomach,” Ari added with an eye roll when he saw the shocked expression on my face. “My dad hollered at me to get up and to spend some time with my mother. I shot back a nasty comment and he brought his palm down on my ass so hard that it was red and stung for three days straight.”
I laughed so loud the woman sitting in front of me turned around and shot me an evil eye. I covered my mouth with my hand to suppress my giggles.
“Anyway,” Ari continued, “after the slap, I relented and got dressed and met my mother downstairs for lunch. She told me that Rory called to check in with them. He apologized to everyone for his behavior and announced that he had met a girl and was ready to move on and patch things up between the two us. Rory told his mother that he was going to talk with me and make up as soon as I came back to California. I was thrilled.” Ari frowned and paused. I watched him shift in his seat.
“That was the weekend Rory first met you, only I didn’t know that yet. When we got back to California, I went straight to campus in search of Rory and instead locked eyes with the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. You were the girl from my dreams. I called my mom from my dorm room and told her all about you. How I had met you. That I couldn’t stop thinking about you and the way you caused my stomach to flip and my palms to get sticky. I found out the next day that you were the girl Rory was talking about to Gianna. Turned out, Rory felt the same way about you as I did. I was told by my family to back off and leave you alone.”
He smiled and wrapped his fingers around mine. “I am so glad I didn’t listen to them.”
“Me too.”