by Adina Jan
“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.
Chapter 3
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.
“Good evening. Ava M. Consulting.”
“Hey Lisa. I was just going to drop by the office for a sec. I needed to grab some info on our next client.”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. Lindsey has taken care of everything. She’s going to email you all the info tonight.”
“Lindsey is pretty awesome isn’t she?”
“Yes, she is Miss M. I guess you have the rest of the evening off. You deserve it.”
“Thanks, Lisa. I will see you tomorrow. And make sure you leave on time tonight to get home to those beautiful kids.”
“I will.”
Ava ended the phone call and dialed to listen to her voice mail. There were a few messages related to business. She skipped those and made note to write down their info that evening. As she pulled up into her driveway, there was one that caught her attention.
“This is Nadine from Central General in Conner, Georgia. This message is for Ava Marie Collier. Please give me a call at your earliest convenience.”
Ava listened as Nadine rattled off her contact number. There could be only one reason why the hospital from her home town was calling. It had to be her father. Ava pulled up into her driveway and could barely get out of the car she was so anxious.
Ava’s hand was shaking as she entered her home. She almost didn’t want to return the call, but she knew that she had to.
Dolce ran up to her and sensing something was wrong, Dolce wagged her tail and licked Ava’s toes. Ava picked Dolce up and took a seat on the couch. She scrolled through her missed calls list and pressed the number to the hospital.
It took a moment until she was transferred through to Nadine.
“This is Nadine.”
“Uh, yes. Nadine. This is Ava Marie Collier returning your call in reference to my father Reginald Collier.” It was strange to hear herself say her entire name. She’d gone by Ava M. for so long. She hadn’t referred to herself as Ava Marie in years.
“Yes, Ms. Collier. I’m the social worker at the Central General. I called to inform you that your father has been admitted here.”
Ava paused. It was suddenly hard to breathe. “What do you mean admitted?”
“Well, he had a stroke two days ago. We’ve been trying to get in contact with you since then. Your father is stable, but we need to come up with a discharge plan for him. We were hoping that you would like to be a part of that process.”
Before she knew it, Ava was agreeing. “Uh, sure. What do I need to do?”
“Well, he’ll be discharged in the next few days. We are monitoring him, but he seems to be doing well. Are you in Conner?”
“No, I live in Atlanta. Would I need to handle the discharge planning from Conner or is that something that I can do from here?”
There was a brief pause before Nadine began speaking. “You can definitely handle things from Atlanta. But your father will need home health care if you are sending him home. If not, we need to discuss him rehabilitating in a nursing home facility.”
“Whoa. Okay, that’s a lot to process right now.”
“I understand. Mr. Collier will remain here with us for the next few days like I said. Do you need to call me back and let me know how you would like to proceed?”
“No,” Ava said quickly. “I will come home tomorrow. Will you be there at the hospital all this week?”
“I will. I look forward to meeting with you, Ms. Collier.”
“Thank you very much, Nadine.”
When the call ended, Ava had to replay the phone call that had just taken place. Her father was in the hospital and had just had a stroke. She hadn’t talked with him in years and she didn’t know how easy it was going to be to go back to Conner and take care of everything that needed to be taken care of.
“Well Dolce, we have a trip to take.” Ava’s heart was palpitating. The thought of going back to her hometown gave her a sinking feeling in her stomach. The last time she went home, she got the feeling that she didn’t fit in there in such a small town and she hated the way that people in town would stare at her when she went to the grocery store or had a bite to eat at the local diner. She no longer felt like she was one of Conner’s own. Most people didn’t leave her south Georgia hometown and although they could be proud of her for making a name for herself, people couldn’t understand at the same time why someone would want to leave Conner and live elsewhere.
She fought the urge to call Nadine back and just handle everything by phone. There was no way that her father wanted her to come home. She certainly didn’t want him to think that she would drop everything and turn her life upside down to stay there indefinitely while he was sick. She was only staying long enough to get things set up for him to return home and then she would be on her way back to Atlanta.
Ava closed her eyes and she thought she could hear her mother’s voice telling her “Ava Marie, do what you know is right.”
Ava knew the right thing to do was to go and see about her father, despite the strain in their relationship. She sighed as she looked up to the Heavens. “Mom, I’m only doing this for you because you would want me to. And for no other reason.”
She rummaged through her closet and found her luggage. Opening the bags, she began to throw clothing into the suitcase. She had no choice but to go to Conner and see about her father. It wasn’t how she would choose to spend her weekend, but life didn’t often ask you how you wanted things to work out.
Chapter 4
Ava sent Lindsey and Lisa an email describing what was happening. Ava had one hundred percent faith in the two women that they would conduct business professionally at Ava M. Consultants in Ava’s absence. Both ladies promised Ava that they would take care of business while she handled her personal family business. Ava woke up early the next morning and packed a few bags. Her mantra was that it was better to over pack then to not pack enough. She charged her phone and all of her electronic devices before leaving the house. She didn’t anticipate being gone for more than about three or four days at the most.
Lindsey had called that morning and they agreed that she would go out to represent t
hem on all of the upcoming appointments. Fortunately, Lindsey was familiar with all of their clients so it wouldn’t cause too much of an issue. Ava couldn’t remember a time when she had ever missed work and she felt bad about having to go out of town. Lisa and Lindsey assured her that things would be fine and that Ava would be notified of everything via email or phone call.
It was nearly a four hour drive to Conner and Ava prepared to leave around six in the morning. She would stop by her childhood home first and put down her bags and then she would go to the hospital. Ava paused in thought for a moment. She hadn’t considered whether or not her father wanted her to stay at the house. True enough, she still had a key to the house, but she hadn’t set foot in the home in over fifteen years. A part of her was nervous about showing back up in Conner.
She’d left that life behind so many years ago. Ava threw all of her belongings in the car and she and Dolce hopped in the car and readied for their road trip.
As she made her way down the highway, Ava turned on some music to relax. She sang aloud to a few Katy Perry songs before she decided to turn off the music and drive for a bit in silence. It wasn’t often that she had silence in her world. It was usually filled with ringing phones, constant emails, and business lunches with picky clients. She loved her career and she wouldn’t change a thing about her path to success. She had a supportive group of friends, she was a respected business woman, and she had everything that she’d always dreamed of.
The only thing that she was missing was a love life. She didn’t have time to date seriously. She was always on the road styling celebrities and when she wasn’t on the road, she was schmoozing at parties with the elite so that she could keep her name on the lips of the rich and famous.
Bobby T was a great guy. They met at a party thrown by one of her clients. He was perfect- for someone else. Try as she might, Ava just didn’t feel any passion between them. It was strange because he was an attractive man, inside and out, but Ava couldn’t force herself to feel something that she didn’t naturally feel.
She was a true romantic at heart. Ava always envisioned herself meeting the man of her dreams and him sweeping him off her feet effortlessly. He would buy her flowers just because and leave her little notes around the house with cute little sayings on them that told her how much he loved her. They would kiss and electricity would run all through her body all the way to her fingertips. And when they would make love, they would melt into one another’s bodies as if they were one person.
Ava knew that it would be hard to find a love like the one she envisioned. It seemed nearly impossible in a world of people that seemed okay with purely lust driven relationships that were destined to fail from the start. Most men that she met in the industry weren’t into long term relationships or monogamy. Ava knew that she would have to be strict on her standards in order to find the type of man she wanted. That was the reason that she needed to break up with Bobby T. There was no future in their relationship and she didn’t want to lead him on at all anymore.
Ava had been waiting for the right moment to break up with Bobby and she knew that it would have to be a priority when she returned to Atlanta. There was no way that she could continue to date him knowing that there was absolutely no chance that she would fall in love with him. Ava always thought that falling in love should be something spontaneous and natural. You shouldn’t have to work at it and it should seem as basic as breathing or blinking.
Dolce sat quietly curled up on the front seat as Ava made her way down the highway. She had at least another three hours to go until she made it to Conner. She turned up the music again because she didn’t want to sit and think anymore too deeply. She would just have to deal with what was to come when she got to Conner.
After stopping a few times to walk Dolce and to get her obligatory morning coffee, Ava arrived in Conner a little after ten in the morning. The familiarity of a town that she once knew stared her in the face. A sense of being home enveloped her, but she still felt like an outsider.
Not much had changed since she left. Of course there was a Walmart now on Main Street and there was a Dollar Store on the main road, but everything still looked the same. Conner looked like a town right out of a movie. City Hall sat in the middle of town with a sprawling fountain in the front and there were not too many stop lights on the streets. It was more of a four way stop sign type of town.
There was only one high school and there was one highway that brought you in and out of town. Most of the residents had lived there their entire lives and their families had been there for generations. The sheriff still ate at Mattie’s Diner and Mattie’s family still owned the diner. Mattie was too old to stay on her feet all day, so she took to greeting customers and continuing to be the friendly face that everyone expected to see when they came to the diner to get a bite to eat.
Ava couldn’t help but smile as she drove down Main Street. She was home and she couldn’t deny that it felt good. As she sat at one of the only stop lights in town, she looked over to her right as a pick-up truck pulled up alongside of her. He stared at Ava while she sat in her red E550 Benz wearing Gucci shades. She knew that no one would readily recognize her because she had colored her brunette hair to blonde several years ago. Dolce stood up in the seat at the window and started barking.
“Dolce! Sit!” Ava calmed Dolce down and gave a polite smile and wave at the older gentleman in the truck. He nodded and tipped his hat, still wearing a scowl on his face. Ava knew not many people in Conner drove luxury cars. Not that there weren’t people that lived there that couldn’t afford it, but it just wasn’t that type of place. People didn’t have to drive around in expensive cars to impress anyone because no one was impressed by wealth and status much in Conner. The Conner family, for which the town was named, was a family that owned much of the land in the area. The family still owned a dairy farm and they were very well respected. Other than the Conner clan, there were a few families that had old money like the Beiderman family and the Carters.
A chill went up Ava’s spine because she hadn’t thought of the Carter family in ages. Those memories had been buried a long time ago. She hadn’t thought of Christian Carter since the last time she’d seen him when he came to Atlanta to visit her a few years after she left Conner. Ava swallowed the lump in her throat because she didn’t want to think about Christian right now. Christian had made it clear years ago where the two of them stood and he hadn’t hesitated to walk away from her so as far as she was concerned, he wasn’t deserving of the energy she had to put forth thinking of him. She had enough to deal with having to go the hospital to see about her father. The last thing Ava needed right now was a trip back down memory lane thinking of Christian.
Chapter 5
When Ava pulled up to her childhood home, it somehow looked smaller than she remembered. It had once been her entire world. As she got out of the car, she waved to her neighbor Ms. Stanton who was outside watering her lawn in the early morning.
Ms. Stanton paused before waving. “Well now, Ava Marie. It’s good to see you.” Ms. Stanton turned off the water hose and approached her. Dolce jumped out of the car and danced around in the front yard, only after stopping to sniff the neighbor’s sandaled feet.
“Good to see you too, Ms. Stanton.”
“Guess you are home to see about your father. That’s wonderful.” Ms. Stanton spoke her comment so that all of her words rolled together in one breath.
“I am,” Ava said as she closed the car door. She saw Ms. Stanton staring at it on the sly.
“Looks like you been doing well for yourself up there in Atlanta. And you colored your hair. But you still have the prettiest blue green eyes like your mother did. Lord and with the freckles and dimples, you are looking more and more like Marie.” Ms. Stanton finally took a breath and sighed at the end of her statement. She stared at Ava.
“Like I said, it’s wonderful to see you, Ava Marie. I know your daddy’s going to be happy to see you. I’ve been getting the mail for h
im and looking after the house. Let me know if there is anything you need me to help you with.” Ms. Stanton turned to start walking away. Ava wondered how old her neighbor was. Ms. Stanton walked with a bit of stiffness in her step. She stood there with a flowered pair of capri pants, sandals and a pink shirt with matching pink visor. She was always older than Ava’s parents. Marie and Reginald had Ava when they were in their late thirties after years of miscarriages. Ms. Stanton had always been motherly towards Ava’s mother Marie and when Marie had died of cancer, Ms. Stanton had taken it hard like she had lost a daughter of her own.
“Oh, and it’s so interesting how you kids return to town. I guess you’d been interested to know that Christian Carter had come home recently as well.” When Ms. Stanton spoke, she still had her back turned to Ava and she had gone back to watering her lawn. She spoke as though she was uninterested in what she was saying herself. When she finished her statement, she simply threw her hand in the air and waved again to Ava, who knew that it meant that the old lady was done speaking and the conversation was over.