by Lily Zante
Did he? Ava wondered, and forced a smile because there was nothing positive or truthful she could say in return. “I should get back,” she said, glancing at her watch. It was past 6pm—not too late but late enough. She’d been away from Elisabetta for hours and she wasn’t used to it.
“What’s the rush?” asked Andrea. “Stay a little longer. We still need to have dessert and coffee.”
Now that was a good idea. Besides, she’d called her mom a short while ago and everything seemed to be fine back home. She could stay for a little longer and be home in time to feed Elisabetta. No doubt her little one would be hungry, and Ava would need her to feed well, to relieve the ache in her breasts. She’d never gone this long before without feeding. “Dessert and coffee sounds great.”
So they ordered coffee and spent some more time on idle chit-chat. “Interesting character, Dino,” Ava mused.
“Interesting?”
“I expected to like him, based on what you’d told me about him.”
Andrea’s cheeks colored. “And you don’t?”
“He’s very defensive.”
“And you’re not?” Andrea asked. “I think you both got off on the wrong foot.”
“And now you’re getting defensive about him!” replied Ava, angling her head. She ran her fingertip around the lip of her cup. “Are you sure there’s nothing you want to tell me?”
“I have nothing to tell!” Andrea exclaimed, leaning back in her seat.
“He’s good-looking.”
“Who’s looking?”
“Hard not to notice,” continued Ava, watching her friend carefully. Andrea squeezed her eyes to slits and looked at her with suspicion. “You’re married to the perfect man and you—”
“I’m not looking, but I can’t deny it. If he wasn’t so pig-headed I’d encourage you to flirt back.”
“He’s not flirting with me!”
“He’s obviously taken with you, Andrea. You’re blind to it.” Ava sipped her coffee. “Which is why you can’t see that Leo seems kind of taken with you.”
“Leo is a colleague, a business partner. That’s it.” Andrea’s voice was so firm that Ava held back from insisting.
“I get that,” she said. “You both seem to be pretty comfortable around one another.”
“And so we should be,” declared Andrea, scratching the base of her neck. “He’s my business partner and nothing more than that.”
“Okay,” said Ava, taking the hint. She had already sensed that Andrea didn’t like to talk about her past, and so she didn’t bring up the American who’d been her last boyfriend. She might not ever find out what had caused this sudden shift in Andrea to be done with men and romance, but Ava had a feeling that the American had a lot to do with it.
“I don’t care what you think, Ava, whatever it is you and Nico are speculating about but it isn’t what you think.”
“Nico doesn’t speculate on these things.” Her husband didn’t have time to speculate about much that wasn’t to do with the hotel.
“Don’t forget to take a look through those catalogs,” said Andrea, changing the subject completely.
“I’ll have a look and get these back to you as soon as I’m done.” After the meeting, once Dino had left, Leo had dug up the supplier catalogues of some new manufacturers whom he and Andrea were looking to do business with. Even though the recent problem with the cribs was due to a mix-up with the orders numbers and nothing to do with a design fault, Ava was still hesitant about ordering from d’Este. Despite the fact that the d’Este static cribs were her bestsellers, she wasn’t too keen on Dino Massari at the moment.
“Keep them,” said Andrea. “I’ll order some more.”
“Thanks,” said Ava. “And now,” she looked around to catch the waiter’s attention. “I need to pay up and go.”
“You’re worried about Nico and the baby?”
“No. He’ll cope, but I’m interested to find out how his day went.”
About time too.
It would be good for him to find out what it was like being at home with a baby for longer than the few hours he spent with her each evening after a ‘hard’ day at work.
Andrea had been right all along. This was exactly what she’d needed, to get away for the day and to be back in the driver’s seat again, to be in control, an independent and working woman, not only a mother.
Chapter 17
She was later than he’d expected, when she finally returned home. Elisabetta lay on the bed beside him, happily gurgling away.
For once the colic hadn’t reared its ugly head and the evening had been calmer for it. Nico lay propped up on his elbow, stroking Elisabetta’s cheeks and lips and nose, and letting her tiny fingers try to grab his.
He looked up when Ava walked into the bedroom.
“You’re back?” He’d meant to say ‘hello’ but the words tumbled right out of his mouth.
“Yes.” She slid onto the bed, her attention solely on the baby. She lay on her stomach with her legs bent at the knees and her feet up in the air and peppered the baby’s face with tiny kisses. All at once Elisabetta, on hearing her voice and smelling her scent, started to wave her arms and kick her legs with glee. “Mommy’s back,” Ava made all manner of noises, getting Elisabetta even more excited.
“Don’t I get a welcome?” he asked.
A trace of a frown crossed her face; it was hard to miss. “Hi,” she said, turning to him.
Now it was his turn to frown. “Hi? Just ‘hi’? Don’t I get a kiss?” She looked good in that light grey skirt and jacket with a black satin blouse and her hair tied back in a beehive ponytail. She looked chic. In answer, she leaned forward and gave him a peck on the lips. It was better than nothing, even if he’d had to ask for it.
“How’s she been?”
“Good. She’s missed you,” he told her, when she lay back down again and turned her attention back to the baby. “She acted up earlier.”
“Was it colic?”
“No, it was all quiet on that front. She was hungry when she woke up earlier. She needed her milk right then and there.”
Ava smiled. “She wants it instantly. I need to feed her,” she said. “I’m almost at bursting point.” She shrugged off her jacket.
“How did it go?” he asked, eyeing her in that sexy blouse.
“It’s worse than I thought.” Her face turned serious. And slowly it all came out; the order mix-up, the child being hurt and the potential threat of a lawsuit.
He sat up on the bed and rubbed his hand across his forehead. “I didn’t know it was that bad. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wasn’t sure. I’ve been reading up about it, and it’s all happened so quickly but I think Leo is right. I think we’re all culpable, not just Dino. I think I need to go to Denver and fix what I can.”
“How can you fix anything?” He asked, a little louder than he’d intended. And what the hell did she need to go to Denver for?
“My customers are in the US. I sell only to the US and I’ve sold over two hundred of these cribs there. I need to get over there and sort this mess out.”
“When?”
“Soon,” she said, taking off her blouse and sliding on her nightshirt.
He felt his stomach muscles tightening. He didn’t like this plan of her and he wondered at the practicality of taking a baby with her. How much could she do with a baby to look after as well?
She picked the baby up and jiggled her around, cooing and grinning and rubbing her face against Elisabetta’s while he sat on the bed processing this latest development. “What is it that you’re most displeased about?” She asked, throwing him a stone cold look.
“It’s...just…that…Elisabetta’s still so young.”
“It’s not my choice to go right now, but a baby’s been injured and I have a lot of customers that I need to warn. The CPSC could have me over this.”
“Shouldn’t Andrea be doing something? And Leo?”
“We are,” sh
e replied, still looking at him coldly. “It affects all of us. We have to work together and Dino’s looking at the processes in his factory. It’s not a design fault but a stupid error that should have been picked up. Those cribs shouldn’t have even left his warehouse and frankly I’m shocked that they did. Unfortunately, it’s going to hit my business first because I’m the one who’s selling these cribs. This cribs are banned in the US, Nico,” her voice rose, as if he wasn’t quite getting it. “Maybe because they have immobilizers, the error didn’t get picked up so easily, but I could be looking at more customer complaints, and possibly more children being harmed. I really want to get there as soon as I can so that I can do whatever it takes, even if all I do is help Kim and Rona make phone calls.”
“I still don’t understand why you have to be the one leading it.”
“I’m not leading it. They’re doing what they need to. I sold these through my website and the customers, the first person these customers will sue is me. Not Andrea, not Leo, not Dino, but me.” She hugged Elisabetta tighter. “I can’t believe the way you’re reacting,” she said, her face contorting. “Is it too much to ask for a little sympathy? To get some reassuring words from you? All I wanted was for you to tell me it would be okay, and you can’t even do that for me.”
He jumped off the bed and strode towards her. “I—I just didn’t understand it—” He reached out for her but she stepped back, almost flinched from his touch. “Don’t. It doesn’t mean anything when you have to be told how to empathize.”
He’d been trying to tread carefully, not wanting to get into an altercation with her again but it was too late. With the baby still in her arms, she asked him, “If one of your workers fell off the scaffolding and hurt themselves, do you expect me to believe that you wouldn’t visit them? That you wouldn’t run off to Ravenna so fast without giving it another thought?”
“That’s different—”
“Why?”
With the raised voices, Elisabetta began to whimper. “Hush, baby,” murmured Ava, walking around and bouncing the baby as she did so.
“I hate arguing with you, Ava.”
“Then don’t do it.”
“I didn’t start it.”
She gasped out aloud and glared at him. “You don’t even know how you come across. Well let me tell you.” She jabbed a finger in the air at him, and he knew she was madder than mad. “You’re mad at me because I’ve been out all day and you’re mad because for once you were left with the baby and I could tell you weren’t too happy about it.”
He opened his mouth and stared at her with narrowed eyes. “That’s not true. It was unexpected, but I coped.”
“You coped?” She raised her eyebrow. “You coped? I cope every single day, Nico. I make it work with the baby and the store, and now this…this…this lousy crib problem which is the last thing I need. I could be staring at a potential lawsuit, don’t you get it? And that’s one customer. Who knows how many other children might get hurt because of me? What if a child dies? I’ll carry that with me forever.”
She wouldn’t be in this mess if she’d listened to him and taken time off to enjoy motherhood. He’d given her a privileged life and she had no real reason to work, but it would be the wrong thing to say to her now.
“I’m thinking of going to Denver next week. Connor says it will look much better if I’m proactive.”
Connor? His insides flared. “When did you speak to him?”
“Earlier today.”
“So you had a long lunch that turned into dinner almost with Dino and Leo and—”
Her blue eyes widened in amazement. “Andrea,” she said slowly. “It was only me and Andrea.” She stopped rocking the baby. “What’s the matter with you?”
Nothing was the matter with him.
“You having all these meetings with Ines,” she said in a tone that put him on high alert, “I’m supposed to be okay with that?”
“Ines?” He stared at her dumbfounded. “You’re…worried…about…about her?” The shock of her words hit him like a ton of bricks. He stepped towards her. “Ava, darling, don’t be so ridic—”
She stepped back. “Don’t darling me. I’m not worried about Ines, I’m being a total jackass like you.”
Elisabetta started to whimper.
“I’m sorry.” He felt like a real douchebag but she walked away. “Where are you going?”
“To feed her.”
“But I just fed her.”
“I need to feed her.” She walked into the nursery and sat down, opening her shirt and putting the baby to her breast. Elisabetta guzzled away contentedly and Ava closed her eyes, as if feeling relieved.
“I forgot,” he said, softly. “You hadn’t fed her all day. It must be getting uncomfor—”
“Just go, Nico.” She said, not opening her eyes. “Just let me be.”
Chapter 18
She felt his kiss first. Soft, and quick and her eyelids flew open. Nico’s face hovered over hers for a few seconds before he stepped away.
“What was that for?” She asked, feeling confused as she lifted herself up on her elbows and saw that he was sharply dressed and suited.
“Because I’m still crazy about you even though we seem to argue most of the time.” She watched him put on his jacket, quietly admiring the way his shirt hugged his back. Then she sat up, wanting to talk, wanting to dissolve this coldness between them. “You haven’t told me anything about your hotel,” she said.
“You weren’t in the mood for talking last night.”
“That’s not fair,” she shot back. “You weren’t exactly being an angel yourself.”
He straightened up his tie and gave her a look which had her heart melting. They never used to have many disagreements before and on the rare occasions when they did, the making up part of it was the best; rolling around in bed for hours. The ways things were between them now, the making up part never happened, and that was as much her fault as anyone’s.
“I was trying to be honest with you, Ava. It seemed odd to me that Dino makes the mistake and you’re the one who has to go abroad to fix everything.”
“Not again,” she said, hating that each time they talked it turned into bickering. “Sometimes what I want more is your support.”
“I don’t like the idea of you and Elisabetta going all the way there.”
“I’m going, and I don’t know how much more I can explain to you my reason for going.”
He winced, pursing his lips together, and she could see he was forcing himself to stay quiet.
“Is it still opening on time?”
“What do you care?” he replied, his voice was level but his tone seemed off. “You’re going to Denver.”
“I’m not going for the entire month,” she protested, growing irritated by his petulance. “I need to go. I wish you could understand. I can get everything done quickly and be back within a few weeks.” She didn’t expect it to take more time than that, at least she’d have started the ball rolling with CPSC. She had no real idea how long incidents such as these dragged on. “You’re not opening until the end of February and I will be back in time.”
She was trying to make everyone happy and was trying to take into consideration what mattered to him which was why it hurt so much when he couldn’t do the same for her.
“You’ve already made up your mind, Ava. So go.”
She was going but she didn’t want to leave knowing that things between them were sour because of it. She counted to ten quickly, hoping that she could prevent another bad start to their day. “You’re looking very smart today,” she declared. Whenever he wore a white shirt with a dark suit, it made him seem ten times more handsome than he already was; something about the contrast of the dark and light fabric against his olive complexion. She wasn’t sure what emotion was more dominant, the urge to run up to him and throw her arms around him or her desire to be totally pissed off at him for the rest of the day.
“I’ll be back late,” h
e said, grabbing his cell phone and slid it into his jacket pocket. “I’m going to Ravenna today. I already mentioned it to you.”
With Ines. Of course she remembered. “The photo shoot,” she said, her words dying to a whisper. No wonder he had taken so much time getting dressed. No wonder he looked so drop-your-panties gorgeous this morning. He left, walking out of their bedroom without so much as a backward glance at her.
She wasn’t jealous or worried about Ines, and knew she had no real reason to be, but she was still envious that he was driving her to Ravenna and back, that they’d have the whole day together while she was stuck at home. And because they’d parted on not-so-great terms, she felt justified in wallowing in her self-pity for a little while longer.
She sank back against her pillows and glanced at the alarm clock, making up her mind to lie in bed until Elisabetta’s cries woke her. She needed this quiet time to decide how she was going to plan the next few crucial weeks.
Going away now might not be such a bad thing after all. To put some distance between her and Nico might help put their relationship back together again.
“You’re going to Denver at a time like this?” Elsa stopped spreading marmalade on her toast.
“Yes, absolutely I am, and at a time like what, Mom?” She wondered if her mother and Nico were in cahoots together. Did neither of them take her business seriously?
“You know things aren’t going too well for Nico and that he’s under a lot of pressure.”
“So am I, Mom!” Why could no-one see that? She’d only just explained the crib problem to her mom but Elsa couldn’t understand why Ava was the one who had to fly to the US to deal with things and not Dino. “I’m not having an easy time of it either.”
“You need to see something,” her mother said and scurried out of the kitchen and returned a few seconds later. “This was lying in the living room yesterday,” she said, placing the paper on the table for her to see. “He doesn’t know I’ve seen it. But I’m sure this isn’t helping the situation. Poor Nico.”