by Dawn Martens
Opening it slowly, I peek my head inside. “Uh, hey, Jeff,” I say hesitantly.
His jaw clenches, and he nods. “Cameron, come in. Take a seat, and then you can start with why the fuck you broke my baby’s heart.” I gulp and do as he says.
“I don’t want a divorce from her. I love her,” I tell him.
He narrows his eyes at me. “Then why have you still been playing around with your side piece, huh? You say you love my daughter, but you can’t even remain faithful to her?”
I close my eyes for a moment before responding. “Jeff, once Ava and I went all in on this marriage, I never touched another woman.”
He tilts his head to the side, his dark brown eyes glaring at me. “Explain this then,” he says, throwing the same newspaper that Alana threw at me.
With a sigh, I place it on his desk in front of me. “That was taken out of context. I was summoned to Becky’s father’s house that night. I left, angry, and she followed me. She was upset and I decided to just go get something to eat with her. That’s it. She talked, but I didn’t even pay attention. She felt dizzy when we stepped outside, and she thought she was going to faint. It was instinct to help her. That’s it. There is nothing more to that.”
“The baby yours?”
“Hell no. I know who the father of her baby is, but it’s not mine, that’s for sure. I haven’t touched Becky in years. That’s the truth.”
He stares at me, and for a moment, I fear he’s going to grab his hunting rifle from the cabinet across the room and shoot me. But his face softens. “Well, then, I think you need to go set things right with Avalynn.”
“I’m trying, Jeff. I really am.”
“Well, try harder!” he booms.
I’m starting to get annoyed. “Everyone keeps telling me to try harder. What am I supposed to do, tie her to a chair and make her listen to me?”
“If that’s what it takes.” Jeff shrugs.
“I’ll try, Jeff. That’s all I can promise. Right now, though, the divorce business is over. It’s not happening. Once I tell my lawyer that Ava is pregnant, having my child, the divorce will be shelved until after the baby is born.”
“Well, that gives you lots of time, then,” he says. “Just so you know—if it wasn’t for Ava, you’d be dead.”
I stare at him, a little scared.
“Ava hid my guns. I went hunting a while back, had to borrow a rifle from my buddy. You get talking to Ava, and tell her I need my guns back.”
My eyes widen, and I just nod.
“Now, I’ve always liked you, but Loretta, not so much,” he tells me, and I have always known that. Although, over the last year, her opinion has obviously changed. “You need to make her listen. I know my Avalynn, she’s stubborn and puts up a good fight, but I have faith that you can make things right again.”
“I’ll leave her alone tonight. She was pretty pissed at me for having her arrested,” I tell him sheepishly.
Jeff bursts out laughing. “See, that’s step one. When Ava gets pissed, she explodes. After she explodes, she calms down and is finally rational enough to hear you out.”
“Good to know.”
I stand up and head to the door.
“If you give up, I’ll be disappointed in you, kid,” he tells me.
“Trust me. I’m not giving up.” And I mean that. I don’t care how long it takes. Ava is my wife, and she is carrying my child. I’m not giving them up, ever.
Chapter 16
1 year, 2 months of marriage
Cameron
I’m so fucking pissed. Ava has a fucking date tonight. I know I shouldn’t be pissed, considering I’m going out tonight myself. That’s the only reason I said yes to her having a date. I can’t tell her she’s not allowed when I’m out doing the same thing.
After I cancel my date with Reba, of course, she’s fuming mad, but I don’t care. Sleeping with her would have been a mistake. I know that now, because if she’s like this just because I cancelled the date, how would she be when I would never have her again?
I end up parked in front of the neighbor’s house across the street. I want to see the man Ava is having a date with tonight. Flipping open my laptop that was in my bag in the back seat, I turn on the camera feed so I can hear everything, too.
This feels highly stalkerish.
The headlights of a car coming down the street shine in my face, and I stare. This loser has a shitty car. Why is she interested in him? I watch him get out; he’s tall, scrawny, and is he wearing suspenders? Glasses, too. What the fuck, Ava?
This is the kind of guy she likes?
I turn up the volume on my computer when Ava opens the front door and walks out. “Hey, Robert,” she says, smiling shyly.
“Avalynn,” he says just as shyly back. “You sure this is okay? I know you’re married and all, so this just feels kind of weird,” he admits awkwardly.
“Don’t worry about it. He’s probably off screwing the shrew right about now. We’re just having a date, not a big deal.” I clench my fists. Hearing her say that makes me feel like total shit.
I wait for about an hour before I decide to look into the living room window. What I see pisses me off. Robert’s arm is around Ava’s shoulder, and I don’t fucking like it. I storm around the house and open the front door, which startles Ava.
Her brows scrunch up as she looks at me. “You’re home awfully early,” she states.
I shrug and look to Robert. “Hey, man, what’s up?”
He looks uncomfortable. I walk over and hold out my hand. “I’m Cameron, Ava’s husband.” I stress the word husband, and he pales a little before looking over to Ava.
“Uh, look, Ava, this whole thing is kind of weird. I’m just gonna leave. See you in class on Monday,” he says, bolting toward the front door.
I look over at Ava and see shock all over her face. “What the heck?” She looks back to me. “What was that about?”
I shrug. “Who knows?” I plop down on the couch beside Ava and smile. “Want to order a pizza?”
“Um, sure,” she agrees hesitantly.
“Great. I’ll order. Pick a movie. Something light, maybe romantic,” I tell her. Women love that stuff.
She looks at me in shock. “Wait, you want to eat a greasy pizza, which you hate, and watch chick flicks with me?”
“Yes, and I don’t hate pizza. I just can’t eat it as often as you do without destroying my work outs.” I wink at her.
“Uh, okay then.”
I watch Ava eat while watching the movie. She scrunches her nose up at the romantic stuff that all girls go gaga over. Did I do that to her? Did I ruin romance for her? She is waving her hands around and yelling at the actors. It’s adorable. She catches me smiling and mouths, “What?” at me.
“Nothing, just really enjoying this tonight.”
She smiles. “You big dork.”
There is a bit of sauce on the corner of her mouth, and I want to lick it off. That would probably freak her out, so I settle for wiping it away with my thumb instead.
“Um, thanks,” she says, giving me an awkward glance.
I’ve just realized I’m madly in love with her. I love every little thing about her. I even love how she tucks her feet under mine when they are ice cold. I want to jerk away, but it only eggs her on more. God, I love her. Now, how do I make her realize this?
Chapter 17
Present
Ava
I wake up feeling as if I’m gonna barf all over the place. I bolt out of bed, run down the hall, and into the bathroom, without even realizing someone is already in there, and empty my stomach out. After it’s empty, all I do is dry heave. This is awful. I hate it. I wish this was not happening right now. It’s then I realize that someone is the in the shower and sense them watching me.
Turning my head, I see Cameron, the curtain pulled back. His eyes are soft, looking at me. “You okay?”
Nodding, I take some toilet paper to wipe up my mouth. I flush, put the seat down, and go to the sin
k to brush my teeth. Thankfully, my parents have separate tanks for the toilets and showers, so the water temperature change doesn’t shock him.
After my second spit, Cameron finally closes the shower curtain to finish his shower. I rinse my toothbrush and leave the bathroom, locking the door for Cameron, in case someone else bursts in on him. I go back to my room and sit on my bed, mostly because I feel dizzy, but also because it was awkward in the bathroom. He didn’t just stick his head out; his entire, beautifully naked body was on display.
These stupid pregnancy hormones almost made me jump him, but I didn’t. Instead, I just brushed my teeth and left.
Once the dizziness passes, I get up and get dressed, throwing my hair up in a messy bun, since I don’t have time for a shower before my appointment.
I say a quick bye to Mom and Dad. Cameron is nowhere in sight as I head to the front door.
“Where you going?” I hear Cameron ask just before I open my car door.
I look up, and he’s standing at the end of the walkway, glaring at me.
“Um, I have a doctor’s appointment,” I tell him.
He narrows his eyes at me. “You didn’t think to let me know?”
“No,” I say simply, shrugging a shoulder.
He moves, coming around my car, straight at me, and snatches the keys from my hand. “Get in the car, other side,” he demands, moving me from my door.
I stare at him stupidly. “Huh?”
“Get in. We’re going to be late,” is all he says before opening my door and climbing in.
I grudgingly move to the passenger side and climb in. “Need directions,” Cameron says beside me as I buckle up.
I tell him, and we drive off in silence. How awkward is this?
“From now on, you tell me about these appointments. I am not missing any of them,” he says. “Am I understood?”
I bite the inside of my cheek. “Yeah,” I say quietly.
Turning away from him, I grab my phone to distract me. I search around on Facebook and see that Kristi posted a pic of herself with a new boyfriend. “Oh shit,” I say out loud.
“What it is?”
I show Cameron my phone, and his eyes go wide.
“I have to call Alana.”
“You sure about that?” Cameron asks hesitantly.
“If she knew about my boyfriend cheating on me, I’d want her to tell me right away.” He winces slightly at that as I put the phone to my ear.
“That reminds me, we have to talk.”
I shake my head at him. “No, we really don’t.”
He goes to say something more when I hear Alana pick up.
“Alana!” I say extremely loud. Maybe too loud.
“Ava, what’s up?”
“Um, shit, I hate doing this, but I know if it was the other way around, you’d tell me.”
“Uh, okay?”
“Bryce is cheating on you,” I blurt.
Alana chuckles. “No, babe, he’s not.”
“But, he’s dating my best friend. I just saw pictures,” I say, confused.
“Kristi?” she asks in a shocked voice.
“Yes, Kristi, my bestie, the girl I’ve told you about.”
“Oh no. Think I can come visit you this week at some point? We need to talk. And you can’t talk to Kristi about this,” she says quickly.
“Yeah, sure, but I don’t know. I like Bryce. You know this, always have, and Kristi is my best friend.”
“Please, Ava, it’s not what you think. I really just need to talk with you.”
“Okay, fine. Wednesday?”
I click off my phone and stare at it in shock. How can she be okay with this? I’m so confused.
“What did she say?” Cameron asks.
“She knows and said she’ll explain when she comes to visit this week.” I roll my eyes and look away from him. Everything still feels so raw.
“Don’t let other people’s issues get between what we have.”
“What do we have, Cameron? If you can, explain it to me.”
“I know I love you and that I want us to be a family. Isn’t that enough, Ava?”
“I don’t know…” He’s hurt me so much. I’m not sure if my heart can take it, us trying to work out. I look into his eyes. I’ve loved him for so long. I’ve also hated him at times, but I’ve always wanted him. It’s just so hard.
Cameron
We drive the rest of the way to the doctor’s office in silence. I can tell this whole Alana and Bryce thing is bothering her. I’d say something to maybe make it better for her, but I’m afraid anything I say right now, she’ll turn it around on me.
I pull into the parking lot, and Ava already has her seat belt off. When she looks up to see where I parked, she snorts. “Seriously? You still do that?”
“Of course.” If I can’t pull straight through a spot, I don’t bother parking, especially in busy lots. I hate backing out of spaces.
She shakes her head and gets out of the car. I follow her into the building, watching her ass move with each step. What I wouldn’t give to put my hands on her right now. I could make her see that she’s mine, and that I’m hers. Always.
I take a seat as she goes to the counter to check in, and then I grab a magazine that’s on the little table beside me. Before I can flip through the pages, her name is called and we head on back to the room.
“Okay, Ava, lie back now. We’re going to see how far along you are,” Dr. Griggs says.
She lies back, and I watch as the doctor puts jelly stuff on her stomach.
“Sorry it’s so cold. My nurse didn’t put this one in the warmer this morning,” he says. He moves the stick around on her stomach, coming up with nothing. “Well, it looks like you are too early to hear the heartbeat right now. So I’m going to send a request off to the lab tech to see about getting you in for an ultrasound to determine your dates.”
“Okay, when would that be, do you think?” Ava asks him.
“You should get a phone call within a week or so, and they’ll give you a date.” He wipes the stuff off her stomach and helps get her sitting back up. He starts going over different testing they could do to detect birth defects and other issues, but also says since she’s still so young, that it’s her choice.
The minute he talks about a giant needle being poked into her stomach, Ava’s face turns pale. “No, no, I’m good. We’ll skip that.” The doctor chuckles at how fast she says that.
“Okay, well, looks like I won’t need to see you again for six weeks. After that, it will be once a month, then once you hit thirty weeks, we’ll see you every two weeks. Once you reach thirty-five weeks, I’ll need to see you once a week.”
“Thank you, Dr. Griggs,” Ava says to him.
“My job,” he returns with a smile. “I’ll give you some privacy and let you get dressed. When you’re done, just go on out to the front desk, and Jackie will give you your next appointment card and the paper you will need for the ultrasound.”
Ava silently gets off the bed and gets dressed, asking me to turn around. I almost tell her to suck it up, because she’s my wife, but I don’t. Not right now anyway.
“I’ll just step out then,” I tell her.
I close the door behind me, and I see her doctor walk toward the next room. “Wait up for a moment.”
“What can I do for you?” he asks me with a smile.
“Sex,” I blurt out. I didn’t mean to just blurt it out.
He chuckles at my embarrassment. “Sex is perfectly fine. As her stomach grows, you might have to try a few different positions to figure out which is comfortable, but that’s it.”
“Uh, okay. Thanks, Doc,” I say, just as Ava comes out of the room dressed.
“Ava, just go up to the nurse’s station. She’ll have all your paperwork about the ultrasound ready for you, so you just have to wait for the phone call.”
She smiles at him and nods. I follow behind her. Now, I just need to figure out how I can get her alone to talk to her. I
’ve got to make her listen to me.
Chapter 18
Cameron
2 years into marriage
We get home from my business supper and Avalynn is quiet. She didn’t talk to me the rest of the evening, and every time I tried to put my arm around her or smile at her, she’d stiffen.
I even got glares from Alana Townsend and her friend all evening. Once they started to talk to Ava, it was like a freeze out had commenced. I was their target. I know Alana, over the last few months, has expressed she doesn’t want her father merging his company with mine, but I’m starting to think there is a whole other reason.
Ava quietly moves through the house and up the stairs. “Ava,” I call to her.
She stops and slowly turns around to look at me. “Yes?”
“Is something wrong?” I ask her.
“No, nothing, just tired,” she lies. I know she’s lying.
But I let it go. “Okay, well, have a good night,” I tell her.
“Yeah, you too,” she whispers, and I almost don’t hear it. Her voice sounds dead.
I watch her walk upstairs and lose sight of her when she walks down the hall. I thought she’d have fun tonight. I only take her to these dinners once in a while, but for the last year, I’ve been taking her to almost every single one of them.
I want her around me all the time. I’ve even stopped going on dates with other women, hoping to win Ava. Nothing is working. We spend all our free time together. We hang out, we talk; we watch movies and have the occasional food fight.
Last week, we went to my mom’s together, and I thought we were getting somewhere. But tonight, after she came back to the table after using the washroom, she was different. I knew she was bored with work talk, but this was different. Every smile was fake, and she didn’t speak to me for the rest of the night or throw her two cents in on any topic, like she was doing before she left the table.
I go to the kitchen, pour myself a drink, and take the glass up with me to my room. I stop just outside of Ava’s, listening at her door. I don’t hear anything except her clicking at her computer. I keep moving to my room, shut my door quietly, and sit on my bed.
How do I show her I want her? What more can I do?