by Jillian Hart
“I’m not avoiding him.” It wasn’t true but she wanted it to be. “Fine, I just avoided him for the day. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow.”
“He’s supposed to be this great guy. Wasn’t he this year’s most eligible bachelor or something?”
“Let’s not talk about him.” She glanced around the table to see if everyone was straining to listen. They were. “Later, okay?”
Katherine spoke up. “Didn’t you do a wedding cake for Brice’s sister?”
“Yeah. Just.” Like she wanted to talk about it? This was the downside of being in a big family. Nothing was secret for long. “He’s the contractor doing the renovation.”
Spence leaned in. “You mean it’s his company doing the renovation. He’s not doing the actual work. He’s an owner.”
“No, he’s like the on-site manager guy. Trust me, he had a hammer and everything.” She hedged because everyone in her family but Aubrey was way too eager to marry her off. “Chloe recommended the company.”
It didn’t look like anyone at the table was fooled by that.
Katherine passed her hunky fiancé a platter of mozzarella sticks. “I thought Brice Donovan was engaged.”
“No,” Aubrey dragged a zucchini slice through a puddle of dip. “I read in the paper over a year ago that she called it off. The wedding was cancelled something like two days before it was supposed to happen. That had to be very hard for both of them.”
Ava couldn’t seem to swallow. The part of her that was afraid of getting close to him wanted to use this new piece of news as a reason to keep away from him. He’d already had one failed relationship. He was probably at fault, and she didn’t need some flawed guy, right? On the surface, it sounded like the best reasoning.
But she knew it wasn’t. Brice was a good guy—that much was clear. The real question was, how far down did that kindness go? Was it superficial, or the real thing?
The cracked pieces of her heart ached with a wish she couldn’t let herself voice. Brice had a lot of redeeming qualities, so what? She had to resist. What she had to do was clear every thought of him from her mind. His every image from her memory. No more thoughts of Brice Donovan allowed.
“Good evening, McKaslin family,” said a familiar voice behind her. Brice’s voice.
Of course.
Why did it have to be him? She felt as if she’d been hit with the debris from a fast approaching tornado. She couldn’t outrun it, escape it and there was no hope of avoiding it as Brice Donovan stepped into sight.
To her surprise her brother stood, nodding a greeting. “Good to see you again, Brice. Would you care to join us, or are you here with your family?”
“With family. It’s my mother’s birthday, but thanks for the invite. I just spotted Ava and I thought I’d come over. Let her know a few things about the job today, if she’s got time before her meal arrives.”
Ava could feel the power of his presence, stronger than the earth’s gravity holding her feet to the floor. “Do I have time?” she asked her twin.
“I ordered for you,” Aubrey explained. “Take your phone and you two go talk. I’ll call you when the meal arrives.”
Okay, it sounded like a good plan, but there was a downside here—did she want to be alone with Brice? No. Was she mentally prepared to be alone with him? Not a chance.
She grabbed her plate and her phone and followed him to the more casual patio area, where there were plenty of tables available. Brice nodded toward one of the waiters, who gestured to a set of unoccupied tables along the railing.
“I was hoping to catch you tomorrow morning.” Brice was entirely too close as he leaned to pull out a chair for her. “But seeing you charge through the restaurant a few minutes ago seemed like a sign. I hope you don’t mind the intrusion.”
“Nope.” What she minded was being alone with him. How was she going to hold onto her policy now? She caught a hint of his spicy aftershave. “After all, we’ve agreed to be friends.”
“Exactly.” He smiled his killer smile, the one with the dimples.
Did he know what that did to a woman? It made every innocent, friendly thought vanish and the ones about sweet romance and marriage proposals surge forth like a hurricane hitting shore. That part of her, which always panicked when she got too close to anyone new, started to tremble.
There was no need to panic. This was only business, right? Except as he helped her scootch her chair up to the table, it definitely didn’t feel friendly.
He took the chair across the table from her, and a girl might think that would be safer, with the span of the table between them, but somehow he seemed closer. Much too close.
Don’t wish, she reminded herself and bit into a zucchini slice. “If it’s bad news about the renovation, you can’t just spring it on me. It’s best to work up to it. Want some?”
“Sure.” He grabbed a coated, deep-fried slice and crunched into it. “I have some suggestions for changes for the finished woodwork. What Rafe drew up for you is nice, but it’s plain.”
“It’s what I can afford.”
“You can afford this, too.” He took another slice. His manner was casual, his overall tone was friendly, but there was something intense beneath the surface, something that hadn’t been there before. “I think you’ll be happier with it. It won’t add any time if I get started now. I mostly do the jobs with custom woodwork.”
“I’m still trying to picture that. I know, I’ve seen you with a tool belt, but it doesn’t still compute.” She said this without thinking and watched his face harden. Not in a mean way, but guarded, like she’d struck a sore spot. “Don’t get me wrong. There’s a lot of integrity working to perfect a craft and doing your best. It’s how I justify my baking. But I look at you and think, white-collar professional.”
“It’s a big issue in my family right now. My mom and dad have always just assumed I’d step into place at the family business and take over the firm when Dad’s ready to retire. And he’s starting to think about it, so they’re starting to get serious.”
“Aren’t they supportive of what you’re doing now?”
“They’re tolerating it.”
“I can’t imagine that.” Ava dragged a zucchini slice through the dip and bit into it. “My family is everything to me. I would be nothing without them.”
“You seem tight with your sisters.”
“Yeah. I’d never be able to open my own bakery without my family’s help. I got my business loan from my grandmother—talk about fear of failure. I don’t want to let her down. And Spence helped me with my business plan and buying the property. My sisters are helping me with the finishing stuff. Katherine took me to all the flea markets and swap meets and secondhand stores in the state, I think, and we got a bunch of bistro tables and chairs that Aubrey is refinishing for me in her studio. My stepsister Danielle has promised to make the window blinds and valences. That kind of thing. And that’s not including the pep talks when I need them.”
“So, they’ve got a lot of confidence in you. It must be nice to have the people you love most wanting what will make you happy.”
“It is.” Ava’s eyes shone with emotion and she dunked her zucchini into the dip. “It’s also a lot of people to disappoint. Something I could never stand to do.”
He could see that about her. Brice’s throat tightened. “I can’t stand how much this has upset my parents either. It’s been a huge strain on our relationship.”
“They want the best for you, though?”
He could see from the hopeful trust in her eyes that she didn’t understand. “They do. I know they love me, but the truth is, I’m not what they hoped for in a son. I wrestled with it for a long time. I tried things their way, but I’m not cut out for spending a day in an office, investing other people’s money. I like the work I do, but they see it as too blue collar.”
“And that would be wrong because…?”
He swallowed his embarrassment over his parents. They were too set in their ways
and opinions to change. He tried to dismiss the pain behind it, and the weight of his father’s disappointments. His father who was a good, loving dad. Love and family were always complicated. “Dad thinks I’m not going to be happy unless I have a white-collar career, but I think it’s the appearance thing. They care too much what other people think.”
“It’s hard to know other people think you’re a dope or a loser. It has happened to me too many times to count. I’ve become sort of numb to it.”
He choked down a hoot of laughter. She said it with a twinkle in her eyes. She always surprised him. “Exactly. I’ve become a little numb on this subject, where my parents are concerned. My mom is still holding out hope I’ll come to my senses and go to law school or medical school. Or into the seminary.”
“I can’t picture you doing any of that. I’m sure you’d be good at any profession you chose, but you can only be yourself. Who God meant you to be.” She lowered her gaze and stared hard at the table’s surface between them. “At least, that’s what my older sister keeps telling me.”
“She’s right.”
He considered the woman across from him, with her blond hair windblown and going every which way. She was lovelier every time he saw her. Today her cheeks were slightly flushed from what he guessed to be a busy day. She had that breathless look about her. Her words had been rolling around in his head all day. It’s an iron-clad, non-negotiable no-man, no-dating policy.
He couldn’t give up hope completely. Business first. And when the renovation was done, then he’d see where he stood with her.
At that exact moment her cell rang. She checked it and turned it off. “It’s Aubrey. Food’s served. I’m sorry, but I’m starving.”
He stood to help her with her chair. “You’ll stop by tomorrow when I’m there so I can show you what I have in mind?”
“I can do that.”
“No more drive-by bakings?”
“Now, I can’t promise that.” She swished away.
She was so small and fragile, so whimsical and feminine, that a vibrant, steel-like emotion came to life in his heart, overtaking him. He watched her go with a mix of care and affection. He really liked her.
She stopped at the end of the row of tables. “Oh, I forgot to ask about the muffins. Did the men like them?”
“The monsters were the hit of the day.”
She flashed him her brightest smile, the one that showed her dazzling spirit. The one that caught his heart like a hook on a line and dug deep. The hook did not leave as she walked away with her gait snapping and her golden hair swaying across her back. Even when she was out of his sight it remained, inexplicably.
Without Brice Donovan anywhere around, it was like a thousand times easier to remember her policy. Later that day, Ava jammed her Bible study materials into her tote and heaved it off the floor. The classroom in the church’s auxiliary building was pleasant and serene, but then she always felt peaceful after spending an hour in fellowship, studying her Bible. She was focused and calm and everything seemed clear.
Aubrey fell in beside her and they trailed the small crowd filing out the door. “I’m in the mood for chocolate. Want to stop by the ice creamery and pig out on sundaes?”
“Like I would ever think that was a bad idea.” Really. Did Aubrey even have to ask? She staggered under the weight of her mammoth bag. She was really going to have to find the time to go through it and clean it out—not that she was skilled at stuff like that. “I need sustenance if I’m going to be able to face my day tomorrow. It’s jam-packed.”
“You remembered we were going to babysit for Danielle, right?” Aubrey waited a beat before rolling her eyes. Their stepsister was happily married with two great kids. “It’s okay. Don’t even bother. I’ll babysit and you’ll do it next Friday. I’ve got that church retreat thing. So, tomorrow’s packed?”
“It’s just that I got this referral from Chloe’s wedding. It was Brice, really—”
“Ex-boyfriend alert,” Aubrey cut in, although by the interested lift of her eyebrows she’d caught the Brice reference. “It’s Mike, directly ahead, in the hall.”
They were still safely stuck in doorway of the classroom, in a small queue, but she was definitely visible. Ava could feel his smug gaze sweeping over her. She didn’t have to look to know he had some poor clueless woman hanging on his arm. Two years ago, she’d been there, believing the stories he told about what a moral Christian guy he was on the surface.
Unfortunately, his supposed values were pure fabrication, and every time she spotted him she felt beyond foolish. Yep, even years later, her nose was turning glowing strawberry red again. Why couldn’t she have noticed right away that he wasn’t what he seemed? It was her fault-blindness. She just couldn’t see the big glaring signs of trouble that other people could.
“That poor woman,” Aubrey said with sympathy and kindness. Good, gentle Aubrey never made a fool of herself and never made any mistakes at all, much less mistakes of gargantuan proportion. “I’m going to add both of them to my prayers. She’s bound to be heartbroken one day.”
Just like I was. Ava could still feel the crack in her heart from him. “I’ll pray for her, too.”
She purposely didn’t look ahead down the hall, so she wouldn’t have to see him. Or to remember she’d really fallen hard for Mike. Discovering who he really was had been tough.
“And there’s Ken.” Aubrey grabbed Ava’s wrist and steered her toward the far wall. “No, don’t look up.”
Great. Ken was probably with someone, too. He’d been the chef who, on the third date, said he’d waited long enough and tried to take liberties. She’d accidentally broken two fingers on his right hand when she’d bolted from the passenger seat of his car and slammed his hand in the door.
Really, did she look like the kind of girl who said one thing and did another?
No—it was some men. See? It went right back to them. They needed to think faithful, pious thoughts. Study their Bibles even more. She was really starting to get disillusioned about men. All men.
What about Brice? a little voice asked—a voice that seemed to come straight from her heart.
What about him? So, he’d been a gentleman so far, but wasn’t that the problem? How deep did the gentleman thing go? She’d been fooled too many times by how a man seemed. So, he was Mr. Eligible Bachelor. Did that mean he was really good at fooling others? Or was he truly a good man, soul-deep?
Well, if she was interested in him, maybe that was a sign right there. Ken and Mike were excellent examples of her flaw-blindness. What if she was doing the same exact thing with Brice? If the man was interested in her, as time had proved over and over again, there had to be something wrong with him.
It was as simple as that. And if the tiny hope in her heart wished for more, that he truly was what he seemed, did she risk finding out? Face it, she didn’t have Aubrey’s quiet beauty or her sister Katherine’s classic poise. She’d driven her own mother away.
Don’t think about that. She squeezed the pain from her heart. Erased the thought from her mind. Purposefully turned her thoughts from her failures and to her business. Her shop. She had more sketching to do tonight when they got home. And breakfast treats to bake for the construction dudes.
Maybe she’d do a batch of scones. She’d lose herself in the kitchen. Baking always made everything right. Baking made her problems and failures turn from shouts into silence.
There would be no dreaming. She’d lost too many dreams to waste them on what could never truly be. Brice had given her the perfect solution. He’d said he was happy to be friends. He didn’t want anything to complicate their business relationship, and she was going to hold him to it, whether her heart liked it or not.
Pleased with that plan, she led Aubrey out of the church hall and through the parking lot, beeped the SUV unlocked and headed straight to the ice creamery.
Chapter Seven
Brice climbed out of his truck and into the morning. The hiss of the s
prinkler system in the city park diagonally across the street provided enough background noise to drown out the faint hum of distant traffic. It was early enough yet that only an infrequent car motored down the nearby street. Birds took flight from the tree overhead when Rex hopped onto the sun-warmed blacktop. The parking lot was empty, except for them. He’d beat Ava here. Again.
Ava. Spotting her in the restaurant last night had given him a chance to clear the air. The only problem was, nothing felt clearer. Their agreement to keep it to business, sure, that was crystal clear. But his feelings for her became more complicated every time he was around her.
Lord, You know I’m in over my head. Please, I need some help. If it’s not too much trouble, show me the way.
As if in answer, he felt a shift in the calm peace of the morning. It was as if the nearly non-existent breeze had completely vanished, as if the world stopped spinning on its axis. As if for one nanosecond, the rotation of the earth ceased. Brice felt an odd prickling at the back of his neck. When he turned around, there she was.
Or, more accurately, there she was in her yellow SUV driving straight toward him. The morning light cut at an angle through her windshield, illumining her clearly. Those sunglasses were perched on her nose again, and the bill of the baseball cap—pink, today—framed her heart-shaped face. She whipped into the parking space closest to the front door. Right beside his truck.
Her nearness was like taking an unexpected punch to the chest. Brice rocked back on his heels from the impact. He watched her through the windshield as she chattered on her cell while cutting the engine, pulling the e-brake and gathering up her things.
Knowing there would be more bakery boxes and careens of coffee and spiced tea, he moved to help. Rex bounded ahead, whining in anticipation of being with Ava.
“I know just how you feel, buddy.” He scrubbed his dog’s head with his knuckles.
Her driver’s side door was open, but she’d turned away, still busy gathering her things and absorbed in her phone conversation. Her dulcet, cheerful tone was as soft as the morning breeze. “Yes, Madeline, I’d be happy to bring by my catalogue. If your client wants something unique, then I’m the right baker. I specialize in one-of-a-kind designs.”