Sophie elbowed Dan in the stomach. A scold in her voice. “You can’t ask that now.”
“I just did.” Dan rubbed his stomach. “It’s smart to have a plan B.”
Ava watched Kyle weave through the crowd, a quick pause and handshake for a friend. A smile for another acquaintance. He never fully stepped out of his personal space. But he’d let Ava in. She yanked her gaze away. Kyle was so much more than a fallback plan.
“She won’t need one when she wins.” Confidence bolstered Mia’s voice.
“Dan is probably right.” Ava switched the water bottle from one hand to the other. She’d never imagined the impossible being possible. She’d never believed she might fall in love. She’d been too busy immersed in the contest. Plan B hadn’t ever been a consideration. “I’ll make a new plan after the results are announced.”
Dan looked concerned. “No matter what the results, you’re a winner, Ava. Don’t forget that.”
“Do you know something we don’t?” Mia confronted Dan.
“How would I know anything?” Dan countered. “I arrived with you guys.”
“Dan hasn’t ever put all his eggs in one basket,” Rick said. “Since he was a kid.”
Except for his marriage, Ava added in silence. Dan had regretted his decision ever since. Now Dan had Plans A through D for any given situation. He was only looking out for Ava. Reminding Ava, if she didn’t win, she had options. The future she wanted could still be hers. She stepped forward and wrapped Dan in a hug. “You’re my plan B.”
Dan peeled her arms off him like she’d doused herself in bug spray. “I’m your partner and best friend. I can’t be your Plan B, too.”
Iris raised her hand. “Dan, can you be mine?”
“What about mine?” Mia asked. Her grin refused to be contained.
“You’re engaged, Mia. Wyatt is all your plans A through Z. Iris, you don’t want me.” Sophie lifted her hand along with Karen. Dan dragged his palms across his face. “For the record, I wasn’t offering to be anyone’s plan B.”
“Never mind.” Ava shoved Dan in the chest. “I didn’t want you as my Plan B anyway. I have your dad.”
Dan shook his head. “He won’t do it. My dad has this thing about people living their own lives.”
Ava set her hands on her hips. “You’re making me come up with my own plan B?”
“I have to come up with my own. Therefore, you do, too.” Dan gave her a one-arm hug more like the hardy shake of a coach with a player. “Seriously, Ava, when you win, can you buy me new seat covers for my truck?”
Ava rested her head on his shoulder for a quick minute. Long enough to remind herself of their friendship and his steady support. “I’ll buy seat covers for the front and back seats.”
“Hey, Kyle has the microphone.” Iris squeezed Ava’s arm on her way toward the stage. “I better get up there in case he needs something.”
Ava walked over to her mom and took her mom’s hand. Her friends gathered around them.
This was the moment. She had no plan B.
Kyle welcomed everyone to the finale party, and his next words shifted to a buzz inside Ava’s head. Nerves crisscrossed around her spine.
This was her everything plan.
She inhaled, squeezed her mom’s hand, exhaled. Nothing loosened inside her.
Barbra accepted the microphone from Kyle. Ava’s nerves buzzed louder than Barbra’s voice inside her head.
She only had to hear one thing: her name.
Barbra congratulated both finalists. Commended them for their diligent work, time and effort. She offered an olive branch to the runner-up with the chance to enter again next year.
A scream built inside Ava. Yelling “get on with it” wouldn’t earn her any extra credit. But would offer an ideal relief valve for the pressure mounting beneath her skin.
Ava locked her gaze on Kyle standing beside Barbra. As if Kyle was her plan all along.
Barbra locked in the suspense. “And the winner of the first annual Kyle Quinn’s Next Best Inventor Contest is...”
Everything blurred around Ava in that time-stalled pause.
Barbra rushed on. “The winner is Grant O’Neal.”
Time fast-forwarded as if intent to make up those lost minutes.
Ava lost the contest.
Lost the money.
Lost the chance for a different future.
Her mom’s voice, clear and soft, shifted through her. “I love you, Ava. I’m so proud.”
Ava set her head on her mom’s shoulder for one quick moment. Long enough to gather herself and stand.
The voices of her friends hummed around her like a white-noise machine set on blaring. Ava accepted hugs and pats on the back. The image of her future dimmed and faded as if someone turned out the lights. Kyle and Grant stood together on the stage, surrounded by congratulations, confetti and photographers. Kyle shook Grant’s hand for a round of photos.
Ava wanted Kyle’s arms around her. Wanted to lean against him. Wanted to find her future in his embrace. But they’d never discussed anything beyond this night. Never confessed any deep emotions or made promises. He hadn’t asked her to be his future. She couldn’t expect that now that she’d lost.
Kyle wasn’t her plan B.
She’d always made her own plans. Always relied on herself. Loving Kyle wouldn’t change that.
The photographs dwindled, allowing Grant and Kyle to step off the stage.
Ava braced herself and stiffened her spine. Her mother hadn’t raised her to be a poor loser. No force was required for her to smile at Grant.
Grant picked her up in a bear hug. “Should’ve been you, Ava.”
“It’s your moment, Grant. Accept it and enjoy.” She stepped out of his embrace. “You deserve this and so much more.”
“So do you.” He looked into her eyes, his voice intense.
Nikki James tapped his shoulder and requested a statement.
Grant hugged Ava and whispered, “I’ll keep her away from you.”
He led Nikki James toward the bar. Even in his moment of victory, Grant watched out for Ava. She wouldn’t have wanted to lose to anyone else.
Kyle stepped beside her. He kept his hands stuck in his pockets, his gaze directed toward the crowd. “You okay?”
“I will be.” She forced her smile to remain in place and shoved the doubt out of her voice. “This was fun, a good diversion. But we both know I’m not an inventor and this isn’t my life.” She pressed her lips together, afraid of the wobble in her voice. Her life never included cash windfalls and falling in love.
“Your life is more than this contest,” he said.
So was his. Their lives had intersected for this one moment. She understood that one moment wasn’t a future together. “I should get my mom home. I’m back to work tomorrow night.” Back to her real life. The one with patients, bills and no Kyle.
“Can I walk you out?” he asked.
Ava watched another reporter weave around the guests toward them. “No. You should remain up here. Enjoy the moment with Grant.”
“Ava,” Kyle said. A plea circled through his voice.
Ava met his gaze. She saw regret looking back at her. Was it for her second-place finish or something else? She was too scared to ask. Too afraid of the truth. “Thanks for this chance.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow.” His voice dropped to a whisper before he twisted and blocked the reporter from reaching Ava.
Ava turned and bumped into Barbra.
“This isn’t the end for you or your idea.” The older woman wrapped her in an embrace. “Go home and take the night to process. Then you call me.”
“Thank you.” Ava held on to Barbra, wanting to absorb the woman’s confidence. “I never expected to learn so much.” Or to hurt so much.
“You have a
product that should be made available to the public.” Barbra squeezed Ava’s shoulders. “I believed before and I still believe it now.”
“I’m not sure I’m cut out for this world,” Ava admitted. This was only a contest. How would she have a meeting with a corporate board and stand through a face-to-face rejection? She wanted to crumple onto the couch now. “I’m better in crisis mode with patients who need my help.”
“This meant something to you, too.” Barbra’s voice was sincere. She wasn’t giving Ava an empty pep talk. “We don’t give up on what we care about.”
“I’ll call you for lunch,” Ava said. That was all she’d promise. She wasn’t giving up on Kyle. She was protecting herself. That wasn’t the same, was it?
“Fair enough.” Barbra released her and moved to talk to Ava’s mom.
Ava found Rick near the couches. “I think it’s time to use that fire escape.”
Dan nodded. “I’ll follow with your mom.”
Rick wrapped his arm around Ava’s waist, lending her his strength and support. “Let’s get you out of here. I know a place where we can find double-chocolate gelato and homemade fudge brownies to ease the second-place finish.”
Ava leaned into Rick and left the rooftop with her family, leaving her heart on the roof with the plants, flowers and Kyle.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
FORTY-EIGHT HOURS after the announcement, the aftershocks of Ava’s second-place finish continued. If she’d won, she wouldn’t be gaping at the kind pharmacist. Even the tips of her ears burned as if they were twin lighters. “My credit card can’t be declined.”
“You’ll need to contact your bank.” The pharmacist tapped against her keyboard and avoided meeting Ava’s gaze. “Do you have another card you’d like to try?”
No. She had this credit card. The only card that connected to her bank account. Her apparently empty bank account because she’d calculated wrong or forgotten an automatic debit for a monthly bill. Her worst fear came true. She’d failed her mom. She’d used their money on her application fee—on herself, like her father. She really was like her dad. She’d certainly jumped into rock-bottom. “Can you tell me the balance for the medicine? I’ll come back with cash.”
The pharmacist wrote down the balance on a slip of paper, handed it to Ava and greeted her next customer.
Ava stuffed the paper into her pocket. She didn’t require a written reminder of how much the contest had costed her. She should’ve been working. Accepting every job, every opportunity for overtime. Anything to boost her bank account. Anything to ensure she could pay for her mom’s medicine. But she’d been dawdling in a development lab, riding cable cars and buying into a fantasy. Dreaming of a different future. One that was never really within reach. How could she have been so blind?
Stepping inside her building, Ava circled the lobby and wrestled her pride into place. Pride wouldn’t help her mom. Ava couldn’t go upstairs without her mother’s medicine. She didn’t want to lie to her mom again or burden her with her own daughter’s failures.
Ava had to ask for help.
She pulled out her phone and dialed the one person she knew wouldn’t judge her. Rick told her to meet him at Zig Zag Coffee House in fifteen minutes. Grabbing the mail from their mailbox in the lobby wall, she walked to the coffeehouse, determined to pound every fear into the cement sidewalk.
Rick stood at a table in a corner and opened his arms at her arrival. Ava tossed her mail down and stepped into the comfort of his hug. Her apology rushed out in a tumble of words. “I don’t know who else to ask. It’s just a loan. For Mom’s medicine. I get paid next week. I’ll pay you back as soon as the automatic deposit clears. I promise.”
Rick pressed a large tea into her hands. “Stop. Sit. Breathe.”
Ava slumped in the chair closest to her and cradled the cup, letting the warmth leak into her palms. A chill had burrowed into her bones on the night of the contest finale and hadn’t released her from its grip yet. “I really appreciate this.”
“I’m happy to help.” Rick poured three sugar packets into his coffee. “Don’t tell Dan, but this really feels like a three-sugar kind of afternoon.”
If only three sugars and a teaspoon of honey would cure Ava. “I don’t know how it got so complicated. So out of hand. I had everything figured out.”
Rick’s burst of laughter drew the gazes of the other coffeehouse guests. “There’s your problem. Fate likes to remind us that we don’t have it all figured out just to keep us in check.”
“I got the message loud and clear.” She didn’t require any more reminders.
Rick stirred his coffee. “Dan mentioned you’re not quite the same since the contest ended.”
Ava frowned into her tea. What did Dan know? Why wasn’t he talking to her instead of his dad? “I thought I had everything figured out. Then I lost.”
“If everyone gave up after one defeat, no one would succeed at anything,” Rick said.
She hadn’t given up. She’d stepped into her normal routine.
Rick tossed the coffee stirrer on the table like a dagger in a medieval challenge. “You didn’t win, but that doesn’t make your invention less worthy.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Ava asked.
“What do you want?” Rick countered.
Her gaze stuck on the return address on an envelope in her pile of mail. The San Francisco College of Medicine. What did she want? To ensure her mother’s care and change her own future. “It all seems so impossible.”
“What has really changed since last week?” Rick asked. “You didn’t win the money, but you never had that money last week. And last week, you believed.”
“I believed in the money,” she muttered.
“Then perhaps you need to believe in yourself like we all do.” Rick stood and kissed the top of her head. “I’m on carpool duty this afternoon. Just remember you may have lost the prize money, but not the friends or the contacts.”
Ava rubbed her hands over her face. The contest had opened her to the possibility of a different future. She hadn’t won. But was Rick right? Was that future still within reach? If she believed. If she tried.
She picked up the envelope from The San Francisco College of Medicine and tore it open. Tears clouded her eyes at the first paragraph: We are pleased to welcome you to the San Francisco College of Medicine.
She’d been accepted into the graduate program. Accepted.
Rick’s words bounced around inside her head. She hadn’t lost her new friends. Hadn’t lost her new contacts. Through hopeful tears, Ava unzipped her backpack and dug around for the business card with Barbra’s information.
Suddenly, she wanted to schedule that lunch. And perhaps her future.
* * *
BARBRA HUGGED AVA outside the Rustic Grille. “Let’s get inside. The night is cooler than I expected.”
“Thanks for meeting me on such short notice.” Ava slipped off her jacket in the waiting area. She’d called Barbra from the coffeehouse, expecting to schedule lunch next week. Barbra, in her usual way, had other ideas.
“It’s wonderful to be able to go out without worrying about the press and the contest crew.” Barbra followed the waiter to their table. “It’s also lovely to have a dinner companion.”
Ava laughed. “I’m sure you have a long list of dinner companions.”
“But not a long list of ones I like.” Barbra slipped on her glasses to read the menu. “Your call was a welcome surprise.”
“I promised to call for lunch,” Ava said.
“You did.” Barbra closed her menu and looked at Ava. “But you agreed to dinner. Tonight. That tells me this might be more than a quick catch-up between friends.”
“It’s both business and social. I need your help and guidance, if you’re willing.”
“I don’t give out my contact informat
ion to just anyone.” Barbra ordered a bottle of white wine and looked at Ava. “Let’s get the business out of the way first, then enjoy a leisurely dinner between friends.”
“You told me my Virtual Vital Buddy was good,” Ava said.
“I still believe that,” Barbra said. “There’s a market out there for your product.”
“Except I don’t know how to get it out into the market.” Ava exhaled. She’d taken the first step. Suddenly, she was ready to take more.
Barbra sat back and considered Ava. A slow smile shifted across her face. “But you want to try.”
Ava nodded as the tension eased. She was taking control and doing the right thing for her. “I need to.”
“Why?” Barbra leaned forward. “Because it won’t be easy. There’ll be more rejections. More defeats. If it’s the get-rich-quick you’re chasing, then I’d pick a different race.”
“It’s not about getting rich quick,” Ava said. Her mother always told her all good things were worth the hard work. She was ready to work hard. “Although money is a motivator.”
Barbra swirled the wine in her glass and considered Ava.
No more lies. No more holding back and pretending everything was perfect in her life. “I was accepted into the physician’s assistant program at the San Francisco College of Medicine.”
“Congratulations.” Barbra tapped her wineglass against Ava’s.
“Except I can’t attend unless I can supplement my income. I have to support my mother’s care.”
Barbra sipped her wine. “Without a regular paycheck, your mom’s care will suffer.”
Ava nodded. She refused to allow her mom’s care to change. But borrowing money from Rick wasn’t happening again. One time was sobering enough. “I have to keep working.”
“What is your plan?” Barbra asked.
“If I could sell Virtual Vital Buddy, I’d have the money to pay for Mom’s care and attend graduate school.” This time she wasn’t relying on hope. She was relying on herself and Barbra’s guidance.
“When does the graduate program begin?” Barbra asked.
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