He lashed out first. “I did the unforgiveable. I chose my family’s well-being over the woman I love.”
Oh, by Saturday morning, he’d had it all sorted out. The perfect plan. If Tech Realized, Inc. accepted the Vital Buddy, he’d have given Ava money. He’d have given her whatever she’d needed. He’d have given her financial freedom. Ava had been right: he’d have willingly added her to his payroll. After all, money solved everything, even soothed a guilty conscience.
When the Vital Buddy finally rolled onto the commercial market, Ava would’ve been so madly in love with him, and he with her, that they would’ve laughed this off. This would’ve been part of that small stuff his grandfather had always cautioned him not to hang on to. Kyle crammed the last of the paperwork into the pile he held. Could he have been anymore delusional?
“What do you mean your family’s security?” Iris pulled away and studied him, her critical mode shifting into idle.
“Shouldn’t you be at work?” he countered. He didn’t want to talk about this. He didn’t want to give any more power to his despicable actions. He already ached in places he shouldn’t feel. And he’d hurt Ava even worse. Wasn’t that enough? He snapped at his sister. “Did you quit on Mia, too? I warned Ava you weren’t dependable.”
Iris jerked back at his words. “Don’t you dare turn this on me.”
“Look, Iris...” He picked up her hand. Why were his apologies getting lodged in his throat today? “I’m confused. I’m afraid.”
“Of course you are.” Iris stood, set her hands on her hips and glared at him. “You just ran off the best person in the world for you.”
“That’s helpful.”
“It’s not meant to be helpful,” she challenged. “It’s meant to be the truth.”
Kyle stared at the papers, his gaze blurred. “Ava isn’t...”
His sister stomped on the floor and cut off his words. “You can’t do it, can you?”
“Do what?” His voice came out in a tangled snarl.
“Let yourself be happy. Really, truly happy.” Iris tapped her foot in front of him, an angry beat. “Why do you sabotage every chance you have at happiness?”
“I don’t.” Kyle clenched the paperwork and searched for his spine. Ava lectured him on happiness, and now his sister. What did they know?
“You project your inner unhappiness onto everyone around you. Trying to make them change because you’ve decided they can’t possibly be happy as they are.” Iris’s foot stilled. “You want Callie to give up on Oxford and move home. You want Mom and Dad to leave Florida. You want me to put on a business suit and work in a real office.” Iris waved her hands over her head. “You’re building some ridiculous monstrosity of a house that no one asked for.”
“I want my family home,” he said. “What’s wrong with that?”
“They are home. Doing what they love, where they love, with the people they love,” Iris said.
“But it’s not the same.” Couldn’t she see that? Nothing was the same since his Papa Quinn’s death. The home he’d known all his life was gone. The security he’d relied on had moved across state borders.
“Because you aren’t doing what you love with the person you love.” Iris dropped to her knees and looked at him.
“The money was supposed to bring our family back together. Like we were when Grandpa was alive.” The money was supposed to make everyone happy again. There was the word again. He wanted to curse.
“Papa Quinn’s death left a hole in each of us.” Iris scooted closer to him, her voice gentle and sincere. “But you honored his memory with the Medi-Spy and gave each of us a gift.”
“What was that?” Kyle asked. Disbelief turned his tone sarcastic. “All I have is a commercialized earbud that loses its integrity with every update. That isn’t the best gift.”
“You gave us the chance to live the lives we needed to heal. The lives that let us find our happy again.” Iris set her forehead against his. “You just never found your happy.”
Kyle closed his eyes and whispered, “Until Ava.”
Iris nodded and repeated, “Until Ava.”
“I lost her.” The breath-stealing ache snagged his voice.
“Then you should probably figure out a way to find her and keep her this time.” Iris wrapped her arms around him.
Kyle held on.
Iris stood up. “I’m off to meet Mia. We’re doing the publicity photos for the traveling Broadway production of Cinderella.”
Kyle stopped his sister before she walked out. “Iris, I only ever wanted you to be happy again after the divorce and everything you went through.”
“I know, little brother, and I love you for that.” Iris blew him a kiss. “I’m finding myself again. Finding my happy. It’s just that there are some things we have to discover on our own. In our own time.”
“And if it’s too late?” he asked.
She smiled. “It’s never too late to lead with your heart.”
The door clicked shut, leaving Kyle alone with Ava’s forgotten presentation. The paper on the top captured his attention. It wasn’t part of the original presentation. The letterhead was from the San Francisco College of Medicine. Kyle read the letter and lost his breath. His fingers shook. Blood rushed like a scream through his skull.
On the bottom of the acceptance letter, in bold blue ink, Ava had written: My future is within reach. Just believe.
Ava had been accepted into graduate school. She’d never told him, but she’d hinted. Hinted that the money was for more than cushioning her checking account. He’d stolen her idea and her happy.
He’d officially smacked into rock-bottom, slamming face-first into a new low.
His phone vibrated. The text was from his mom.
Turn on your computer. We want to video chat.
Kyle scrubbed his hands over his face and up into his hair. He’d make it a quick call. If he didn’t accept their chat, his mom would think something was wrong. Unless Iris had already called them and spilled the truth. But that wasn’t his sister’s style. They kept each other’s secrets. He turned on his laptop in his kitchen and answered the video call from his parents.
His parents filled the screen: wide smiles against tanned skin. The laughter lines creasing their cheeks up into their eyes were new.
Enthusiasm rushed his mom’s words. “Kyle, we wanted to tell you in person.”
“Tell me what?” Kyle adjusted the screen, searching his parents’ faces. Was the glow on their faces from the sun or something more?
“We’re renewing our wedding vows for our fortieth anniversary here in the Keys. We want our children with us.” His mom raised their joined hands into view.
His dad kissed his mom’s knuckles. “We’ll celebrate Thanksgiving together and have a renewal party.”
“Wow.” That glow wasn’t sun-induced. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d seen his parents like this. Kyle ran his palms over his jeans.
“Isn’t it fantastic?” his mother gushed. His dad pressed another kiss to his mom’s cheek.
Kyle peered closer at the screen. His mother was blushing, twin pink bursts colored her cheeks. His father grinned from ear to ear. His parents looked more like a newly engaged couple who just discovered the power of love. Not two adults in their sixties, who’d weathered life together with all its challenges. Perhaps the glow was the deep love shared between two people for more than forty years. A love that never stalled or weakened, despite the struggles and the tests. “Do you have a place picked out for the ceremony?”
“We’re taking care of all that,” his mom said. “We just want you here for the week.”
“You’ve done more than enough for us, son,” his dad added.
“The Florida condominium was nothing...” Special. He’d bought them a small, dated condo that his mother had convinced him was perfec
t. He added, “There’s no yard. No toolshed. No garden.” His father had spent every weekend when Kyle lived at home inside his workshop in the garage.
“Between Papa Quinn’s house and our home, I’ve done enough yard work and house maintenance to last more than two lifetimes.” His dad grinned. “Now I can reach the golf course or the beach in less than ten minutes. And that’s walking.”
“Our condo is everything, Kyle.” His mom leaned into the camera as if to make certain she had her son’s full attention. “You gave us the chance to rediscover what we’d lost in the city.”
His parents tapped their heads together. He’d never seen them this in love. Or quite so happy. Was Iris right? Had his parents healed in Florida and found a new, fulfilling life there? “The ocean breeze suits you guys.”
“More than you can imagine,” his dad said.
“You need to come and visit soon, Kyle.” His mom edged closer to the screen again, blocking out his dad. “You could use some ocean air and sun. You look a little pale. Have you been eating right?”
“I’ve been eating. Haley delivers meals every week,” he added. He knew his mom would call Haley herself to verify that Kyle had been eating. A broken heart leached the color and life out of a person. But his mother didn’t need to know that part. “I’ve been in the lab quite a lot.”
“Fluorescent lighting isn’t the same as real sunlight,” his mother chided. “Even Callie gets out of her lab on the weekends.”
His dad shifted back into view. “It’s good to work hard, son. But balance can do wonders for your soul.”
His dad had gotten philosophical since his retirement. “You sound like Papa Quinn.”
“He was a very wise man.” His dad grinned. “I only wish I’d listened to him sooner.”
“If it helps, I’m listening to you now,” Kyle said.
“You always were a faster learner,” his dad said. “Your mom is telling me to hang up. We have a lunch meeting with the wedding planner for our renewal ceremony. Book your flight early for a good deal on airfare.”
Kyle promised he’d check flights that afternoon and ended the call.
He’d led with his heart once. When he’d designed and sold the first Medi-Spy. That earbud symbolized his love for his grandfather. But he’d started ignoring his heart with every royalty check he had cashed, listening to everyone but himself. Perhaps it was past time he listened to his heart again.
Kyle picked up his phone and dialed the offices of Luxury Vine Home Builders in Sonoma. Twenty minutes later, with his wine country land for sale, Kyle contacted a car auction house for his grandfather’s vintage Mustang. Exactly sixty minutes after the call with his parents, Kyle pulled his proposal from consideration with the committee at Tech Realized, Inc. Kyle assured Terri Stanton he’d have the money to pay the penalties and fines for defaulting on his contract within the thirty days granted to him in his contract.
He glanced around the arcade, calculating how much he could get for the game consoles and pool tables. He was going to need a job and perhaps a payment plan with Tech Realized, Inc. But he’d started to right his world and that mattered.
His last call took several minutes of convincing. Finally, Barbra agreed not to cancel any of the meetings she’d scheduled for Ava. More importantly, his mentor and friend agreed to meet him for dinner. Hopefully by dessert, he’d have garnered both Barbra’s support and help. He was going to need all the assistance he could get.
After all, no one ever said listening to your heart was easy.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
AVA STOOD IN the door of her mother’s bathroom. “Can I help?”
Her mom sat on a stool in front of the bathroom mirror. “Ava, you look stunning. You’ll be the most radiant one at the gala tonight.”
Her mood was more melancholy than radiant. Even the silver sparkles on her high heels failed to spark her enthusiasm. She’d have stayed home for a sad movie marathon if Sophie wasn’t one of her best friends. And if her mom hadn’t worked so hard on the gala. “Mom, I need to tell you something. I should’ve told you sooner.”
“We can talk while you help with my makeup.” Her mom grimaced at the array of containers and brushes spread across her counter. “I don’t miss having to put on all this before work.”
“But you miss working, don’t you?” Ava stepped over to the counter. She’d seen the excitement in her mom whenever the gala came up.
“I’ve missed feeling useful.” Her mom swiped two different lipsticks across her hand to check the colors. “Helping with Sophie’s gala made me realize that. But my working isn’t what you want to discuss.”
Ava handed her mom the pale rose-colored lipstick. “It’s better with your complexion and dress.”
Her mom tossed the other lipsticks into the drawer. “Whatever it is, Ava, we’ll deal with it together.”
Ava hadn’t found a cure for her broken heart. She wasn’t sure her mom would have one. But she hoped confessing several truths would dull the edges of her distress. “The good part is that I was accepted to the physician’s assistant graduate program at the San Francisco College of Medicine.”
Her mom spun around on the stool, her gaze wide with pleasure.
Ava rushed on, trampling over her mother’s excitement. “But I drained our emergency savings account to pay for the application fee. Lost my second job and the contest. Borrowed money from Rick. And we can’t afford for me to go to graduate school.” Oh, and I fell in love. She left that confession unspoken, unable to give a voice to her heartbreak, as if talking about her pain would somehow make it worse.
“You’ve been keeping in a lot.” Her mom shook her head. “Too much really.”
“I should’ve told you sooner,” Ava said. “I didn’t want to let you down.”
“We’re a family,” her mom said. “You were never supposed to handle this alone.”
“You handled everything alone when Dad left.” Ava skimmed a brush in the blush and swept it across her mom’s cheeks.
“You were kids. We’re adults now.” Her mom’s voice chided and soothed. “I’ve let you down. I was so busy lecturing you and I forgot to look at my own life. I stopped being helpful.”
Ava studied her mom. “You aren’t thinking about going back to work, are you?”
“Not full-time.” Her mom spun the stool back to the mirror. “But I have some ideas that might be part-time and flexible.”
“I didn’t tell you all this so that you’d feel like you have to get a job.” Ava set her hand on her mom’s shoulder.
“I know. I want to try this while I still have some energy left inside me.” Her mom covered Ava’s hand with her own. “You entered the contest and inspired me to step out of my comfort zone. You reminded me to look at things from a different perspective. Working in an office forty hours a week isn’t possible. But maybe working from home for ten hours a week is. I want to try.”
Ava met her mom’s gaze in the mirror. “I should try, too. You think I need to approach things differently?”
“Sure. We’ll start with graduate school.” Her mom grinned, but the spark in her gaze gave her away. There was something else she wanted Ava to try. “There has to be options for you to attend graduate school.”
“I have to work,” Ava said.
“Many people work and attend school.” Her mom added a small touch of eyeshadow to her eyes.
“I need both jobs.” She’d always had more than one job. She’d always worked.
“Maybe it’s time we do a budget. See what we can do without,” her mom suggested.
“I never checked to see if there was a part-time program,” Ava said. It would take longer to complete the program. But she’d be making progress. Taking small steps.
“That’s settled. We need a budget and you need a meeting with the dean to plan your graduate program.” Her m
om plugged in a curling iron. “Now, tell me about Kyle.”
“I’m not cut out for relationships, the same as Dad.” Like father, like daughter. Ava picked up the curling iron and tested the temperature with the tip of her finger.
“Ava, listen to me,” her mom said. She waited until Ava looked at her. “Your dad quit on our marriage long before my diagnosis. I’d quit, too. It was easier to blame my MS when he left. I’m not proud, but it was for the best for us.” She touched Ava’s arm. “Is it for the best if you walk away from Kyle without hearing his side?”
“He used my idea as his own for money.” Ava curled the back of her mom’s hair to avoid meeting her piercing gaze. “What else is there to hear?”
“Do you really believe money was his only motivation?” her mom asked.
Money had been her motivation. Kyle had made his millions and clearly wanted more. “Money was the reason I entered the contest.”
“But you wanted to pursue a new career,” her mom corrected. “What does Kyle want the money for?”
Ava tossed the curling iron on the bathroom counter before she burned herself. Or maybe that was the truth. She hadn’t believed Kyle’s claim during their food truck dinner that he was all about the money. Even now, her words about him rang false inside her. “He lied, Mom.”
“Were you honest with him?”
“It’s not the same,” Ava argued. Her personal financial problems and professional issues weren’t his business. None of it was anyone’s business but her own. Still, she admitted her mistake at work to Kyle and he’d helped. Not with money, but something more valuable: his time. Himself.
“Perhaps you’re right.” Her mom combed her hair. Her voice took on that of a wise advisor. “It’s not the same. Just remember we all lie sometimes, even with the best intentions.”
Ava had lied to protect her mom. That had backfired. How could she be completely honest with someone else if she continued to lie to herself? Kyle had lied to her. She didn’t know why. But she could guess it might’ve been for family. Same as her. “He lied to protect his family.”
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