“Let’s not push it.” She smiles reaching over to stroke Jace’s hair. “My mother holding Jace an arm’s length away from Nick is progress enough. My hand was around Nick the entire time. I can tell you he hardly took a steady breath until Jace was out of my mother’s arms.”
“That sounds more like what I was expecting.”
“Yes. Before we get off the subject of the christening, what was going on with you?” She fixes me with a stare.
“What do you mean?” I play dumb.
“You came in looking fabulous as usual, but you also looked winded like you ran a 10k. You spent most of the time sitting by yourself hardly talking to anyone, not like you. At one point, you went missing.”
“I went to the restroom.” I bend down whispering in Jace’s ears, “Mommy’s overreacting, as usual.”
“Ava, you should go back to the doctor.”
“For what? I told you I’m fine. Stop worrying.” I shake my head at her. “Besides, I went. Remember, I told you he said I was fine. I just need to rest and he gave me some vitamins I haven’t started taking, but I will. I’ll start taking them tonight if it will make you stop worrying.”
“Please do. I don’t want anything to happen to you, you’re like my sister. Jace needs a happy, healthy Aunt Ava to take names and kick ass if a snotty nose kid messes with him on the playground.”
I hold back a laugh kissing Jace on the side of his head, happily playing in my arms jingling his keys. “You know it, we’re not scared to take on a toddler and his Mama. Bring it.”
“Have a nice day,” I say to a customer sitting on a stool behind the register. “I need a seamstress/designer. I have an idea to do one of a kind custom designed clothes. It’ll be a one stop shopping experience. What do you think?”
Cat looks up from where she’s playing with Jace in her lap. “I don’t like going to fifty different stores to find exactly what I’m looking for so if I can meet all my fashion needs in one place it would be great, saving me a lot of time and energy. I wouldn’t even mind paying extra for the convenience. You should consider making this place kid friendly too, wouldn’t that be great.”
“You’re thinking with your mommy brain again. Jace is the only baby allowed in here for couture play time. Nice try, though.”
“I had to give it a shot for the other mommies out there. Isabelle would love the idea. You would see Conner and her on a regular. Yes! That’s it. Chloe.”
“Chloe?”
“Chloe. I have found your new seamstress/designer. She’s perfect. She can design her ass off. She’s a master with a needle, thread, and sewing machine.”
“She has a job already as a buyer for one of the best department stores in Manhattan.”
“She doesn’t like her boss. She’s been thinking about leaving or working part time to have more time to design. She could probably cut back on her hours, work certain days while working here until you build up more clients. She has a few clients of her own she could bring around here,” she says hope in her voice floating in her wide eyes.
“Caaat,” I whine. I know she’s good. I wish I could deny it. “If Chloe and I spend more than a few hours a day together, we’ll slaughter each other.”
“You’re big girls and this is business, you’ll figure out a way to get along outside of a party.” Proud of herself she waves a hand in the air. “I’ve solved your problem. Call her.”
She’s right. Chloe is good, her designs are edgy, yet sophisticated. She’ll be running her own fashion empire one day. What the hell, I better get her before she gets too big for me to hire. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll have the pleasure of firing her. The thought makes me feel better. “You win, I’ll call her.”
“Good. Now that I’ve saved you from another moment’s worry, I’m going to get ready to leave. I’m going to try my hand at making an elaborate one course meal for my newlywed husband.”
“Oh my god, you’re going to kill my cousin. I thought you loved him?”
“Oh you, my cooking is not that bad. I made him dinner the other night and he loved it. He called it an aphrodisiac of love.”
“More like sex. He wanted to secure he was going to have sex at the end of the night.”
“You’re going to eat those words. I’m going to make dinner for you and you’ll see I can make more than breakfast for dinner and pasta.”
“Oh lord, kill me now! She’s going to cook for me! Oh lord, why do you forsake me so?”
“Just for that, you are banned from stepping foot in my home.” She repeatedly stabs her finger at me.
“Marriage has turned you into Nick. You’re starting to sound alike.” She smiles with Jace on her hips putting his things away in her purse/baby bag.
The door opens and Gage strolls through looking like the epitome of youth. Charming smile, sparkling green eyes, tall, confident, knows he can get almost any girl he wants but not in the annoying way. He’s more...laid back take them as they come beauties.
“Ava, I need you to run interference for me.”
“How nice to see you too, Gage.”
“Hey, I know more than anyone it’s a treat to see me. About that favor-,” he begins then sees Cat and Jace. “Cat, what’s up?” He kisses her on the cheek with a hug, lifting Jace out of her arm. “What’s up, little man?” Jace squeals being held up in the air getting an air plane ride before being handed back to Cat.”
“We stopped by to see Ava. I’m about to leave.”
“I’m not staying long. I’ll leave with you.”
“All right.”
Turning back to me he leans against the counter with a heart stopping smile. It would work on me if I wasn’t related to him. “Ava.”
“What’d you want?”
“A teeny tiny favor.”
“Gage.”
“I need you to let two girls-”
“No.”
“You don’t know-”
“Two girls is enough. I need no more details. I’m not getting involved in your dating life. No good can come of it.”
“You’re supposed to be my big cousin, the one I can count on for help when I’m in trouble.
“I am honey, but I’m not helping you dupe some poor girl. What kind of woman would I be? When you’re in real trouble, you know where to find me. Now you go on and have a good day now.”
“Women, I hate it when you stick together to bring a good man down.”
“Show me a good one and I’ll show you a woman who strays from the pack,” I say shaking his chin and tapping his nose with my finger.
“How about you, Cat? Want to help your brother-in-law out or does the girl power apply to you, too?”
“It most certainly does. Sorry, babe.”
Sighing he taps his hand on the counter, turns to Cat and sees Maya reaching up to pull something off a shelf. Turning his head back to me with a returning smile, I shake my head. “Things are looking up,” he raises his voice in Maya’s direction making her look over her shoulder, “You have many beautiful things in here, Cousin Ava. If I had only known, I would have dropped by sooner.”
Maya smiles and bites her lip assessing him and from what I gather liking what she sees.
“Cat, Ava, have I told you how much I like coffee, dark and rich. No sugar. Coffee has its own natural flavor I like to savor.” He runs his tongue across the rim of his lips. As if he’s tasting something he likes and is about to tear into it, annihilating and swallowing it whole without taking a breath.
“Don’t mess with my employees. Maya, don’t fall for his smile and his boyish good looks.” My eyes shift between them. “Gage stop it, I like my employees. I want to keep them around.”
Maya walks past him. “He doesn’t look like a boy to me. I like a whole lot of cream in my coffee, Ava. I can’t resist the swirl.”
Suppressing the urge to roll my eyes at her, I shake my head at him. He turns around and I don’t know how she does it, Emma walks smack into him dropping all her things at his feet.<
br />
“I’m so sorry!” she says in a rush. Flustered, she reaches down to pick them up like a floundering fish.”
Not fazed in the least, he smiles. “That’s okay. I don’t mind being bumped up against you. In fact...I think I like that,” he says over her head.
Keeping her head down he helps pick up the papers and clothes. When she stands and gets a look at him smiling down at her. Her breath catches and her eyes fly wide open and she snatches the last thing out of his hand and rushes off to the back almost dropping everything again.
He looks over at me. “Skittish little thing, isn’t she? But damn, she’s pretty cute.” He nods his head in the direction she disappeared.
Eyebrows drawn together I tell him, making it clear she’s off limits, “Forget about it, keep your hands off her.” Maya is more his speed even though I don’t want him dating my employees. “She couldn’t handle you. My god, you’d break her.
“I doubt that. I have a way with women. I know how to handle with care when I need to. It’s a learned skill I’ve been perfecting one woman at a time.”
This guy. “FORGET IT, GAGE.”
“Fine. I have enough women on my hands to deal with anyways.” He makes a noise in the back of his throat. “Hmm...Did you see her eyes, though?”
Cat pats his arm. “You’ve caused enough trouble for one day, lover boy, let’s go. You can come home with us and help me cook dinner for your brother and feed your nephew.”
“Thank you, Cat.”
“You got it. He’ll be my taste tester.”
“That’ll teach him.”
One of his eyebrows raises. “If I die I’m going to come back and haunt you, Ava.”
“Bring it! I ain’t scared of no ghost.” I laugh as he takes the stroller and bags from Cat, helping her out the door.
They always make me feel better. I watch them leave as the smile disappears from my face. Shit, then why do I feel like crying?
Chris
She’s on time. I pull up to her building and she’s waiting for me. She looks good. She always looks good but better than the last time I saw her. She doesn’t see me yet. She’s talking to the doorman who is overly interested in what she’s saying. Doesn’t he have a job to do? I watch the way the breeze catches her hair, blowing it into her face as she laughs and he leans in closer to her. She keeps one hand on her purse brushing the hair out of her face giving me a glimpse of her stunning profile. She puts a hand on his shoulder and he puts his hand over hers. Not good. I honk the horn unnecessary hard, repeatedly. They both jump and the doorman drops his hand. He moves back to stand closer to the door where he should have been in the first place instead of having his hands on her. Yeah, fucker, put it back on the door.
She waves at him and he gives her a curt nod, resuming a professional demeanor that was lacking when I pulled up. She waves to me through the windshield and I wave back. I open my door to come around to open hers but I stop when she waves her hand at me.
“Don’t even think about getting out. I can get my own door.”
“Settle down Gloria, can’t a guy be nice without you starting a revolution? I’m being a gentleman.”
“Save the gentleman for when you’re on a date. I’m perfectly capable of opening a door for myself.”
“Difficult women. You ready?”
“Yep, let’s get this over with so I can find out if I’m losing my mind.”
I put the car in drive and turn on the music. “You’re not losing your mind. You’re too much of a hard-ass.” I smile taking a glimpse of her from the corner of my eye and see her eyebrows pull together.
“How you do like to flatter me so,” she says wistfully.
“Are you friends with that guy you were talking to?”
“The only guy I was talking to was my door man. If you mean him, yes. He’s a nice guy.” “Sure he is. A nice guy who wants to get a look at what’s under your skirt and if he can hit it.”
She laughs. “Why, Chris, tell me you’re not jealous?”
“Why should I be? We’re friends. I was curious. Most doormen aren’t so chummy with the residents, especially when they’re on duty. Wouldn’t want the poor guy to get fired or anything.”
“No we wouldn’t.” Crossing her legs, she taps a hand on the car door and starts to hum. Then asks, “By the way, how’s Sage?”
Skeptical I ask, “Do you really want to know?”
“No. I thought it would be the polite thing to ask.”
I look over at her humming an upbeat song and turn my head back to the road. I hope she’s not cooking up a crazy scheme in her pretty little head. It will probably be something she knows will upset Sage. Why didn’t I tell her I was going to be with Ava?
You know why?
She’d freak out on me. No matter how much I reassure her I’m not going to let anything happen between Ava and me. I’m trying to be a friend to someone I’ve known for years. She’s my sister’s friend I slept with on her wedding day, the night before I took you as my plus one. Fuck, that wouldn’t go over well. It doesn’t sound right in my own head. Why am I really here?
“I didn’t know you were a fan of Nick Jonas?”
Snapping me out of my thought I answer, “It’s the radio. I don’t choose. I just listen.”
She reaches over touching the button on the dashboard. “Then you won’t mind me changing the station.”
“Not at all.”
“Good, I need something to relax.”
She changes to country music. I shift my eyes to her to confirm her choice in music. “Country?”
And here we go, looks like I’ve stoked a bit of the fire in her from a simple question. Shifting in her seat towards me she crosses her arms. “What’s wrong with it?”
If I’d know she was touchy about her country music I wouldn’t have asked. “Nothing, I guess. Didn’t peg you for the country music type,” I say keeping my eyes on the road between looking at her.
“Chris, I’m from Nashville.” She uses a tone the equivalent of saying duh!
“Yeah, but it’s easy to forget because you’re you.”
“You sound offensive. What is that supposed to mean?”
Oh brother. I have to make this come out right. I have another fifteen-minute drive ahead of me. A lot of unpleasant things can be said. “Other than your accent popping out once in a while, mostly when you’re on an angry rant, it’s easy to forget where you’re from. You’re more Upper Westside than country.” I did good. She seems satisfied with my answer.
“Which do you prefer, Upper Westside or country? Answer truthfully, I won’t be upset.” The answer comes to me easy enough. “I don’t have a preference. Both of those things come together to make you who you are. These two sides of you work together and make you uniquely you. Two opposites blending together.”
Smiling, she unfolds her arms. “What I take from that is you like country and upper Westside me. Which is good because I love them both. Now sit back and listen to some good ol’ country music. It’s not just for broken hearts you know.”
“Is that a saying in Nashville?” She smiles turning the volume up.
“A lot of people still think country music is sad songs. Someone losing their wife crying, cause my dog died who was my best friend, drinking whiskey at the cheating heart motel in the lonely hours of night.” I chuckle and she laughs with me. “You should laugh because that’s not it at all. It’s telling a story. A story of a life lived. If it’s lived well with no regrets, it’s platinum.
It’s the lyrical heart and soul of a life that will live on in people’s minds like a conversation you had with an old friend. Words you need to say to a lover, a chance missed.” She holds her hand up as if she’s testifying with a country drawl. “Guarantee if there’s something that ails you, there’s a country song to soothe ya.”
“Putting it that way, maybe I should start listening to more of this stuff.”
“You should. What’s your favorite song?”
&
nbsp; “I don’t have one,” I tell her stopping at a light.
“Everyone has a favorite song. At least one song! One they can give off the top of their head that will take them back to a place or time in their life, good or bad.”
“Not me.”
She nods her head sympathetically and puts her right hand over her chest. “I see the problem.”
“There’s a problem?”
“Yes, there is. Music helps you express yourself, your feelings. It’s not your fault you’re madly in love with me and you don’t know it. You’ve been missing the joy of song in your life, country music to be exact.”
Laughing doubtfully, I shake my head, rounding the corner to my physician’s office. “If you say so.”
“I do.” She smiles cranking up the music to an ear-splitting level. I swat her hand away turning it back down. “Hey!” She yelps settling back into the seat as I pull into a parking spot. “Not to encourage you, Curiosity, what’s your favorite song?”
“I have many but...riffling through the country Jukebox in my head I pick...Give In To Me. There’s two versions one by Faith Hill and my favorite version from the movie Country Strong.”
“Do I want to know why it’s your favorite?”
“Good song, you should listen to it sometime.” She shrugs her shoulders with a broad mischievous smile. “You’ll get a kick out of it.”
“Why are doctors’ offices so cold? I mean come on, it makes you more nervous. If I’m going to get bad news I would rather be at a comfortable temperature not freezing my tits off.”
I rub my shoulder against hers up on the table. “Stop complaining, you feel pretty warm to me. It has to be at least fifty degrees in here.”
“Stop rubbing up against me,” she says bumping her shoulder against mine.
I bump back. “Stop being a baby”
“If you don’t stop it and be a gentleman, I’m going to show you a baby.” She threatens.
“You didn’t want a gentleman. You started this.”
“And I’m going to finish it.” Her eyes go wide with each bump of my shoulders.” Stop it!”
Imperfections Take Me As I Am (The Imperfections Series Book 3) Page 8