That Weekend...

by Jennifer Mckenzie

  “I’m not letting you give up,” she said.

  “Okay.” Jake probably would have agreed to anything in that moment.

  “We should probably think about making a list of potential investors.”

  “Sure.” But the thought made him feel tired. Been there, done that. Nothing to show for it.

  “Jake. Come on. Are you really going to give up that easily?”

  He closed his eyes and let his hands tangle in the waves of her silky hair. “No, but can we talk about this later?” Right now he just wanted to stay here, absorb some of her warmth and try to ignore the fact that maybe he wasn’t going to reach that brass ring.

  “What’s wrong with talking about it now?” she wanted to know.

  “Right now, I have other things in mind. Like kissing you until you’re convinced to show me the inside of your bedroom.”

  His ploy to distract her didn’t work, though he did get a nice kiss out of the deal.

  When she broke away from him, she simply said, “First, we get started on that list.” Forcing Jake to rack his brain for anyone he and Alex might have missed the first time.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  THEY HADN’T HAD SEX.

  Though she’d tried to keep them focused on the task, Ava hadn’t been able to turn Jake down when he’d bargained for a kiss per name. It had made the evening much more enjoyable for both of them and had helped distract them from the fact that Jake’s travel project might not ever make it out of the production stage.

  They’d ended up with about ten names, all people that Jake claimed he was comfortable contacting. Ava wasn’t quite sure she fully understood his reluctance to add anyone who had a closer relationship to his father—there was more going on there than Jake had mentioned—but she was willing to leave it alone. Especially when he so readily agreed never to tell her mother that she had been the one to extol the virtues of making a list. A daughter had to have some secrets.

  Somehow his project had become her project, too, and being the host, she felt as if she had a vested interest in ensuring its success.

  Just thinking about traveling to all those fabulous locations was enough to make her giddy and plan to get her legs waxed. And unlike the cohost position at Entertainment News Now, she was confident that this time the job was hers. There was no one better qualified.

  If he struck out on the new names, she could push a little more. For now, she was willing to leave it. She was sure that once the pilot was complete, finding an investor or, even better, a buyer, would pose no problem.

  The weekend came quickly. They started filming early Saturday morning, beginning at Kits beach. Though it was April and not nearly warm enough for bathing suits or swimming, there were still plenty of people out walking dogs and watching the waves. Come summer, Ava explained to the camera, it would be packed with sun worshippers and volleyball players. There were even public tennis courts and a swimming pool. It was Vancouver’s version of Venice Beach. Her patter flowed smoothly and she felt really relaxed. Much less tense than she did under the station’s studio lights.

  They visited Granville Island next, then Cambie Street and finished the day in South Granville. There were multiple restaurants in the area that were world-renowned for their ethnic cuisine and frequented by celebrities. Sunday was more of the same, but took place in the busy downtown core. Even on the weekend, the streets and shops were filled with people.

  As their last bit of filming rolled to an end, Ava was feeling really good. She and Jake had already planned a small and intimate celebration. Dinner and drinks to toast the completion of filming and the start of a successful future. And maybe a little more.

  No, definitely a little more. She’d used a fresh razor blade this morning.

  Her phone buzzed. Ava checked the screen and pressed Ignore. It was her mother again. That woman had a sixth sense when it came to her daughter. This was the third call of the day, fifth of the weekend, but since they hadn’t started arriving at half-hour intervals yet, Ava knew it wasn’t an emergency. And she already had plans this evening. Ones that did not include her mother.

  “Aves?” She turned at Brandon’s voice. “You want to go out for drinks?”

  Brandon hadn’t been originally contracted to shoot the pilot, but when the cameraman Jake had hired had decided he didn’t really feel like working on the weekend only a couple of days earlier, options had been limited. Brandon had been happy to step in, turning the whole experience into a Rockdale reunion, with Brandon behind the camera, Ava in front of it and Jake directing the proceedings.

  “Drinks? I hadn’t thought about it,” she lied. Having drinks with Brandon was better than talking to her mother, but it still wasn’t the evening she had in mind.

  “Well, think about it.” Brandon finished winding cables and slung the equipment bag over his shoulder. “Maybe something to eat, too. I’m starving.”

  He started toward his car—a small red hatchback—as Jake appeared from inside the store where they’d shot the last segment. Ava felt her pulse skip when his eyes found hers and he smiled.

  Brandon either missed the shared look or didn’t care. “What about you, Jake? You up for going out?”

  Jake looked at her. “What do you think?”

  She thought he should make it clear what he wanted, but his expression told her nothing. No wink. No shake of his head. Not even rubbing the side of his nose like a baseball player. “Uh, it’s been a long day?”

  “Don’t act like a grandma,” Brandon told her with a laugh. “I know underneath it all that you’re a party animal.”

  “Don’t you ever get tired?” Ava asked him.

  “No. Too much fun to waste time sleeping. So we in?”

  It wasn’t as though Brandon could know that she and Jake had plans for a private dinner and drinks, and so what if she had to spend the next few hours refraining from kissing Jake? It would only add to the anticipation. She smiled. “We’re in.”

  * * *

  THEY ENDED UP AT A LOCAL lounge that was known for its pretty waitstaff and party crowd. Typical Brandon. Ava guessed they’d be lucky to get a full drink out of him before he whisked away or was whisked off by some beautiful woman.

  She and Jake arrived first, settling at one of the low tables, the glossy white reflecting their drinks back at them. The couches were sleek and firm, meant for show rather than comfort, and had no armrests to lean against or balance a drink.

  Ava took a sip of her club soda with lemon as she and Jake discussed the shoot, how they thought it had gone and how it should be edited together while they waited for their errant cameraman. His hand brushed against her shoulder, then her leg. She was tingly all over. Like a twelve-year-old waiting for her first kiss.

  When Brandon turned up a few minutes later, Ava shifted away from Jake just slightly. They had been careful not to let their burgeoning relationship slip out in front of anyone at the office, and while he only had a month left on his contract, she had no intention of changing that now. Even Brandon, who was currently working the room like a pro, would pick up on it if she and Jake were snuggled up on the couch together.

  “The kid has moves,” she told Jake, taking another sip from her glass.

  “You haven’t seen my moves yet.”

  She felt her cheeks get hot and was glad the lounge kept the lighting low. “Is that what you have in mind for this evening?”

  “Well, I am buying you dinner.”
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br />   She laughed. Part of her wanted to shift closer and see what else he had in mind, but she was interrupted by Brandon’s arrival. She sat back against the armless couch and reminded herself that it was only another month. Seriously, she’d been the one to insist they keep things professional in public. She wasn’t going to be the one to break that deal.

  Jake’s hand crept over to rest on her knee, and she had a brief internal struggle about leaving it there. Then she shifted sideways, as close to the edge as she could get without tumbling to the floor, and pretended that her glass, the other lounge patrons and the material of the couch were very interesting.

  As the two men turned to talking about the Canucks’ chances at the Stanley Cup this year, Ava sipped her drink, hoping the chill would cool her down.

  But when she snuck a look at Jake, his gray eyes alight with laughter at something Brandon had said, he caught her eye and smiled. That crooked smile that made her pulse leap and her skin tingle.

  And those jeans. Her gaze drifted down to eye the perfectly washed denim more closely. She both loved and hated those jeans.

  It wasn’t long before a delicate brunette with soft eyes and a sweet smile made her way over to a table a couple of feet away from them. The woman was tall and willowy and clearly into Brandon. She stood there alone, until he looked up, then she made a show of running her finger around the rim of her martini glass. Five minutes later, the two were in an intense conversation, leaving Jake and Ava alone.

  “Let’s go,” Jake said, plucking the still-half-full glass out of her hand and putting it on the table along with a bill large enough to cover the drinks and a tip.

  She stumbled, surprised by the sudden rush. “Shouldn’t we—”

  “No.” Jake steered her toward the door.

  “But—”

  “He won’t welcome the interruption. And it’s against the Man Code.” Whatever that was.

  “We should at least let him know that we’ve left,” she told Jake as he bundled her out into the cold. She appreciated the cool air on her flushed cheeks. Maybe it would calm some of her thoughts, too, so she didn’t jump Jake in his car.

  “He won’t care.”

  “How do you know?” The wind picked up and sent her blond hair flying around her face and into her mouth. She brushed it away.

  “I’m a man. We learn it in the womb. Trust me.”

  Ava opened her mouth to disagree, but her phone buzzed yet again, the sound loud in the clear night. She glanced down, recognized her mother’s number and pressed Ignore. “I just think—”

  “You aren’t going to answer?”

  “It’s my mom,” she told him as if that explained everything, which it did.

  “And?”

  “And she’s trying to run my life,” Ava said. “I refuse to let her.”

  “She’s being a mother.”

  “No, she’s being an overcontrolling mother.” She checked her call list and saw that her mother was now on her every-half-hour-call plan, which would continue until Ava either answered or turned up dead. “My dad died before I was born, so it was just the two of us. She thinks that means she needs to give enough advice for two parents.”

  “Sorry about your dad.”

  Ava shrugged. “Thanks, but it was a long time ago.” She’d learned, with some assistance from her mother, not to let his death define her life. “And I had an aunt and uncle who lived beside us growing up. They were pretty involved.”

  “So he provided the stare down with the shotgun over his shoulder when your dates showed up.”

  Ava laughed. “No, my mother is plenty capable of doing that on her own. But Uncle Dennis took me to hockey games, came to father-daughter events, things like that. He and Aunt Yolanda moved to Calgary about fifteen years ago.”

  “You miss them?”

  “We see them at holidays and I often go back for the Stampede in the summer. Plus, my mother... Oh, for crying out loud.” She looked down at the phone in her hand as it began to play the familiar song by Queen. “I swear she implanted a homing device in my arm when I was a kid so that she always knows how to find me.”

  “Wouldn’t that mean she wouldn’t need to call you?”

  Ava considered that. “Yes, but then how would she tell me what to do?” Her phone buzzed again.

  “Pick it up,” Jake said. “What if it’s an emergency?”

  She started to tell him that it wasn’t an emergency, her mother was just irked that she’d been avoiding her phone calls all weekend, but realized that wouldn’t solve the issue. Her mother would just call back until she answered.

  She pushed a button on the phone and put it to her ear. “Yes, Mom. How can I help you?”

  “You know I don’t like that, Ava.”

  “Sorry. Hello? Who is this? Why are you calling me?”

  “I’ve been calling you all day, dear.” Her mother did not sound amused.

  “I was busy.” She omitted the part about what she’d been doing.

  “I was concerned when you didn’t call me back last night.”

  Ava scanned the block as she and Jake continued walking. They were in the heart of Yaletown, an upscale neighborhood that had thrown off its warehouse beginnings years ago and was now a hot spot for the young and wealthy. People wearing pricey jeans and pricier shoes wandered in and out of bars and restaurants. Music and lights spilled from open doors and windows. The boutique shops were closed for the evening, but the attractive displays invited pedestrians to stop and study. “I was working.”

  There—that should shut her up.

  “Did you forget that it was Sunday?” Or not.

  “No.” What did her mother think, she was going senile now?

  “Then where are you?”

  Ava peeked at Jake, who was watching her with a small smirk. Easy for him. His mother wasn’t calling to find out the details of his life. “I’m out,” she said.

  “Did you forget about dinner?”

  “We had dinner last Sunday,” Ava reminded her. “With Jilly, remember? That means we don’t meet until next weekend.”

  “No,” Barbara corrected. “We missed the Sunday when you were away for work. Last week was our rescheduled dinner, which means we’re also supposed to have dinner tonight. It’s on the calendar.” She paused. “I did try to call you last night to confirm, but you didn’t answer.”

  Ava’s stomach sank. Her mother was right. How could she have forgotten? She took another peek at Jake. Okay, she knew how she’d forgotten. “Well, tonight isn’t good for me. Can we reschedule?”

  “But dinner is here. It’s hot.”

  “I have plans. I’m sorry I forgot. Maybe I could come over tomorrow instead?”

  “I have meetings tomorrow night. I really wish you would have called me back, dear. I could have canceled my order if I’d known. Now I have Thai for two.”

  Thai for three or more, Ava guessed, since her mother always ordered a variety of choices. “I’m sorry,” she apologized again. True, her mother hadn’t been slaving over a hot stove all afternoon, but that didn’t make Ava feel any better about blowing her off. She was a terrible daughter. She didn’t listen to advice, she didn’t answer her phone, and now she was going to make her mother eat dinner alone. “What about another night this week?”

  “I’ll have to check my schedule, but I’m not sure this week works. I have meetings at the hospital Tuesday and Thursday, my book club is Wednesday and tomorrow is my Union Gospel meeting
.” Her mother had volunteered with the local charity for years, donating time, money and charity to helping the homeless with shelter, food and recovery.

  Which just made Ava feel even worse. Her mother couldn’t get together because she was helping people. She couldn’t do it because she wanted to flirt with a handsome man. “Maybe I can stop by for a little while.” She mouthed an apology to Jake.

  “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”

  “No,” Ava said, thinking that it would be more trouble to put her mother off for another week. “It isn’t too much trouble.” She covered the mouthpiece of the phone with her hand. “I need to go visit my mother.”

  “Meeting the parent already? You must be getting serious about me.”

  She grinned. “I didn’t say you were invited, and believe me, I’m doing you a favor. She’s kind of a lot to take.”

  A tinny voice came out of the phone she’d thought she was muting. “I can hear you, Ava. Who is there with you?”

  Ava scrabbled to get the phone back to her ear. “It’s nothing,” she lied. “Just some people talking on the street.”

  Her mother was not fooled. “You were talking to someone. I recognize your voice.” She paused just long enough to tease Ava into thinking she was off the hook. “I take it you’re with Jake. I’d like to meet him and I have more than enough for three.”

  Of course she did. “Mom, I—”

  “It would be rude not to invite him, Ava. I’ll expect you shortly.” And with that directive, she hung up.

  Ava stared at the phone for a second and wondered if she could fake an attack of some kind. Her wrist was bothering her, she felt as if she was coming down with the flu, something, anything.

  “Am I invited for dinner?”

  She looked up at Jake. “You don’t have to come.” She wouldn’t expect him to undergo the questioning that was sure to ensue once her mother got him in her sights. She loved her mother, but Barbara could be difficult. It was why, on the rare occasion that she was seeing someone, she didn’t bring him home.