“No, you shouldn’t.” She was about to tell him that there would be no later. Not here. Not anywhere, and he could take his explanation back on the plane to Toronto, when one of her neighbors poked his head out into the hallway and looked at her.
“Everything okay?”
“Fine.” She pasted on a fake smile.
This particular neighbor was known around the building for being a bit paranoid, calling the police for the least incident, but he was quiet and always made a point of holding the elevator for Ava if they were leaving at the same time. She didn’t need him jumping to the wrong conclusion now. The only thing worse than letting Jake into her apartment would be having the cops show up and having to explain that he wasn’t a threat and letting him into her apartment anyway.
“Sorry about the noise,” she said, since she knew that would be the neighbor’s next concern.
He humphed and shut his door. Ava knew he’d be standing behind it, ear pressed to the metal to listen. If he didn’t approve of how things went, he’d either be making that phone call or poking out his head for a second time.
Jake raised one eyebrow when she looked back at him. “Can I come in now?”
Seeing as she couldn’t force him to leave and remaining in the hall would only raise her neighbor’s ire, Ava stepped back to allow him entrance, but she didn’t hold the door. Jake had to catch it before it hit him in the nose. It was a small victory, but she’d take it.
When Jake flipped the lock closed behind him, she reached over and flicked it back open. She didn’t know what he thought was going to happen tonight, but she wasn’t letting him hang around long enough to find out.
He followed her down the short hall that led to the living room and looked around. “I thought you said you had company?”
“I lied,” she told him. “Now, what do you want?”
She didn’t sit, didn’t offer him a seat, either, but stood at the edge of the room, making it clear that she didn’t expect this to take long.
Jake ignored the memo and plopped himself down on the couch in the same spot he always sat. He patted the space beside him. “Come on. I promise I won’t bite.”
“I’d rather stand.” Which wasn’t true. Her legs were wobbly, but she locked her knees and stayed where she was. She was not sitting on the couch beside him. Or even the chair across from him.
He stared at her for a second and then nodded. “I think there are some things you need to know. About why I reacted the way I did.”
He told her about Claudia, about what had happened and how it had driven him to go to work on his own, about how he’d decided it was best to keep his professional relationships separate from his personal ones. His recitation didn’t move Ava in the least; she’d managed to figure all of that out based on what Hanna had told her. “So?”
“So then I met you.” His eyes were all soft and melty.
She looked away. “Yeah, and then you said I used my body to get ahead. Like I was a prostitute.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You did.” She stared at him, daring him to deny it. He was smart enough not to. “That hurt, Jake. It hurt a lot.” So much that it still made her heart ache every day. “For the record, I didn’t use you.”
“I know.” His voice was quiet.
“I cared about you and you threw it all away because you didn’t trust me. Didn’t believe in me.” She felt the catch in her chest and didn’t say anything else, afraid that he’d hear just how deeply affected she still was by what had happened. By him.
“I was an idiot.”
“Something we can finally agree on.”
“I want to make it up to you.”
She shook her head. “There’s nothing to make up. You were honest about how you felt. Now I know.”
“No, I wasn’t honest. I was scared and I panicked.”
“Let me guess—you’re all better now?”
His eyes caught hers and held. The gray was that dark stormy color of the Pacific Ocean in winter. He rose, moved across the living room like a hunter. She felt caught in his snare, forced herself not to blink or flinch or show any sign of weakness. She raised her chin and kept looking into his eyes.
His voice was soft. “You said I didn’t believe in you. That’s not true. I thought you were an amazing host. I just didn’t want to get my personal and professional lives twisted together.”
Ava swallowed but maintained eye contact. “So instead you decided to dump us both.”
“No.” He sat on the arm of the couch, just close enough that if Ava reached out her hand she could touch him. She managed to control herself.
“Yes.” Her nerves were buzzing. She was surprised it didn’t sound like an attack of African killer bees.
“I made a mistake. And you were right when you said I ran. That’s not easy to admit.” The half smile he gave her almost did what the puppy-dog eyes couldn’t. “I ran home to my family, who proceeded to give me a very necessary kick in the ass.” He smiled again.
She didn’t smile back.
“I had a meeting with a foreign airline last week. They offered me a contract to produce thirteen episodes.”
“Really?” That shocked her, and for a moment she smiled. Really smiled. “That’s great.”
“Yes.” He leaned forward but remained sitting. “I want you to host.”
“Jake.”
“Ava, hear me out.” She wanted to turn away, to remind herself why she shouldn’t trust him, but she didn’t. “I made a mistake when I gave up on the show.” She noticed he didn’t include her in the mix. “I’m here to fix that.”
“Why now?” She wanted him to say that he cared for her, that he’d realized these past few weeks he’d been miserable and lonely without her.
Instead, he just cocked his head and looked at her. “Because I’ve realized those issues were mine.”
She swallowed her disappointment. That wasn’t true. Not anymore.
“Maybe, but now you’ve made them mine.” She couldn’t stand here any longer, with so little space between them. She stepped sideways into the living room and turned to face him, gesturing toward the door. “I think you should go.”
“Ava.”
His voice snuck under her defenses, tried to warm the cold shield around her heart. But she wasn’t the Grinch and her heart was not going to grow three sizes that day. “You’ve said what you came here to say. I’d like you to leave.”
“I want you to host. The show is a huge opportunity for your career.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” From the way her heart was trying to talk her arms into opening up for him, Ava knew she wouldn’t be able to hold back if he asked for more. She didn’t think she could handle the heartbreak again.
“Don’t decide now. Think about it.”
“Jake.” She forced herself to meet his eyes. “I’ve already had weeks to think about things.”
But he refused to be deterred by her logic. “Not about this. Take a few days.”
“Seventy-two hours won’t change my mind.” Or ease her emotional aches.
“Then I’ll give you a week. I’ll be in town until Friday.”
Ava simply herded him to the door without responding and waited until he was gone, watching through the peephole to make sure he wasn’t coming back before she let out the breath trapped in her lungs.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“WELL, WHAT DID SHE SAY?”<
br />
Hanna had shown up on Jake’s doorstep only twenty minutes after he’d returned from Ava’s apartment—thanks to Rachel’s big mouth, no doubt—and demanded that he come out for dinner with her. He’d tried to defer for another night, but she’d ignored him and dragged him to some noisy lounge that served child-size scraps and called them fine dining. He’d already eaten four plates.
“Who said I asked her anything.” He speared a chunk of fish off Hanna’s plate.
She rolled her eyes at him. “Isn’t that why you came back?”
“I’m not sure I can trust you with that information. What was with tattling to my sister anyway?”
Hanna laughed, her dark hair swinging. “You and Ava were clearly still hung up on each other but too stubborn to do anything about it. I simply helped move things along.”
Since that happened to be true, Jake wasn’t actually mad. But still. His life, his business. “Don’t do it again.”
“I won’t have to as long as you quit screwing things up.” She grinned.
The lounge was one large warehouse-size room lit by neon glass, the colors swirling and shifting in time with the music. Exposed air ducts were overhead and the concrete floor had been polished to a high gleam. Jake hated it.
He ate the last of Hanna’s fish and then sighed.
“She said she’d think about it.” That wasn’t entirely true, but close enough. When he’d offered her the week, she definitely hadn’t said no. “She’s going to get back to me Friday.”
“Does this mean I need to start looking for another cohost?”
He shrugged. “I guess we’ll both know on Friday.” It was going to be a long seven days. Not that Jake didn’t have a ton of things to keep him busy, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about Ava, about what she was thinking, what she was deciding. “I told her about Claudia,” he said to Hanna.
“I did, too.”
He frowned at her. “Oh?”
She shrugged, unconcerned by his angry glare. “Someone needed to. You were acting all hurt when she hadn’t actually done anything wrong, and it was clear you were both unhappy.”
“Maybe I was fine.”
“Maybe you were.” She shrugged. “But you sure didn’t waste any time before going to see her.”
Jake let that one go. He saw no point in fighting a losing battle. Instead, they chatted about other things. How Hanna was finding the city and fitting in at the station.
“What about your travel show? Will you still be based here?”
“Assuming the show is a go, yes. I’m planning to stay.”
“What do you mean, assuming?” Hanna stared at him. “I thought this was a done deal, contracts signed and all that. Jake, if this isn’t a sure thing I don’t think you should be asking Ava to quit her job here.”
Obviously, Hanna had heard that little snippet from Rachel.
“I’m not asking her to quit anything, okay?” He nodded when the server strolled by to ask if they’d like a second round.
“Good.” Hanna sat back in her seat. “Because if Ava didn’t kill you over that, I would have.”
“Nice to see where your loyalties lie.” But she was trying to help him, and he did appreciate the intel she’d shared with Rachel, even if it meant his sister was more involved in his personal life than he’d like. “Here’s the thing—the airline executives are crazy about her. She’s the only host they want.”
Hanna thought about that for a moment. “And what if she says no?”
“Then she says no.” Jake tried to look unconcerned, but it was the thought that had been gnawing at him since he signed the temporary contract with the airline. If Ava said no, it was very possible that they would cancel the project entirely.
“Did you tell her that the whole thing hinges on her participation?” Hanna asked.
“No.” He’d debated the whole plane flight over, but ultimately decided against it.
Hanna’s eyes widened. “Why not?”
“Because.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t want that to influence her decision.” The server reappeared with fresh drinks and Jake took a long draw from his. He was going to need a lot more of them if Hanna insisted on talking about Ava all night. “I want her to choose based on what she wants.” Not on what he needed.
“Even if it means you don’t get a show?”
“Yeah. Even if.”
“I do not agree with that. How is tossing your dream career away a good plan?”
“Hanna, it’s not your decision.” It was his. And he’d decided that putting that kind of pressure on Ava wasn’t fair. If she didn’t want to host his show, she didn’t have to, and she shouldn’t feel obligated to agree just because some executives wanted her. “You aren’t going to change my mind about this, either.”
“But—”
“If it isn’t the feminist.” They both turned to see Alex walking toward them. Alex had never forgiven Hanna for trying to ruin his dating life in university after his three-dates-in-one-night mistake. But then, she’d never forgiven him for doing it in the first place. It was the main reason Jake tried not to go out with them at the same time.
Alex plopped down beside Hanna, picked up her water glass and drained half of it.
“Hey.” She swatted at him and grabbed it back.
He grinned and looked at Jake. “My man.”
Jake inclined his head. “Alex.”
“So?” Alex leaned back and slung his arm around Hanna’s shoulder. She immediately dislodged it with a jerk of her shoulder. He put it back. “What’s the good news? When can we start officially moving ahead with the show?” When no one answered, he frowned. “She is coming back, right?”
“She’s deciding,” Jake said and then turned a steely look at Hanna. “And you can’t say anything to her.”
Hanna sniffed and curled a protective hand around her glass as she slid down the length of the couch to put as much space between her and Alex as possible. “You should tell her.”
“I’m not doing that.”
She tried to stare him down and failed. “Fine.”
“Not fine,” Alex said. “How long are we waiting on this decision?” He put the last word in air quotes.
“You are so lame,” Hanna told him.
Jake ignored their bickering. “One week.” One long week that was going to seem like a decade.
“A week? No.” Alex shook his head. “I can’t wait that long. Jilly has been avoiding my phone calls ever since you left town. You need to get me back in the good books.”
As if Alex’s dating life meant anything to Jake. “I don’t know what you think I’m supposed to do about that.”
“Put in a good word for me.”
“I never put in a bad word.”
“Someone did. We went out a few times after that night at the club. I thought things were pretty good and then all of a sudden, she’s ignoring me.” He said this as though he was stunned. As though people didn’t ignore Alex Harrington.
“It wasn’t me.”
“It was me,” Hanna said and took a slow sip of her water while they both stared at her. “What? I like Jilly and I felt it was my duty to warn her about your philandering ways.” She poked Alex in the chest.
“Thanks for that.”
“You’re welcome.” Her smile could have sweetened sugar as she turned back to Jake. “So what are you going to do to convince Ava that she wants to host the show?”
“Nothing. I laid it all out. Now she just needs to decide.” He realized the pair of them were looking at him as if he’d lost his mind. “What?”
“Bad move,” Hanna said.
“Totally,” Alex agreed. “You need to do something or this whole project is dead.”
Jake tried to discount their opinions, but way deep down in his gut, he was afraid they were right.
* * *
THE WEEK WENT MORE SLOWLY than Jake had anticipated, crawling like an injured snail toward Friday. He’d kept to his promise and given Ava the time to consider his proposal with no pressure, though it had been hard not to call her up just to ask how she was doing. Particularly the night Die Hard was on TV. He’d almost texted her to ask if she was watching, but put the phone down without pressing a button.
Every night he’d tuned in to the show to watch her. Unlike Claudia, seeing Ava on screen felt like a physical yank. As if his body was telling him to get over to the station and tell her how he felt. But he rebelled against the urge.
He’d wanted to give her the space to make her decision without his influence. But it was now Friday night, and he needed to know her decision.
She answered her buzzer on the second ring, which eased the tightness in his lungs a touch. He hadn’t been sure she wouldn’t let him stand outside all night. “It’s Jake,” he said, though he suspected she already knew.
“Hello.” Measured, guarded.
“I thought I could come up so we could talk about the show.”
There was a long pause as though she was considering telling him to leave, then a sigh. “All right.” And the loud hum as the building door unlocked.
She was waiting in the doorway to her apartment. Probably didn’t want to catch any flak from her crabby neighbor tonight. Since it got him inside, Jake wasn’t going to complain.
“I was going to call you,” she said, pointedly not locking the door.
That Weekend... Page 27