“Just trust me. You already love this one.” Joseph’s eyes were practically dancing, and Ava found that she did trust him.
It was strange how natural it felt to be following him to the door of his father’s house. How much time had she spent with his family over the years?
He opened the door, and she checked over her shoulder. Currently, Tasha and Griffin were chasing around the yard, though they clearly didn’t know who was chasing whom. “What about the dogs?”
“They’ll be fine out here. Come on. She’s in the kitchen.” Joseph held the door open and gestured her through.
Ah, so the surprise must be his sister. Though Grace was five years older than her, Ava had always looked up to her as a big sister. It’d been far too long since she’d seen her.
Ava walked through the familiar living room toward the kitchen, Joseph following so close behind her that his scent tickled her nose―and made her want to stop and breathe it in all day.
She hurried into the kitchen and circled to the far side of the island to get out of Joseph-scent range. “Where is she?” Ava glanced around the empty kitchen toward the French doors that led out to the patio. She spotted Grace among the rest of the Calvano clan outside and started toward the door.
“Where are you going?” Joseph’s voice stopped her. “She’s over there.”
Ava spun to find him pointing to the other side of the kitchen, where a small brown and white puppy sat blinking up at her.
“Princess?” She strode to the puppy and scooped her up. “You adopted her?” A twinge of envy went through her. As much as she’d known she couldn’t have another puppy, she’d felt a sort of kinship with the little pup with the deformed leg.
“Nope.” Joseph’s grin grew into a chuckle. “You did.”
“Me?” She stared at him and set the puppy down. “I told you, Aunt Lori would―”
“Disown you. I know. That’s why I’m going to keep her for you. You can come visit her anytime you want.”
Ava shook her head. That would mean spending way too much time with him.
“And that way you won’t be able to avoid me forever.” He echoed her thoughts.
“I haven’t been avoiding you.”
He gave her a look
Okay. She had been.
But it was for his own good―and hers.
They both turned as the French doors opened and Grace stepped inside.
Before Ava could say hello, Grace’s arms wrapped her in a tight hug. “It’s been too long.”
Ava nodded, swallowing against the unexpected tears that gathered at the back of her throat. She hadn’t realized how much she missed this family.
When they pulled apart, Grace gestured to Ava’s camera bag. “We might want to get started on the pictures. Asher and Benjamin are making plans to toss Zeb into the river.”
Ava laughed and followed Grace toward the door.
Outside was a glorious display of chaos as Asher and Benjamin chased Zeb, the others either looking on and laughing or ignoring the commotion as they carried on their conversations. Ava’s heart filled at the sight of all the activity. This was how she remembered long summer days with the Calvanos as a kid―filled with chaos, laughter, and love. A place where she’d always felt like she belonged.
She raised a hand to cover her cheek, reminding herself that that had been before. She knew the Calvanos well enough to know none of them would judge her scars. But she didn’t want them to pity her either.
A wolf whistle pierced the air, and Ava turned to Grace, impressed. Grace grinned at her as the activity and noise stopped.
“Y’all remember Ava, I’m sure.”
“Hey, Ava.” Asher jogged over and squished her in a hug. “Good to see you.”
“Yeah. We’ve missed having you around.” Benjamin was the next to hug her. She felt Joseph step closer.
Simeon and Zeb were on the far side of the patio but both raised a hand to wave.
“And you know Carly,” Grace continued. Ava nodded as Carly stepped forward to hug her too. “And this is Simeon’s wife Abigail. And you probably remember Ireland, Asher’s fiancée. And Daddy, of course.” Pastor Calvano crossed the patio and gave Ava the biggest hug of all. She wanted to tell him how sorry she was about Mrs. Calvano and about blowing off his calls, but now didn’t seem like the time.
“Always good to welcome one of the family home,” Pastor Calvano said quietly enough that Ava was pretty sure she was the only one who heard.
“Uh, Grace. I think you forgot someone.” Joseph gestured to a man standing on the far side of the patio with Zeb and Simeon. “Ava, this is Grace’s husband, Levi Donovan.”
Levi stepped forward with a laugh. “You know you don’t have to introduce me by my first and last name every time, right?” He held out a hand to Ava. “Just Levi.”
Ava shook his hand. “Trust me. I would have known who you were even without the last name. Most people around here would, I reckon.” Especially if they knew someone like Aunt Lori, who probably had every one of Levi’s stats memorized.
“Well, everyone except Grace.” Levi laughed as he pulled his wife to his side and planted a kiss on top of her head.
“Grace isn’t like most people,” Benjamin joked.
“Nope. That she isn’t.” Levi looked at Grace with such a tender expression that Ava had to look away.
Her eyes accidentally landed on Joseph, who was watching her with nearly the same expression.
She looked away from him as well and busied herself with her camera. “Should we get started?”
Chapter 17
Joseph loved watching Ava work.
The way she took care in arranging his family for their portraits. The way she examined them like they were a fine work of art, even as they goofed around and jostled each other. The way she lifted the camera to her face like it was an extension of her arms.
But most of all, the way he could see how much she loved what she was doing.
“Hey, Joseph,” she called, pulling the camera away from her face. “Would you mind looking at your daddy the way everyone else is?”
“Sorry.” Joseph grinned, not sorry in the least. “I was looking at something else.”
Next to him, Asher snorted. Well so what? He couldn’t have hidden his feelings for Ava from his family if he tried. And right now, he really didn’t want to try.
Everything felt so perfect, having Ava here. Like nothing had changed.
“A little more to the right, Joseph,” Ava called.
“Like this?” Joseph shifted to the right, until he was directly behind Zeb, who stood a good two inches taller than him.
“Now I can’t see you,” Ava called, amusement coloring her tone. Or at least he chose to interpret it as amusement and not annoyance.
“I can fix that.” Joseph bent his knees, then sprang onto Zeb’s back. His brother let out a loud oof and staggered a few steps forward but didn’t drop him.
“Y’all are impossible.” But Ava was laughing as her camera clicked.
It took him by surprise every time, how much he loved the music of that laugh.
And how dedicated he was to making her do it again. Thankfully, it seemed easier in coming every time he saw her. Especially when there were puppies involved. He glanced to where Griffin and Tasha were playing, little Princess trying her best to keep up.
“Okay, one more spot.” Ava glanced toward the river. “Joseph said you wanted to have a picture to honor your mama. I thought maybe we could do it around that rock by the river she always liked to sit on.”
Joseph blinked as they all fell quiet. Mama used to call it her praying rock, and if you ever woke up early in the morning and didn’t know where she was, she was sure to be sitting there, spending her time in conversation with the Lord.
“I’m sorry,” Ava looked helplessly at the faces surrounding Joseph. “I didn’t mean to― We don’t have to―”
“That sounds like a really nice idea.” Joseph managed t
o find his voice.
She sent him a relieved look as his siblings nodded.
“I think Mama would have liked that,” Dad said, leading the way down the hill to the river.
Joseph took his time, letting the others get ahead of them before he fell into step next to her. “You remembered.”
“I hope it’s okay. I didn’t mean to bring everyone down.”
He let himself touch her elbow, only for a second. “It’s perfect. Really.”
Doubt still lingered in her eyes, but she bustled ahead of him to start positioning the others. When she got to him, he quietly took his place between Benjamin and Asher. Even he knew when it was time to be serious.
Ava studied them, then lifted her camera. His eyes followed her as she took shots from a few different angles, then declared the session done.
The others broke away, the somber atmosphere fading as they started to put a football game together.
Joseph held back, moving toward Ava, who was flicking through the pictures she’d just taken.
He stepped close enough to peer at them over her shoulder, letting himself be taken away on her rich, sweet jasmine scent.
Ava kept advancing through the pictures.
“I’ll have to do some post-processing on them, adjust the light levels, but I think they’ll turn out nice.”
“I’m sure they will. You’re very talented.” He had to shove his hands in his pockets so he wouldn’t rest them on her shoulders the way he used to. “Dad’s grilling tonight. He told me to ask you to stay.” Certainly, she wouldn’t be able to resist an invitation from his father.
But she bit her lip.
“Grace made your favorite barbecue baked beans.” Might as well sweeten the deal.
Ava’s shoulders relaxed, and he knew he had her. But just to make sure: “And moon pies for dessert.”
Ava shook her head but turned toward him. “You know me too well.”
His eyes landed on hers. “Yes I do.”
They stood like that for a moment, and he prayed she’d realize how true it was. He knew her better than he knew anyone, even himself.
For half a second, he thought he saw her waver.
“Joseph. Get over here.” At Asher’s shout, Ava looked away. Joseph could have smacked his brother.
Oblivious to what he’d interrupted, Asher was still yelling. “You’re on my team.”
“Sorry. They’re impossible.” He tried unsuccessfully to get Ava to look at him again.
“It’s okay. Go play.” Ava squatted to put her camera in her bag.
“I’d rather hang out with you.” He probably shouldn’t have said that out loud, even if it was true.
But instead of scolding him, Ava let her lips lift the slightest bit. “I’ll watch.”
“And you won’t go anywhere? You’ll stay for dinner?”
“You know you had me at moon pies.” Ava’s expression grew into a full smile. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Promise?”
She nodded and waved him off. “Promise. Now go.”
He jogged toward his brothers, who were already huddling up. But he couldn’t resist the urge to turn and look at Ava again. His heart nearly leapt right into the air when he found her watching him. He pointed two fingers at his eyes, then at her.
Though he couldn’t hear her, he could see that she was laughing.
Turned out, her laugh looked as beautiful as it sounded.
Chapter 18
Ava finished packing up her camera gear and threw her pack onto her back, then started up the hill to where the Calvano boys had a very loud game of football going on.
The predominant sound was laughter, and she rubbed at her cheek as it stretched into another smile.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed so much.
It was probably before the fire.
No, it was definitely before the fire.
In fact, until Joseph had stepped back into her life a month ago, it’d been so long since she’d really laughed that she’d nearly forgotten how good it felt.
She stashed her camera bag in her vehicle, feeling Joseph’s eyes on her as she moved around it. He again pointed to his eyes, then to her.
She laughed again and sent him a thumbs-up to say she got the message. He was watching. She couldn’t break her promise not to leave.
Which was fine. Because she didn’t want to be anywhere else.
Her camera gear safely stowed, Ava made her way to the front porch and settled onto the top step to watch the brothers play.
Joseph had always been quick on the field, and he didn’t appear to have lost a step over the years, as he caught a long pass from Levi, then dodged past Zeb to run for the makeshift end zone before Simeon brought him down just shy of a touchdown. In spite of herself, Ava let out a quiet cheer.
An overwhelming sense of nostalgia overtook her.
How many Friday nights had she spent watching him play, cheering him on? How many Friday nights had she thought her life was perfect―she was head cheerleader, dating the football captain, both of their futures bright and full of promise?
After the game, they’d go to Murf’s, share a shake, and talk about their plans for the future. He’d go to Cornell, and she’d only be a few hours away, modeling in New York. When he was done with school, they’d get married, have four kids and three dogs, and live happily ever after.
Never once in all those nights of planning had she stopped to consider what would happen if their dreams didn’t come true. What would happen if one day, in the blink of an eye, everything changed.
“Mind if I join you?”
Ava shook herself out of her thoughts as Grace settled onto the step next to her.
“Just like old times, huh?”
Ava nodded. “Although they never had an NFL quarterback playing with them before. How did that happen?” Ava looked at Grace, who had always been unassuming and humble―the very last person she would have expected to marry a former football star.
Grace shifted to face her. “That is a very long story. But let’s just say it all started with a prayer.”
Ava lifted an eyebrow. “So, what? You prayed, ‘God send me a football player,’ and Levi Donovan showed up on your doorstep?”
“Actually, I said, ‘Please not a football player.’” Grace laughed. “But God has a sense of humor.”
Ava laughed along with her. Wasn’t that how it always happened in movies? Two people who didn’t seem meant to be together ended up discovering they were just right for each other.
But in the case of her and Joseph, it was the opposite: two people who had seemed so perfect for each other turned out not to be.
Or, well, one of them was still perfect. But the other was . . . not.
“What about you?” Grace bumped Ava’s shoulder with hers. “Any prayers of your own?” Her gaze went pointedly to Joseph, who was picking himself up off the ground after tackling Zeb. He looked their way with a wave, but Ava didn’t return it.
She shook her head, trusting that her makeup hid the flush she could feel rising to her cheeks. “No one.”
Grace studied her a little too closely. “You know, he called me after you broke up with him. He was . . . I think devastated would be an understatement.”
Ava pressed her lips together. Of course Joseph had been devastated. His girlfriend had been transformed from a model into a monster overnight.
“He kept telling me he was going to come see you whether you liked it or not. I told him to give you some time,” Grace continued, apparently not sensing that this was the last thing in the world Ava wanted to talk about. “But I didn’t mean eight years.”
Ava shrugged. “It wouldn’t have mattered.”
“Wouldn’t it?” Grace fell silent, and Ava hoped that meant she’d given up on the conversation.
They watched the game a few more minutes before Pastor Calvano called that the food was ready.
As they got up, Grace turned to her. “
You know, Levi eventually got past my defenses. I hope you let Joseph get past yours.”
Chapter 19
Joseph stole another glance down the oversized patio table at Ava.
Somehow, during the course of the meal, he’d gone from sulking that his dad and Grace had taken the seats on either side of her to relishing the way she interacted with his family.
She threw her head back now and laughed at something Dad had said―hopefully not some embarrassing story from Joseph’s childhood, though Ava knew most of those already―then glanced his way with a soft smile. He smiled back.
She had fit in like another member of this family when they were younger. He wanted her to remember that―to remember what it felt like to talk to his sister and to be teased by his brothers and to be welcomed by his father. Most of all, he wanted her to remember what it was like to be loved by him.
As he cleared the last bite from his plate, Joseph spotted Grace getting up from her seat, carrying her plate and glass with her. In an instant, he was on his feet, diving to claim her chair. He may not have minded Grace sitting next to Ava, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to claim that spot at the first opportunity.
“Hey.” Ava’s smile raced to his heart. “Your dad was just telling me about the job offer you got at Cornell.”
He shrugged. He’d been honored, but it had been easy to turn down. “I wanted to be here.”
Ava’s eyes searched his face, and he prayed she’d see that she was a big part of the reason for that.
“Hey, y’all.” Grace spoke from near the head of the table, and Ava’s eyes swiveled to her. Joseph nearly growled at his sister for interrupting their moment. “I imagine you’re wondering about the big news I mentioned.”
Oh, that was right. In his anticipation of seeing Ava, Joseph had nearly forgotten that Grace had said she had news.
Grace shot a quick, nervous glance at her husband. Joseph caught the encouraging smile Levi offered, and his stomach plunged. Something was wrong, he could feel it.
“Are you going to tell us about your new coffee bar now?” he joked, trying to ease the sudden tension.
Grace’s laugh was forced. “Maybe later. I put together a lecture just for you. But for now, I have news a little bigger than that.”
Pieces of Forever: A Christian Romance (River Falls Book 1) Page 9