“What happened with forwarding the mail to you guys down in Florida?” I asked.
“You really don’t watch the news, do you? This hurricane season’s supposed to be rough. Your father is up to his usual panicky antics and he switched the forwarding address to your house. So we can make sure someone gets the mail. He thinks everything halts when storms blow through.”
“Sounds like Dad. Anyway, it’s another threatening letter from Breathline. Government action and all that shit.”
“Language, sweetheart.”
“Sorry, Mom. And all that stuff. I’ve got an informal sit down with Richard on Saturday for lunch to figure out what we can do about getting them to stop. Richard says they don’t have grounds to involve the government and that we might have some avenues we can take to get them to stop for good.”
“Well, keep us in the loop honey. I’m so sorry we aren’t there to handle this,” she said.
“No worries. You guys enjoy your incapacitated time together. I just wanted to update you on what was going on since I had to call the family lawyer.”
“Thanks, sweetheart. Let us know how Saturday goes.”
“I will. And Mom?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t kill Dad. We need him,” I said.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he’s just fine.”
“I can still hear your grin.”
“If you keep questioning me then I’m going to start prodding you on why your voice sounds so chipper.”
“I’m not chipper,” I said.
“Even with the stress you’re shouldering with this letter, you sound much better than you did the last time I talked with you. You don’t want me asking question, then stop teasing me about what your father and I do on vacation,” she said.
“I’m not teasing. The two of you are celibate saints,” I said.
“Uh huh. Keep your head up. And if we need to come back early, we will. Okay?”
“No need. I’ll call you guys after lunch on Saturday,” I said.
I hung up the phone and shook my head. In retrospect, I was lucky to have been raised in the family I had been. My mother and father had no issues with showing affection toward one another while they were around us. They hugged and kissed. My brothers, Jasper and Leo, had the stereotypical “walking in on their parents” moments when they were younger. I had enough sense not to bother them when they were both behind closed doors, but my twin brothers were idiots growing up.
Thank fuck they turned out to be decent human beings as they got older.
I knew I needed to call them with this, but I held off on it. I sat on the couch and closed my eyes, my mind racing back to Ava. I wish I had gotten her number before she left. So I could check in on her and make sure she was doing okay. I had no idea why I was so worried about her, but I was. I didn’t know why I couldn’t get her off my mind, but I couldn’t.
I reached out for the empty space on the couch, imagining her there. How she looked lounging around in my shirt with her supple legs draped over the couch cushions. I opened my eyes and looked over, watching as her form faded away into nothing.
I wasn’t aware of how lonely I had been until she had crashed landed into my life. But now, I was painfully aware of how alone I was.
And I didn’t like it one bit.
Fifteen
Ava
I made my way to the library that morning to check out some new books. Today was the first day I was going to show my father I meant business. Ever since our very heated discussion where I figured out my brothers were just as miserable as I had become, I was determined to stand my ground. My brothers looked up to me just like I looked up to them, and I figured starting with something small would make a good case. My father always checked the books I brought home from the library, but this time he would find a sack of books he didn’t approve of. Books on business and investments. Books on energy and gasoline. Books to educate me on the family business and books on sustainable energy.
I was determined to show my father that I could make a real splash in his world, whether he approved or not.
I spent the entire morning browsing the library. I walked around in sections I hadn’t visited yet and was excited at the material I pulled off the shelves. Educational material used in colleges around the nation and workbooks I could check out with case studies I could read. I found more books on human interaction and sociology books that gave in-depths looks into how people acted the way they did. I figured it could help me to understand my father more. To help give context into why he was the way he was.
I pulled it all from the shelves and filled my bag before I made my way to check them out.
I walked down the sidewalk, taking in the small ships near Kettle’s little public library. I loved spending my summers here. I loved walking these sidewalks. I could remember darting into all these shops with my mother as a child. Marveling at all the trinkets and wondering what sorts of crafts I could get my hands on. Felts and markers and glitter and glue. Things to make messes my father would get angry over. They were wonderful memories I had of my mother until I grew up in the world she lived in.
Those memories were all I had of the perfect world I thought I inhabited.
I walked by the coffee shop and decided to grab some. Walking in with a cup of coffee in my hand would surely send my father through the roof. Only adults drank coffee, he would say. Then he would point out that my mother’s beautiful complexion was because she didn’t take in any source of caffeine. She stuck to infused water and freshly-squeezed juices.
Yep. I drove home with a cup of coffee as well.
I walked into the coffeehouse and was flooded with memories. This was where I had gotten coffee with Travis that day. It was the day I had learned so much about him and his life. His family and how he was raised. Why he was the way he was and how his smile lit up his amber eyes. I smiled as I stood in line, ready to place my order. But a familiar voice wafted from the corner and it caused me to turn my head.
I smiled as Travis came into view, but he didn’t look happy at all.
I studied his interaction with the man he sat with. The stranger was in a suit and had a folder in his hand. The two of them seemed deep in conversation, and the more they talked the more Travis’ brow furrowed. Whatever the conversation was, it wasn’t going well. But I was excited to see him again.
Even if it was from far away.
“What can I get you?” the barista asked.
“Could I get a large coffee with caramel flavoring, please?” I asked.
“Room for cream and sugar?” she asked.
“Room for just cream, thanks.”
I stood there as the woman made my coffee. She handed it to me and I grabbed the creamer, pouring it in until my black coffee was a light brown in color. I grabbed a straw and made my way for a table so I could enjoy my newfound sense of freedom.
And maybe sit and watch Travis a little while longer.
But when I sat down, he was nowhere to be found. Just like that, he had vanished. The man in the suit was gone, Travis had left, and I sighed as my straw pierced the top of the cup.
“Fancy seeing you here.”
I jumped at the sound of Travis’ voice before I started to giggle. He sat across from me as I held my heart, trying to get my nerves to calm down. As frustrated as he had been only a few moments ago, he seemed relaxed now. His face was calm and his brow was smooth. There was a playful grin on his cheeks as he lounged back in his chair. My eyes scanned him with purpose, taking in the breadth of his shoulders and the strength of his arms.
“Everything okay?” I asked. “You looked frustrated in that meeting.”
“Ah, so you did notice,” Travis said.
“You don’t have to talk about it. I just want to make sure you’re okay,” I said.
“You’re a very sweet girl.”
“Girl?” I asked. “I think I’m hardly a girl. Young woman, maybe. But not a girl.”
“Stickin
g up for yourself already. I take it things with your dad went well?” he asked.
“If I talk about that, then you have to talk about your meeting,” I said.
“Deal. But ladies first.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. It went as well as could be expected. Turns out that my father was also trying to marry off my brothers.”
“Seriously?” he asked.
“Oh yeah. That was a fun revelation. They stood up for me though. Or beside me. However you want to phrase that. I told him that I wanted to make my own decisions in my life. I wanted to choose who I wanted to marry and I wanted to get an education. Or at least be educated.”
“I bet he didn’t take that well.”
“Not at all. He almost hit me for it until my brothers stepped in.”
“He did what?” he asked.
“It didn’t actually happen.”
“But it has before, hasn’t it?” he asked.
I took a sip of my coffee as I watched Travis straighten up in his chair.
“Has he done it recently?” he asked.
“It’s not a big deal. It’s under control. Mostly.”
“It is a big deal. To me, it is. A man should never be laying his hands on a woman. Especially a father to his damn daughter.”
“It happens more often than you realize,” I said.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m the best I’ve been in a long time. Things are tense in the house, but I’m about to go home with a cup of forbidden liquid in my hands and a bag full of books my father would hate me reading just to prove my point. I feel… confident. I feel like I’m leading on some sort of march that will free my brothers as well. I had no idea they felt just as oppressed as I did.”
“I have to admit, I’m glad to see you. I’ve been thinking about you,” he said.
“Oh really?” I asked. “I wonder why.”
“Not just because of that,” he said with a chuckle. “I was just… worried. That your father would squeeze you back into the life you’re trying to get away from.”
“Nope. I’m stronger than most people give me credit for. I just had to figure it out for myself.”
“That you are, Ava,” he said. “That you are.”
“So, tell me about this meeting you just had. What happened?” I asked.
“How much have I told you about my family’s company?” he asked.
“Not much. I only know that you have one.”
“Well, through our company we own part of Kettle. Most of the mountainous terrain.”
“I know that part,” I said.
“There’s a company who’s threatening us with all sorts of action to try and get us to sell.”
“Is that a thing companies can do?” I asked.
“It’s not kosher business practice, but yes. Currently, they’re threatening to get the government involved.”
“Why do they want your land so badly?”
“They want to put a gas line through the mountains. It’ll save them millions of dollars to cut through rather than go around. My family’s company tried to stop the line from being settled though this town altogether, but our lawyer got us to compromise.”
“Was that your lawyer you were talking with?” I asked.
“Yep. I told him if we gave them an inch, they would take a mile. But he was certain that if we settled, they would leave us alone. So, my father and us all agreed to have them route the gas line through the valleys and around the mountains.”
“Which would still cost them millions more than just blasting them away,” I said.
“Exactly. Now, they want to buy the land from us for double what it’s worth. But we aren’t selling. And now I’m having to investigate our options because this company’s getting serious about their accusations.”
“None of that seems legal. What did your lawyer say?” I asked.
“We can sue them for harassment and notify the U.S. government of the threats they are making, but beyond that there isn’t much we can do unless we can catch them doing something illegal.”
“That’s it?” I asked. “That’s all your lawyer had to say?”
“Hence why I’m frustrated. My family purchased this land a very long time ago simply to preserve it. We run some hunts and a couple of camps and give out hunting permits, but that’s about it. That money gives us the property taxes on the land and the property taxes on the cabins we’ve built in the area, and that’s it. It’s not some big money-making scheme for us. It’s just to preserve the beauty of this town.”
“I think that’s a very noble thing to do,” I said. “Kettle’s a beautiful place. I couldn’t imagine it without its mountains.”
“And running a gas line is never just a gas line. Then you need people to settle and work it, which means building more homes. Which means more grocery stores and more places for entertainment. It would bring the world into this small little town, and soon Kettle would be like every other industrial city in the nation.”
“That’s not okay. I have serious memories in this town that stem around how small and quaint it is,” I said.
“Our family single-handedly makes sure that stays intact. But this company that keeps reaming us is making it difficult.”
“Selfish assholes,” I said.
I could’ve sworn I saw Travis’ cheek twitch with a smile.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said. “Just your enthusiasm.”
“It’s beautiful out here. Kettle’s like a second home to me, despite the fact that I’ve explored very little of it. Knowing someone’s attacking it like that makes me sick.”
“Don’t worry. We’re trying to get it settled,” he said.
“I don’t know what I can do, but if I can help just like me know. Okay?”
I could see him really taking my words to heart as he nodded his head. Silence fell between us as I sipped on my coffee. Simply being in his presence was enough to make me smile. Something inside me pulled toward him. My body gravitated in his direction. My foot slid toward his underneath the table and settled by his as my hand reached out for his fingertips. I waited for him to move. To shrug me off or get up from the table. I waited for the rejection I somehow assumed was coming.
But instead, he allowed our fingertips to tangle within one another’s and I felt a peace settle over my body.
“What are you doing for dinner tonight?” Travis asked.
“Sitting at a table with my head in my plate trying not to look at my father’s angry glare. Why?” I asked.
“I figured you might want to have steak stir fry and smile instead.”
“Uh huh. And who’s cooking up this stir fry?” I asked.
Travis scooted his hand closer to mine, threading our fingers deeper into each other’s grasp.
“Me,” he said. “If you’d let me.”
I smiled as I curled my lips around my straw. My eyes fluttered up to his as we sat in the corner of that coffeehouse. Part of me was worried about who saw us and who would report back to my father with it, but the other part of me was fine. I wanted to be with him. I wanted to be in Travis’ presence. I wanted to soak up his warmth and experience what it felt like to be safe in the presence of another human being.
“I think I’d like that option better,” I said.
“I was hoping you would say that,” Travis said. “I’ll see you tonight.”
Sixteen
Travis
I was frustrated after that meeting. I was beyond frustrated, really. I was angry. And fed up. And pissed off. I was upset at the position my father’s company had been put in. I was upset with the fact that we had no other options except to pin Breathline Energies for harassment. That wouldn’t make a company like them stop. They had a team of lawyers piecing this together. For all we knew, they could take that harassment lawsuit and spin it to make my father look fucking crazy and take the whole damn company from him.
But seeing Ava walk into that coffeehouse settled me immed
iately.
It was scary, the way I relaxed with her. It was reminiscent of the woman I had once fallen in love with. Things like this had been easy with my ex. Talking and sharing memories and being around one another. It was easy and fluid, like it was with Ava.
That terrified me. But it also filled me with a sense of delight.
When Ava and I parted from the coffeehouse I went straight to the grocery store. I picked up all the best ingredients to make her dinner tonight. I picked out a wonderful cut of steak and picked out fresh ingredients to use. I purchased fresh herbs instead of the dried stuff I had in my cabinets and grabbed a decent bottle of wine. I took all of it back to my cabin and started planning out the evening, excitement coursing through my veins.
I was just about done with dinner when a knock came at my door.
I wiped my hands off and raked my fingers through my hair. I headed for the door and opened it, my eyes raking over Ava’s beautiful form. She was in this beautiful yellow and pink floral-printed dress, with ballet flats on and her hair curled around her face. She had this innocent glow about her until my eyes connected with hers. For the first time, I saw Ava as a woman instead of as a young girl. Her eyes were filled with a fire and a confidence I hadn’t seen in her yet, and my heart slammed against my chest as she stepped inside.
“You look wonderful,” I said.
“You look nice, too,” Ava said. “It smells delicious in here.”
“And it’s done cooking. I hope you came hungry,” I said.
“I did. Very much so.”
“How did things go when you got home?” I asked.
“As well as I figured it would. Dad tried to get me to take the books back to the library. He poured my coffee down the sink. But not before I took a massive chug of it in front of him.”
“I have no idea how you’ve lived with that man for so many years,” I said.
“I didn’t have a choice. Until all of this marriage stuff came about, I guess I didn’t realize how much of my life he really wanted to control. Either that, or I had simply become okay with it.”
“Did you return the books?” I asked.
“Nope. I started reading one of them on the couch and he fumed every time he saw me reading it. But they are in my car right now. I didn’t trust my father’s actions enough to keep them in my room.”
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