Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
* * *
Ava was damn near running when she left.
Of course she needed to call Mrs. Anderson’s daughter, and Ransom more than admired that about her. Out on the street, she had her phone in her hand, obviously searching her contacts. She was so caring, had always been that way with every patient at the convalescent home, not just his grandmother.
She wasn’t required to personally call the daughter. Under normal circumstances, she would have received a report. The CEO of a billion-dollar care home conglomerate didn’t call a relative about an accident. But Ava cared. She knew how worried Mrs. Anderson’s daughter would be. And she was worried herself. He’d heard the tremor in her voice.
But she’d still used it as an excuse to run away from him.
And that made him want to break through all her emotional walls. Now. Not later.
In the car, he’d been thinking about his own scars, but now, after another afternoon spent with her, and yes, after seeing her concern for an old woman who lived at one of her homes, he no longer cared about the scars. He didn’t want to bide his time or wait for the right moment. If it had been any reason other than the misfortune of the poor injured woman, he would have run after Ava, made her confront him, made her feel, made her tell him why she had to run.
Under the circumstances, he could do nothing but let her go.
The meal had been such a success. They’d talked like any other couple getting to know each other. Maybe doing that had pierced at least one emotional wall Ava Harrington had built around herself.
Chapter Twelve
The update from Campbell was good. Mrs. Anderson had suffered a bump on the head, but was otherwise fine, and the doctors were letting her go home tonight. Thankfully, her daughter had rushed to the hospital as soon as Ava called.
In her flat, she threw her purse on the chair in the foyer and breathed a sigh of relief that one of her favorite residents hadn’t suffered a worse injury. She flopped on the couch, laid her head back, and closed her eyes. What a day—nonstop action, from that pancake breakfast to the drive home to working with Ransom to the amazing meal he’d prepared for her. Then Mrs. Anderson’s fall.
She was tired down to her very bones. Yet her mind was still whirling like an old phonograph record.
She’d missed an entire day at the office, which meant she’d have to go in tomorrow. She should catch up on email right now, but exhaustion was quickly overtaking her. If there was anything truly important, Naomi would have called her.
When her phone rang in her purse all the way over on the foyer chair, she almost didn’t get up. But it could be about Mrs. Anderson, either her daughter or Campbell. Ava prayed it wasn’t a turn for the worse. Pushing herself off the couch, she dragged her feet across the floor.
The name on Caller ID shocked her. Gideon Jones.
“Hello? Gideon?” Why on earth would the man be calling her on the Friday before his wedding? Please, she prayed, not another emergency.
Gideon didn’t even say hello. “You know how we’re getting married in forty-eight hours?” His deep voice rattled her.
“Uh, yeah, I know.”
“Well, guess what?”
He paused long enough for her to say, “What?”
“Our caterer just pulled out.”
“Oh my God.” What was up with these caterers?
“I know you’ve been looking for a new caterer for your Bay Area homes. What did you find out? Is there anyone I can use at the last minute?”
The first name to pop into her mind was Ransom’s. This was right up his alley. Specialty catering. And he was the best at it. But he was already busting his butt over her care homes. If she gave his contact info to Gideon without checking first, she’d be putting him in a bind.
“Let me check,” she said. “I’ll get right back to you, promise. We’ll find something that works.” She managed a laugh. “Even if we all have to get out there and prepare the meal ourselves.”
Finally, Gideon laughed too. “I bet you would. Thanks, Ava. You’re the best. I knew I could count on you.”
She hung up, hoping he could. And she meant what she’d said. Gabby and Fernsby were already making the cake. If Gideon couldn’t find a replacement, the Mavericks and the Harringtons would make it work. They were family now, and family pitched in.
She opened her contacts list, where Ransom was at the top of her Favorites.
Then it hit her. If Ransom agreed to do the catering, he would be at the wedding. She’d be surrounded by all those Mavericks so in love. And her brother, endlessly in love with Cammie.
She’d be inundated by true love, while she and Ransom had totally sucked at it.