“I’m wondering how in the hell Jace McAllister got my number and why the hell I just got off the phone with him!”
I wanted to clap my hands with glee. Jace had played right into them. Freaking perfect.
"He called? What'd he say? How long did you guys talk? Is he coming to the reunion?" Sure, I knew the answer to that last question, but I wanted to gauge her reaction.
“Yes, he called, and I think we were both shocked as hell. He is coming to the reunion, but you already knew that. You told me yesterday! And he even said he’d already RSVP’ed, so he had no clue as to why he got another reminder. Seriously, Sierra, what do you think you’re doing?”
The urge to squeal was hard to resist. Still, I couldn't hide the smile in my voice. “Umm, yeah, I may have accidentally put your number on there. Oops. My bad."
She scoffed at my snicker, but there was something in her tone that told me she wasn't as pissed as she was pretending to be.
“It’s not funny. I was already reeling from the thought of having to see him, and then you go and do this? I thought I’d have months to prepare, but now, I feel like that stupid seventeen-year-old girl again, excited and breathless just by the sound of his voice.”
Bing-freaking-go. “Exactly. You can thank me any time now,” I said. God, my work here was practically done, and the reunion was still months away.
“Thank you? I’m freaking pissed. What were you thinking?”
Even though she couldn't see me, I rolled my eyes. “Did you not just hear yourself? Excited and breathless? You’d been void of any positive emotion for far too long. And, in one phone call, you felt something else. Sure, be pissed at me, but at the end of the day, you’re going to be happy about it,” I told her.
Silence hung in the air between us. I was right. More importantly, she knew I was right. I was feeling pretty brilliant right about then. Finally, she sighed, but it sounded more dreamy than exasperated. At least, that's what I told myself.
“Whatever. Stop meddling. I mean it. We haven’t spoken in almost ten years. One phone call is nothing. He’s probably forgotten all about little Alexa Sullivan,” she said, a hint of sadness in her voice.
This was perfect. I finally had my in and could tell her what I'd never told her before, because of Ty. “Oh, no, he hasn’t. When we went to visit before Ava was born, we met up with him. All he did was ask about you. He wanted to know everything—what you were doing, where you were working. He even asked about Ty, and he seemed genuinely interested in knowing if you were happy.”
Her breath caught audibly. “You never told me that. You didn’t even tell me that you saw him." Her voice was accusing. I loved it.
“I didn’t think you’d be interested. And I’m sure Ty would’ve just loved knowing your high school love was asking about you six years later.”
I winced, thinking about the night Jeremy had had a little too much whiskey and done a little too much reminiscing while telling embarrassing childhood stories. Of course, Jace's name came up, and Jeremy seemed in awe of him over his military career. Ty looked uncomfortable as Jeremy went on and on about Lexi's crush. He even went so far as to mention the similarities between Ty and Jace. That's when I cut Jeremy off and practically threatened his balls if he ever brought Jace up again.
“He was not my high school love. We never even dated! It was just a stupid crush." Her protest fell on deaf ears, and I was now even more convinced something had happened between them before Jace had left.
“Whatever you say, sis. All I know is you two were as close as two friends can be, and then he left town and you never talked to him again. I’ve always wondered why that was."
“You’ve never asked.”
“Would you have told me?”
“Umm…no, but bring over a bottle of wine for this week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries and maybe, just maybe, Elijah and you can convince me to spill,” she said.
“Yeah, right. You’ve waited ten years, so I have a feeling getting anything out of you will be damn near impossible. Guess I better bring two bottles to get those lips loose." I laughed, but I was secretly wondering how much wine it would take to get it out of her.
"You're on," she said, a smile in her voice.
I probably should’ve felt guilty for being so manipulative. I didn’t. The truth was I’d have done anything for Lexi to be happy again, even if it meant I had to push her in the right direction. When we hung up, I was more convinced than ever that I was doing the right thing. And I couldn’t freaking wait to see how it would pan out.
I wasn’t sure how I’d gotten stuck with giving Ava another lesson about bad words, but I had. Sierra should’ve known better. That girl had me wrapped around her tiny fingers so tight.
Even still, when Sierra blew me a kiss and went to get her phone, I scooped my baby girl up off the floor, pulling her into my arms and tickling her as I carried her down the hallway to my room.
Once I’d set her down on the bed, I grabbed the chair from Sierra’s vanity and set it in front of her. Sitting down, I was eye level with Ava, giving her my stern dad face. Her lower lip was already trembling. Fuck me. She knew I was a sucker for her tears, but I was determined not to fall for it that time.
Good luck with that, right?
“I love you, Daddy.”
Damn, she was already breaking out the big guns.
I tried to mask my grin, but it was no use. Her big, blue eyes were staring at me so intently, so earnestly, that I couldn’t help it. I beamed at my precocious, conniving little girl.
“I love you, too, baby.”
“Is Mommy mad at me?” she asked, looking as forlorn as a four-year-old possibly could.
“No, of course not. Why would you ask that?”
She let out a deep sigh and studied her tiny hands. “I said a bad word.”
This girl.
I placed a finger under her chin and lifted it until her eyes were on mine. “Mommy’s not mad, Ava. She just doesn’t want you to say the bad words, okay?” I leaned in close as if to tell her a secret. “She’d be in trouble with Grandma if she heard you saying bad words.”
Ava’s eyes gleamed. “It’s gonna cost ya, buster!” she said, wiggling her eyebrows then holding her palm out. “Gimme a buck or I’m gonna rat you out.”
I groaned. Sierra’d been right. Letting her stay up and watch those mob shows with me had ended up biting me in the ass. Still, I was up for negotiations.
“I’ll make you a deal, Ava. Every time you hear me or Mommy saying a bad word and you don’t repeat it, you’ll get a buck. How does that sound.”
She tilted her head to the side as she mulled it over then nodded. “I’m in,” she replied.
“No repeating ever. Capisce?”
She stuck her tiny hand in mine, and we shook on it.
“Capisce!”
After pulling my wallet out and handing her dollar over, I gave her a kiss. She scrambled off the bed, and I followed as she ran down the hallway to where Sierra was just hanging up the phone.
“Mommy, look! Daddy gave me a dollar!” Ava held the bill up, waving it in front of Sierra’s face.
My wife’s eyebrows drew together as she gave me a curious look.
I sighed. “She hustled me, baby,” I said, placing my hands on her hips and pushing her back against the counter.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“When we fu—uh, mess up and she doesn’t repeat it, she gets a dollar.”
Sierra’s eyebrows rose.
I held my hands up. “She threatened to rat me out to Grandma. What could I do?”