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His gaze tracks back to June’s glowing image, and my heart aches.
“It wasn’t his fault. We just weren’t right for each other.” The words come easily this time, eased along by the softening of Magnus’s tense brow as I say them. “I think he’s happier now. I saw him with Francesca, and they seemed… They looked good together.”
“Perception, Ava,” he says softly. “That’s what he wants the world to think. He’s always been a great businessman, putting the airline before all else.”
“I don’t know, I’ve seen the way he looks at her.”
I hate that I sound pathetic, like a fool pining for something that wasn’t real.
“I know all my son’s faces,” Magnus says, leaning back in his chair. “I’ve seen them for thirty-three years. Only one person has ever brought a new one to him. And that’s you.”
I try to hide the small, strangled sound in my throat as I blink rapidly and rise to my feet.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done for Gramps,” I whisper. “I should get back to the hospital.”
Chapter 35
Jet
“Again?” William throws hiscards onto the hospital sheets with a deep rumble of a laugh. “At least I know you never let an old man win because you feel sorry for him almost dying and all.”
“You just faked it so you could get some pretty doctors and nurses looking after you,” I say as I scoop them up and add them back to the deck with mine and start to shuffle.
“Must be costing a bit.” William fixes me with the same stern look that keeps sliding onto his face since he was brought into hospital. I ignore him, as I have been doing each time he’s commented on the private hospital we’re in.
“Ready to get beaten again?” I arch a brow at him as I split the card deck in two and riffle shuffle in my hands, ending it in a bridge finish.
William whistles, then chuckles. “Now you’re just showing off.”
I deal the cards, then lean back in the hospital chair beside his bed. He rolls his lips, eyeing me with a smile over the top of his cards.
“Careful, Gramps. Jet will cheat to make sure he wins.”
“Ava!” William drops the cards onto the bed.
My shoulders tense, every muscle in my back coiling tight as the fury being aimed at my back takes on its own heat, like a laser searing through my clothes.
I turn and meet her eyes.
“Ava?”
She flinches when I say her name. I turn around, carefully gathering the cards up and putting them back into the case, willing the sudden ache in my throat to go away.
“Packing up because you know I was about to beat you this time?” William jests.
“I’ll leave you two to have some time alone.”
I rise from the seat, tucking the cards into my jacket pocket. The minute I turn, her eyes meet mine again, like she hasn’t taken them off me since she walked into the room.
“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in LA?” The venom in her voice is harder than any slap around the face.
“I’m just leaving.” I step toward her, and she tenses, the pain I’ve caused palpable in the fine lines around her tired eyes.
“Good.” She sinks into the seat I’ve just vacated, taking William’s hand in hers. Her face softens to the Ava I recognize as she gazes at him.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine, love.” William looks past her to me. “Where are you going? Sit down, you just got here.”
