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It boggled her mind that she’d allowed Jude to make her feel like this wasn’t a ‘real’ business. It grossed more than five million dollars a year. That might not be what his parents’ hotels did, but it wasn’t chump change.
Avery was glad she was here for the crossover period when production took over the space and they were closed down to the public. It had given her time to immerse herself in every detail of the business. She was starting to get a clearer picture of things and although everything was going well, she had a few ideas of ways to increase her profit margin.
But after staring at a computer screen for the past three days, she was ready for a break, a distraction that wasn’t Keaton Savage related. Hopefully, she’d get one tomorrow when her bestie was arriving. She couldn’t wait for Sabrina to get there so she could finally tell her, in person, what had happened with Jude.
Sabrina was in Spain working on a documentary film, which is why she hadn’t been able to make it to Avery’s wedding that hadn’t happened. The two women weren’t in touch every day, or even every week or month, but whenever they saw each other, it was as if no time had passed at all.
It had been three years since the two of them had gotten to spend any in-person time together. Sabrina had stayed in one of the hotels that Avery managed during a work trip in L.A. Avery’s mom watched Jacob so they could have some girl time. The two had ordered banana splits, pizza, cheeseburgers, and every other fattening item from room service and spent an entire weekend binging Downton Abbey.
She and Sabrina met during college freshman orientation and instantly bonded even though they had nothing in common. Sabrina was from the East Coast and came from a wealthy family, old money wealthy. She was beautiful, smart, and had a sharp wit. Her parents were still together, and she had four older brothers. Her fifth birthday party was held at the Ritz-Carlton and her present was a horse named Honey. On her sixteenth birthday, she was gifted a Range Rover. For her graduation, she was sent to Europe for the summer. Not backpacking, staying in hostels in Europe, no she’d had first class, five-star accommodations and travel.
In contrast, Avery was quiet, reserved, and introverted. On her fifth birthday at Chuck E. Cheese she got a dress her Gammy had put on layaway at K-Mart. On her sixteenth birthday, she’d taken two buses to go to the DMV to take her driving test. Alone. For high school graduation, one of her teachers gave her a Starbucks gift card when she realized that no family had shown up for the ceremony.
Despite their differences, they’d formed an instant bond. Avery had done her best to blend into the crowd during orientation, but for some reason, still unbeknownst to Avery, Sabrina had taken a liking to her and had shoved her under her wing whether Avery had wanted to be there or not.
Avery knew her college experience wouldn’t have been half as good as it was without the Sabrina Denton Effect. She lit up every room she walked into, and people naturally gravitated toward her. By sheer proximity of being next to her, some of the light she radiated fell on Avery. She was pretty sure that was the only reason Jude had noticed her. She and Sabrina had been at the coffee shop on campus and he’d come in with his friend, Marco, who hit on Sabrina. Jude had clearly been his wingman and had spoken to Avery. The two had hit it off after he found out that she was studying hotel management since his family owned nearly fifty hotels, located all over the world.
It was strange to think that’s where it all started, and it ended with her walking in on him having sex with the nanny on their wedding day.
Her phone dinged with an alert, and she clicked on the link. It sent her to a YouTube video of an interview Keaton had done withGood Morning Chicago. Unable to stop herself, she pushed play on the video.
For five years, she’d gone cold turkey from the man who had continued to haunt her dreams and thoughts. She hadn’t allowed herself to go down the Google rabbit hole of his career or watch any of his fights on YouTube.
Even though, technically, that wouldn’t have been cheating. She’d felt like it was a betrayal. In hindsight, she realized how naïve that had been of her since apparently, Jude had been unfaithful to her their entire relationship.
He’d called her the night before to “put everything on the table” and admitted to cheating on her since college. He claimed that he assumed she knew about his extra-curricular activities and they’d had some unspoken agreement about his indiscretions. She could honestly say that that was not the case, but she understood why he might think that.
She’d never questioned him about his late nights at clubs, his travel, his secretive phone calls or any other red flags that she’d been blind to. She’d let him live his life and she’d lived hers. She’d always chalked up her behavior to trusting him and being independent, but now she wondered if it was just because she honestly hadn’t cared.
He never actually apologized for his bad behavior. Instead, he promised her that now that he knew she wasn’t okay with his affairs, he’d stop. He wanted to put the past behind them and reschedule the wedding.
After repeating, several times, that like the Taylor Swift song, she and Jude were never, ever, ever getting back together, he’d ended the call by telling her that she would regret leaving him because he was the best thing that had ever happened to her, the best man she’d ever have.
She agreed with part of his statement. Jude helped her create Jacob and Jacobwasthe best thing that had ever happened to her. As far as being the best man, well, he was wrong there. The best man she’d ever had was on a thumbnail on her computer screen, which she clicked on.
The video played and when she heard Keaton say that he hadn’t found love the traditional route, her heart ached in her chest. She knew that they’d only spent a short amount of time together, but she’d loved him. She still did.
He also said that family was the most important thing to him. During their whirlwind romance, affair, whatever it was, they’d spoken about how important family was. He’d told her how much he’d loved Camilla and that she was the biggest reason that he’d moved to Whisper Lake. He’d wanted to prove to her that he could settle down so that they could have a family.
All these years, Avery believed that Keaton and Camilla had ended up together. What woman wouldn’t want to be with Keaton? He was oozing sex appeal, smart, ambitious, funny, kind, and he could kiss. Likereallykiss. He was the reason songs were sung about kissing.
Just thinking about it now had her feeling a little, or a lot, flushed.
Her phone buzzed and she looked down and saw that it was a message from her mom.
Mom:We’re here!
“Oh shit!”
Avery checked the time and was astonished to see that it was already past three p.m. The day had completely run away from her. Jacob and her mom had flown in from Florida that afternoon and she’d sent a car service to pick them up at O’Hare.
Closing her laptop, she stood from her desk and rushed down the back hallway and out the side entrance. It was faster than going through the ballroom to go out the front.
She’d just reached the front of the castle when she saw the driver opening the door of the black SUV and helping Jacob out of it. She smiled at the disheveled condition of her son’s newly trimmed hair, which she’d had cut before the wedding, and crease running the length of his left cheek. Hemust have fallen asleep on the drive from the airport.
A rush of warmth filled her chest. It had been nearly a week since she’d seen him. Even though her workdays were long, and sometimes she left before Jacob woke up and came home after he was asleep. Still, she saw him every day, even if it was just to kiss his forehead while he slept.
Being away from him for any length of time was brutal, but this stretch of nearly a week had been extra challenging. Last night, during their phone call, Jude had briefly discussed what arrangement they’d have with Jacob. Although they both agreed that she would still be his primary caregiver, he wanted ‘flexible unlimited access’ to him or he said he’d take her to court and get fifty/fifty custody. Which basically meant he wanted to be able to see him whenever it was convenient for him for whatever duration suited his needs. He was using the threat of taking Jacob away from her half the time to get her to agree to his ridiculous request.
