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He sighed, which she knew was a stalling tactic. It used to work. She would ask him what was wrong, and it gave him time to try and figure out ways to get what he wanted.
She decided that she didn’t care what he had to say, and just cut to the chase. “We arenotgetting back together.”
He smirked. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
Sabrina lunged toward him, but Avery stepped between them. Sabrina had a lot of…spunk. Her nickname had been Scrappy Doo growing up because she would pick a fight with anyone, no matter what their size, if she was sticking up for someone.
Avery turned back to her ex. “Jude, you are the one who came on the dating show I am on.”
“Yes, I did.” He paused and Avery thought he might just feed her more bullshit, but then his shoulders dropped and he sighed. “My parents found out about Celeste, and they said I had to do whatever it takes to get you back or I’m cut off. Forever. So, I have a proposal for you.” He took papers out from his back pocket and handed them to Avery. “If you let me ‘try’ to win you back, on television, so my parents can see I did everything I could, then I will sign over full physical custody of Jacob to you while retaining fifty/fifty legal custody. The only stipulation is that he can come to London to visit me every summer for two weeks. And when he gets older, if he wants to stay longer, you allow him to.”
“Deal,” Avery instantly agreed as she read the document that said exactly what he’d just laid out. Not only was her ex moving back to London, she was going to have full physical custody of Jacob. She knew Jude was retaining fifty percent legal custody so that Jacob couldn't be adopted by someone else, but she didn’t care.
Her baby was going to live with her full-time and only had to be away from her two weeks in the summer. No matter what happened with Keaton, she’d come onFairytale Loveand gotten her happily ever after. She’d won.
25
Even though Keatondoubted that Avery was going to get back together with Jude, he had to admit, he was still shitting bricks a little. She deserved better but he would understand if she did decide to give him another chance.
They had a son together. An amazing son. A son who deserved to have his mother and father together. If that’s what Avery thought was best, he wouldn’t blame her. Still, the selfish part of him really didn’t want her to go back to that prick.
He hadn’t seen her for twenty-four hours. Last night all the men and women were separated and today all the ‘rekindled’ couples had gone on a date. He and Camilla had taken a small boat out on the lake.
Now the men were in holding waiting for the midweek ball and the results of the public’s vote. Production had suggested that current partners not speak to the exes, but that wouldn’t have stopped him from telling Jude what a piece of shit he was. He’d kept his distance from the man out of respect for Avery. For better or worse, Jude was Jacob’s father. If Keaton had a shot in hell of being in both Jacob and Avery’s life, he wanted to honor the role that Jude had.
Time felt like it was standing still waiting for the damn ball to start. His mind kept wandering to where it always went, Avery. What had she and Jude done today? What had they talked about? Had she kept her distance from Camilla like he had from Jude? Or had the two women spoken? If they had, what had Camilla said? He hoped not anything too bad. He and his ex had ended things amicably.
Camilla recently ended her engagement. It hadn’t been anything dramatic, she said they both decided they weren’t right for each other. She mentioned that Lewis was more interested in sitting on the couch playing video games than anything else. Keaton knew that with her personality that would be a deal breaker. Part of why she and Keaton had worked for as long as they did was because she was so driven and never wanted to settle. She hated complacency and laziness. So even though Keaton was always traveling, training, and generally busy with his career which was what ultimately ended them, it was also what had kept her attracted to him.
As upset as he’d been when the exes had shown up, he was equally grateful that he’d gotten the chance to see Camilla. They finally had closure. They’d talked about the past, the mistakes they both made. She regretted not giving him another chance after he moved to Whisper Lake. He regretted that he’d always put his career before her. They both apologized and also thanked each other for what they’d taught one another.
They truly had grown up together. He knew now that the feelings he had for her were still there, the love was still there, it always would be, but it wasn’t romantic. He loved her in a familial way. He wanted her to be happy and to be with someone who lit up inside the way he did when he saw Avery. Camilla made him feel warm and comfortable but not excited.
She was his past. He knew that now. He also knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Avery was his present, and he wanted her to be his future.
He was thinking about all the things he wanted to say to her if he got the chance when Jude approached him. Apparently, the keeping the distance thing was over. From the look in the man’s eyes, Keaton could see that Jude wanted this to be a pissing contest. He was doing his best to stand tall and even puff out his chest a little.
All Keaton could think was that this guy was a fucking joke. Did he actually think that he could intimidate him? Didn’t he know that men who were truly intimidating didn’t have to peacock out, they just were. It wasn’t how tall they stood or even how jacked they were, it was in their eyes. It was the unspoken conversation that said they would not back down, no matter what.
His granddad had shown him that truth by example. He’d grown up witnessing firsthand what a real man was. And Jude might be a lot of things, but he was no fucking man. He was a little boy pretending to be a grown-up.
“I assume you know who I am,” Jude said.
Keaton wanted to laugh at his opening line. Instead, he just nodded.
Jude rolled his shoulders back. “I don’t know you. I don’t know what your intentions are with Avery. But I do know her. I know the woman she is, and I know the mother she is. I also know I didn’t deserve her. If you’re not the man who does, stay away from her.”
Keaton stared in shock at what he’d just heard. Owning up to his faults and defending Avery was the last thing he’d expected Jude to do. Maybe he was more of a man than Keaton had given him credit for. He didn’t know what to say to him, so he didn’t say anything. He just held out his hand. Jude took it and the two men shook.
“Alright, let’s go boys,” George called out as he passed the hallway.
As Keaton walked down to the ballroom, he felt like a weight had been lifted. Not only did he know now that Avery and Jude weren’t getting back together, he also had hope that, in the future, there wouldn’t be any drama between the two of them. They had come to an understanding—an unspoken mutual respect.
Keaton’s granddad would be proud.
* * *
Beside Avery, Zara was beaming as the women waited in holding to go into the ballroom. Out of all the women, Zara wasdefinitelythe happiest to see her ex. Apparently, during their one-on-one date today, the two of them hadn’t been able to keep their hands off of each other. She’d overheard Iris say that things had turned into NC-17 territory.
