Second Chance Baby Read online

  He shrugged and made that little high-pitched sound people do when they’re trying to figure out what to say to not offend somebody. I gasped and gave him a playful smack on the arm.

  “I’m kidding. It sounds like fun. I think that people would have a really good time with it. We could do a costume contest. Maybe there would even be enough space somewhere for a hay maze,” he said.

  Now I was pretty sure both of us were losing touch with reality, but it was fun. No matter how ridiculous the plans got, I was enjoying just talking about them with Mason. We were having such a good time talking and getting excited about all the upcoming seem events and the possibility of something amazing for Halloween I was surprised when we were already at the bar.

  I immediately noticed a car I didn’t recognize sitting in the parking lot. The bar still wouldn’t open for a few hours, and the only people who were ever there during this time were the guys and me. I looked at the car strangely, tilting my head at it. The license plate indicated it was a rental, which seemed even stranger. We parked, and I looked over at Mason.

  “Whose car is that?” I asked. His face went white. “What’s wrong?”

  Mason swallowed hard. “It’s Tom. He said he might be coming for a visit at some point, but never said when he was actually coming. But that has to be him.”

  “Isn’t that a good thing?” I asked. “This whole time you talked about how you wished he would come back from California so he could help at the bar. He calls constantly. Aren’t you happy to see him?”

  He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “Not exactly.”

  That struck me as strange, and my stomach started to do flips. I could tell something was wrong. There was something Mason wasn’t telling me, and it wasn’t going to make me happy. Finally, he turned toward me and stared intently into my eyes.

  “Look, I have to tell you something,” he said.

  That made my stomach start doing full-on gymnastics. Never in the history of the world has a man started a good conversation with the phrase “I have to tell you something.” Those just weren’t words that came before anything positive. But maybe this was going to be different. Maybe Mason was the pioneer. The trailblazer who would keep my good mood going and tell me something that would make me even happier.

  “Go ahead,” I said.

  “We can’t act like we’re together when we’re in front of Tom,” he said.

  Then again, maybe he was going to be like every other man use that phrase as a prelude to disaster.

  “What do you mean we can’t act like we’re together when we’re in front of Tom?” I asked. “Why would he care?”

  “Because I promised him we wouldn’t get back together.”

  That hit me so hard I couldn’t even think for a few seconds.

  “What?” I finally asked.

  “When I very first hired you to work at the bar, way before anything happened between us. He told me we couldn’t be together as long as you were working at the bar. That nothing could happen between us and we had to keep everything professional. So, we can’t be flirty or show any kind of affection to each other while he’s around,” he said.

  I stared at him for a few seconds. “Just like that, huh? You just make agreements about the future of our relationship without any input from me, and I’m just supposed to be okay with it?”

  “Ava,” he started, but I shook my head.

  I was offended and hurt, sad and furious. There was so much building inside me, I couldn’t be in the same space with him anymore. I couldn’t trust how I would react for much longer. Instead of finding out, I opened the door and climbed out of the truck. Mason was calling to me, trying to get me to come back, but I wouldn’t turn around.

  He was scrambling to get out when I opened the back door to the bar and went inside. The voices from the main part of the bar were loud, and I made a beeline for them. I didn’t want even a second more of that day to be spent alone with Mason.

  “Hey, Ava,” Jesse said when I walked through the kitchen door.

  Tom looked up and grinned wide when he saw me. Getting down from the barstool where he sat, he came toward me and opened his arms for a hug. We all knew each other well years ago, but I was still somewhat taken aback by the greeting. This was a man who didn’t want his brother to have anything to do with me, but he was happy to scoop me up in his arms the second he saw me.

  “Hey, Tom,” I said. “Good to see you.”

  I was going to play nice. After all, he did technically own the bar. His brothers had ownership over it, too, but he owned the majority.

  “I’m so happy you’re working here. I’ve been keeping up, and it sounds like you’re doing a wonderful job,” he said.

  “I’m really enjoying it. It’s been great.”

  His eyes lifted over me as the door opened, and I assumed Mason walked in. Even though I couldn’t see Mason, I could see the expression darken on Tom’s face and realized he was putting two and two together and concluding we got to the bar together.

  “You left your phone in the truck,” Mason said, coming up behind me.

  That wasn’t going to help matters, and I saw Tom scowl.

  “My car wouldn’t start this afternoon, and I didn’t have another way to get to work. I had to practically beg Mason for a ride,” I said.

  “And that’s it?” Tom asked, still staring at his brother.

  “That’s it,” I said insistently. “Trust me, nothing will ever happen between us again.”

  I headed for the station to start setting up the tables for the evening. I knew it was a low blow, but I was feeling hurt. I couldn’t believe Mason would do that. Everything seemed like it was going so well. We’d fallen right back into being together so smoothly, and I believed for once things were going to work out for me. I wasn’t even worried about what it meant for other aspects of my life, or Michigan, or anything. It was just Mason. I was just happy to be happy with Mason. Now, he’d shattered that.

  He tried to talk to me throughout the night, but I ignored him. The fact that he had already laid down the line and said we couldn’t flirt or look like there was anything between us made it easy to avoid getting into any sort of position where I had to listen to him. Tom was obviously impressed by the crowd that came in, and I put on my best show of schmoozing with the customers and keeping them happy.

  And I definitely flirted.

  As the night wound to an end, I overheard Mason trying to nudge Matt, Tyler, and Jesse to make them leave so he could handle the cleanup and closing. He was trying to set us up to be alone together. But I was going to nip that right in the bud.

  “Tom,” I said as I finished drying a glass and set it in the rack, “would you give me a ride home? If it’s not too much trouble.”

  He shook his head. “Of course it’s not too much trouble. Come on. Let’s go.”

  I walked away without even glancing back toward Mason. My heart was broken all over again.

  20

  Mason

  “The books all look really good,” Tom said. “You’re doing a really great job keeping up with them. And I know I had heard that business and increased a tremendous amount when Ava came to work here, but just breaking it down into the sheer numbers is impressive. You really did make the right call with her.”

  The statement sounded loaded, like he meant more by it than just what those words meant on their surface. I was leaned back against the counter in my office, my arms crossed over my chest and my jaw set. I was doing everything I could not to show how angry I was, but it wasn’t exactly working out for me.

  Tom was pushing me closer and closer to the edge with every day he was in town. He had only been here for a week, but I was growing more irritated at him by the moment. It wasn’t that he was in my office going over the books. After all, that was kind of his place in the business. He was the one who put up the money, so he was the one who had the most at stake when it came to the finances.

  And, the truth was, I was t
he best at numbers of the rest of the brothers, but Tom was really the one who had the best financial sense of us. He entrusted me to be the one in charge since he was in a different state and had his own business to run. But he still needed to be the one to check over everything and make sure nothing was falling through the cracks.

  At any other time, I wouldn’t have minded at all. Any other time before the last two months, he could have shown up and combed through every single transaction that happened since the day The Hollow opened with a fine-toothed comb. He could have taken every receipt we’d gotten and papier-mâché’d the bar with it for all I would have cared.

  I would have been perfectly happy to go over everything with him, explain every financial decision, and accept every single bit of advice he might have had to give me. But that was then. Before Ava came back into my life. And before I made him a promise I never thought I’d actually have any problem living up to.

  And if I was really being honest, that was the issue that was truly at the center of all my aggravation. Not that he was there. Not even that I didn’t know when he would leave. Just the fact that I really felt like the only reason my brother was there at all was to check in on me. In all this time, he hadn’t made any effort to come from California to check on the bar or help us. But he found out Ava was working there, and in two months, he managed to figure out how to come with no set end point in sight.

  My other brothers assured me they hadn’t said anything to Tom about Ava and me. All of them were just as supportive of my relationship with her as possible. They believed she was perfect for me, and that we should be putting everything into trying to be together. They also saw how well we worked together, and that the bar kept getting more successful even while we were together.

  But Ava was furious with me. I couldn’t really blame her. Dumping the news of the promise I made to Tom on her wasn’t exactly the most compassionate or loving thing I could do. Especially when she only had a matter of seconds to process it before she had to go in and face him.

  I hadn’t been able to speak with her alone about anything since that day. She wouldn’t get anywhere near me at the bar and wasn’t answering my calls. I should have just told Tom we were back together and that it was none of his damn business. Ava and I were adults and we could be professional. Tom should just butt out.

  Instead, I didn’t stand up to him.

  And while I could see exactly why Ava was angry with me, I still missed her like crazy. It made my heart ache to not have her right there with me all the time. I went to bed wishing she was there, and I woke up hating that she wasn’t the first thing I saw.

  By the time Tom finally got through the books and I went back into the bar, the crowds were building up. I had barely gotten behind the bar when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw it was Jordan. Going out into the parking lot behind the building was the quietest spot available, so that’s where I went.

  “You sound stressed,” he said after I asked him to fill me in on everything going on with him. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing,” I said. “Nothing for you to worry about. You have enough going on yourself to not have to worry about me.”

  “You’re my brother Mason. I’m always going to worry about you. What’s up?” he asked.

  I let out a sigh. “Tom’s in town.”

  “Isn’t that a good thing?” he asked.

  “You aren’t the first one to ask me that. It wouldn’t usually be a problem. But since I promised him that nothing would happen between Ava and me since she’s working here, and she and I are back together, it makes it more complicated,” I said.

  “You and Ava are a thing again?” Jordan asked.

  “Yeah. For the last couple of months. We haven’t been making a big deal out of it. It’s not that we’ve been hiding it from anybody but Tom, but we also haven’t like made an announcement or anything. Actually, I’m the only one who’s been hiding it from Tom. She didn’t know anything about the promise I’d made.”

  “Oh,” Jordan said. “I have a feeling that has something to do with how stressed you sound.”

  “Yes, it does. I didn’t know he was coming into town, and I hadn’t told her about the conversation. I kind of had to throw it at her when we got to the bar and he was here. As you can imagine, it didn’t go over terrifically well. He’s been here for a week, and she and I have said maybe six words to each other.”

  “Damn,” Jordan said. “I’m really happy you’re back with Ava. The two of you were always supposed to be together. Tom needs to back off. He might be the oldest brother, but we’re not kids. He can’t just push you around because he put the money out for the bar. Whether he wants to admit it or not, he needs you more than you need him.”

  “I don’t know if that’s true,” I said.

  “Of course it is. Do you really think any of the rest of us could run that bar the way you do? It would have gone up in flames within the first two weeks. Tom knows you’re the one who holds down the fort and makes sure everything stays afloat. If any of us want to help Mom and Dad, it’s going to be because you’re able to run the ship,” he said.

  “I guess maybe you’re right.” “Look, the point is Tom doesn’t get to tell you how to live your life. He can do a lot of things, but that’s one he’s going to have to get over. And if he throws a fit about it, let him walk away. The bar’s making so much money at this point, you could start paying him back for the investment and still have plenty left over. It won’t be too much longer before I get out and get to come home. Then I’ll be there to help you too,” he said.

  It made me feel so much better to hear Jordan say that. I didn’t want to be the reason the bar suffered, or my parents didn’t get the care they needed.

  Brian showed up later that night just in time for me to step aside for a break. The tables were all full, even the hidden one off in the corner, so it was back out to the parking lot. I was starting to feel like I was in a teen movie set in the late eighties.

  “So, how’s Tom coping with you and Ava being back together?” Brian asked.

  We hadn’t had a chance to talk about the situation since Tom was in town, but when I looked over at him, the expression on his face said already knew what was coming. He rolled his eyes.

  “Look, I get it. It wasn’t my finest moment. I’m already getting the silent treatment from Ava and just got told off by Jordan. I am fully aware at this point that I did not handle the situation correctly,” I said.

  “So, what are you going to do about it?” he asked.

  “What do you mean what am I going to do about it? There isn’t anything to do about it.”

  “So, you’re just going to let Tom run your life from halfway across the damn country like you’re a kid? No way man,” Brian said. “You know what? I’m just going to go tell Tom for you since you can’t grow the balls to do it yourself.”

  He started toward the door, but I pushed him back. “I’m not sure it would even matter at this point. Ava’s pretty much done with me.”

  Brian looked at me incredulously. “You’re an idiot, you know that? You’ve loved that woman half your damn life. You fought to get her back and you won. So, stop being such a coward and do what it takes to keep her in your life this time.”

  I was officially at a loss.

  After work, I went to Ava’s house ready for a grand gesture. She wouldn’t let me in. I knocked on her door, stood next to her window trying to talk to her, and called repeatedly. Finally, she opened the door a crack and looked out.

  There was a glimmer of hope in the two seconds before she spoke.

  “Go away, Mason.”

  21

  Ava

  Sunday could not have come fast enough that week. It was the one day of the week when The Hollow was closed and we all got the day off. Sometimes Mason still went in to handle paperwork or do repairs around the place, but the rest tended to steer clear.

  Up until this week, when he went in on a Sunday,
I was there, too. I liked being near him, even if that meant having to be at the bar when I could’ve been relaxing at home.

  Sometimes I would help him, but we always ended up laughing and talking, stealing a couple of kisses. It was like we were teenagers again. Which was exactly why I needed something to keep me distracted that Sunday. There was no way I was going to be anywhere near that bar, especially if Mason was there. I wanted to keep the whole thing off my mind, which was why I accepted the invitation when Stephanie called to see if I wanted to get together to help her shop.

  We drove to the local mall and talked about the upcoming wedding she was shopping for and she asked how my dad was doing. I told her he was coming along nicely but still had a ways to go. He was desperate to be able to drive again so he could get out of the house for a while. “So, speaking of cars,” she started, and I knew exactly where she was going. I decided not to give her the option.

  “Yeah the classic car night went really, really well,” I said. “I’m already coming up with ideas for the next event. These theme nights have turned out to be even better than I thought they were going to be.”

  Stephanie looked at me like she was considering whether to press the issue but decided not to. We pulled into the parking lot of a dress shop and went inside.

  As soon as we stepped through the door, the owner rushed up to greet Stephanie. She was no stranger to the shop. It was where everybody in town went for special occasions.

  After so long, I was surprised to see the same woman who helped me pick out my navy-blue sweetheart-neck sheath for senior prom was still behind the counter. She was creeping toward retirement age then. Apparently, she wasn’t willing to relinquish the reins on the world of sequins just yet.

  “Stephanie!” she said. “Back so soon? You must have a lot of friends and family getting married. That’s certainly exciting.”