Page 72 of This Woman Forever
I’m about to get out of my car and knock the door when I see Kate pull up. I breathe out my disbelief when Dan gets out her van too. What the hell? I take my hand off the handle and rest back in my seat, my plan obliterated. I can’t storm Kate’s flat with Ava’s brother there. It will be carnage. Does he know Ava’s living there? Does he know she’s left me?
I clench my fist and push it into the steering wheel, starting the engine and pulling away before I give in to the urge to throw my weight around. My phone rings before I’ve made it out of Kate’s street, and I stare at the unknown number. Unknown as in, there’s no name assigned to it. But I know who it is.
“Jesse Ward,” I say calmly, feeling anything but.
“Why’s my sister at Kate’s again?” he asks. No friendly hello, or how ya doin’ from my shiny new brother-in-law. Standard. My arms straighten against the wheel, my jaw rolling.
“Why the fuck are you at Kate’s?” I counter. I need to bang some fucking heads together around here. Mine and Ava’s included.
“That’s none of your business.”
“Likewise.” I hang up before I fire some abuse and give my wife another reason not to take me back. Not that she fucking wants me or cares.
“Fuck,” I yell, hitting the steering wheel repeatedly. I’ve had enough. We’re going to dinner, and we’re going to talk this out. She’s had her space. If she doesn’t know by now if she’ll forgive me, I think that’s my answer. Not that I’ll accept it, obviously. But I need to know when to pull out the big guns.
I get back to Lusso, shower, change into some dark jeans and a white shirt, brogues on, and head straight back out. Determined. I stride through the lobby, my laser focus directed straight ahead, a clear sign to the hot, new, young concierge not to bother talking to me.
He doesn’t.
Sam calls me when I’m on my way back to Kate’s and, naturally, I wonder if he’s done another drive-by and seen Dan there. “Hey,” I say, tentative.
“Coffee?” he asks. Coffee to discuss what Dan’s doing at Kate’s?
“I’m taking Ava out to dinner,” I say surely.
“Oh, that’s good.”
“She doesn’t know.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he breathes. “So you’re just going to show up?”
“Yep.”
“Good luck,” he quips. “How’s Sarah?”
She cares. “Broken.” I frown at my phone when I see an incoming call. “I’ve got to go, Jay’s calling me.” I hang up and take Jay’s call. “Have you finally found some more CCTV footage for me?” That’s one mystery still in need of clearing up. Who drugged Ava? Which also reminds me, Steve hasn’t called. Did Juliette even tell him? I huff. Probably not.
“No, it’s a dead end.”
“For fuck’s sake, Jay. So I’ll never know who drugged my wife?”
“Wife?”
“We got married last Saturday.”
He laughs. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” I mutter.
“Then I’m even more surprised to see her here,” he goes on. “Did someone get you some chill pills for a wedding gift?”
My foot slams on the brakes just off Kate’s street. “She’s there?”
“Yes, she’s here.”
“At the bar?”
“That’s what I said.”