“Hey Dad,” she said.
Mr. Whitchurch smiled at his daughter and gave her a big hug. I could see straight off he looked worried because of the strain around his mouth. This meant Sissy must have told him what was going on and I tripled-vowed revenge against Dom because he made Mr. Whitchurch worried.
I’d known Mr. Whitchurch since forever and liked him. It was a bummer when he and Sissy’s Mom got divorced and Mrs. Whitchurch moved to Wyoming. Fortunately (for me), Sissy stayed in Denver with her Dad. Mr. Whitchurch and I got along great, most recently because we both hated Dom.
“Beautiful Ava,” he said, kissing my cheek. He’d always called me “Beautiful Ava”, even when I was Fatty, Fatty Four-Eyes.
“Hey Mister Whitchurch.”
“Hear you been takin’ care of my daughter.”
“Nothing she wouldn’t do for me,” I told him.
He stared at me and sighed. “Dom’s a shithead,” he said.
“Dad!” Sissy snapped.
“Well, he is,” Mr. Whitchurch was not to be denied.
Sissy glared at him. He took her glare in stride. He’d been getting Sissy Glares for twenty-nine years and he knew she never meant them.
“Um, Mister Whitchurch,” I interrupted the Sissy Glare, “can Sissy and I have a second?”
He looked at me a beat, correctly assessed I had something weighty on my mind and nodded. Then he took her suitcase and walked to his car.
I closed the door and turned to Sissy. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to stay with your Dad?”
“I wasn’t going to stay with him.”
“Well, you’re staying with him,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, now,” she returned.
“Why now?” I asked even though I knew the answer.
That’s when she gave me the answer I knew. “I know Noah was an asshole and Dom treats me like shit. I know Dave was weird and Rick was a jerk. I know your Dad broke your heart when he left. I know you don’t ever want to get hurt again. But I also know you’ve been in love with Luke Stark since you were eight years old and now he looks at you like you’re lunch and he missed breakfast and dinner.”
“Sissy –”
“No, Ava. I know about your vow and I know you like your vibrators and I know you think all men are shit but there are good ones out there and I think Luke is one of them. I’m not standing in the way of that and, I’m telling it to you straight, girlfriend, neither should you.”
Jeez.
Was no one on my side?
I’m not, Bad Ava said. I want to get MORE of a taste of Luke.
I’m not either, Good Ava agreed. I think Luke is lush.
Argh!
I focused on Sissy. “Seriously, I told you how he’s been behaving since I saw him again. He’s not a normal guy.”
Her hands came to either side of my face and she looked me in the eyes. “No, he’s not and that’s a good thing,” she pulled my face down to hers so our foreheads were touching. “Call me a hopeless romantic but I want to see my friend with the guy she’s been pining for forever,” her voice dropped to a whisper. “I want that more than anything on this earth.”
Oh crap.
Tears filled my eyes but before I could let them loose her hands moved away, she gave me a smile and a wink then she was gone.
I locked the door behind her and rested my forehead against it.
“My life is shit,” I told the door.
The door had no response.
I went back to work. Half an hour later, my phone rang.
“Yo.”
“Babe.”
Hell and damnation.
It was Luke, my knees wobbled and I wasn’t even standing.
“Did you get my cookies?” I asked.
I heard his soft laughter then, “Not yet.”
What was I doing?
I was trying to be cute and funny. I wasn’t supposed to be trying to be cute and funny with Luke. I was supposed to drive him away by behaving like a screaming shrew.
Bad, bad Ava.
“Why are you calling?” I asked, trying to pull up the Barlow Super Bitch but it sounded halfhearted.
“I’ll pick you up at seven. We’re goin’ to Lincoln’s for dinner, my place to talk afterward. Sissy got anybody who’ll stay with her or do I need to arrange company?”
“Sissy’s gone.”
Silence.
“Luke?”
“Come again?”
“Sissy’s gone. She’s staying with her Dad for a couple of days.”
“You’re alone in your house?”
“Well… yeah.”
“Fuck,” he clipped, sounding pissed.
“What?” I asked.
“Tell me your doors are locked.”
“Of course.”
“Somebody will be there soon. If it’s someone you haven’t met, I’ll call you to tell you who to expect.”
“Luke, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“Right. That’s what Lee thought when he left Indy at her house before they let off a car bomb that drew her out and she was kidnapped and nearly taken to Costa Rica.”
Oh yeah. I forgot about that.
Belated eek!
“Don’t open the door to anyone but one of Lee’s boys, got me?”
“Okay.”
“I’ll see you at seven.”
Disconnect.