“Thanks.”
“The salami one.”
She tilted her head back to look at him. “Okay.”
He knew she expected him to hand it to her, but he wasn’t going to make it that easy. Instead, he went back to the table to sit with Ruby and eat his sandwich, setting Ava’s next to him.
“Ava, come eat with us,” Ruby said.
Cole nearly snorted, but took a large bite of food instead, knowing she’d never refuse a request from Ruby. Ava got up and walked over to the table, taking the seat across from Ruby and next to Cole, where he had set her sandwich.
“How’s your soup?” Ava asked.
“Really good,” Ruby said. “How’s your sandwich?”
“Great,” Ava said after taking a bite. Her eyes flashed to Cole, and he nearly celebrated at the small improvement.
“How’s yours, Cole?” Ruby asked.
“Delicious,” he said.
They continued to eat in silence. Once Cole finished his sandwich, he stood. “Okay, I need to get back to work. Ava, if you need me to work on your books for your photography, can you get it all together?”
She looked surprised, which confused him. He never said he wouldn’t work on them, and now he wondered why she was surprised he was offering.
“Okay. I can do that,” she said.
It was the most she had said to him in a while. But now he wondered if they had their wires crossed about why things had been strained. With questions still going through his head, he drove back to the store.
