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Harold took Uncle Malcolm by the arm, and Drew, Ava and Jenna all watched their cousin help Malcolm down the staircase.
When they were out the door, Ava threw herself at Jenna and hugged her. “Jenna, you were brilliant. They were eating out of your hand. I would never have guessed that you two weren’t wildly in love. Bev was charmed to pieces, and Hendrick will follow anywhere Bev leads. Like a lap dog.”
Jenna pulled away, looking flustered. “She is a lovely person.”
“And so are you! Like recognizes like!” Ava swatted her brother on the chest. “And that bit about her work, how she was underselling it? Genius, bro. Simply inspired.”
His sister’s words irritated him, obscurely. “I wasn’t acting at all. It’s just stating the truth as I saw it.”
“Right!” Ava crowed. “Perfect! My plan is working. Don’t deny it!”
“We’re not denying anything,” Jenna said. “It’s just complicated. It’s doesn’t feel good, to tell a lie to a person like Bev.”
Ava gazed at Jenna with a puzzled frown. “I suppose it’s not ideal,” she admitted. “But desperate times, desperate measures, right?”
“Let it go, Av,” Drew said. “It’s been a long day. We’re tired, and you’re bulldozing again.”
Ava took a step back, laughing. “Well, now. Look at the two of you, defending each other. In cahoots against me. That is freaking adorable.”
“Av, don’t condescend,” Jenna said wearily.
Ava backed away. “Okay, okay. See you two lovebirds bright and early at Ruby’s. Night!”
Drew and Jenna stood there after Ava disappeared, locked in an embarrassed silence.
“So did Bev corner you in the ladies’ room?” he finally asked. “When she excused herself she had the look of a woman on a divine mission.”
“She was worried about me,” Jenna admitted. “Poor innocent maiden that I am, falling prey to a heartless seducer’s honeyed promises.”
Drew winced. “I’m sorry she feels that way about me.”
“I told her you were set up. I’m not sure if she bought it, but she feels sorry for me, and she believes that I believe. I guess our performance was, um...convincing.” Her eyes slid away. Her face was pink.
“I guess it was.” Drew waited for a cue, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes, so he had to just throw his invite out there into the cold with no clue how she’d receive it.
“Want to go somewhere else?” he asked her. “We could get a drink. Hash it out.”
She looked up and finally gave him what he’d been craving. That nerve-jolting rush from eye contact. Her big hazel eyes. Streaks of green and gold and a border of dark slate, setting all the bright inner colors off.
She caught her full red lower lip between her teeth, her delicate blush deepening. “Actually, it’s been a long, weird day, and tomorrow will be another one. We’d better catch some sleep, if we’re going to meet up with Ava’s crew at eight thirty.”
He let out a silent sigh, crestfallen. “Okay. I’ll just take you home.”
“Oh, no. I can call a car. There’s no need for you to—”
“I insist,” he said.
There was a brief struggle, but he managed to persuade her. Once she was inside his car, the self-conscious silence between them deepened. He kept sneaking quick glances, catching the curve of her high cheekbone, the glitter on her glasses. The flash of the ring on her finger. He felt as nervous as an adolescent, asking a girl on a date for the first time. Tongue-tied and struggling.
“Usually Ava drives me crazy when she lets her mouth run,” he said. “But she saved the day with that dinner?in?San Francisco story. It should have occurred to me to get our stories straight on the ride over here, but I didn’t even think of it.”
“I forgot, too,” Jenna said. “Thank God Ava thinks on her feet. I’m not much of an improviser. There was no time to think it all through.”
“Sorry about that,” he said. “We rushed you into this.”
“It’s okay,” she assured him. “I agreed to this freely. No one coerced me.”
He pulled up in front of her apartment and killed the engine. “Good. I’m glad you met Bev. She’s a good person for you to know. She’s connected and extremely committed to her charitable enterprises at the Bricker Foundation. I want this arrangement to be useful for you.”
