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Lorena let out a small sigh. “I will show you.”
“Good idea...”
Ben followed Lorena down the hallway. If Ava Burns thought she could mock him out of his own home, then she was wrong. Two could play this game.
As he followed Lorena’s incredibly slow trot, Ben’s eyes were peeking left and right in the hopes that Ava would see him do his own laundry. Why he cared he had no clue, but for some reason, he did—more than he was comfortable to admit.
Work, finally.
If there was anything she knew would keep her sane, it was work.I’ll have to see him again soon.Her heart fell at the thought. Last night had been nothing short of nerve-wracking. First, she was wandering through the halls of the mansion for hours, looking for somebody who could help her find her room. The staff had no idea what was going on and when she finally ran into Lucy, the woman just shrugged her shoulders and said, “The garage for all I care.”
Finally, the cook bumped into her and told her that he had seen boxes being carried into Benjamin’s room. Why they would pick his room out of all the rooms she had no idea, but he probably had twenty other rooms he can sleep in. But the scene he made this morning about it obviously proved otherwise.
This morning… For a brief second she allowed her mind to jump back to the moment when he had pulled her into his arms. She hated how it made her skin tingle. She was outraged at herself, especially as she had thought herself immune to those empty smiles and glances Benjamin Radcliff threw at women to woo them. By God, he was handsome, but that had never been enough for Ava to feel attracted to someone. Or had the billion-dollar house already changed her to being shallow in one night? But what disheartened Ava the most was the fact how nasty she was to Benjamin. For some reason, she just could not get herself to be nice to him. Why was that? What was she so afraid of?
Ava turned off her car with the usual worry that it might not fire back on when she was done with work. According to her marriage contract she was entitled to a car for her personal use, and Benjamin had pretty much told her to just go the garage and pick whatever she wanted. But she didn’t expect to find that not a single car in there cost less than eighty thousand dollars. How in the name of everything out there could she possibly ride up here in an 80k Audi? Besides, what would people think of her? She might as well circle a neon-red target sign onto her back. People around here didn’t even have money for food. She was in this business for too long to pretend that a luxury carwould go unnoticed just because a nice social worker was driving it.
“Hey, Ava, you’re here early,” John said, walking up to her. She flinched.Did they already know of her marriage?
“I’m glad to see you here.”
“Why is that?”
John rolled his eyes. “Really?” Ne nodded toward the newsstand a few feet away. A picture of her and Benjamin eating at the restaurant was on several of the front covers. Bob, the old man owning the stand, now saw her and threw her a thumbs up with an enormous grin. Ava sighed.
“It’s not what is looks like.”
“None of my business…” he countered in an emotionless tone. “Just glad you didn’t ditch us. We are short of hands already.”
“I would never do that,” she said, and they started walking. John folded his arms and nodded; his eyes narrowed as he scrutinized her.
“Yeah right. Come on, Ava. Benjamin Radcliff. I mean… Benjamin Radcliff? We are not talking rich and upper class here. We are talking about thedefinitionof rich and upper class here. You’ll see. Soon you will show up in a Porsche or something, and then you’ll stop showing up at all.”
“I thought you said it’s none of your business,” Ava said tartly.
“It isn’t. But I am just saying. Soon you’ll be outta this dark hole here to swim in pools of money.”
“And we will be happy for you when you move on to a new chapter of her life,” Father Brown now entered the conversation. Like Houdini, he had appeared out of nowhere holding up the door for them. John redirected his gaze onto the floor.
“Of course, we will,” were his last words before he bolted off down the hallway. Ava let out a sigh.
“He will come around,” Father Brown said to her in a comforting voice. But Ava looked after him, knowing deep down inside her heart that he probably wouldn’t.
“Wohoo!” Maria shouted over to Ava from behind them. Ava and Father Brown turned to find Maria put a few newspapers onto the sidewalk and sit down on them. “That’s what I call a catch!” she shouted waving Ava over. With a smirk Ava waved back.
“She is really happy for you,” Father Brown said also waving at Maria.
“Funny…,” Ava mumbled shaking her head. “All of Manhattan is freaking out. My mother-in-law hates me. My coworkers disapprove as well. But I do have support in the unlikeliest of places.”
Father Brown nodded with an all-knowing smile. “Even our Lord Jesus sought the company of the poorest souls amongst us. Who are we to diminish them when the Lord saw so much in their hearts?”
Ava just nodded back. That was a bit too profound for her so early in the morning.
“I will go sit with her for a bit.”
“Good idea. I will see you later.”
Ava had already walked a few steps toward Maria when Father Brown called her name once more:
