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That strange feeling gnawed at Ava from the inside again. It was an overbearing mixture of different emotions, all over the place. Some of them wonderful, others terrifying. What if he was still the person she hoped him to be for so many years when he was nothing but awful to her? The boy she fell in love with when they were innocent children. Would she fall for him all over again? Or even worse, what if he had stopped loving him in the first place?
The six months would be up in no time and not even millions of dollars could ever mend her broken heart…
Benjamin clashed with his mother on his way out. Phone in hand, ready to make some calls. “Please tell me I’m dreaming all of this. Imagining things,” she said crossing her arms standoffish.
“Imagining what?” he snapped. “Do you always eavesdrop on my conversations?”
“With the way you were hollering? Even the birds up in the sky heard you.”
He scoffed and mumbled something.
“You’re not holding that fundraiser here. What’s gotten into you? You want to bring those… those filthy people here? You want to ruin my—our reputation?”
“Mom… never have I ever played this card on you, and I don’t want to, so please don’t make me. It’s just a fundraiser, no need to fight like this,” Benjamin growled, walking away. But Lucy being Lucy, followed him.
“What card? I won’t let you do this, and I don’t care if I have to—”
“Move out of my house?” he cut in. His mother’s face turned white as if she had seen a ghost. For a moment, she just stared at him, but then shook her head, the fire returning in her eyes.
“Your father made you promise on his deathbed to take care of me, here, in my home,” she hissed.
Benjamin jerked around. “If father would have known the person you’d—” he stopped. The hurt in her eyes was just too great. Benjamin could be passionate, but he was not the type of man who wanted to argue to the point of total destruction of their relationship. It was his house. If he wanted to hold a fundraiser he would do so, and there was nothing his mother could do about it.
“It’s just a fundraiser…” he said more calmly and strode into the library. For a moment he listened to see if his mother was following him again, but this time she didn’t.
He let out a loud sigh as he pulled out his phone again. He couldn’t shake the feeling off, however,that for her the matter was not put to rest yet.
The fundraiser was going to be big. Ava couldn’t help but be pleased when she saw the effort Benjamin had put into it.
“He wasn’t pulling my leg after all,” she mumbled, wishing she could say that out loud to an actual person. Moving around the large courtyard, which looked like it was being prepared for a high-profile wedding, Ava felt excitement surge through her body.
Blue and white ribbons were strung all around, and chairs lined row after row. Benjamin had gone all out—he’d hired a Michelin-starred catering service and a live band; countless tables were covered with beautifully patterned cloths, where various plates and wine glasses were waiting to be filled with the best food and wine in the country.
One hundred seats. Ava counted the chairs and couldn’t help but picture one hundred super-rich guests all seated together, contributing money for a great cause.
The air buzzed with excitement—staff from the shelter moving about, trying to put things in order. Ava stood and watched it all, her stomach a mix of nerves and excitement.
Her father joined her, and they overlooked the buzz together.
“You look beautiful,” he said commenting on her elegant evening dress. It was in a light blue and about knee-high. She was wearing matching pumps and had put her hair up.
“Thanks dad, you too,” she said and gave him a loving kiss on his cheek.
“I am glad to see thing are going so well between the two of you.”
Ava thought about it for a moment, but the only thing she could add was: “Yes, me too.”
“You know, sweetie,” he said to her putting a hand on her shoulder, “I was always wondering if you two would find your way together again.”
“Dad…” She wanted to protest. He was going a bit overboard there. But for some reason she couldn’t.
“Benjamin is a lucky man that you both did…”
“I couldn’t agree more, James. Although, she is pretty lucky, too,” Benjamin’s jokes from behind, mingling into the conversation. James laughed out loud.
“If only he’d become a little humbler,” Ava teases him back. Seeing Benjamin dressed in a dark suit, well-tailored and almost without crease, the jacket buttoned, made her aware once more how incredibly handsome this man was. Butterflies spread though her stomach when he threw her a breathtaking smile.
“Well, guess it’s almost time. I’ll sit my old bones down over there,” James said, nodding at one of the empty chairs.
