A Broken Fate (The Beautiful Fate Series book 2) (14 page)

I smiled
big at his gesture of peace, climbed under the sheets and gratefully took the iPad.

“I downloaded a new book the other day. It was a good read, Ava. I seriously read it in one night. You
’ll love it.”

“K.” I smiled again.

Ari leaned across me and ran his finger over the bottom of the screen, unlocking the tablet. He pulled up the book he was speaking of and we each stayed up the rest of the night. I read, Ari pretended to work and I tried not to notice his worried, penetrating stare.

I fell asleep just before dawn. I am not sure if Ari slept or not. I he
ard the sound of his alarm but didn’t bother to open my eyes. Ari quickly turned the buzzing, annoying noise off, the mattress moved under his weight as he climbed out of bed. I dozed in and out of sleep as Ari got ready for work. I heard the shower run and the sound of the shaving cream canister. Cracking my eyes open, I watched him walk to the closet. Ari emerged minutes later, fully dressed and handsome. I rolled over and Ari smiled a weak smile at me. He grabbed his cell phone off his bedside table.

“I
’ll be right back.” He whispered.

Rolling over, I
shoved my face in to a pillow. I dozed again then woke once more to Ari.

“Hey Baby,” he was rubbing little circles into my back. “Why don
’t you start to get up? Sit and talk with me before I have to leave for work.”

His tone was cautious.

“Ok…” I rolled over and pushed myself up in to a sitting position.

Ari pointed to his iPad. “What
’d you think of the book?”

I shrugged. “It was alight.”

“Alright?” Ari scoffed. “That book was great. I hadn’t read anything that good in weeks.”

“
The plot was kind of obvious; don’t you think? I mean it was the mother – I suspected her from the beginning.”

“You did not!”

“I did!”

Ari laughed, “C
’mon, I made coffee.” Ari took hold of my hand and we walked into the kitchen. August sat propped up on a stool at the island. Normally in the morning, he grabs a cup of coffee and leaves for work in one quick swoop.

“Hey.” I said to him, biting at my thumbnail.

“Morning.”

Ari handed me a cup of coffee. “Ava, you have an appointment today with Dr. Phillips; it
’s at ten.”

I shook my head and furrowed my brow, “no I don
’t.”

“Yes. Yes
, you do.”

“Since when?” My tone was
turning harsh.

“Since I called him last night; a
s I said, he will see you at ten. My mom is going to drive you to his office.”

“I can drive myself.” I snapped.

Ari closed his eyes, “don’t fight me on this, Ava.”

I didn
’t respond. Ari looked down at his watch and I spied the time on the oven. He was late; Margaux was sure to be infuriated.

“I have to go. I love you, Baby.” Ari put his fingers under my chin and tilted my head up so my eyes would meet his. “I love you, Ok?”

“Ok, ok.” I nodded. “I love you, too.”

“Please, please call me. Call my cell, call my work, call my assistant – anytime, any reason.”

“I will. Stop it. I’m fine.”

Ari rolled his eyes at my “I
’m fine” comment.

“My mom will be here in an hour.” I rolled my eyes at his comment. He kissed my
closed lips.

Ari nodded at August. “Thanks man.” He said before he walked out the garage door.

“Thanks for what?” I asked August.

“Hell if I know.” August grunted.

I slid on a stool next to August. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

“
My class is beginning the study of the Hundred Year’s War today. I don’t need to work on my preparatory lecture. Remember- I taught you last year?”

“Right.”

I stared ahead at the refrigerator, August continued to sit at my side and after ten minutes he spoke, “Aggie will be here sooner than you think, Ava. You should probably start to get ready.”

“Whatever,
” I mumbled.

“Why are you wearing men
’s underwear anyway? Please tell me that isn’t what you sleep in.”

I looked down at Ari
’s boxers and white tee-shirt. “Sometimes.”

“That poor man. A
s much as he does for you the least you could do is put on something sexy to go to bed in.”

“Shut up, August.”

I bounced down from the stool and walked back to my bedroom. Our closet looked like a war zone. I dug through the piles of clothing on the floor for a pair of jeans. I finally found some and slid them on with a wiggle of my hips. I found a shirt still on a hanger, put it on and meandered through the house.

“You still here?” I said to August who was still on his perch in the kitchen.

“Mmm,” August responded and turned a page of
The Times
.

There was a knock at the front door. Before I could turn, August moved off his stool and walked across the house to the front door. Moments later, Aggie appeared in the kitchen. She was twirling her keys around her finger.  She had a worried look on her face. August left through the garage door to head to work.

“Come on, Sweet-heart. We have to move or you’ll be late.”

“Yeah, ok.”

I walked up next to Aggie. She placed her hand on my back and ushered me towards the door. “Are you doing ok, Baby?”

“I
’m fine.”

Aggie kept the music off on the way to Los
Angeles, I stared out the window and she kept small talk to a minimum.

Dr. Phillips was waiting for me when we arrived.

“Ava,” he smiled, “right this way.” Dr. Phillips opened the hallway door to let me back to the exam rooms. Normally, his nurse, Liz walks me back and checks me in. Not this time.

Dr. Phillips gestured for me to take a seat on the paper coved exam table. I climbed up and the paper crinkled under my weight. Phillips took a seat on a little rolling chair and scooted up next to me. He crossed his
ankle over his knee, he leaned forward and his fingers formed a steeple over his mouth.

  “Tell me what happened last night.”

I shrugged, ran my fingers through my hair and eventually, I did as Dr. Phillips said and gave him every last embarrassing detail of the night before, my screaming, the closet, the mess, Ari’s cuss words, everything.

We talked for an hour, the doctor and I. He concluded that I was most defiantly dealing with some major post-traumatic stress. That I had paranoia. That my anxiety was becoming unmanageable and these issues were making it difficult for my body to focus on healing. He tried to refer me to a psychologist. I declined. He tried to prescribe some anti-anxiety medication. I declined.

“Really, I am fine.” I said as I slid down off the paper covered exam table. Philips opened the door and we walked back down the hall.

“Liz,” he called to the nurse as
he handed her my chart, “schedule Ava an appointment in four weeks to see me, please. Send her appointment card in the mail.”

“Ava, have a nice day; call
us if you need something.”

I turned and found Aggie look
ing distraught, holding her keys in her hand.

I rolled my eyes and sighed at her. “I
’m fine. Would you relax? Let’s go.”

We got down to her car. “Where to?” She said in a chipper tone.

“Home.” I responded flatly.

“Nope! Girl’s day
, you and me; a little lunch and then maybe some shopping. I think a day out will do you some good, Ava.”

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back on the car seat. “I
’m not hungry. Can we please go home?”

“No, Ava, we can
’t.”

Aggie started the engine and drove to some restaurant where I picked at my food and tuned in and out periodically to her chatter.

“Where to now?” Her tone was still chipper. She wasn’t going to give up on this ‘girl’s day.’

“I don
’t care, Aggie.”

“Don
’t you have anything you want to shop for?”

I thought back to August
’s comment about my unflattering sleeping attire. I grimaced at the thought of shopping for sexy clothes with Aggie.

“Let
’s go to
baio
.” I mumbled.

“Ok!” Aggie responded and drove off towards L.A
’s downtown shopping district.

I walked int
o the store with Aggie at my heels. She followed me as I walked straight to the back. Occasionally, Aggie would pause at table of neatly folded garments, pick something up only to set it back down again and walk a few quick steps to catch up with me.

I stood at the back wall that displayed strappy, barely there scraps of lace and silk material. I blushed at the thought of Ari
’s mother standing behind me and began to grab one of everything in my size.

“
Oh
.” I heard Aggie say once she realized what I was getting. I swallowed back my embarrassment and continued my pursuit.

Once my arms were full with frightful panties, delicate bras and way-to-sexy-for-just-sleep clothes, I turned and faced her.

“Is there anything you want?” I circled my finger lazily around the store. “I mean… just grab what you like… I get it all for free.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.” I smiled at Aggie for the first time that day.

“Well… sure! What
’d you get?”

“You know what I got, Aggie.”
I frowned again.

Aggie giggled and turned back around to the back wall and picked out a red, very sexy piece of lingerie. I raised my eyebrow at her and she giggled again.

“Might be fun.” She said quickly as she turned and we walked towards the row of people standing behind a counter of cash registers. I took Aggie’s clothes, added them with mine and put the pile on the counter in front of a young, cute,
baio
employee.

“Good afternoon, Ava. Did you find what you were looking for today?” The cashier asked.

“Uh, yeah.” I answered briefly as she began to remove all of the security devices and then she boxed each item up separately.

“How can you just assume that these people know who you are, Ava? I mean
baio
must get new employees all the time; don’t they?”

I turned to Aggie, “I don
’t know, Aggie. They just do. They always have. The employees at every
baio
I have ever stepped foot into have always known exactly who I am.”

“Um,” the girl behind the counter said, “they talk about you in orientation. There is a picture of you
at each store across the world; Ari too, now that you are married. They play a video of Ms. Baio, she talks about how the company got started, and how you inspire everything she has ever designed. She started the lingerie line when you got married.” The girl smiled. “I think it is so sweet. Ms. Baio sends sugar-free cupcakes to every one of her stores in honor of your birthday for all the employees.”

I smiled at the girl and nodded. “There, Aggie, you happy?” My tone was a bit harsher than it should have been. “I
’m mentioned in their orientation.” I rolled my eyes at the thought. Margaux is absurd. She’s a complete fake. Not once has she even sent me so much as a card on my birthday, yet all of her employees celebrate the day with cupcakes.

“Have someone bring the boxes to our car, please. It
’s a white Audi parked just out front.”

“Yes,” the girl blushed,
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Alexander. Please forgive me. I shouldn’t have said anything.” I nodded at her.

“Can we go home now, Aggie?”

“Sure, Ava.”

On the ride home, Aggie had her music up loud. The same
Snow Patrol
album she had on the day before.

I was expecting Aggie to drop me off at the front door but instead she helped me unload all the
baio
boxes from her car to my bedroom floor. She turned to open our bedroom closet.

“Don
’t.” I told her.

“Don
’t what?” She opened the closet before I could respond and she gasped a bit at the sight of the God-awful mess.

Aggie bent down and began to pick the clothes off the floor.

“Aggie, leave it. I will clean the clothes up later.”

“Nonsense, I can pick this mess up in no time.”

“Damn it, I said leave the clothes alone!” I screamed at her. Her hands dropped to her sides in exasperation. Aggie straightened up her posture; she squared her shoulders and stared at me.

“Ava,” she said calmly. “You will not speak to me in that tone. I realize that you are dealing with some tough issues right now but that doesn
’t let you off the hook for treating people with respect. Now, you and I are going to fix this house before Ari gets home. Do you understand me?”