Don’t start wishing now, she told herself, letting her big sister Katherine take the mug from her hands and slip it into the microwave to heat.
“You look down,” Katherine commented as she added honey to her steaming teacup, her engagement ring sparkling. “That can’t be good. This is your first day of renovation. You should be excited. What’s going on?”
“Uh-oh.” Aubrey had a twin moment.
Great. Somehow she had telebeamed her thoughts to her twin; they seemed to share brain cells. Ava felt the humiliation creeping through her all over again. “Don’t say it. Let’s just not go into it.”
Ava could sense Katherine’s question hovering in the air unspoken between them, wanting to know what was wrong and how she could help. Dear Katherine meant well, wanting to take care of everyone and fixing what she could, but what do you do when you know there’s no solution to a problem?
You refocus yourself, that’s what, and concentrate on preventing disasters. There was Brice Donovan again, flashing across her brain pan. Definitely disaster material.
Hayden, Katherine’s soon-to-be stepdaughter, poked her head around the door. “Hey, like, Spence is totally freaking out. There’s no one out there to ring up and stuff.”
“So? Our brother is always freaking out.”
“I’ll go,” Aubrey said. “I’m supposed to be watching the front anyway. I’ll take this with me, though.” With a grin she slipped past the teenager with her chocolate-covered doughnut in hand.
“Like that’s going to make Spence happy.” The kid shrugged her gangly shoulders. “Maple bars, too? Cool, Ava.”
“I knew they were your favorite, not that I like you or anything.” Ava hid her smile, knowing she wasn’t so successful.
Hayden grinned, snatched a doughnut. “Thanks!” she called over her shoulder as she disappeared back into the stacks.
Talk about weird. “Are you ready to be a stepmom?” Ava already knew the answer, but it was called a diversionary tactic. She so did not want to talk about her shop, her dreams, and how it had all gotten tangled up with Mr. Wishable. “You’ll be marrying Jack in two more months.”
“I know. Time is melting way and it feels as if I’m never going to have everything ready for the wedding.” Katherine waited for the microwave to ding. She opened the door, dropped a tea bag into the steaming water and left it on the counter to steep. “But I’m more than ready to be a stepmom. Hayden is a part of Jack. How could I not love her? Speaking of which, how are the designs for my cake coming along?”
Okay, another topic to avoid. “I’m working on it. Honest.”
“I have all the faith in the world in you, sweetie.”
Wasn’t that the problem? “I’ve got some great sketches, but I’ve got a few more ideas I want to work out before we sit back down.”
“Do you know what we should do?” Katherine pushed the plastic bear-shaped bottle of honey along the counter. “We’ll all go out to a nice dinner, my treat. To celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?”
Katherine shook her head, as if she couldn’t believe it. “The first day of construction on your shop? This has been your dream forever, right?”
“I can’t tonight. I have a consultation. Maybe later, though? Besides, you’re just in a good mood because you’ve found Mr. Dream Come True. Not everyone is as lucky.” She didn’t mean to sound wistful, really. She was deeply happy for her sister. Katherine deserved a good man and a happy marriage. And, seeing that it had happened for her sister after all this time, it almost gave a girl a little hope it could happen to her.
Not that she’d go around praying for it, because she’d tried that route before. She had a gift for prayer. She might make a mess of everything she touched, she might show up late for work and forget where she put her keys, but what she prayed for almost always happened. Hence her last relationship disasters with Mike, Brett and Ken. Before that, Isaiah, Christian and Lloyd. It was that old adage, be careful what you wish for. Which was why she wasn’t, not even silently, wishing. Really.
“I know something isn’t right.” Katherine frowned as if she were trying to figure out what. “I know you’ve got to be under a lot of pressure getting your business off the ground, but you know you’re not alone, right? You say the word and we’re right with you. In fact, you might not have a chance to say the word before we barge in.”
Was she blessed with her awesome family or what? Ava’s eyes burned. She was grateful to the Lord for her wonderful sisters. “You know me. I know how to holler.”
“Excellent.” Katherine brushed some of Ava’s windblown hair out of her eyes. “Whatever’s got you down, remember you are just the way God made you. And that makes you perfectly lovable, sweetie. Trust me.”
She didn’t know about being perfectly lovable but she did know that her sister—her family—was on her perfectly lovable list. Blessings she gave thanks for every day of her life. Katherine’s words meant everything.
The morning had been perfect. The construction workers were hardworking family men who were very happy with the box of doughnuts. And—surprise!—Brice looked like a good boss and a hard worker himself. She was confident that the renovation would be terrific when it was done.
She was the problem since she wavered on what she said she wanted. No, she wasn’t exactly wavering. But she’d almost given in to wishing and that was just as bad. She had to be more careful. More determined.
A deep, frustrated huff sounded at the inner door. It was Spence, glowering. “There you two are. Ava, you’re late. For, what, the fifteenth shift in a row?”
“Probably. Sorry.” Ava couldn’t argue. She upended the plastic bear over her cup and gave it a hard squeeze. “But I’m here now, so that’s good, right? I mean, it could be worse. I could be even later.”
That was the logic that always confounded Spence. His Heathcliff personality couldn’t seem to understand and he stormed away.
She wasn’t fooled. His bark was much worse than his bite.
“He’s under a lot of pressure,” Katherine excused him as she grabbed a cinnamon twist from the box on her way to the front. “Thanks for the goodies, cutie.”
Alone in the break room, Ava took a sip of her tea, but the chamomile blend didn’t soothe her. She dumped in more honey, and that didn’t do the trick either. A big piece of sadness sat square in the middle of her chest, stronger after having been with Brice.
His words came back to her now. You want a place where it feels as if wishes can come true. He’d said what was in her heart.
How had he known?
At a loss, she headed out front. She had bills to pay and dreams to dream—and a no-man policy to stick to.
* * *
Ava had lingered in his thoughts all through the workday, all of Brice’s waking hours and into the next morning. He hadn’t looked forward to strapping on his tool belt this much in a long time. Though he liked his work, it was the prospect of seeing Ava that made the difference.
His commitment to this renovation project was about more than work. He wanted to do a good job with it—hands down, customer satisfaction was job one. But beyond that, he wanted to do his best to give Ava her dream. Listening to her talk about baking with her mom—the mom who had run off to Hollywood with the youngest daughter decades ago and had never been heard from since—was like a sign from above pointing the way to win her heart.
He wondered if Ava had any idea how purely her inner beauty shone when she talked about being happy like that? In wanting again, for others and for herself, a joy-filled place where wishes