We order drinks and food. The conversation shifts to the wedding, Dad’s and Deedy’s upcoming trip, my niece and nephew, and Jake’s restaurants. I fall off the grid of conversation, which ends in everyone (except me) singing Happy Birthday to Jake.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jake

I need to talk to her.

Of course, I have no idea what I can say to undo the things I have done. To say I’m ashamed of the things I said to Avery and the way I said them would be a monumental understatement. It’s like I broke a vase and all I can do is stare at the shattered pieces with no fucking clue how to fix it.

I follow Avery and her family to the restaurant parking lot. A million words sit idle on my tongue. If I don’t say them the right way, it will make things worse. If I don’t say them at all, I will choke on them and die.

“I’m sorry.” I lean down by her ear and whisper as she waits for her niece to wedge her way out of the restaurant’s entrance.

Avery coughs on a laugh and shakes her head, keeping her back to me as she follows Ocean.

“Please let me drive you home so we can talk.”

Avery stops in the middle of the parking lot, letting her family continue toward their vehicle. “Home?” She turns around. “I don’t have a home. Or a car. Or a job. I don’t have furniture, a majority of my clothes, pots and pans, forks, knives, spoons. I don’t have a fucking flyswatter! But…” she takes a step toward me and holds up her thumb and index finger a fraction of an inch apart “…I have nothing but a teeny tiny shred of dignity. And I’ll step in front of a speeding train before I let you take it from me.”

“Avery? You coming?” Sydney yells.

“Twenty minutes. Give me twenty minutes.” I can’t mask the desperation in my voice. Hell, I don’t want to mask it.

Avery shakes her head and laughs, the kind that borders on insanity. “Anthony wants dinner. You want twenty minutes. You know what I want?” Her eyebrows inch up her forehead.

I shake my head slowly, afraid to make any sudden movement around her.

“No?” Her head cocks to the side. “Then you don’t deserve twenty minutes.” Avery pivots and clicks her heels to the vehicle.

“Good job, Ave. Way to stand the fuck up for yourself,” I whisper just before blowing out a long, defeated breath.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and text Deedy.

I need a favor.

Avery

“You’re up early.” Sydney sits across from me at the kitchen table. “And you already went for coffee.” She nods to the to-go cup fisted in my hand.

I frown, take a sip, and slide the half-empty cup to her. “Not exactly.”