just having dinner with a few of the guys.
Ava: Then you should really be present, no?
Connor: We’re all on our phones.
Ava: I have to go. Peter’s about to wash a red shirt with whites.
Connor: You should let him.
Ava: That would be mean.
Connor: Ava
Ava: Connor
Connor: Hi
Ava: What’s up?
Connor: Can’t sleep.
Ava: …
Connor: I should probably break this habit, huh?
Ava: I don’t know, Connor. I think so, yeah…
Connor: Sorry.
Connor: Dad and I are about to board our flight home. I just wanted to say I’m sorry for contacting you as much as I did. I guess I’m still struggling to get over you, which is my problem, not yours. And I thought maybe the balloons meant something, but obviously, I was wrong. I guess I’ll see you around. Sorry again.
Chapter 5
Connor
“I’m beat,” I tell Dad, my head rolling against the passenger’s seat of his car as I look up at the familiar street lights.
“Yeah, I bet. You had a full-on few days there, son.”
I close my eyes. “Wake me when we get home.”
“We’re pulling onto the street now,” he says through a chuckle.
“Those few seconds will help, trust me.”
He rounds the end of the cul-de-sac, then taps my leg. “We’re home.”
“Already?” I joke.
We’re out and unpacking our luggage a moment later when Ava’s porch light comes on. She steps out in sweatpants and a too-big Texas A&M hoodie. Jealousy burns a hole in my chest. She puts one earphone in and then sits down on a bench on her porch that wasn’t there before I left. Shifting my focus away from her, I grab the last of our bags from Dad’s truck.
“Are you going to talk to her?” Dad asks.
I shake my head as I make my way up our driveway. “She made it pretty clear that she wasn’t really interested in talking to me much these days.”
Dad mumbles, “It’s hard to know what women want.”
“Tell me about it,” I murmur.
He opens the front door, then takes the bags out of my hands. “Talk to her, Connor. If not for her, then for you. You can’t be in this miserable limbo forever.”
Ava’s lying across the bench when I make it to her porch. Her eyes are closed, her fingers laced and resting on her stomach. I start to leave, my nerves getting the best of me, but stop when I see a hint of a smile play on her lips. “Such a creep,” she murmurs, her eyes snapping open. She sits up, takes out the earphone, and pats the spot beside her. “How was your flight?”
I sit down next to her. “It was fine. Look, I just came to apologize in person. And I guess… to get some clarity on what I can and can’t do when it comes to you. I mean, are we no contact or…?”
Ava’s quiet a beat before releasing a heavy sigh. “I don’t know, Connor. I think it’s going to be hard on both of us to navigate what we do from here. This isn’t easy for me, either. And you act like I’m holding all the cards, but I’m not. And it’s not like I don’t miss you. I do. I still jump when my phone goes off because I’m so used to it being you, but… we can’t…”
Turning to her, I see the sincerity in her eyes. I don’t know how to respond to what she’s saying, so I don’t. Instead, I ask, “Where’s Peter?”
“Inside. He has some work to do.”
I motion to her sweatshirt. “That’s a nice hoodie you’re wearing. A little big, though.”
Her eyes narrow. “You’ve seen the size of Trevor, right?”
“It’s Trevor’s?” I ask. “Not Peter’s?”
Ava shakes her head, her gaze locked on mine. “Why would it be his?”
“I don’t know.” I look down at my hands, crack my knuckles. “He’s staying with you and—”
“And you think I’m sleeping with him?”
Another shrug. “Mitch said—”
“Mitch is a shit-for-brains, Connor. Don’t listen to him.”
I push down the knot in my throat. “So you’re not…?”
“If I were going to make something work with anyone, it would be—” She breaks off on a sigh, then shakes her head as if clearing her thoughts.
I sit up higher and say, “Can we just talk? I won’t bring up us. I just want to hang with you for a bit.”
“Sure.” She smiles, but it’s sad. “I didn’t know your dad was going with you.”
“Yeah,” I sigh out. “He wasn’t going to go, but then I started thinking about it. I’d never flown before, and the idea of being at an