Page 47 of Wild Heart

Several long moments of silence passed, Ivy staring at me in disbelief, her eyes blinking rapidly. “Ava, that’s incredible. You’d be fantastic at that.”

For the first time since things went down between Tate and me last night, I felt a glimmer of hope and happiness. “You think so?”

“Absolutely. You’re amazing, and I think this will be so fulfilling for you.”

“Thanks. All I need to do now is find a place that’ll be perfect for it.”

“You know if there’s anything we can do here to help you with that, we will,” she said.

I smiled at her. “I know.”

I had no intention of making this something the Westwood family had to work out the logistics of. I appreciated having the support of my best friend, and I was glad to have told her, but the reality was that I intended to do this on my own. The way I saw it, I spent far too long putting all my effort and attention into something—or someone—that I couldn’t technically control theoutcome of. It hadn’t gotten me anywhere good, and I’d learned the biggest lesson of all.

So, it was one thing to have the emotional support of the Westwood family—and perhaps their temporary support in the form of a hotel suite for a couple of days—but if my situation with Tate taught me anything, I had to stand on my own where it mattered.

“Alright, so I’m just going to come out with it,” Ivy declared. I braced myself, certain I knew what she was going to ask. “Where have you been all this time?”

The air rushed from my lungs. I had assumed she was going to bring up Tate. Maybe she only intended to steer the conversation into a place where the topic of him would be unavoidable.

“I didn’t stay in one spot. At first, I remained in Florida and tried to stay just on the outskirts of Miami for about two weeks before I realized I couldn’t do it. While there were things I liked about the city, the truth is that it didn’t feel like a place I could ever call home. Since I’m used to a small town, I figured I’d be better off with something similar. So, I went to South Carolina.”

“Where specifically?”

My mouth curved up into a smile. “A small town on the coast of South Carolina that even I hadn’t ever heard of before.”

Understanding dawned. “And that’s where you’ve been ever since?”

I shook my head. “I stayed there for three weeks and liked the small-town aspect of it, but it still didn’t feel like home. So, I thought I’d be better if I came back to Pennsylvania.”

“What?”

Nodding, I shared, “I’ve spent the last seven weeks or so in Steel Ridge. It was the only place of the three that really held any potential, but even being this close, I couldn’t shake the feeling of homesickness.”

Ivy seemed a little lost for words as her eyes roamed over my face in silence for a long time. I used the opportunity to continue eating more breakfast, and eventually, she said, “I can’t believe you were that close for more than half the time you were gone.”

“Well, I would have been back sooner, but…”

My voice trailed off. I hadn’t intended to share this bit of news with Ivy, but I was so caught up in wanting to make her feel better that I accidentally let down my guard.

“But what? Did something happen?”

I dropped my gaze to the food in front of me. My mind was scrambling, trying to figure out how to tell her this without giving her the details.

“Ava, tell me what happened,” Ivy demanded. “Was it Tate? Did he do something?”

I sucked in a deep breath and revealed, “He did call and leave me a voicemail at almost exactly the time I’d decided to come back. And once I got that voicemail, I reconsidered my decision.”

“What did he say to you?”

“It doesn’t matter now. I got over it, and I’m back. That’s the important part, right?”

She narrowed her eyes on me. Ivy did not want to let this go. “Of course, it is. But it seems as though you’re intent on protecting him. Is that because you two have worked things out? If I go based on what I saw last night, I don’t think that’s possible. It was tense between the two of you.”

My heart ached as I thought about the interaction that I’d had with Tate last night. He’d never spoken to me like that before—I didn’t know he had it in him to be that cruel. “We did not work things out. I think we’re both at a place where it’s just best for the two of us to focus on doing our own thing apart from one another.”

Ivy jerked back. “Is that what he told you he wants?”

“Not in so many words,” I said, my voice strained.