Page 50 of Wild Heart

I thought back to last night. I recalled the feeling that moved through me the moment Liam had walked into the living room and told me that Ava was back. For someone who had seemed too hopeful yesterday, my brother was filled with irritation today.

Well, he could be miserable all he wanted. It wasn’t going to change the way I felt. “She seemed to think it’d be okay to walk up and wish me a happy birthday.”

“Do you think she was just trying to break the ice?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Does it matter? She disappeared for what, twelve weeks? No contact, despite repeated attempts on my part to reach out to her.”

“So, what did you say to her?”

“I made it clear that pretending everything was fine wasn’t going to work. That only resulted in her seeming to believe that apologizing was the next best option.”

“Are you saying it wasn’t?”

My eyes narrowed. If this was all about my brothers wanting to take me out to make me feel better about the situation with Ava, they weren’t doing a very good job of it.

“Why do I feel like I’m the one who’s in the wrong here? She ignored me. For months. I didn’t get a single ounce of communication from her after the wedding, where the relationship between us took a big turn toward something positive. Or so I thought. She ghosted me. Now, she wantsto come back and expect everything to be fine. Unfortunately, that’s not going to work for me.”

“Did she say that?”

“Say what?”

“That she expects everything to just return to normal.”

I shook my head. “She didn’t have the chance to say that before I walked off. But it’s obvious that’s what she wants. I mean, she walked up and tried to hand me a gift. After all this time, that’s how she wanted to do this. And let’s think about it. All of you were just fine with her when she showed up. Nobody called her out for disappearing the way she did.”

“I don’t think anyone isn’t curious about what she’s been up to these last couple of months, Tate, but what did you expect us to do? It wasn’t the time or the place to address any of that last night.”

In all fairness to them, I had to take a step back and consider what that would have been like if everyone had responded the way I had. Because it had been uncomfortable for me.

While I enjoyed spending time with my family last night, my mind was distracted by Ava, just like it had been for months. We’d shared a handful of tense, awkward glances throughout the evening, and if that had been the way it was for everyone, nobody would have enjoyed themselves.

“She probably has more she wants to share with you,” Wyatt reasoned. “We’ve known Ava for so long. I don’t think she set out to hurt you.”

“You say that like you believe I’m wounded,” I noted.

“Aren’t you?” He shrugged. “That’s how I’d be with Rhea. If I was in love with her, finally took the steps to be with her, and she left without an explanation, not even a full day after I’d made that commitment to her, I’d be devastated. I’d have, as I’m sure you do, dozens of questions for her. I’d like to think that I could be rational enough to hear what she had to say for herself.”

“I guess we’re two different people, then.”

Disappointment washed over him as he sat back in his chair. “I guess so.”

“Why were you so worried?” Cooper chimed in.

“Worried about what?”

A gleam in his eye, like he believed he was about to put me in my place, Cooper explained, “You told us at the lake house that you held back from pursuing something with Ava because you were worried about what would happen to her and the relationship she has with this family if you acted on your feelings and things went south. It appears to me that you two barely got anywhere before things went south, and now you’re sitting here, making it seem like you’re upset we’re trying to get you to see reason when it comes to her and this situation.”

I winced.

Maybe Cooper had a reason to be so confident. He’d called me out on my hypocrisy.

I’d claimed to care so much about her, I’d kept myself from pursuing her for fear of her losing the people who loved her. And now, I was the one who couldn’t be bothered to show her some understanding or even just a hint of compassion.

But even as the shame for how I’d acted toward her last night burned through me, I grappled with all that I’d suffered through for weeks. She left and gave no indication of her plan not to return. And when I called her, hoping to ease whatever concerns or fears she had, Ava ignored me.

Maybe it was my pride that refused to let me admit my mistake in this. I didn’t know. But I looked Cooper square in the eye, leaned forward, and deadpanned. “She ghosted me.”

He sighed and sat back in his seat, just like Wyatt had.