A Promised Fate Read Free Page A

Luke. Lauren looked
up and sent a little wave. As soon as August spotted me, he shot me
a nasty look and angrily pushed his hot pink-streaked hair out of
his eyes with his pinkie finger. Ava obviously had spent her
afternoon complaining to him about me. Finally, my eyes rested on
her.
    She hadn’t noticed me yet and I smiled automatically
as I watched her. She had on a bikini and had her hair piled up on
top of her head. Her swollen baby belly was round, and shiny with
oily sunscreen. Max sat in Ava’s lounge chair at her hip. He had a
matchbox car and treated Ava’s stomach as if it were a mountain. He
drove the car all the way up to her belly button and then let it
fly down her stomach and crash in her lap. He laughed and clapped
each time he let go of the car.
    Max caught site of me after one of his car crashes.
“Daddy’s home!”
    Ava looked up at me and frowned. She helped Max out
of the chair and he did that walk/run thing that kids do by
swimming pools all the way to my open arms.
    “Swim with me?” he begged.
    “I have to talk with your mama first, Max.” He whined
at my answer and pushed out of my arms.
    “Papus!” Max billowed out a pouty cry for my dad, his
Papus Andy, and my dad indulged him by turning the grill duty
completely over to Thais and hopping into the pool so Max could
swim some more.
    I edged down to the pool deck and over to Ava. She
didn’t even bother a second glance at me. I knew how badly I had
messed up and I also knew that “I’m sorry” just wasn’t good enough
but I had to start somewhere.
    “Ava, I am so sorry.”
    “Pfft.” She rolled her eyes and scoffed out a pissy
puff of breath.
    “Baby, please talk to me. Forgive me. I hate that I
couldn’t get away from work earlier. There is no excuse for being
late today, especially after I promised you I’d be home early. I
only want to be with you. You know that. Please talk to me. I am so
sorry.”
    She finally looked up at me, but with a cold angry
stare.
    Despite her chilly demeanor, I cupped her cheek in my
hand and brushed my thumb against Ava’s tan summer skin. “I’m here
now. I am yours. I promise to be at your and Max’s side for the
rest of the weekend. I am sorry, Ava. Truly I am.”
    She nodded her head and her frown eased
infinitesimally.
    “Look, see…” I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket
and held it in my open palm. “Take my phone. I swear not to touch
it or look at it. The phone is yours for the rest of the weekend. I
won’t even think about work.”
    Her bitterness thawed a tad and she spoke, “I can
hold your cell phone hostage for four whole days?”
    “Yes. I’ll forget I even own a phone if you promise
to forgive me.”
    “No calls in to the office?”
    “Not one.”
    “No important messages from your assistant that you
can’t ignore?”
    “I promise.”
    Ava looked down at the cell in my outstretched palm
and then back up at me. She chewed her lip in thought and in one
quick movement, my phone was snatched away from me and shoved down
deeply into Max’s toy bag.
    “Does that mean you forgive me?”
    “I guess so, yes. Don’t make any more promises you
cannot keep.”
    “I promi … Ok.”
    I drew the necklace with Ava’s wedding ring attached
out of my pocket. “I got this for you. I know I am a crazy,
obsessive husband, but I hate that you can’t wear your wedding ring
right now, it’s driving me insane. I want everyone to know you're
mine and that I’m yours. I can’t stand the thought of you not
wearing my ring. It’ll give you some protection, too. Keep the bad
away. Will you please wear it for me?”
    “Ari!” She shouted.
    I couldn’t tell if she was happy about the gift or
mad at me for buying something so expensive. I grimaced and waited
for an additional response.
    “Jeeze, you could have strung my ring from dental
floss and I would have worn it. This is way too much.”
    I held my breath.
    “But, oh my, is it pretty...” She inched down to get
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