AVA
She stepped out of the shower, humming softly to herself, a towel wrapped snugly around her body. As she walked further into the room, she started snapping her fingers in time with her tune.
At the risk of pointing out the obvious, Ava had woken up in an extraordinarily good mood that day—happier than she had been in... well, exactly five years.
She fully attributed her happiness to her decision from the previous night to forget her past with Maxim. And much to her surprise, it was working.
For the first time since their relationship had ended, the painful grip Maxim's memories had held over her was loosening. She felt lighter somehow, as though a burden had finally been lifted from her very soul.
Ava sighed ruefully, wishing she'd done herself a favor and moved on sooner.
Still humming to herself, she walked over to her bed and glanced at the outfit she'd already laid out for work—a pair of blue jeans, a white tank top, socks, and sneakers at the foot of the bed.
Ava's gaze then drifted to her open closet, which was filled with the rest of her clothes.
Looking at it reminded her that she still didn't know what she was going to wear to her parents' anniversary party that night. And while she was still undecided, her shift started in less than an hour, and the party was also drawing closer.
Ava groaned in frustration, wishing she didn't have quite so much to do that morning.
She approached the closet, looking through the collection of gowns she'd accumulated years ago when she thought she'd be attending corporate conferences and business events.
Most of them were a few years old now, but they'd remained in excellent condition simply because she rarely found other opportunities to wear them.
After a moment's consideration, she pulled out a dark brown evening dress with thin straps that ended just above her knees. It had a sweetheart neckline and a tasteful slit running up one side.
She smiled to herself at the design.
Elegant.
And a bit modest.
Just the way she liked to dress these days.
Well... most of the time.
Ava couldn't help but grin as she remembered yesterday's spectacularly unsuccessful attempt at camouflage.
"So much for being subtle," she muttered to herself.
Just then, her phone began vibrating on the bed, getting her attention.
She looked at it, immediately guessing it was Blake.
Then she remembered he'd already called that morning to wish her a good day.
Curious as to who the caller was, Ava placed the dress back in the closet and walked over to the phone.
The moment she saw the caller ID, her face brightened.
A warm smile spread across her face as she picked up the phone and raised it to her ear.
"Hey, Mom."
"Good morning, sweetheart. How are you today?" Audrey Morgan asked in a soft, motherly tone.
"I'm doing great, Mom," Ava replied with a smile, trying not to melt at the warmth in her mother's voice.
Hearing Audrey speak made Ava want to be near her.
"Well, if you're doing so great, then why haven't you come to see us in weeks?" Audrey said, sounding upset now.
Ava imagined Audrey placing a hand on her hip as she said this and rolled her eyes. It seemed as if her mother was always trying to find a reason to be upset with her every time she called.
"Actually, it's only been a week and a half since you, me and Dad had dinner together."
"Still far too long, if you ask me," Audrey replied. "Now, what's your excuse?"
Ava sighed again that morning, though for an entirely different reason this time.
"If you must know, Mom, I've been a little short on money lately, so I've been taking extra shifts at the café. And whenever I'm not working, like on weekends, I've been working on my paintings."
Audrey let out a soft sigh.
"Sweetheart, if you're struggling financially, why didn't you tell us? Your father and I can help. I know Blake wouldn't mind as well. We can afford it if that's what you're worried about."
Ava's grip tightened around the phone.
She knew her mother meant every word.
Her parents owned several a large neighborhood shop and were comfortably well-off.
Still...Ava had too much pride to accept money from her parents or even her boyfriend for that matter. She'd already compromised so much in life since her arrest and wasn't about to do that again.
"For the last time, Mom, I'm an adult. I'm not taking your money or Dad's. You both raised me to stand on my own two feet," she said firmly.
"But..." her mother started.
"No buts, Mom. I can handle my own expenses," Ava told her vehemently.
A brief silence followed.
"You're every bit as stubborn as your father," Audrey said at last.
"Actually, I got it from both of you," Ava replied with a small grin.
Her mother laughed despite herself.
"That's fair."
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Audrey cleared her throat.
"You know... there is another way you could stop struggling without taking money from us."
Ava's smile vanished instantly.
She already knew where this conversation was heading.
"You could go back to being an accountant."
"Mom..." Ava started in a displeased tone.
"Sweetheart, please hear me out first," Audrey interrupted gently. "A client of mine and your father's owes us a rather large favor. He starting a lucrative auditing firm. I'm sure I could persuade him to give you a position."
Ava shook her head, though her mom couldn't see it.
"No, Mom. No more auditing firms. Haven't I made it clear that I don't want to do that anymore?"
Her voice remained calm, but it was one hundred percent unwavering. Ava could feel her mother getting upset by it.
"And what's your plan instead, Ava?" Audrey asked, her voice becoming slightly colder. "Are you going to wait tables for the rest of your life? Are you going to spend your entire life being a waitress?"
Ava's jaw clenched at Audrey's words.
"I'm not just a waitress, I'm a painter too, mom. And my work has been getting a lot of attention online lately," Ava informed her mother. " And just last month, I sold two paintings, and I'm improving every day. It'll take time, but eventually, I'll be making a living off this," Ava said with a confidence she didn't really feel.
She wasn't getting that much attention on her socials, just a few hundred likes.
For now, Ava reminded herself.
Audrey replied to Ava as if she were a child.
"Ava, getting a few compliments online doesn't mean you can actually build a career out of this. It's not stable, unlike being an auditor."
"You know..." Ava said with a sad smile, "Dad is a lot more supportive than you."
"That's because your father loves you too much to tell you uncomfortable truths," her mother retorted without missing a beat.
Ava shook her head again.
"Mom, you're mistaken in thinking that I can just walk in and get my career back, right? No respectable auditing firm trusts someone who was arrested for fraud to handle their client's money. It doesn't matter that I was innocent or that I don't have a record. They won't risk it. I'm still looked at with suspicion."
"Well, this client owes us a very big favor," Audrey insisted. "I can convince him. All you have to do is say yes, and I'll get you your career back."
Ava looked toward the easel in the corner of her room. It had only been days since she last painted and yet she was eager to pick up her brush again.
"But I don't want my old career back,mom. In fact, I never wanted it. I only did it because you pushed me into it," she told Audrey in an accusing way.
"You were always good at it and it made you way more money than both waitressing and painting combined," her mother pointed out.
"I didn't like it, though. I hated it," Ava bit out.
Her voice softened with her next words, not wanting to be too harsh to her mother.
"If I'm being honest, mom... losing that job is probably the one good thing that came out of everything that happened. It forced me to follow my passion, which is painting."
Audrey fell silent after Ava said this.
When she spoke again, she sounded exasperated.
"Oh, Ava..." Audrey said quietly. "I wish you wouldn't be so naive."
"It's my life, Mom. And I'm going to live it how I want to," Ava retorted quietly.
After this, another long silence settled between mother and daughter.
" I'm done talking about this," Ava said in case Audrey was going to continue protesting.
After a moment, Ava's mother sighed in resignation.
"...Fine, Ava."
Another pause.
"If that's what you really want."
"Thank you," Ava said with relief.
She quickly decided that the conversation needed a swift change of topic.
"Now, can we please talk about something else? " She suggested. "Tell me, how is the party planning for tonight coming along?"
Audrey gasped at Ava's words.
"The anniversary party! How could I forget? That's why I called you!" she exclaimed.
Ava laughed as the conversation shifted so quickly.
"Really?" she asked her mom.
"Yes! There's a complete disaster happening here, Ava" Audrey said, sounding panicked.
"What is it?"Ava asked calmly as she knew her mother was probably exaggerating about the extent of the problem.
"I can't choose which dress to wear tonight," Audrey exclaimed in a loud voice. "So Im going to need your help. I sent you pictures of six different dresses that I can't decide between."
"Six?" Ava repeated, blinking rapidly.
She knew the problem was probably not a problem but this?
"Yes, six. And they're all amazingly gorgeous," Audrey said in a despairing tone. "I need you to tell me which one I should wear."
Ava smiled to herself now.
It was truly funny how dramatic her mother could be.
"Okay, Mom. I'll look through the pictures and text you my favorite one,"Ava said, indulging her as usual.
"You are a true lifesaver, sweetheart," Audrey sighed dramatically. "But please be quick about this. Everything has to be absolutely perfect tonight—especially my dress."
"I know, I know," Ava said with a chuckle. "The pressure is on."
"Yes, it is. And still on the topic of dresses... have you found something to wear?"
"I have. Remember that dark brown dress you said liked on me? The brown one with the slit?"
"Of course. And I think it's actually perfect for tonight," Audrey said.
Ava smiled, relieved to have her mother's approval of the dress. She'd started to wonder if the slit made it a little too much.
She was brought out of her thoughts as her mother continued talking.
"Just make sure the color of Blake's outfit doesn't clash with the dress..." Audrey paused. "Wait, Blake is coming as your date, isn't he, sweetheart?"
"He is," Ava replied excitedly. "And I'm pretty sure he'll wear a regular black suit. It should match just fine."
"Good. That's good," Audrey said.
Ava could hear the nervousness in every one of her mother's words. Somehow, it seemed to transfer to her.
Ava went silent as her thoughts drifted toward the party that night.
Thinking about it alone made her stomach tighten with nerves. She hadn't attended a large social gathering in years—not since the arrest. Her parents' wedding anniversaries had been private family affairs in previous years.
"Ava?" Audrey called when Ava goes quiet."Sweetheart, are you still there?"
Ava let out a nervous breath before answering.
"...Mom?"
"Yes?" her mother replied.
"Do... do you and Dad really want me at the party tonight?"
"You're our only child, Ava. Of course we do. Why would you even ask that?" Audrey said immediately, sounding affronted by the question.
Ava closed her eyes at the response while also swallowing her nervousness.
"It's just..."
She thought back to Mary Ashford's cruel words the previous day.
"There's still talk about what happened to me five years ago. I don't want anyone upsetting you and Dad with it at your anniversary party. It'll ruin everything."
"Honey," Audrey said gently, "people are always going to talk. Let them."
She paused before continuing.
"And your father and I would never allow gossip to come between us and you. "
Ava smiled faintly at this response.
"And besides," Audrey added with complete confidence, "I doubt anyone will say anything tonight."
"Really? Why's that?"
Audrey chuckled.
"Because you're dating Blake Cooper, silly. And people forget their opinions when a member of the Cooper family gets involved."
Ava's smile promptly turned into a frown.
She didn't like the implication that Blake's name somehow made her respectable.
She had been found innocent in a court of law, and that should stand, no matter who she was dating.
But still...
She understood her mother's point.
The Cooper name carried enormous weight throughout Havari. Not nearly as much as the Holloways', but they were respected in their own right.
Blake's mother, Imogen Cooper, was one of the country's most famous lawyers. Even Ava admired the woman—not because of her reputation alone, but because five years earlier, she'd been the one to take on Ava's embezzlement case and successfully keep her out of prison.
"Well, sweetheart, I'd better go. I still have decorations to inspect," Audrey said. "I'll see you tonight."
"You will. Bye."
"Don't forget to text me which dress you think looks the best."
Ava smiled warmly.
"I won't. Now bye, Mom. I love you."
"I love you too, sweetheart."
Audrey then ended the call.
As soon as the call ended, Ava glanced at her phone, and her eyes widened when she saw the time.
"Oh, crap."
She had exactly twenty minutes before she needed to leave for work.
Without another thought, she hurried into her clothes, pulling on her jeans, bra and tank top in record time.
Everything was going smoothly...
Until she realized that one of the socks on her bed was missing.
"...Seriously?" she said in an irritated tone.
Ava frantically looked around the room.
Nothing.
She checked on top of the bed.
Also nothing.
Had the sock grown legs and run out of the room when she wasn't looking? she wondered.
Then it hit her where the sock might actually be.
"I haven't checked under the bed yet," she said, feeling a small amount of hope.
Dropping to her knees, Ava lay flat on the floor and reached beneath the bed.
Her fingers brushed against something soft, which turned out to be the missing sock.
"Got you," she said with a triumphant smile.
As she quickly pulled her hand out, it bumped into something solid.
She frowned.
"...What was that?"
Pulling the sock toward her, Ava also dragged a small box out from beneath the bed.
When it was fully out, she saw that it had one large word written on it:
MAXIM.