A Promised Fate (12 page)

“Are they winning?”

“
Pfft
,” Ava’s version of a no.

“What are you working on?” I pointed to her
laptop.

“The fundraiser.”

“Yeah? How’s it coming?”

“Great. We have enough donated prints to fill the
whole gallery. I’ve sold most of the tickets -- I have just a few
tables left to fill, and the menu is set.”

“Oh, what are we eating?”

“A bunch of stuff but the main course is smoked
salmon, followed by a seafood medley on asparagus with ravioli and
pesto.”

“That sounds so freaking good. I am starving.”

Ava giggled and my heart thudded and smiled. “How
many people will be seated at each table?”

“Eight.” Her forehead crinkled. “Why do you ask?”

“Can I reserve a whole table from you?”

“You already have a ticket -- you’re my date so you
have to sit by me…Please. Why do you need an entire table?”

“I’d like to contribute to
House to Home
and
some of my staff was asking about the evening and when I told them
it was five hundred a plate, people kind of cringed. So, I thought
I could just buy a table’s worth of seats and they can come and
still afford to bid on the prints and the door prizes. I hear
Margaux is donating a shopping spree at the L.A. store as a door
prize and I know a bunch of people who would kill for that.”

“Pay up, Alexander,” Ava smiled and stuck out her
palm.

“I’m kinda in my underwear right now, Ave, with a
near-sleeping three year old on my chest. You know I'm good for the
money. Can I pay you later?”

“Payment is expected at the time the reservation is
placed,” she teased, pulling her computer up to her lap.

“Wow. I was expecting maybe a thank you or possibly
even a kiss. Is this how you treat all of the charity’s
supporters?”

Ava leaned across a pillow and planted a quiet kiss
to my cheek. “Thank you and no, people who purchase tickets for the
event will receive a chocolate gift basket from
Yummy
Yums
.”

“I love
Yummy Yums
. Will… will you send me a
basket, too?”

“Once you pay up,” she teased me again.

Max blinked one last slow-motion blink, his grip
around me loosened and at last, he fell back asleep. I rolled on to
my shoulder and eased him over to a spare pillow. Max curled into a
ball and shoved his thumb into his mouth. I pushed off the bed.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m starving. Have you eaten?” I asked and bent down
to fish my wallet out of my suit pants that I had tossed carelessly
on the floor.

“I haven’t eaten yet,” she said. “I’ll make something
for us in a bit.”

I threw my wallet up in the air and Ava caught it
before it could hit the blankets. “Here's your payment. I can take
care of dinner tonight.”

“K.” She flipped open my wallet and began to secure
my table for the
House to Home
charity auction. “Thanks
again!”

“My pleasure.”

In the refrigerator next to the milk, I found the
extra large bowl of spaghetti my mom had snuck in there. Popping it
in the microwave, I worked on gathering plates and a couple of
forks and then found the loaf of garlic bread. The microwave beeped
and I dumped the steaming food on the plates and carried them back
off to the bedroom.

Ava’s nose was still shoved into her laptop and the
glow from the screen illuminated her pretty face. She was fully
immersed in her work and I watched in admiration as her nose
crinkled cutely like a bunny and her tongue unknowingly traced the
curve of her pouty lip.

The TV distracted me and tore my
eyes away from Ava to the screen: “Divorce rumors ring true for
business mogul Cameron Gallo and his wife of five years, Dove
Gallo.
Today In Entertainment
has the lead on the scoop.” Olivia Chavez stood
on the set of
TIE,
the top celebrity news show in the nation, and smiled
gleefully as she reported the divorce between the
couple.

“Dove officially filed for divorce
from Cameron last week, citing infidelity. Neither of them were
available to comment, but a source very close to the couple
told
TIE
that
Cameron has wounded Dove beyond reconciliation due to an
extramaterial affair. According to the couple’s pre-nuptial
agreement, should this affair be fact, an infidelity clause boosts
Dove’s alimony settlement from an estimated one hundred and sixty
million dollars to an estimated three hundred and twenty million
dollars, making this divorce one of the most costly in US
history.”

“
Yeesh.
What on Earth are you
watching, Ava?”

She jumped in her skin when I startled her and her
eyes shot up to the TV screen. “I had the game on,” she shrugged.
“This garbage must have come on after that.”

The image of a small child walking between Dove and
Cameron and holding hands with both of them, appeared on the
screen. The reporter continued, “The source advised that these
infidelity allegations have Cameron outraged and he plans to fight
Dove to the bitter end for full custody of their four-year-old
daughter, Lola Love Gallo.”

“Good God, this is sick.” I hit the power button
without a moment to spare.

“What is?” Ava’s mind had already moved back to the
matter on her laptop and she gave little thought to the reports on
the television.

“Those people.”

“What people, Ari?” She closed the computer and
scooted it off her lap.

“The Gallos.”

“Who?”

“Never mind.”

“Ok, whatever. Your tickets
and
Yummy Yum
chocolates should arrive in a few weeks. I sent them to your
office. That way Fauna will make sure you share and that you don’t
eat them all in one sitting.”

“Fauna’s gone.” I handed Ava the plate of
spaghetti.

“What?”

“Yeah, she quit. As of six o’clock today she’s not my
assistant anymore.”

“When were you planning on telling me this?”

“I thought I had.”

“Uh. No. You didn’t. Who’s your new person?”

“I don’t know. She starts Monday. Apparently she's
moving this weekend for the job.”

“Do you know anything about this person? Do you have
a name?”

I shook my head from side to side like an idiot.
“Nope. It doesn’t matter to me who sits out at that desk, so long
as she can answer a phone and take a message.”

“Well, it matters to me, Ari. This woman will be
working with you for sixty plus hours a week. Your assistant sees
you more than we see you!”

“It’s not like that.”

“Oh please! Fauna knew way too much about you.”

“Nah, she didn’t. Anyway, there isn’t anything I can
do about it. Fauna left and HR found someone new. I stayed out of
the hiring process. Like I said, I don’t care who sits out
there.”

Ava took a bite of her spaghetti. “How’d you make
this so fast?”

“I didn’t. My mom made it this afternoon and she
stuck in the fridge when you weren’t looking.”

“She is unbelievable! Does that woman have no bounds?
We are fully capable of making our own dinner!”

“Are you hungry?”

“Yes. I'm starving.” Ava started to fork her
spaghetti onto her garlic bread.

“Then I don’t think we can complain about her this
time. She kinda came through for us tonight don’t you think?”

“Kinda.” Ava folded her bread over massive forkfuls
of saucy noodles and took a big, wide open-mouth bite.

“What are you doing?” I gawked at her.

“I’m eating.” She said past a mouth full of food.

“Yeah, like an animal. That’s not how you eat
spaghetti.”

“It’s a spaghetti sandwich and yes, this is how I eat
spaghetti. And listen to you all high and mighty. Need I remind you
that we are eating our dinner in our bedroom, in our underwear, on
our bed!”

“Touché. You got me. You think we should head down to
the dining room and eat like a civilized couple?”

“No!” she said over another full mouth of food and
slurped up a lingering noodle, splashing bits of sauce over her
face and mine.

“Good God! Is this how you eat in public? Remind me
never to take you out to an Italian restaurant.”

“I’m hungry and I am pregnant so back off!”

“Okay, okay.” I smiled brightly at her.

“Your mom may have come through on the food tonight.
But Ari, you have to have a talk with her. She's driving me
nutty.”

“What did she do besides rat you out to me about your
anxiety attack?”

“Ari! She ironed our bed sheets! Who does that?”

“Aggie Alexander does that.”

“Our bed sheets need to be off limits to your mother.
And the bed too. That’s all I’m saying.”

“I couldn’t agree with you anymore.”

Ava took another messy bite of her spaghetti
sandwich.

“What did the O.B. doctor say today?” I changed the
subject away from my mother, knowing that that conversation could
last the entire evening. “And how have you been feeling?”

I had been harboring a feeling of
disconnect with Ava and her pregnancy. With my demanding work
schedule, I had been able to get to only one of her appointments. I
had seen see our tiny blimp of a baby on the screen when Ava was
twenty weeks along in the pregnancy. The whooshing, thumping murmur
of our child’s heartbeat filled the otherwise silent room as Ava
and I stared in shock and overt awe. The feeling was surreal, a
sort of panic set up shop in my mind and I have yet to completely
lose it. I had been a father to Max for several months, but this
baby introduced a whole new aspect of being a dad.
Creating
life is far too
monumental a concept for me to wrap my head around. I felt
scared.

“I’m fine … really good.”

“Have you been tired?” Ava’s health was number one on
my list of fears. If I lost her, I couldn’t live on without
her.

“Not lately, no.”

“Any new updates I should know about?” I rubbed down
the length of her growing tummy. She was now twenty-eight weeks
along in the pregnancy. In twelve weeks we would be able to hold
our new baby in our arms. Ava’s bump was growing more round by the
day and a hint of a tan line stretched from her rib cage all the
way down her bump past her pelvis.

She shook her head from side to side. “Uh, let’s see
… The baby gets hiccups all the time now.”

“What? Hiccups -- no way!”

“Yes, way!”

“What does that feel like?”

“Weird.” Her nose crinkled again like a bunny.

“Anything else I should know? When’s the next
appointment? Maybe I can make it.”

“The twenty-sixth.”

Fashion week
. I cringed inwardly, knowing I would miss that appointment,
too.

“The doctor is sending home birthing videos. She said
we need to watch them together to get a firm idea as to what to
expect.”

“Gross -- there’s no way I am watching those.”

“Ari!” Ava shoved an elbow into my ribcage. “Be
serious or I won’t let you in the delivery room with me.”

“You wouldn’t dare keep me out!”

The curve of her mouth twisted into a firm
authoritarian smile. “You wanna bet?”

“Ok, ok, it’s a date, we’ll watch the videos. I’ll
watch a million gross birthing videos if that’s what it takes to be
there when our baby is born. There is nothing in the world that can
keep me away from that moment in time. So what else, any new
cravings?”

She rolled her eyes at herself. “Hotdogs. Right now I
think I could eat hotdogs for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

“
Bleh
. Hotdogs make me puke,” I
admitted. “Every time I eat one, I puke my guts out.”

“Ari, that’s so gross,” she said, and shoved the last
big bite of her weird spaghetti and garlic bread sandwich into her
already too full mouth.

I cleared the plates from our bedroom, we scrubbed
our faces and cleaned our teeth and fell asleep. Ava took up one
side of my chest and Max curled back around and snuggled into my
other arm. His sleep was interrupted again and again by night
terrors that made him scream out in fear and cry in sadness. He
still wouldn’t talk. Not a single word.

Sweet Ava and Max...

I 'm next door and I miss you both already…

I scribbled the note on the back of a used envelope,
left it at the kitchen counter and snuck out of the house late
Sunday morning.

“Morning.” My mother stood at the coffee pot and I
pointed to it, indicating that I was in need of a very deep and
full mug. She made her signature clicking noise with her tongue and
poured me a hot cup. “And where’s Ava?” She looked behind me for
the rest of my family and I put the mug to my lips taking a gulp
and burning my mouth.

“Home,” I said and my voice was still rough and
scratchy. Clearing my throat, I tried again. “She’s still home. She
and Max will be here in a little while. I didn’t want to wake
them.”

“It’s half past ten!”

“Don’t start, Mom. We had a bad night. We’ve had a
couple of bad nights and Max and Ava are both actually sleeping
without screaming so I left them alone. I didn’t want to wake them
up yet.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Ari. What’s going on? Is there
something I can do to help?”

“You can stop ironing our sheets -- other than that,
nothing. It’s just nightmares -- both of them - all God-damn night
long.”

Her face puckered in contempt at my foul
language.

“I’m sorry, Ma, I can’t help
it.
I’m so tired
.”

“Go home.” She waved her hand at the door.

“No, I promised you I would be here. Ava and Max will
be over within the hour. It'll be okay.”