Where Beauty Lies (Sophia and Ava London) (12 page)

“Ava,” she said, shaking his hand.

“In or out,” the cabbie called. “You’re using up all my heat.”

“In or out?” Jax asked Ava.

“I can’t be gone long,” she told him.

“I’ll bring you back whenever you say.”

“In,” Ava said, feeling more like herself than she had for weeks.

LonDOs

AS-is model search

Cute guy from Starbucks (Jax!)

Guys who wear glasses

Feeling like yourself

Starbucks heart-shaped sugar cookies

Sorrel snow boots

Tinted lip balm

LonDON’Ts

People who don’t have time for their sisters

People who can’t stop texting for five minutes

Click click click

Leaving work with only enough money to buy a coffee

Being stuck in the wrong part of the fairy tale

10

central lark

While Jax gave directions to the taxi driver, Ava called to talk to Sophia but it bounced to voice mail, probably because she was on the phone with Hunter. Again.

Ava left a message saying she was walking around to get ideas for the dress and wasn’t sure how long she would be.

It wasn’t exactly true, but since she hadn’t been making any progress on the new piece at the workroom and you never knew where inspiration could come from, it wasn’t entirely untrue, either.

When she hung up, Jax was still giving the driver instructions, telling the guy which streets to turn on, what lights to avoid, and when he finally slumped back next to her he smiled. “That should do it.”

“Do you know what you’re talking about or did you make that up?”

“I grew up here. I know every pothole and slow light between Houston and Ninety-second street. And I work part-time driving an ambulance to help pay for school.”

“What was it like growing up here?”

“Pluses and minuses, like any place. Plus, there’s a lot going on. Minus, people can get distracted.”

“Like your date last night.”

“Yeah,” he said, scratching the back of his neck. “Let’s not talk about that.”

“What are you going to school for?” Ava asked, indicating the messenger bag.

“I’m studying to be an EMT,” he said.

“You mean one of the people who work in an ambulance? Saving people’s lives?”

“Ideally saving them, yeah.”

“Like a knight in shining armor,” Ava said to herself.

Only apparently not only to herself, because he said, “What do you mean?”

“Nothing.” She blushed. She went on, talking fast. “Just, um, something I was thinking about last night. Being an EMT sounds intense. How did you decide on that?”

“I wanted to be a doctor, but there’s no way I can afford medical school. This seems like the next best thing. For now anyway.” He turned to the window as he answered, and Ava sensed she’d touched a raw nerve.

“Well, I’m impressed,” she told him.

He tapped the window and said, “Just in time too, because we’re here.”

Ava peered around him. “Central Park? My sister and I kept meaning to come here together on our day off, but we haven’t gotten one yet.”

He paid the cab and they got out. “This is even better than Central Park. We’re going to the Central Park Zoo,” he told her, getting two tickets and piloting her through the entrance gates.

“I haven’t been here before,” Ava said as they walked past the gift store. “I never—
Ooh,
sea lions!” She rushed toward a large pool. As she approached, two of them turned and looked at her and started clapping.

She laughed and looked at Jax. “Did you see that?”

“I did,” he told her. “And it just confirms what I was—”

“There are penguins!” She pointed at a sign with an arrow. “Come on.”

The penguin enclosure was a series of pools carved out of what looked like ice floes, with a very strong smell of fish. They were lazing around on one of the icy parts as Ava and Jax walked up, but one of them spun its head around and caught sight of them and a group jumped into the water. They swam toward Ava and started squawking.

“They remind me of reporters at the parties we’ve been going to,” she told Jax.

“And probably just as fishy,” Jax answered dryly.

Ava laughed. “You’re funny. I didn’t think you would be funny.”

He cupped his hand and pretended to be reading from a list. “Impressed her, check. Made her laugh, check.”

Ava laughed again and gave him a sideways look. “What list is that?”

“My perfect-date checklist,” he said, holding his hand close to his chest as though he were protecting an important notebook.

“Let me see that,” Ava demanded, pretending to reach for it.

He took a step backward and she took a step toward him and he leaned back and suddenly they were standing nearly nose to nose. His eyes were brown and chocolaty and looked right into hers in a way that made her pulse beat hard in her throat. She bit her lip and his gaze moved there, then back to hers.

A shriek split the air between them, sending them flying apart. There was another shriek, from their left, and turning Ava saw a massive white peacock with his tail fully open, glaring at them from inside his enclosure.

“Looks like someone wants attention,” Jax said.

“I bet you have that effect on all the ladies,” Ava joked.

“Yes, I make them all shriek in horror.”

“That’s not what I—” Ava began to protest, then saw his lips curve into a smile and realized he was kidding again. As they moved on, Ava felt a lightness inside her that had been missing too long.

Next they visited the polar bears, who made a yodeling noise as they approached. The snow monkeys yelped and did loop-de-loops, the red pandas made whistling noises, a snake hissed, and the frogs all began croaking at once. As they walked, their fingers kept brushing accidentally, making Ava feel like there were fireflies darting around inside her.

“I told you that you were a duchess,” Jax said matter-of-factly when they had circled back to the sea lions. “You just proved it.”

Ava said, “What are you talking about?”

He looked serious. “In all the movies, the animals sing to the noble heroine when she’s feeling low.”

“This something you study in EMT school?” Ava asked.

He shook his head. “More like babysitting school. I have a six-year-old stepsister.”

She said, “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’ve never had animals do that for me before.”

“Maybe you’ve never been this down.”

She looked at the sea lions. “Maybe.”

A speaker announced that the zoo was closing in five minutes. “I guess that’s our cue to go home,” he said.

“Yeah, I guess,” she agreed.

They stood side by side, looking at the sea lions.

“It hardly seems fair.” Ava tilted her head to look up at him. “I mean, we can’t have finished your entire perfect-date list yet, can we?”

He smiled down at her. “We’ve barely scratched the surface.”

“You probably get a lot of use out of it.” She was looking at their hands. As though it had a mind of its own, her pinkie inched toward his.

He cleared his throat and said, suddenly serious, “Actually, there hasn’t been anyone I’ve wanted to impress in a while.”

Their pinkies touched, and Ava felt a little spark leap between them. She peeked up at him through her lashes and saw that he was looking at her. Her chest felt tight and her knees felt wobbly and she found herself wondering what his lips would taste like. She said, “I guess I could stay out a little longer.”

What are you thinking,
she asked herself.
First of all, you can’t stay out. Second of all, you shouldn’t. Third of all, there are people counting on you. Fourth of all, there’s no way that staring into a guy’s eyes and hoping he’ll kiss you is part of boytoxing.

But she was so tired of being responsible. Of doing everything she should do. It felt like weeks since she’d laughed the way she had that afternoon. Years. Decades.

Okay, now you’re exaggerating,
she berated herself.
You haven’t even been alive for decades.

“A quarter for your thoughts,” Jax said.

Ava laughed. “I thought they were only supposed to cost a penny.”

“Haven’t you heard, everything is more expensive in New York City.”

She sighed. “I was just having a pity party for myself. Being silly. It’s nothing.” She bit the inside of her cheek.

“What’s it like, launching a fashion line?” He asked casually.

“Exciting. Amazing. And overwhelming. If it was only the line that would be easy. But there are all these other things.” And then without thinking she was telling Jax everything, about Christopher Wildwood and losing their credentials and the venue and the models, about the pressure of creating a new dress, about Sophia being all wrapped up in Hunter, even about Liam. The only thing she didn’t tell him about was the Contessa’s nephew. It was too hard to explain, she rationalized. And Dalton. She didn’t mention Dalton, either.

But what was there to say about that except that she’d been completely and utterly wrong about him. That her heart had misled her? Besides, Jax couldn’t have been less like Dalton. He was taller, more serious, more reserved than Dalton and he definitely had better manners. Like for example he wasn’t a thief.

“It sounds like you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself to be perfect and please everyone,” he said. “And that’s making you feel trapped. By situations outside your control, and by other people’s expectations.”

Ava stared at him. She hadn’t thought about it that way but she realized he was right. “I do feel trapped. In every direction.”

“Maybe it would help to remind yourself that the reason everyone wants to be near you—the reason that guy won’t let you break up with him—is because they see something special in you. And they still will, no matter what you do. So you don’t need to worry about their expectations. You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to be you.”

“You’re just being nice to me again because I was so upset,” she said.

In a tight, almost angry-sounding voice he said, “We both know that’s not true.”

She stopped walking and tugged him to face her. “Then why?”

“Would you believe it if I told you it’s because my mother never would have forgiven me if she knew I’d spoken to a lady the way I spoke to you last night and I’m trying to work off the guilt?”

Ava said, “No.”

“No, I didn’t think you would.” He said, “The truth is, since last night I haven’t been able to think of anything but your smile and what I could do to bring it out again.”

Ava’s heart felt like it was too big for her rib cage. She reached for his hand and twined her fingers with his. “Thank you,” she said. “For that. And for listening.”

He slanted a smile down at her. “Thank you,” he said. “For trusting me enough to talk.”

His eyes held hers, warm and inviting, and his head bent slightly toward her, and Ava’s gaze went to his lips, so soft-looking, and she thought,
He’s going to kiss me.

He stood up, suddenly formal, said, “We should be departing,” and began to tramp down the sidewalk.

Ava blinked once and then jogged to catch up with him. What had just happened? She wanted to know. Had she done something wrong? The warmth she’d felt inside turned to tiny spots of cold. Wet cold. On her cheeks. She reached up to see what it was and a snowflake drifted onto her hand.

“Snow!” Ava cried happily, tipping her head back to let it fall on her face. “It’s snowing!”

Jax looked at her and let out a little laugh. “It is.”

Her eyes were huge and serious. “Let’s stay out in it.”

“Are you sure you have time?” he asked.

“I’m positive I
don’t,
” she said emphatically, “but I’m not going to miss my chance to be out in a real New York City snowstorm. Come on!”

Ava lost track of time as they wandered around Central Park, watching fluffy snowflakes fall and begin to drift. It got dark and the lights along the paths seemed to have halos. He showed her the Reservoir, named after Jackie Kennedy, and the Castle, and a pond that had turtles in it clustered near the edge where it wasn’t frozen. There was almost no one else out and it was peaceful and beautiful.

“I have one more place to show you, but it’s secret. Do you promise not to tell?”

“I promise,” Ava said.

He led her from the road across an uneven snowbank, to a chain-link fence. He felt around for a minute, then said, “Got it!” and curled a piece of the fence away from the post. “Through here.”

“Are we going to get arrested?” Ava asked him.

“Only if you’re slow,” he said, and his tone was serious but his eyes were laughing.

He held out his hand to support her, then shimmied sideways down a moderate slope toward an expanse of pure white snow.

“Close your eyes,” he said as they reached it, gripping her hand more firmly. “It’s a little slippery, be careful.” They walked about a dozen steps and he said, “This should be good. Now open your eyes.”

Ava gasped. It was like being in a winter fairy kingdom. All around her were trees covered in white with sparkling icicles hanging from the branches. The sound of the traffic outside the park seemed to have disappeared and it was perfectly serene. She looked up into Jax’s face and this time, finally, his mouth sought hers.

His lips tasted like ChapStick and chocolate and their soft, lingering touch sent tiny flares of warmth spiraling through her. When he pulled away it took her a moment to remember where she was. She felt like she was in a dreamy daze. Her eyes began to open slowly, then flew the rest of the way open as she gaped at the astonishing vision that had materialized in front of her. Over Jax’s shoulder, at the end of the snowy expanse where there’d been nothing but shadows before, there was now a building, hovering like some fairy’s winter palace, spilling gold-tinted light onto the snow. Tiny lights twinkled around it and inside there were tables with tall candles in gleaming candelabra on them and a roaring fireplace, the whole place looking like it was set for an enchanted banquet.