Ava

“Tell me. Tell me everything.” Sandy’s wide, buggy eyes practically popped out of her skull on Monday when I returned to work, tanned, glowing, and more blissfully happy than I’d felt for as long as I could remember.
“Everything?” I repeated, dropping my bag onto my desk before taking a seat in my swivel chair, grinning like an idiot. “But there’s so much to tell, I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
“Don’t start that shit with me, ma’am,” Sandy said with a purse of her lips. “I want to know all the details of your Costa Rican getaway with Mr. Perfect, charming, handsome billionaire.”
“It was fun,” I said with a sly smile, craning my neck to ensure the teens were still fully absorbed in the closed-door room for group counseling. I lowered my voice. “We said I love you.”
A hand fluttered to Sandy’s lips, and her eyes went wide. “What? Already?”
I flushed, heat rising to my cheeks, but it was difficult to care anymore. I loved Elijah Trevino, and he claimed he loved me, too.
“Already,” I confirmed. “The entire trip was magical. I don’t know, Sandy. I just feel like—I feel like Elijah is the man I’ve been waiting for so, so long.”
“You’re killing me, girl.” Sandy sat down in her chair across from me, face still buzzing with excitement. “So, it’s official. Are you two a thing?”
“I guess,” I said with a shrug. “I’m letting him take the lead. I—I don’t really want a broken heart.”
“Honey,” Sandy rested a hand on my knee, and I covered her fingers with mine with a squeeze. “This man loves you,” she assured me. “He’s loved you since the night you two crossed paths at the benefit. Don’t be so afraid to fall that you’re unwilling to fly.”
“Such wise words,” I teased, but tears pressed against my eyeballs. “Thank you, Sandy. I’m grateful every day for you.”
“Girl, you know I got your back,” she said with a chuckle. “Besides, when’s the wedding? I want to help plan.”
I laughed and turned to my desk to catch up on paperwork, skin heating again at the prospect of someday marrying this man. I didn’t know Elijah’s thoughts on marriage, though, so I wasn’t about to push it. I’d been relieved when he’d pulled out a necklace instead of a ring in Costa Rica, but I hated the idea of marriage ever being off the table.
“Only time will tell,” I said, hoping that would get her to back off. Before Sandy could respond to this, the door to the counseling room opened, and the teens piled out, joking and slapping high-fives. Sara was the last to appear, and when she spotted me, her face lit up, and my heart fluttered.
“I’m so happy you’re back,” she said, making a beeline for my desk. She looked good, so much better than when Elijah and I had gone to Tyrese’s place to find her. Her skin was glowing again, scars were fading, and I could tell by looking at her that she’d stayed sober during my departure.
“How are you feeling, honey?” I asked, standing to hug Sara. “I thought about you while we were gone.”
“I’m good,” she promised. “Better. Miss Katie, though … she’s still a bitch.”
Sandy guffawed, and I chuckled. Sara wasn’t the only one to ail that opinion around here.
“I’m glad you’re doing better,” I whispered, squeezing her frail hand. Sara smiled. She had the best, genuine smile around.
“Please thank Mr. Trevino for me,” she said softly. “And you. Without you guys, I—I might not be here anymore.” She nodded once, quickly, before hurrying away to be with her friends. I watched her go, pleased at the turnround she had accomplished in so little time.
“Did you hear?” Sandy asked, her eyes on Sara’s departing back. “She’s trying to get adopted again before she turns eighteen.”
I sighed, breathing gently through my teeth. It was heart-shattering when our kids tried to find a family but didn’t have luck. Adoption was difficult enough for any child, let alone a teenager with prior issues. If it were up to me, I’d adopt every one of them in hopes that they’d always know they had somewhere—someone—to call home.
“She’s a good girl,” I said, squashing the immediate idea that poisoned my subconscious. “Maybe she’ll luck out.”
Sandy didn’t say anything to this, and I knew she was thinking the same thing I was: Sara probably wouldn’t be adopted before her eighteenth birthday, which was the worst part of all of it.
I turned around to focus on the piles of neglected paperwork on my desk, noticing that I had an unread text message. I unlocked my phone to read it.
I can’t stop thinking about our time together. Will I see you after work?
I locked my phone and set it aside with a slight smile, fine with keeping him waiting for a bit. If I was going to protect my heart in this relationship, I had to be careful. Elijah was a good man, but what could I possibly bring to the table for a man like him?
Stop it, I scolded myself. Just accept that he loves you.
I picked up the phone again and texted him back with a sigh.
Where else would I be? Your place or mine?
I slid the phone away and focused once more on the task at hand, diving into the piles of paperwork in front of me. If anything could take my mind away from Elijah long enough to get any work done, it was the kids. It worked.
I filled out and submitted paperwork all morning until lunchtime, glancing at my phone to see that Elijah had responded back. Of course, he wanted me to come to his place tonight, but I couldn’t really blame him. Why sit in my shoddy, run-down apartment when his high rise was far better and more pleasant than mine. Besides, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d actually gotten groceries.
“Welcome back, Ava,” Katie said, coming out of her office to greet me. “You look like you had a wonderful time.”
“Without a doubt,” I told her. “Thank you, it was really nice.”
“And you’re still together now?” she asked bluntly, as though expecting the time together we spent on vacation had broken us up.
“I think so,” I said irritably, holding up my phone. “He still wants me over tonight, so I guess that doesn’t mean I scared him off yet.”
Katie chuckled dryly, but Sandy simply glared at her. I loved my friend. Sometimes it took a village to stand up against my boss.
“Well, hopefully, that doesn’t happen now, does it?” Katie said, narrowing her eyes at me. I didn’t know what it was that had crawled up her ass. Jealousy, maybe, or annoyance at my time away from work. Perhaps a little bit of both. Elijah was an amazing man. Who wouldn’t want to be the one he picked?
“I have news about Sara,” Katie said, abruptly changing the subject.
“She wants to find a family,” I said. “Sandy told me.”
“Yeah, but that’s not all,” said Katie. “We know the way it works. If she wants to legally be put into the system for the adoption, she has to go into foster care first.”
“Foster care?” I repeated. “She’s sixteen, and she’s comfortable here. Her parents haven’t even signed their rights away.”
“They did,” Katie said. “While you were gone. So now, officially, she’s a ward of the state and can’t continue to stay here.”
“It’s bullshit, isn’t it?” Sandy said, glancing at me. “Sorry, Ava.”
I nodded, understanding but also not liking it at the same time. Sure, I knew the rules, but it hadn’t even dawned on me that Sara would be the next kid of ours to leave. Sometimes we never saw them again.
“I get it,” I said softly. “It just won’t make it easier.”
“Her little jaunt to the slums made it easier for me,” said Katie with a shrug. “If she can’t respect the rules, why would she stay here?”
Sandy and I glanced at each other, and I swallowed. “Do you really think she should go into the system?” I asked. “Truthfully, Katie? You know what kind of people run the system. I don’t understand why she can’t stay here and fly under the radar until an adoption comes through.”
“If an adoption goes through,” Katie corrected me. “You know the rules, Ava. This is not new. I believe it’s affecting you differently because of your close relationship with the teen.”
“Relationship?” I repeated. “That’s our job, Katie, to form a relationship with these kids. If we don’t have trust, what do we have?”
Katie smiled, but it was her bullshit smile. Her petty one. “Work,” she said. “What’s what we have, work. A job to do.” She grabbed the finished paperwork from my desk with a tight smile and walked away, leaving Sandy and me in stunned silence.
“Jesus,” I murmured finally. “What crawled up her ass?”
“Jealously, I imagine,” said Sandy with a shrug. “You two have never vibed, and here you are suddenly dating the hottest bachelor billionaire on this side of the country.”
I sighed. “Why does everyone keep fixating on that?”
“Because it’s huge,” she said. “People know who Elijah Trevino is, Ava, and that means soon enough, they’ll know you, too. It’s inevitable.”
“Yeah, well.” I cupped the back of my neck to massage the kink in my neck. “So little of that matters when I can’t even protect the children who come to us for help, does it?”