Always Loving You (Danvers #6)(10)
Ava felt as if she were agreeing to a voluntary root canal as she said, “All right, I’ll try it. Don’t blame me, though, if your friends don’t want anything to do with you after this. I’m not only sexually stunted; I’m socially stunted as well.”
“You’ll be just fine,” Emma assured her. “Now, I’ll let the girls know that we’ll just meet them in the front of the mall. I’ll cut you some slack and won’t make you ride with them . . . this time.”
“Gee, thanks.” Ava smiled. She was secretly relieved, though. She hadn’t thought of how uncomfortable being in the confines of a car with a bunch of women she barely knew would be. It sounded like hell. Yeah, she was completely and totally socially inept.
* * *
“So, Ava, I’m really digging this look you’ve got going on today. Your boobs look much bigger than I first had them pegged for.”
Ava almost spat her drink across the table as the cool redhead openly assessed her breasts. “Er . . . thank you, Suzy. That’s . . . good to hear.” They were having lunch at a Mexican restaurant inside the mall. Emma had arranged it so Ava was sitting between her and Ella, and that had helped lessen the discomfort a bit. Unfortunately, that left Suzy, Claire, and Beth across the table. So here she sat, fiddling with her glass and trying to follow the flow of conversation around her. She felt as if she had entered some Lifetime movie where each woman talked about her husband. She knew who these women were married to and she suspected they must be thrilled to go home at the end of each day.
When she and Brant had originally met Jason Danvers, she had been so tongue-tied she couldn’t speak. She hadn’t been expecting someone so young and gorgeous. But the real crush had developed once he started talking. The man was brilliant. She had fallen in love with his mind that day. Ava had always had a thirst for knowledge, and Jason was a master teacher. To watch him in action closing a big deal was a thing of beauty. One of his most attractive qualities, though, was how much he loved his wife and the fact that he didn’t bother to hide it. Ava had had dinner with them a few times through the course of various business functions, and Jason seemed to think that the world revolved around the woman he had chosen to be by his side. Ava knew that Claire had once been his assistant at Danvers but was now his wife and the mother of his child.
Suzy was married to Grayson “Gray” Merimon, who had also come on board at Danvers when Jason acquired his company. Gray’s brother, Nick, worked for Danvers as well and was married to Suzy’s sister, Beth. Just trying to keep up with all the connections seemed mind-boggling. And of course, there was Ella, who was married to Ava’s brother Declan. Ella was adorable and currently only a month away from giving birth to their first child. Lately Ava felt a pang of emptiness when she saw how happy other people were as part of a couple. She could have had that if only she hadn’t been such a coward. Mac had wanted a real relationship with her, but now it might be too late.
“Yoo-hoo, hellooo!”
Ava jumped as Emma’s shout jostled her back to the present. She felt herself flush as all eyes at the table were on her.
“Good grief, woman, you were completely zoned out there. So, anyway, I want to talk to the girls about your mission and see if we can get some insight. Is that okay with you?”
Ava smiled politely, thinking, I am so going to kill this big mouth when we get back to the office. “Um . . . I guess so.”
Emma gave her a wink in return as if trying to reassure her before diving in. “Ladies, you know that Mac and Ava are close, right? Or they were before he started dating someone else. Now, to be fair to Mac, he did want Ava first, but she wasn’t ready. Anyway, now he’s moved on and we just can’t let that happen. We need to help Ava get his attention back and help him to see that she’s ready to take the next step.”
Suzy rubbed her temple, saying, “I think you’ve left out a lot of details there, but we can still work with what we’ve got. So, who is the woman that Mac’s dating?”
“It’s Gwen, you know, the redhead who works in accounting?” Ella offered.
“G-lo?” Claire blurted out before slapping a hand over her mouth.
“No shit, really?” Suzy smirked. “Wow, I guess Mac likes big butts and he cannot lie.”
“Oh my God,” Beth groaned, looking at her sister. “I can’t believe you went there. Her butt isn’t that big.”
“It’s not that it’s big,” Suzy corrected, “it’s just quite round and juicy, like Jennifer Lopez, aka J-lo. Hey, I’m not insulting her; I’d like to have an ass like that myself.”
“Me too,” Claire admitted. “If I lose a pound, my butt takes a leave of absence. I’ve always wanted a big one.”
“Yeah, hell, me too,” Emma added. “Sorry, Ava, but men do love the big butts.”
“She’s not shy about showing that sucker off either,” Ella chimed in. “She was walking in front of me last week and her dress was glued to it like a second skin. I almost ran into a ficus tree watching her walk.”
Ava dropped her head onto the table, ready to admit defeat. “If you’re all in love with her or at least her ass, what hope does that leave for me? The magazines didn’t mention butt implants.”
Suzy leaned forward in her chair, patting her on the top of the hand. “Honey, you’ve got more going for you than a good set of buns. Mac was into you first and men don’t get over stuff like that as easily as they want to believe. Also, you’ve got us. I’m sure G-lo is a nice person and all, but she’s gotta go. There are plenty of other ass-gawking men out there for her, so she’ll be fine. Now, Emma said something about you needing clothes for a date with Dominic?”