A Little Too Late (Madigan Mountain #1)(28)

Even then, you try to lie to yourself. Imagining you’ll beat the odds. But it doesn’t work. You have to watch someone fade away. Your mother will forget your name before she forgets how to breathe. Your father will wall himself off. Your family will suffer in silence.

The black cloud has returned. It fills the little exam room. Reed can hardly breathe. He holds Ava’s hand and makes all the right noises. But he’s already pulling back. He’s mentally closing all those tabs on his browser window, because he’s made a colossal error.

Every plan, every thought, every waking moment these past few weeks was an act of hope. A vote for a future that wasn’t shadowed by grief and loss.

He bet the house on love. But that was stupid. He should have known better. He’s smarter than that.

And when the doctor finally comes in, snapping on his latex gloves, firing up the sonogram machine, Reed already knows what is going to happen. He already knows what the doctor will say.

The future he built in his mind wasn’t real. It has no heartbeat.

It’s already gone.





CHAPTER 14




THEY CALL HIM THE ICE KING





AVA I wake up moaning, and not in a fun way. My head is trying to eject from my body. There’s a vile taste in my mouth. I don’t want to open my eyes, so I press my palms over them.

What the hell happened to me last night? I take a deep, cleansing breath. But that doesn’t help, because I’m breathing in the delicious scent of…

Reed Madigan.

Oh my God!

I drop my hands as my eyes fly open in a panic. He isn’t here, though. I’m alone in the Vista Suite bed. Reed’s bed. And I’m wearing an unfamiliar T-shirt.

Holy shit. My stomach lurches, practically folding in on its own emptiness. Reed and I didn’t… We couldn’t possibly have…

Then I notice that underneath the T-shirt, I’m wearing my panties and strapless bra, which is located somewhere near my ribcage.

Not because of sex. Nope. I’m starting to remember what actually happened, and it doesn’t fill me with relief. At all. Instead of sex, there was drinking and then puking, while Reed held my hair.

Oh my God. I’m never going to look him in the eye again. I can’t believe I got so drunk that he tried to walk me home. I remember my broken heel. And slumping down in front of his fireplace, telling him not to be nice to me.

I let out another loud groan and force myself to take another deep breath.

Then, when I thought things couldn’t get worse, I hear the sound of the outer door unlocking.

Yipes! I look like a nightmare, and I smell like a distillery.

“Hello? Ava?” a voice calls from the living room. A female voice. I don’t recognize it.

“Um...” I say, clutching the comforter. “Yes?”

“It’s Sheila, Reed’s assistant. I brought you some clothes. Also, your coat and your boots.”

I play that back in my mind, and it makes no sense. “You did? How?”

“The clothes are mine, and Reed got the purse and the coat from your desk.” She appears in the bedroom doorway a moment later. “Sorry to let myself in, but Reed said you’d be pissed if you slept through the nine o’clock meeting.”

I sit up in bed. “Oh God. What time is it?”

“Eight.” She enters the room and sets a gym bag down on top of the rumpled bed. “If you get dressed and head home to change, you can make it with plenty of time. Oh, and I also brought you this.” She lifts her other hand to reveal a white paper bag, the kind from the canteen. “It’s a toasted bagel with just a little butter. I would have brought coffee, but Reed said not to.”

“Oh.”

Oh hell. I clap my hand over my mouth. Because a toasted bagel with just a little butter is exactly what he used to bring me when I had morning sickness. The carbs helped. But coffee absolutely revolted me when I was queasy. He remembered.

My eyes fill suddenly.

“Oh man, are you okay?” Sheila looks alarmed.

“Yes,” I sob. “But last night, I got wasted and puked in front of my ex.”

Sheila cringes, her face full of sympathy. “Oh ouch. Can I assume your ex is Reed?”

“Yes,” I gasp, furiously wiping my eyes. “And I think it’s even worse than that. I think I word-vomited, too!”

“Wow. This trip is even more interesting than I ever imagined.” With a shy smile, she sits at the foot of the bed and hands me the bagel bag.

My stomach gurgles, and I draw the bagel halfway out and take a life-affirming bite. It’s still warm from the toaster. “Omigod thank you,” I groan. “I needed this.”

“It was all Reed’s doing.” She shrugs. “Were you his high school sweetheart?”

“No.” I take another bite. “It’s weirder than that. I grew up on the East Coast and didn’t move here until after he dumped me in college. When he walked into the office and saw me behind the desk, he looked so confused.”

Sheila cackles. “I would pay cash money to see Reed look rattled. Even for five minutes. The girls at work call him the Ice King.”

Well, that’s fascinating. “As in—a guy without feelings?”

“Yup.” She pops the “p.” “I always wondered who broke his heart.”