Chasin' Eight (Rough Riders #11)(7)

Hours later, when Ava exited the salon, she had an extra spring in her step because no one had recognized her.
Keeping up with her fab idea to run away, she needed to find someplace outside her normal haunts. Someplace nobody would ever think to look for her. Someplace remote. Unpopulated.
Hello, Wyoming.
Ava waited while the secretary patched her through to her long-time friend, the one person she’d always been able to count on to help her out of a jam.
“This is Ginger Paulson.”

“I thought you were going by Ginger McKay?”

“Ava! I was just thinking about you. I’m Ginger Paulson while I’m at Paulson Law Office. But when it’s me, Kane and the kids at home, I’m…ah, hell, I’m just mama. A frazzled mama.”

“How are the McKay kiddos?”

“Hayden has developed a love of ranch work and has forgotten about his X-Box. Paul crawls as fast as a cockroach. Maddie is an angel, if you can overlook the death metal scream she’s debuted in the last week.”

Ava laughed. “You love it. And how is that smokin’ hot hubby of yours?”

Ginger sighed. “Amazing. He can do physical labor all day, come home, diaper and care for two babies, help Hayden with school projects, play cards with my dad and still keep me purring like a contented kitten. So, amazing doesn’t begin to cover how fabulous my Kane is. Anyway, what’s up with you? ’Cause, sweetie, you rarely call me out of the blue anymore.”

“Sorry.” She slipped out the patio door and gazed across the turbulent ocean. “I’m… I need to clear my head, Ginger. I thought this mess would blow over. It mostly has, but there’s enough of it lingering I can’t even have lunch in this town without being tracked down by the press. Which is why I need a break.”

Ginger was quiet for just a beat too long.
“What?”

“Just thinking back to when your punkish seventeen-year-old self swaggered into my office. You had your career path all laid out. You couldn’t wait to be the focus of the paparazzi.”

Ava tilted her head to better catch the salty ocean breeze. “I was so cocky.” She grimaced with bitter remembrance. “And I had no reason to be. No experience. Nothing but a solid belief in myself. If I’d known then what I know now…”

“You might’ve listened to your parents and gone into one of the family businesses?” Ginger supplied with syrupy sarcasm.
“Ha-ha.”

“Come on, Ava. It hasn’t turned out so badly for you. You’ve been in a critically acclaimed TV show and in a few movies. You’ve done it mostly on your own. You should be proud.”

“But?” Ava prompted.
“But the smart, savvy girl I met had ambitions of being more than a mere actress. You were writing screenplays, studying directing and cinematography, planning to start a production company to showcase projects you loved.”

“True. So what happened to me?”

“Sweetie. You got lazy. Rather than letting the money from the acting gigs fund those aspirations, using it as a stepping stone for bigger things, the last few years you’ve allowed complacency to wedge you into a place you don’t want to be.”

Ginger’s ability to get to the heart of the matter was exactly what Ava needed. “Well, letting an in-the-closet actor come out and annihilate my career is a stepping stone I would’ve loved to skip.”

Ginger laughed. “Sometimes what seems like the worst turn of events can turn into the best. And yes, I’m speaking from experience, as you well know.”

“That’s what I’m saying. I need new experiences. I need a change. I need to live something real.” Ava breathed in the familiar scent of wet sand and exhaled slowly. “I want to come to Wyoming. I know your life is beyond busy, and I’d never presume to crash at your place. But a change of scenery will force me out of complacency. I need to stop being Ava Cooper for a while. Figure out who Ava Dumond is.”