Finding Forever (20 page)

I smiled, still pumped about her news. “What?”

“We want you to be her god mommy!”

My breath caught in my throat, and tears sprang to my eyes. “Des… really?”

“Of course. Who else would it be? I
love you
, Tori.”

“I love you too, Des,” I sniffled, pulling her into another hug.

She pulled back to wipe the tears from my eyes. “Enough of this emotional stuff, what’s it gonna be?”

“Des… I would be
honored
.”

— Avery —

Shit!

I pulled my hand away from the engine, slamming down the hood of the car in frustration before examining my scraped knuckles. It was a stupid injury, caused by me trying to work on a car, when all I could focus on was Tori. I still didn’t understand what the hell happened between us being holed up in her hotel room in Chicago until the
very
last minute, and her sending me on a date with another woman. Was she
that
damned wrapped in her ‘system’ she could ignore the chemistry we
both
felt?

I washed my hands in the sink, then grabbed a bandage from the first aid kit to wrap my hand. I needed to get home, shower, and try to improve my mood before the date with Maya. Again, Tori popped up in my mind — specifically, the look on her face when I’d agreed to a date with Maya. But what was I
supposed
to do, when it was clear she was intent on continuing with this matchmaking thing?

When I stepped off the elevator in my building, and saw Des waiting by my door, my first thought was panic. Had something happened to Tori? Then I remembered she and I weren’t on our usual good terms, and I approached cautiously, wondering what she was about to say.

“I was stupid. I’m really, really sorry,” she blurted out, as soon as I was standing in front of her. “I wasn’t tr—”

I held up a hand to stop her, then grinned pulled her into a hug. “No need to say more, Des. We’re good.” I didn’t need a long, drawn out explanation, because I already knew what the problem was. Just her apology was enough for me.

“We’re good?”

“
We’re good
,” I confirmed as I unlocked the door, flipping on the light before allowing her to step in first. “I’m sorry I don’t have a lot of time to chat, I’m actually about to hop in the shower to head out for a date.”

Des smiled as she rested against the counter. “Yeah, I know. Tori let it slip when I went to see her a little earlier. I actually stopped at her office, but she had gotten sick so I went back to her apartment with her.”

Sick?

“When was this?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

“A little after two? I don’t know, but she was in bad shape, crying and puking. She’s fine though, so no worries. Actually, she’s the one who got me to see the error of my ways, and I told me I needed to stop being… let’s go with annoying. Anyway, I’m going to head out. My flight back is in an hour, and these little one-day trips are wearing on me now that I’m pregnant. I’ll see you later, brother.” She kissed me on the cheek, then breezed toward the door. “Oh, and the baby is a girl! You’re gonna have a niece!” With a last wink, she was gone, and I was left alone to process my thoughts about Tori getting ‘sick’. Why was
she
so upset? From the timing, I knew it had been shortly after Maya and I left, but again— what the hell was I supposed to do? I wasn’t forcing Tori to put up walls, and I wasn’t about to chase somebody who didn’t want to be caught.

If Tori wanted to stick to the plan… fine. I was pissed off enough to push my feelings for her to the side and do just that.

— & —

Maya was
banging
. Physically, she was a ten. She had good manners, a pleasant personality, obvious intelligence, and so far, she hadn’t complained about
anything
. I was actually enjoying her company, and if my mind would stop drifting to Tori, things would be going even better.

“You seem to be thinking about something pretty hard…I’m not boring you, am I?”  I asked, taking a sip of my wine. She had been quiet for the last few minutes, and I hoped she was having a good time.

“No, Avery, not at all.” She gave me a warm smile.  “I’m thinking about how I owe Tori lunch or something for setting this up.  I am…pleasantly surprised.”

“Pleasantly surprised, huh?  What were you expecting?”

“Not much!” She replied with a laugh.  “Things like this have a pretty notorious reputation for being…um…let’s say —
unsuccessful
.”

“You may be on to something.  Which is why I took the liberty of googling you beforehand,” I joked, leaning back against my chair.

“Ohh, so you cheated!”

“What can I say, I’m a busy man, can’t leave much to chance.  But I’m glad to say the pictures I saw online don’t do you any justice.”

“Not even the nudes?” She asked curiously, fighting to keep a straight face as I choked a little on my water. “I’m kidding!” she admitted, giggling at my reaction.

“You got me with that one.”

“I had to, Mr. Private Investigator!”  Maya teased, raising an arched eyebrow at me.

“You’re telling me you didn’t look me up at all?”

“I sure didn’t.” She gave me a smug little smile.  “Tori came highly recommended.  I knew she wouldn’t disappoint, so, I decided I may as well let myself be surprised.”

“Pleasantly surprised,” I corrected with a wink as I passed my credit card to the server to pay for our meal.  Maya glanced around the restaurant, noticing we were among the last patrons.

“Wow, it’s a lot later than I thought!”

“Time flies when you’re having fun.” I said, signing the check with a flourish before I stood up from the table, taking her hand.  “Let me walk you out.”

Accepting my hand, she stood, stumbling a little on her platform heels.  I quickly steadied her in my arms, looking down with a smile.

“You good?” I asked, feeling a pang in my chest as I remember catching Tori in nearly the same way when she came stumbling out of the bathroom the first time we met.

“Thank you, yes.”

“So…” I said, breaking the silence as I led her to the front of the restaurant.  “I hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I did tonight?”

“I really did.”  She responded with a smile as she accepted her keys from the valet.

My lips spread into a grin. “So…does that mean I can convince you to join me for lunch later this week?”

“It means…I’ll think about it.” With a wink, she climbed into her car and closed her door, giving me a small wave as she drove away. It was nearly 11PM when I got home, and I wondered if I should contact Tori, to tell her the date had gone well. I’d done so after every other date, but somehow, knew it would be received as rubbing it in her face.

Hell, maybe I
should
do it then.

But that would be petty, and I knew it. I felt guilty enough for actually
having
the good time, I didn’t need the shame of purposely hurting Tori’s feelings on my conscience. Why the hell was I mad? She had stated very clearly in Chicago it was only for that night… but that’s not what I felt. Those were the words that came out of her mouth, but it’s not what she gave me, and it’s not what I saw in her eyes. Although I thought her no was a blatant lie… it was still a no. I had to accept it, even if I didn’t understand it. I was working with Tori with a specific goal in mind, one she obviously still intended to meet.

Maybe I needed to get back on board.

— & —

I couldn’t help the smile that sprang to my face as I watched Maya walk into the restaurant. Her tan skin glowed against her soft yellow dress, the fabric draped sensually against her curvy body. As she got closer to the table, I stood to pull her chair out for her, and the sexy scent of her perfume teased my nostrils. It had only been a few days since I’d seen her, but this was our sixth date in three weeks, and I was definitely feeling her, enough that I was starting to miss her when she wasn’t around.

“I am so sorry I’m late! I got caught up at the restaurant, trying to run over the basics for this new marketing plan with management, and I swear, you’d think I was speaking German to the staff!” she rattled off, giving me a kiss on the cheek before taking her seat.

I laughed as I returned her kiss. “I could have met you there for lunch. It’s your place right?”

“Yeah,
Coral
is my baby, and the food is amazing, but….half of my family works there, and it is the
last
place I would bring a date,” she replied, laughing with me. “They would scare you off.”

“They can’t be that bad!”

“Ohh, yes they can,” Maya assured me. “Stick around long enough and you’ll see.”

“Oh, I certainly plan to.” I grabbed her hand across the table. “I’m tryna meet everybody. Moms, dads, sisters, cousins, play cousins, all of that.”

“Avery, you are a fool.” She laughed nervously, averting her eyes as the waiter approached.

Ok dude, chill, you’re freaking her out.

We ordered our food, and spent the next hour talking and laughing as we ate. Even in the midst of my time with Maya, my thoughts still drifted to Tori—who was avoiding the hell out of me— more often that I’d like. As much as I liked Maya, and truly enjoyed being with her, I still didn’t feel the same electric chemistry I had with Tori. There was a spark though, so I was willing to see if it grew. The more I suppressed my feelings for Tori in my mind, the more room I had for Maya.

She and I were still in our ‘trial run’, so we had meetings — as a pair, and separately— with Tori once a week. To avoid being alone with me, she had Mel sit in on our sessions, presumably because she knew I wasn’t going to betray her privacy by bringing anything sensitive up in front of her sister. She wouldn’t look me in the eyes, but I could tell she was hurting, and it made me want to drop out of the
Matched
services altogether. But how would I explain to Des— to
Maya
? Every time the guilt crept in, I had to remind myself that this… whatever it was, was
her
doing, not mine. The best thing I could do for myself was focus on what I could build with Maya.

“So,” I said, placing my glass down on the table after taking a sip. “What does the rest of your day look like?”

“However I want it to,” she giggled.

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Oh, it’s like that?”

“Yeah, it’s
like that
. I’m the boss lady, I don’t need to be there all the time for it to run.”

“
Boss lady
, okay! Well,
boss lady
, you think you’d be up to joining me for an early movie or something?” I asked, grabbing her hand across the table.

She gave me shy smile before she responded. “I would actually like that a lot.”

“I can tell,” I said, teasing her. “Look at that smile!”

“Oh my God, don’t do that.” She covered her mouth with her hands as she blushed.

“Look at you, you can’t help it! Is this because of me?”

“Avery, stop!” She playfully kicked me under the table, laughing.

“Okay, okay. I guess I’ll leave you alone.
For now
. So, what movie do you wanna see?”

Maya bit her lip seductively as she looked down, using her fork to push her food around on her plate. “Well… you offered two options… a movie or
something
. I think I’d rather do…
something.
”

“Something…?”

Wait… is she saying….

My eyes widened as it dawned on me what
something
she wanted to do.

“Your place or mine?”

— & —

“I’ll get it!” Maya yelled from her kitchen at the sound of the doorbell. I was outside on her deck, preparing to grill, but I could see her through the sliding glass doors as she made her way to the front to answer the door. We had only been dating for six weeks, but had settled naturally into a routine of spending most of our free time together, including today.

I looked up as she was coming back down the hall from the door, carrying a large flower arrangement in her hands. Sitting them down on the counter, she held up the attached card and waved me inside.

“They’re from Tori,” she said as I stepped inside, wiping my hands before opening the refrigerator to retrieve a beer. I kept my back to Maya so she wouldn’t see the pained expression on my face at the mention of Tori.
Still
, no matter how hard I tried to push any romantic feelings for her out of my mind, she plagued my thoughts. It certainly didn’t help that because of
Matched
, I was still seeing her twice a week, and every time, she looked less and less like the vibrant Tori I’d known. There was an air of sadness around her, but she put up a good front. Outwardly, she was as pleasant, professional, and energetic as she always had, but none of that happiness met her eyes.

When I couldn’t pretend to search the refrigerator any longer, I pulled out a beer and turned to face Maya, who was already opening the card. “What does it say?”

Clearing her throat, she held it up to read. “Avery and Maya, congratulations on the success of your budding relationship. My work here is done. You two have settled beautifully into your own vibe, and you no longer need me to facilitate dates, mediate, or help you navigate those tricky early relationship waters. It is my pleasure, now that you’ve reached the six-week mark, to ‘release’ you two into the wild, to continue building a new bond. I wish you the absolute best of luck, and again, congratulations! Hugs and Kisses, from Tori.” Maya looked at me with a huge smile. “Oh wow, isn’t this sweet?”

“Uh… yeah. Sweet.” I busied myself opening my beer and taking a
long
swig, hoping she wouldn’t see how stunned I was.

Maya’s cell rang then, saving me from having to elaborate on my thoughts about the flowers. She answered it, and I was honestly relieved when a few moments later, she informed me she had to go tend to her restaurant, and would probably be there for the rest of the day. I turned off the grill and put away the food for another day, kissing her goodbye as I left.

At home, I plopped down on the couch with another beer, I wondered how the hell I’d gone from screwing countless women I didn’t
really
care about, to having one I actually liked, who was willing to like me back, and another who I…. who I
what
? I hesitated to say I loved Tori, because that type of connection took time to build, and time was something she hadn’t given me. That night, in Chicago… what I felt for her was indescribable, and if she had given me a little more time, I would have figured it out. We could have figured it out together, but she was hell bent on pushing me away, and those stupid flowers proved that. She was too wrapped up in what her computer told her about me to see what was right in her face.