Page 30 of Unstoppable Love

Taking off on a whim wasn’t like Ava. It had Lydia stamped all over it for sure, but not Ava.

“She wasn’t even that upset when she told us about Kip’s proposal,” Connie said. She curled her hand over her husband’s shoulder and rested her head against it. Worry was written all over her. “Something must have happened. We were in bed, and Bram heard the door slam closed. Isaiah came in, stomping after her. Caused all sorts of a ruckus, we thought someone was hurt or something. Next thing we know, Lydia’s showing up, which made no sense since they went to Tom’s together, and then they were leaving.”

It’d been late. Hell, by the time they got on the road, it would have been almost eleven. And Lydia had been drinking. Maybe not more than the one I saw, but still…

“I’ll figure this out,” I promised both of them, because I sure as hell would. I wouldn’t stop hunting for Ava until I had my hands on her, handcuffed to my kitchen table chairs, and forced her to listen to me for once.

She was gone. G-O-N-E. I knew it as soon as I stepped in my house. There was absolute silence, and even though the scent of her remained, Ava had cleared out, leaving me nothing more than the fucking boatload of groceries we’d just bought yesterday… and a note.

A goddamn fucking note.

* * *

I didn’t answer your texts because I need some time to think. Need to figure out who I am, what I want. What I’m willing to settle for.

I won’t be in New Haven either, so don’t go back looking for me.

And don’t be mad at Lydia. She told me to write that.

* * *

Have a great season, Cam.

You’re a superstar. Go live your huge life.

* * *

~A

Chapter 9

Ava

“I don’t think I want to go home tomorrow.” I turned to Lydia and smiled at her through my sunglasses. The hot, Florida sun beat down on my skin, and the sand between my toes was nice and chilly.

She grinned right back. Half of her face was hidden by the monstrous sun hat she picked up in a tourist shop. “I could stay here forever.”

The past two weeks had been a vacation I’d desperately needed. It wasn’t at all like me to rush off like that in the middle of the night, but after the run-in with Jimmy, the kiss with Cameron, what he’d said…

“Better than I remember.”

I flipped out. Absolutely freaked out, and the only thing keeping me from feeling completely bad about how I bolted was that this vacation had been needed, more than I’d realized at the time. It gave me time to think. To process without anyone else voicing their opinions or plans for me.

He remembered. The jerk who’d gotten in my face for years, taunted me, teased me… he’d known exactly what he was doing. I still don’t think I’d processed that—not only his admission but what it meant. And that kiss…

I couldn’t stop thinking about it, even as hard as I tried to ignore it. It replayed in my memories, in my dreams. I was hours away on the Florida coast, and my head was still stuck back in that damn hallway.

When I’d texted Lydia and said I needed a ride to Denver, she hadn’t hesitated. She’d come up with the plan to go on vacation, though, and announced it when she came to pick me up. She’d swung by her house and packed, and she’d done it all in less than half an hour. Crazy was my best friend, but damn smart. She knew exactly what I needed.

By the time we got to Cameron’s house, I had flights booked for us to Mobile, Alabama, a rental car waiting for us, and an Airbnb booked on Destin’s sandy white beaches.

We packed up my suitcases, and then Lydia followed me to a hotel close to the airport. I left an extra suitcase of things I’d taken to Cameron’s but wouldn’t need in Florida in the trunk of my car when we parked at the airport the next morning. We boarded our flight, and two and a half hours after landing in Alabama, we were sinking our toes into the sand and kicking the water in the Gulf of Mexico. Except for eating and shopping, we hadn’t left the beach.

I called my parents and told them what was going on. They’d been worried. I assured them we were fine. Then I called Isaiah and made him swear an oath that he’d keep his mouth shut to absolutely anyone who asked that he didn’t know where I was.

If Cameron truly wanted to talk to me so badly, I didn’t doubt he’d hop on a plane and hunt me down on the beach. And since I’d blocked his number as soon as I left his house, I had no idea if he’d tried to get a hold of me.

Tomorrow, we returned to Denver. We returned to real life.

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