Page 61 of Bossy Grump's Secret

Mom suggests I should take the rest of the year off, and Dad doesn’t directly oppose, offering to bring Ava over himself…an offer I know Ava will reject without giving it a second thought.

When I get to the hotel, I have it in mind to find out whether she's still in the facility. Seeing Lily in the staff quarters is confirmed when she rushes to wrap her tiny frame around my large one.

Where there’s Lily, there’s Ava.

“Oh, my God, Dylan. You look…”

“Like a two-week-old doggy ball? Yeah, you don’t have to tell me twice.” I help her complete her statement.

“I was going to say, better than when I last saw you," but that works. She shrugs meekly.

Cold without meaning to be. I wonder what Ava is going to say.

"Dylan? What are you doing here?" I hear her voice before I see her…and that wonders for my spirit. Turning around to search for the voice, I don’t have to when she grabs my face from the side, thoroughly inspecting me.

“This wound opened again?” she asks pensively.

“Yes, but forget about that. I came to talk to you, Ava.”

She instantly withdraws her hands as though my words have triggered her memory. “You shouldn’t be here, Dylan. You should be with your family.”

“No, no. I didn’t come to work…I just came to see you,” I tell her.

That’s not the point, though. What she says next reveals what it is.

"That's not…" she hesitates a little before resolving. “You shouldn’t be with me, Dylan. You should be with a girl from a more befitting social class. One that wouldn’t bring you harm.” She shakes her head.

Immediately, I know.

“Mom told you that, didn’t she?”

Her nod affirms my take.… Mom said she had only scolded her.

“Listen to me, Ava.” I try to pacify her, but she shakes her head with a gesture of resolution. But I’m not giving up on her…on our love…, and I will let her know. "Ava..." I held her hands like Dad had held Mom in the hospital.

“Dylan, please. I don’t want to feel this way…don’t make me feel this way,” she begs.

“How am I making you feel, Ava? I want to make it better, that’s all.”

“I can’t really love you if I feel beneath you because then it’s just reverence and respect,” she buttresses her resolve. "Maybe it was like this, Dylan. Maybe we're meant to just be bosses and employees. Please. I don't have the strength to go up against anyone above me to prove that I love you.”

The tears dropping from her eyes tell me how tired she is. I have been very deceptive. Lawfully so, but still…deceit is deceit. It's bound to enrage, yet something more important bothers her. Her social standing. That, as long as I breathe, is where I’ll continue to offer my undying support.

“I’ll fight, Ava. I’ll fight for our love, my Candy. Where your strength is weak, I’ll substitute mine. I love you, Ava. I swear it with all of my heart.”

Just like Mom did with Dad, Ava calms down. The feeling is surreal. I bring my bruised head close enough to hers, and she rests her perfect one on mine.

“I love you, Dylan,” she croaks and seals her words with a soft peck on my lips. "Now, go home and rest before I tear open your band-aid and look at that wound myself. It's taking all the strength I have to resist.”

There she is.

Ava

I look at my best friend with complete and utter dismay. "Look. Whatever it is you're high on, I don't want it. Alright?"

She sticks out a stubborn tongue. "You just have a really unconventional reaction to things. Everyone knows gasoline smells heavenly."

Okay...am I missing something here? Did I mistakenly enter another dimension?

---