AVA
One hour. I paced back and forth in front of my desk. One hour till they released the Billboard charts for the week. I literally didn’t know what to do with myself. I’d been so irresponsible. I’d risked his entire future on my belief that he could make it happen and there were so many factors. I knew he was capable. I knew he could run LSA, but this single was a crapshoot.
And if he lost LSA, Bruno was never going to talk to me again. Never. If Eddy’s single didn’t make the charts, I’d basically given the company to the likes of Albrecht. I was such an idiot. I missed Bruno so much. I was dying without him. I wanted to call him and confess every day, but I couldn’t. He had to do it all without me. We needed the appearance of proprietary. So I suffered, I couldn’t get a good night’s sleep. I didn’t care about anything at work. The whole world felt gray. I’d started biting my nails again and I hadn’t done that since I was ten.
I had one chance. If Eddy’s single made the charts, maybe he’d forgive me. Otherwise, I need to leave. I couldn’t spend my life having him hate me like he had for all those years.
So I paced. Knowing that in fifty-eight minutes, I would either have the opportunity to repair my relationship with Bruno or I’d move to Oregon and bartend in that bar where I’d met Sam and Delilah. I tried to force myself to take deep calming breaths.
Outside my office door, I heard, “Lorelai.” It was Bruno.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuckity fuck.
As she’d been instructed to do for the last month if he came to my door, Lorelai said, “Mr. Difranco, sir. You can’t go in there. She’s in a meeting.”
“No, she’s not.” He laughed.
And then Lorelai was calling after him, “Sir, sir…” But she wasn’t going to stop him.
The door opened. And there he was, handsome as ever. I wanted to fucking run to him. I wanted to drop to my knees and beg. But there was still fifty-six minutes, so I just stood their staring and hyperventilated.
I could see his friends in the hall behind him, but he shut the door.
He pointed at me and said, “You love me.”
I didn’t speak. I just nodded yes. Fifty-five minutes.
“You love me more than propriety.”
I closed my eyes letting the timbre of his voice caress my eardrums. I needed him. I didn’t know what I was going to do if I lost him. I swallowed. God, I just needed to feel his skin, his lips on mine.
“I do,” I said softly. “You’re all that matters.”
He walked toward me as he said, “So, I hear.”
Inside my chest, my heart raced. I couldn’t hold it in anymore. “I did something terrible.”
“You didn’t,” he said, so eerily calm.
“I did.” The tears spilled. I couldn’t stop them. But I stayed tall, staring at his face, trying to memorize it just in case.
He reached me and took my chin in his hand, tilting my head up like he was going to kiss me any second, but first, he said, “You bet on me. Nothing terrible about that. I’m the winning horse.” My mind had a second to realize that he knew everything before we were kissing. But once his lips were on mine there was only sweet oblivion.
He loved me. He forgave me. He wanted me.
When we finally broke apart, he said, “You know, this morning I became the majority shareholder of LSA Records.”
I didn’t understand. “Did they release the charts early?”
He shook his head, “Turns out there were a few board members who felt so strongly that I should run LSA Records that they were willing to sign over some shares to me. They trust that I’ll return them in time, maybe even later today.”
I laughed, still crying. “You worked the system.”
He shrugged. “I learned from the best.” Turning so we were side by side, he draped his arm over my shoulder and said, “Wanna go hang with my peeps while we wait to see who gets your shares of LSA?”
I nodded and we walked toward the door together, but before I opened it, I said, “I’m going to have to resign. I can’t work here if we’re lovers. There will always be talk.”
“Not if we get married,” he said like it was nothing, pulling open the door.
I didn’t walk through it. I just stood there dumbfounded. “Are you serious? I asked.
“Dead serious,” he said, and then teased, “How else are you going to get your stake in the company back?”
Thinking he was joking, I gave him a little slap on the arm as I walked through the door.
But then I saw them. All of his friends, all of our clients, all our artists. Anyone who had anything to do with LSA was standing outside my office.
I turned back to Bruno and he was down on one knee. He smiled up at me as he said, “I want to fight with you for the rest of our lives. I want to push when you push. I want to pull when you pull. I want the music to be about us. Will you be my partner in all things, Ava Childs? Will you share my life, my bed, and my company with me until we leave this godforsaken place together?”
Chills coursed through my body and the tears flowed again as I said, “Yes. Totally yes.”
Behind me a cow bell chimed and Delilah Tucker joyously called out, “Fucking Difranco and his badass bitch!” And a cacophony of familiar voices echoed her words.