The Cinderella Bride (NaNoWriMo14)

Chapter Thirteen

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

This is the unedited version, so please excuse the mistakes.

A week had passed since the incident at the restaurant, I didn’t ask Carter about his date with Elisa and he didn’t ask me about my date with Caleb but judging from Carter’s expression when he returned, he was pretty unsettled but like I said I didn’t ask him because I didn’t want to come off as annoying.

But what had been annoying to me what the person standing at the front door when I opened it, “Oh, it’s you.” her voice comes out as a mix of irritation and disappointment.

“Why hello to you too, Elisa.” I drawl.

She steps past the threshold and walks around, spinning her golden blonde hair and her floral dress with her, she’s wearing sunglasses but she raises them it and lets it rest on the top of her head, “Where’s Carter?”

“Not here and there’s the door,” I point at the way out, “Leave.”

She smirks at me, “Enjoy what you have here, Ava. You won’t be here much longer.”

“Excuse me?” I ask angrily, “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m married to the guy you’re trying to snatch away from me. Do you really want to be a mistress?”

“I know you two didn’t marry because you loved each other, I’m not stupid.” She replies. My eyes widen and I close the door behind me. I’m a little thankful Anita had left a few minutes ago to go run some errands so nobody would be here to listen to this.

I open my mouth to retort but she raises her hand up, “Don’t even bother trying to lie to me, I know everything.”

“I assume Carter told you?” I say a little surprised she knows about what Carter and I have going on here.

“Please, he wouldn’t even speak about the topic.” she says removing her sunglasses from the top of her head and lazily drops it in her tote bag she’d been sporting. “I did some digging before I came here and I found out something interesting.” She says amused but she starts looking around, “Where’s the maid, Anita, was it?”

“She left.” I state.

“Good, I never really liked her, she was too nosy for my tastes, at least I can speak to you in private.” She then reaches into her tote bag and retrieves a chapstick, which she applies before continuing, “Anyway, I found something interesting while I was digging around and you, Ava apparently lost a parent. A parent whom left his two daughters a very large debt and his eldest daughter decided to take it on herself because isn’t she such a devoted child.”

I wince at the way she mockingly says that.

“I also learned from a few inside sources that Carter had screwed that bitch Hilary and she probably deserved it for calling me a slut the other day but that’s not the point, Daddy gave Carter a little ultimatum and I assumed that you two met and struck a deal, meaning he’ll pay you for your,” She gives me a once over, “Services and you help him get the money he believes he deserves.”

I cross my arms, “And so what if that’s true?”

She smiles, “Silly, silly little girl.” She chuckles to herself, “That means he didn’t marry you because he loves you and that means I still have a chance to make him mine after all, he did love me enough to ask me to marry him.”

I roll my eyes, “You lost any kind of hope of getting with him when you left him at the altar.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Nolan isn’t here to vouch for my claims, so I can tell Carter anything I want and he’ll readily believe me because isn’t believing a man convinced your bride to be to run away with him much better than being left at the altar?”

“He won’t believe you, he trusts me.”

She walks closer to me and leans in to whisper, “Why don’t you just give up, darling? I will always hold a place in his heart and even if he does fall for you, he’ll never love you like he did me, he won’t care for you like he did me.”

The truth of the words sink in and tears threaten to betray my calm composure but I intake a sharp breath and glare at her when she pulls away, “Just fucking leave, Elisa. You are not welcome here. So get the fuck out or I’ll drag you by your hair and throw you out myself.”

She winces when she hears my threat but her arrogant smirk and composure returns, “Fine, it’s not like I have anything else to say to trash like you.” She reaches into her tote bag, grabs her sunglasses and wear them, “Toot-a-loo darling.”

“Don’t let the door hit your fake breast implants on your way out, I understand how expensive it must be.” I say sarcastically, opening the door and gesturing the way out.

“Classy.” she sneers and leaves the house. I then slam the door behind me and turn my back on the door, sliding to the floor with a thousand and one thoughts plaguing my mind.


                                                             *              *              *

I don’t know why I came here but I figured that since visiting dad’s grave and ranting to him like a lunatic, I’d actually go and re-visit Gracie at Bloomsbury and hopefully Melissa would be there since I’d been meaning to apologise to her for abruptly leaving her and Bloomsbury without another word.

To my joy, when I pushed open the door leading to the fully air conditioned Cafe, I see Gracie, Melissa and Grannie Rosa there.

“Do I see a ghost?” Melissa asks out loud, getting off from the stool she’d been sitting on and sipping a cup of coffee while she directed Gracie who seemed to be busy making a different blend of coffee. She  hurriedly runs to me and hugs me tightly, “I have missed you so much, Ava!” she says pulling back, “Gracie told us you came the other day but neither I nor Rosa were there.”

I smile, “It’s alright.”

“Nonna!” Melissa calls out running towards the back side of the Cafe where Grannie Rosa would be hidden away cooking or watching her spanish or italian soap opera’s on the TV, Melissa had installed.

“Che cosa! Che cosa! Ti ho sentito la prima volta!” Grannie Rosa replies coming out through the back door, “Ebbene, che cosa è?” she asks but soon takes a good look at me, “Oh signore, Ava is that you?” She asks with her thick italian accent.

I nod while walking towards her and hugging her, “Yeah.”

She smiles and hugs me, she pulls away after a minute or two and smacks me upside the head, “Ragazza stupida, do you know how angry I was when Gracie had told me you visited the other day and not come visit me at the hospital?”

My cheeks turn red, “Gracie said that Melissa called and said it was only a health scare and you’d be fine.”

“Doctors are stupid! They know nothing, I could have died that day.”

Melissa rolls her eyes, “Nonna, you’re exaggerating, you were fine.”

“That’s what you think! That pain I felt in my chest the other day told me my days were numbered.”

“Smettila, nonna . Stai facendo Ava spaventato.” Melissa scolds in Italian.

“You’ll understand I was right at my funeral!” She exclaims.

Grannie Rosa was a little melodramatic at times but she was fun to be around, so we excused her crazy antics.

“Anyway, how have you been, Ava?” Melissa asks, ignoring Grannie Rosa’s mumblings.

“I’ve been better.”

“Aww, come here, sit with me.” Melissa says walking towards the stool she sat on before, “Tell me what’s wrong.”

I walk towards her and take a sit on the stool next to her, “Hey,” Gracie says greeting me politely.

I smile back, “Heya, Gracie.”

“So, what’s wrong?”

“Trouble in paradise?” Gracie asks chuckling.

“Kinda.” I say. She leans in closer from the other side of  the island separating us. The looks on both Gracie and Melissa’s face urge me to continue and I do. I tell them the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Yes, this might backfire and blow up in my face but I trust Melissa and Gracie to keep this a secret. I pour the contents of my heart to them and both Melissa and Gracie look at me astounded for a full five minutes since I finished my entire rant.

“Woah.” Gracie breathes.

“That is quite a pickle.” Melissa says.

“Nonsense! The answer is simple!” Grannie Rosa states matter-of-factly.

Apparently she’d be listening in on the conversation as well, “What what is that, Nonna?” Melissa asks narrowing her eyes at Rosa.

“Tell the boy how you really feel. If he feels the same way then good, if not, don’t go along with this charade, the Ava I knew was far more sensible than the Ava standing in front of me.”

I run my hand through my hair, “It’s not that simple, I made a promise.”

“A promise you can’t keep because you already have feelings for the boy.” I try to protest but she continues, “I will not tell you how you choose to live your life, Ava. All I can say is that if you do not tell the boy soon, you might explode, you want to tell him everything, I see the sparkle in your eyes when you speak of him, Ava. Stop lying to him and more importantly to yourself.”

The bell that rings when the front door is open does so, a familiar figure enters, he turns off his phone and slips it into his back pocket. He then looks up, “Mr.Caleb! Do you want the usual?” Gracie chirps up when her eyes lands on him.

Caleb doesn’t answer, instead he’s staring at me surprised, “Ava? What are you doing here?”

“I used to work here. I just came over to talk to my previous boss.What are you doing here?”

“I come here to get my morning coffee,” He chuckles, “Granted it’s quite late in the afternoon but it’s never too late to have a cup of coffee, don’t you agree?”
Melissa looks at Caleb and I awkwardly, “Ava, how do you know Mr. Caleb?”

I look back at Melissa, “Oh, uhm, Caleb is a friend of my husband.”

“Ahh, I see.” Melissa mutters under her breath.

I stand up from my stool, “I have to go, I just remembered I needed to be back soon.” I say, “Thanks for the advice, Rosa and see you all later.” I say this and rush towards the door.

Caleb grabs my wrist before I pass him completely, “Do you want me to send you home, love?” He asks, his eyes hopeful.

I shake my head no, “I’ll catch a cab, don’t worry about it, I need some time to myself as well.”

He nods, “Alright then but you can call me if you need anything.” He says smiling.

I nod and leave the Cafe. I felt a little uncomfortable being there after Grannie Rosa’s outburst. Somewhere in me I knew she was right.

I just didn’t want to admit it, I love Carter but I’m afraid that if I confess my feelings to him, he might not feel the same way, what then? I don’t have a bed to fall back on, if he wants a divorce or ends up choosing Elisa.

I have to leave. What then? What do I do?

My mind comes to no answer to this question, all that it does it echo the same words over and over.

What then, Ava?

AUTHOR'S NOTE

So yeah, I just finished typing up this chapter literally 5 minutes ago. Roughly I have 36k words for this entire book, to complete NaNoWriMo, I need 50k words and I have around 13k words (According to nano) that I need to write before I reach that goal.

Anyway, sorry for the short chapter, I rushed to finish this chapter on time. Recently I've been reading His Number on Wattpad and I just found out (I'm on the 8th chapter) the writer hasn't update in a year, so I'm seriously contemplating finishing the book since it's ongoing. So yeah. Could you comment below with a really cute teen fic book (Wattpad)? I'll add it to my library and read it later :)

If you have a real book suggestion, comment below as well, I'd love to check it out :)

Anyway, please Vote+Comment if you liked the chapter, every vote+comment is appreciated <3

P.S: What did you think of Ava's sassiness?