CHAPTER 73: DAY OUT (4)

Shelby’s face contorted into a frown as she heard the voice. Despite her reluctance, she slowly turned to face her other friend, locking her gaze with theirs. However, instead of talking to the new person, she turned her attention back to Ava.

"What is she doing here, Ava?" She said, refusing to direct her words at Brianna.

Ava sighed. She knew that this would come to pass, but Shelby had always been easy to talk to, and at that moment, Ava was banking on that. Ava had wished that she would have time to talk to Shelby alone before Brianna had shown up, but it was so like Brianna not to follow the time Ava had given her.

Brianna was habitually tardy, prompting Ava to question if she sought friction by arriving early instead, and she was not far off with that assumption.

She turned to Suzie.

"Miss Suzie, please keep an eye on the children. I have to talk to your mistress a bit."

Suzie nodded vigorously, her pigtails flying around, making Ava chuckle. Then she turned to Gabriel,

"I have to borrow your mother. I will bring her back soon!"

Gabriel’s little face scrunched when he heard ’soon’ yet again. It was a word he was beginning to dislike.

"You promise?"

"Of course! I promise. Let’s pinky swear!"

That brightened up Gabriel’s mood a lot. Ava turned to her two friends and pulled them to the side and into a small secluded room. Like the show’s main attraction, most eyes in the little shop followed the trio.

Ava and Shelby had already caused enough nosebleeds, and then the third girl, Brianna, also nothing like the first two but not dimming that much in front of them. She was plumpy with a lot of curves. Her long brown hair had been let loose, and she was in impossibly high heels paired with an A-line knee-length skirt, a tight crop top and lots of necklaces interlacing each other. Her make-up was just right! It highlighted her features perfectly.

The three girls were enough to make any man swoon like a girl from the sixties. They were a deadly combination, and they knew.

"So, you have someone to serve your needs now?" Brianna said in an attempt to tease but failed miserably with the sarcastic undertones. Also, Shelby was in no mood for that at all,

"Why is she here?" Shelby asked Ava again.

"Come on, Shelby, lighten up! I am here to spend the day with my friends, so what’s with this negative attitude?" Brianna brought out a delicately wrapped gift and handed it to her.

"This is your wedding gift since we could not make it for it...."

Shelby looked long and hard at Brianna but detected nothing in her stance. Even her initial statement was long forgotten.

Ava lit up at that. She had been racking her brains on what to say to Shelby about Brianna’s presence, but it looked like she did not have to do anything. She had been very surprised when Brianna had opted to come to see her at her new workplace even though Shelby was to be there.

She had even been more surprised when Brianna had told her that she wanted to make amends with Shelby and even apologize! That was unheard of in Brianna’s world. But what Ava wanted were her two friends and nothing else.

Ava smiled widely and put her hands on both their backs. "I also brought you a wedding gift!" This caused Shelby to relax her vigilance.

She couldn’t contain her excitement as she eagerly accepted both of them and ripped open the packages right then and there. They were her bosom friends and she wanted to do her best to maintain that relationship. Ava’s was an open-crotch G-string with a small jewel and a lace bow tie at the front.

"Ava!"

This was so like Ava!

"What better way than to have sex without removing your panties! Trust me on this! It’ll be like presenting yourself as a gift to him!"

Ava had mistaken Shelby’s thoughts. The only thing that occurred to her was, ’You have no idea how many of these are in my closet!’

She blushed deeply and quickly opened Brianna’s gift, a small glittering earring.

"I can’t accept this!"

Shelby shoved it back to her, but Brianna said,

"How will you survive in the Thornston estate if you cannot accept this small gift?"

There was nothing small about the earring. Even without asking, she could see how expensive it looked.

"You, are you really sure that you are okay with my marriage to your crush?"

"What can I do if I’m not okay? You are already married to him, and from what I see, you should have even already consummated the marriage despite what you told me."

"Brianna, I-"

"Shhhh!" She raised her hand to stop Shelby as if she was in no mood to listen to any ’excuses’.

"I didn’t come here to talk about that. So, if we’re good. Let’s go do what we do best!"

All through these, Brianna never once apologized for her rude remarks, and Shelby did not hold it against her in any way! As Ava took a deep breath, a feeling of relief washed over her, lifting the weight from her shoulders. She never liked being stuck between the two, but now, she did not have to walk on eggshells anymore.

"Group hug?"

Ava smiled, holding out her arms for the two.

"I miss this!"

"Me too!"

The trio returned to the seat more relaxed than when they had left.

"I brought her back!"

Gabriel grinned and gave her a thumbs-up.

"Awww! The angel gave me an acknowledgement! I could die happy today!"

Gabriel’s grin froze, and his mouth drooped.

"I don’t want you to die...."

Ava realized that she may have touched on a sensitive subject. "Well, then, let’s say that I can sleep better today because of that lovely approval from angel Gabriel!"

They all laughed to cover the awkward silence that ensued. Ava introduced the kids and Suzie to Brianna. But to her surprise, Gabriel was not as warm to Brianna as he had been to her. It made her feel bad, thinking that he was still upset about earlier. The boy also lowered his head and shifted closer to Shelby when she sat down by him and across from Ingrid.

Ingrid’s presence was barely felt, but her attention was hooked to something outside the place. Shelby followed her gaze and then leaned over to her, whispering something to the little girl. She only nodded and further lowered her head. However, Shelby appeared satisfied with the answer.

"Get me something to eat, Ava; I’m starving!" Brianna snapped playfully.

"Why won’t a foodie starve?"

The three friends burst out laughing. "Make sure to get me one of your new ones...."

"Gotcha!" Ava said and disappeared.

Ava was a gastronomist, and she enjoyed her work very well. She loved food art and was glad that she had been given the chance to demonstrate her talents.

Soon, Ava returned with a tray of what looked like fruits garnished beautifully.

"You expect me to eat fruits only when I am this hungry? Is this all you can do?"

Before Ava could say anything to refute Brianna, Gabriel exclaimed, "Auntie Ava, why does your grape taste like meat? I like it!"

"Thanks, Angel Gabriel."

Ava leaned over the table and wiped Gabriel’s mouth.

Brianna sent a hard gaze over to the boy and also picked up a ’grape’, popping it into her mouth. She grinned, cleaned her fingers and then picked up a fork.

"I don’t know how you do this, but you got even better!"

All the ’fruits’ on the plate were other meals presented as a fruit platter.

Brianna took a plate and helped herself to each of them. The grapes were actually meatballs, as she had tasted. She heaped her plate with some, then bit into a strawberry.

"Mmmmm! Is this a cream puff?"

Ingrid raised her head slightly at that, but Shelby was already on it. She put a couple on a plate and placed it before her. Ingrid sent a small smile her way and started munching away on it. The watermelon contained some sort of coloured spicy rice and so on.

Shelby heaped a small plate for Gabriel, too, so he wouldn’t stretch to pick directly from the main tray. Then she topped up Ingrid’s with things she knew the little girl would like. Suzie was left to her own devices but she was more than happy but a little uncomfortable to be eating from the same table as her mistress and her friends.

Brianna focused on the food, but Shelby stopped eating after one bite herself. It was the same for her. The food tasted like nothing, almost like it was a cardboard paper in her mouth. Her mind kept returning to the salad plate Ian had given her back in his room wishing she had something like that as that had been the best last meal she had had.

"What is happening to me? Am I getting sick or something?"

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