Ava’s POV
I woke up before my alarm.
Not because I was well rested—because my body didn’t know how to stay still anymore.
For a few seconds, I just lay there staring at the ceiling, listening to the quiet of my apartment like it might tell me something useful. It didn’t. It never did.
Then it hit me. The Blackwood family dinner was tonight. My stomach tightened instantly.
I sat up too fast, my hand going to my forehead like that could physically push the memory back into yesterday where it belonged. It didn’t belong in today. It didn’t belong in my real life.
But the fact that it was real, was the worst part. I don’t know how fast the days had run that it was already weekend.
The conversation happened so fast, by the time I’d realized what I had agreed to, it was already done and th
