Ex-Husband's Regret

"Hi" for some weird reason, I squeaked the word.

Coming face to face with Ava was like coming face to face with your secret crush. I was all of a sudden sweaty and nervous. Instead of answering, she pulled me into a tight hug. It was a warm hug. It felt like hugging a soft and fluffy teddy bear.

"It's nice to officially meet you, Harper. Welcome to the family" she whispered right before she stepped away.

Gabriel then led me to the out-door setup that had multiple foods on the table. He moved me so that I was sitting right beside him.

Did he get that I hated his proximity for a reason?

Within seconds, everyone was digging in.

"So, Harper, what do you do?" Gabriel's mom asked.

I swallowed, when everyone turned to look. I hated it when attention was focused on me.

"I'm an interior designer," I replied, while trying to maintain eye contact.

If there was one thing my mother taught me, it's that eye contact was important, especially when it came to people from our world. The rich and influential viewed avoiding eye contact as a sign of weakness. My mother instilled in us to never show that weakness, no matter what.

"That's just perfect," Ava added. "I've been dying to change things in a few of the Hope houses. Maybe you can help with that."

Lilly, ever the curious little thing, catches that quickly. "What are Hope houses?"

who were less fortunate." Noah is the one that answers. "She's the founder of The Hope Foundation and

proud he was of his mother. You could also see the

face clears as if a light bulb just went on

of the biggest children's foundations in the country. No

I, on the other hand, was quite proud of my

last name. Your foundation is worth millions of dollars and you're the richest woman in the country and the

information like a sponge absorbs water. Anything to do with money, Lilly probably knows all

sweetheart?" Gabriel's dad asked after the

it

"I know things.want to be a billionaire when + grow up and in

eyes turned to me and I almost froze.

I added, "Actually, anything

encourage this?" my

her dream, so why would I stand in her way? Anything I can do to support and help her with achieving them, I will do

she was fighting back tears. "She's just like her daddy. Gabriel

moment I forgot that he was a grown-up man. It's like he was back to being

him like this, so different from the cold man