Ava Grace

*Two years in the future - July 2016*
*Ava's POV*

In an instant, your world may come crashing down, the reason you live may disappear, and the best thing in your life can become the worst.

A beautiful day greeted me as I awoke on the morning of July 8th. With sun shining in the french doors of the balcony, I stretched after a long night's sleep, and wrapped my right arm and leg around Mike's sleeping form as I did almost every morning. He chuckled and said "Wasn't last night enough for you?"

"Is it ever?"

Mike laughed at my comment and said "No. But, you have a meeting in two hours."

Remembering the meeting Billie Joe, Adrienne and I had to attend with Warner executives about our sales, I wrapped the half of my body tighter around Mike and said "Go to the meeting for me, please."

"You and Adie both need to be there. You knew what you were getting into when you signed up to be designing director and adviser."

"Yeah, yeah. But, it's just record sales they're worried about. My labels and Adie's labels are still flying off shelves."

"But, you own shares, so you have to be there, baby doll."

I groaned and said "Fine. Can you go get the kids up? And feed them?"

"Don't I always?"

Mike untangled me from around him and sat up. As he stretched, I climbed out of bed and made my way to the bathroom to get ready. An hour later, with my hair in bouncy tight ringlets and dress as professional as my wardrobe wanted, meaning I was in a Marc Jacobs outfit, I made my way down to the kitchen to find Mike waiting for while the kids ate with a cup of coffee and a bagel.

After I finished eating and my coffee, I kissed Mike and the kids who hadn't run off to get ready to go in the pool, Michaela, Isabella, and Patrick goodbye then I went out through the side door to the garage and got into the Range Rover and once the garage door opened, I left to drive to San Francisco.

When I arrived in the city, after sitting in traffic for half a hour, I made it to the Adeline building and up to my office with five minutes before the meeting to spare, where my assistant Brittney was waiting to give me my notes for the meeting and a fresh cup of Starbucks.

As she took my purse, Brittney said "Good morning, Mrs. Pritchard."

Smiling as I always did, I greeted her in return then said "Is everything that needs to be in this file in it? All the information for my lines, Adrienne's and Billie Joe's? Along with record information?"

"Yes. Claire, Morgan, Elyse and I stayed late and made sure all the files were in sync."

"Okay, thank you, Brittney."

I began to walk down the hall then I turned around I said "Can you please call my husband and ask him to be here around one?"

"Yes, Ava."

"Thank you."

I turned my body back down the hall, took a drink of my coffee and made my way to the board room. When I walked in, Billie Joe and Rob were talking with their heads together at the end of the long table and Adrienne was sitting her her regular chair, next to mine and Billie Joe's. She waved to me and I walked over to her. I sat down then said "Are they formulating a plan?"

Adrienne laughed and said "Something like that. Making up bull shit to keep the record label together. Eric was so pissed off when he called Billie Joe yesterday."

"Maybe Warner should understand that people are more likely to download music then go out and buy albums anymore, unless they're by a big favorite."

"Yeah...but you know all they want is money."

"Oh, yes. I know."

I took another drink from my coffee and then several people walked into the room, including Eric Warner, the president of the Warner division Adeline was under, and several other executives.

A few hours later, at one-oh-five, Adrienne and I left the meeting making fun of my brother and his attempt to keep the music division of Adeline afloat. We turned the hall towards my office, and then Billie Joe called Adrienne back to the boardroom. She told me she'd call me tonight, knowing Mike and I probably wouldn't come back from our late lunch, and turned around.

I proceeded down the hall and stopped dead in my tracks in front of my office door, when I saw Mike and Brittney kissing. Panic and emotions swept over me and I quickly stepped into my office, closed and locked the door behind myself. Holding back the tears, I ran to my desk, picked up the phone and called the extension for the boardroom. After a few rings, Adrienne picked up and said "Yes?"

"Adie, get down to my office now."

When I said 'now', my voice cracked and the tears began to roll down my cheeks. In a panic, Adie said "What's wrong?"

"Just come now, please."

I hung up the phone and slid into my leather chair. Silent sobs wreaked havoc on my body, in the minute it took my sister-in-law to rush down the hall. I heard her light knock on the door and rushed over. She moved to come in but Mike began walking to the door as well. Quickly, I whispered "Tell him to go away", and Adrienne pushed him out of the way and said "Just a quick meeting", then she came in and I slammed the door in his face, locking it again.

Adrienne looked at me and said "What's wrong?"

"He-he-he kissed her..."

"Who kissed who?"

I pointed to the door and said "He kissed my assistant."

Adrienne's jaw dropped and she mouthed "Mike?"

I nodded and she wiped the tears from my cheeks, hugged me then said "How long?"

I shrugged and she let me go then said "We should make him explain himself."

I began crying harder and shook my head.

"Ava Grace...you need to know why."

I sniffed, wiped the new tears off my cheeks then said "Fine. Let him in."

I returned to the leather chair and Adrienne unlocked the door and Mike came in. He gave her a strange look as she closed the door and then turned to me, he saw the mascara lines and the red eyes and said "Ava, baby..."

I pointed at him and said "Don't. Don't you dare call me baby. Don't even speak my name."

I stood up and said "What was that out there?"

I pointed towards the wall on which the other side was Brittney's desk and said "Are you stupid? In my own fucking building...right in front of my fucking office? What were you thinking, Michael? And, doing it with her! She's twenty-two! She's young enough to be your daughter!”

“Ava, what are you going on about?”

“You kissed Brittney! And, right in front of me. You cheated on me and you promised years ago you never would! You promised you wouldn’t ruin this marriage like you did with yours and Annie’s and now you’ve gone and done just that.”

“I pushed her away!”

“Oh yeah, right. Bull-fucking-shit Michael, like I’d believe that.”

Adrienne cleared her throat then said “Maybe I should go. Leave you two alone.”

I looked at her and said “No, stay. I might kill him if your leave.”

I looked back at Mike and said “You aren’t even going to try to explain for your actions.”

“Well, I’m certainly not cheating. And, it was a kiss that I pushed away from. She came onto me.”

I grabbed the closest thing to me, which happened to be a crystal Tiffany’s vase filed with red roses and threw it at Mike’s head. He ducked and it crashed into thousands of tiny pieces as it shattered against the wall behind him and Adrienne.

“You are a lying, cheating asshole!”

"Ava Grace! I would never be unfaithful to you!"

Shaking my head, not wanting to accept his words or to believe what my heart wanted to believe, I grabbed my Blackberry and purse of my desk and stormed passed him, pulling Adrienne outside into the hall with me. I was walking pass Brittney's desk when I let go of Adrienne, pointed at Brittney and said "Bitch, you are fired. I want you out of this building as soon as possible. Pack your things and pray we never cross paths, again. Ever. And, stay the fuck away from Mike."

Brittney's jaw dropped and I nodded and said "That's right you whore. I caught you. I will make sure you never work in fashion again. I thought you were my friend."

After receiving a call from Adrienne, a caught a glimpse of Billie Joe out of the corner of my eye before he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me away from Brittney and Mike, as he stepped out of my office. As tears began to fall again, I pointed and Mike and said "I loathe you. You've ruined my life."

Billie Joe pulled me onto the elevator with Adrienne following and when the doors closed, I broke down into sobs, collapsing on the floor. I heard the buzzer sound as either my brother or Adrienne pressed the stop button, and then he was on his knees beside me, trying to calm me down.

After a few minutes, Billie Joe tucked my hair behind my ears to get it out of my face then said "Do you want to go to your lawyers'?"

I thought for a moment, a million thoughts swirling in my head. Should I divorce Mike? Do I file for separation? What about the children? I looked at my brother and nodded my head.

*End of Ava's POV*

After a few more minutes, Billie Joe helped Ava up off the floor of the elevator and Adrienne pressed the go button for the elevator to continue down to the ground floor. Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the large office building where Ava's, and Mike's, lawyers' office was. After a discussion with the lawyer and Billie Joe, there to keep her calm, Ava signed a petition to the Supreme Court for immediate separation and the filed divorce papers.

When they arrived at Ava's and Mike's house, Estelle and Joey were just getting all of the kids home from being out somewhere. When Estelle saw the mess of Ava, she told Olivia to run inside and rushed over to her stepmother.

"Mom, what happened?"

"Your father...he-he..."

Ava broke down into sobs again and as Billie Joe hugged her tight against is body, Estelle gave him a panicked look and said "Is dad okay?"

"Yes. He's fine, for now. Until I get my hands on him."

"What happened?"

"Ava caught him kissing Brittney. She doesn't know how long whatever may be going on has been going on and she filed for separation."

"Brittney the assistant?"

Ava nodded and hiccuped into Billie Joe's sweater. Then, Estelle rubbed her back and said "C'mon, mom. Let's get you up and in a relaxing bubble bath."

Ava pulled away from Billie Joe and Estelle took her hand and led her inside. Adrienne and Billie Joe looked at each other and he said "I can't leave her like this."

"I know. I'm gonna head home and get Marissa and Meghan...and maybe, Jakob if he's there. I'll be back soon."

"Okay. If he's home, drive him to Adeline and get Ava's Range Rover. The code is 727604 and there's a spare key under the driver's side mat."

"Okay."

They kissed and Adrienne went back to their SUV and turned around in the driveway and then drove back out onto the highway. A few hours later, Ava was coloring with Michaela and Meghan, the other kids were off around doing stuff on their own and Adrienne and Billie Joe were in Mike's closet packing his essential belongings. Before long, they were done and had the bags in the entrance way, waiting for Mike to dare to show up.

While they waited in silence, Billie Joe watched nervously as Ava tried to maintain her composure in front of her youngest daughter, but he could see she was about to burst from the seams in emotions, as he waited for Mike to show up since the last text he had received from his best friend.

Adrienne walked by the couch he was on, eating some of the leftover pizza and he grabbed the edge of her shirt and pulled her back to him. She sat on the arm of the couch and said "What?"

"Can you take Meg and Ella somewhere else...Mike texted me and said he'll be here soon."

"Okay."

Adrienne stood up then said "Girls, do you want some ice cream?"

The five-year olds cheered and they ran after Adrienne as she walked towards the kitchen. Ava sighed and continued coloring and then when Billie Joe saw a tear roll down her cheek, he got up walked slowly to her, and sank down on the soft carpet beside her. He picked up a crayon and began coloring in the book Meghan had left open then he said "So, Mike's going to be here soon..."

Ava nodded then Billie Joe said "Are you sure you want to divorce him? To force him out of your home, and heart, like you're doing?"

Again, gaining a nod from his sister, Billie Joe said "But, you aren't even positive it wasn't just a kiss."

Ava looked at Billie Joe and said "He didn't push her away. What kind of man doesn't push a woman away the instant she kisses him? Unless, she's his wife. It doesn't matter if he hasn't cheated before now. He didn't show his fidelity then. I can't trust him."

She went back to coloring and then there was a distinct slam of a car door outside. Billie Joe stood up, held his hand out to Ava, helped her up then said "Are you ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Okay."

The siblings walked into the hall and Ava picked up the separation letter and divorce papers up off the table, just as Mike opened the front door and stepped into the house. He looked up and smiled when he saw Ava.

"You're still here."

Ava walked forward and held out the stack of papers. He took them and said "You were granted a separation from me?"

He flipped through the rest of the papers and without looking up, said "And, you want a divorce?"

They looked into each others' eyes and Ava said "I think you're scum. Whether you cheated before today or not your actions showed me that she or another woman could've easily lead you astray. Now, I'm giving you the opportunity to do so. Most of your things are packed and he'll let you know when you can get the rest. And, once you're settled wherever you're going to stay, the kids can come visit you."

"Can I say goodbye to them?"

Ava tucked her hands into the kangaroo pouch of her sweater then nodded her head. Mike closed the door and walked passed her, as he went on a search around the house to find his eight children with Ava. A little while later, Ava was sitting on the bottom step of the large staircase and Billie Joe was leaning on the railing next to her when Mike came out of the kitchen, carrying a crying Michaela.

He held her out to Ava and said "She's not making this any easier on me."

Ava cradled Michaela in her arms then stood up and said "Good."

Then, she walked up the stairs and Billie Joe and Mike looked at each other and Mike said "So...team Ava?"

"I'm not choosing a side. I'm her older brother, her father figure, her protector. But, I'm your best friend and band mate. I won't choose."

Mike nodded then said "So...band practice still on for the day after tomorrow?"

Billie Joe shrugged then said "As soon as I get Ava back to normal, I'll let you know. It might take a while."

"Okay."

Mike pulled the strap of his duffel bag over his shoulder, pulled up the handle on his large suitcase, said "I'll talk to you soon," then he walked across the entrance way, opened the door, walked out of the house and shut the door behind him. Billie Joe sat down on the bottom step and leaned his head against the railing. A few minutes later, Ava sat down next to him and leaned her head against his shoulder. He tucked her hair behind her ear and said "How's my Ella?"

"I put her to bed. Told her daddy would see her soon. And that daddy was leaving so me and him would be happy."

Ava sighed then said "What am I going to do Billie Joe?"

He kissed her forehead then said "You're strong, kiddo. You'll figure this out, and me, Adie and Stella will be there for you. You saw how she was tonight...her father even hurt her doing this. You'll make it through this, Ava Grace. I know you will."

I can't resist...
Before you go, tell me this
Was it worth it...
Was she worth this...

THE END