Leaning down, I pick my phone up from the floor. “Avery, come here please.”

She shakes her head. Tears stream down her cheeks and it’s breaking my heart to know she’s hurting because of something I did.

“Avery,” I repeat her name, but she doesn’t want to listen.

She slips her shoes on and storms out the door while I stand there like a statue at a loss of what to do. What the fuck just happened? Sinking down on the couch, I brace my elbows on my knees and grip my hair. I can’t believe everything went from perfect to completely fucked in a matter of seconds and I have no idea what to do about it.

Denial is a funny thing. It’s like a pause button, putting reality on hold. It can help you get through some tough situations, but sooner or later reality pops you one in the face. It’s usually when you least expect it or are unprepared for it.

I’m smart enough to know I can’t ignore what happened with Avery any longer than I already have. I took the rest of last night to mull things over after she stormed out. The bottle of rum I consumed didn’t hurt either. Now, I’m ready to do whatever it takes to get her to forgive me. There’s no way I can accept this is the end for us.

I make the necessary calls to get things rolling. By the end of today, I plan to have my girl back or go down in a fiery ball of flames trying.

Checking in on a couple job sites, I try to stay busy and keep my mind off Avery. Has she received any of her presents yet? Not knowing is going to kill me. I called Lucy earlier and filled her in on what went down last night. She said Avery hid in her room all night and wouldn’t come out. She told me I better find a way to make this right, that Avery isn’t the forgiving type. As if I didn’t already know this.

Sitting in my truck, I type out a text to Lucy.

Me: Did anything get delivered yet?

Lucy: The cake, and it’s delicious. Thanks. LOL.

Me: You better be joking.

Lucy: Calm down. It’s perfect.

Smiling, I think about the cake I ordered from Main Street Bakery. There are advantages to living in the same place all your life. You get to know everyone and you can count on them for whatever you need. Even if it’s to whip together a special order cake with a wolf with its tail between its legs and the hashtags #BigSadWolf and #Sorry.

Me: Text me when she receives the rest of the stuff.

Lucy: Will do.

Placing my phone down, I pull out into traffic and head back to my office. That’s as good a place as any to wait for word.

* * *

Three hours later, and still no news. I’m slowly going out of my mind. Did she get the cherry tree I had delivered? Did she like the note I included?

Avery,

Please forgive me for fucking up so bad. All I can say is that I had the best intentions and never meant to hurt you.

This cherry tree is a gift for you. Did you know that cherry trees symbolize love and romance? Their branches are filled with blossoms for a very short time, but it doesn’t change what the tree represents. Just like me. I might not always know how to show you how much I love you, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t. Inside this manly body, my heart beats only for you. I’m still learning how to be in a relationship and I think even you’d agree there’s a learning curve involved. If you give me another chance you won’t regret it. I’ll make sure I show you every single day how much you mean to me.

This wolf has been tamed and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Yours,

Wes

I wonder if she got the ax I purchased for her? I sent a note with it so she wouldn’t misunderstand the gift.

Avery,

Here’s an ax to chop my balls off, if I ever screw up again.

Love,

Wes

I have something else for her too, but I really need to see her in person for it to work out the way I hope.

By the time five o’clock rolls around, I’m climbing the fucking walls. She’s not coming. I can see that now and it’s time for me to go home and drown my sorrows in a bottle.

The next day starts out no different than the one before. My head hurts from drinking too much rum and my heart hurts from missing Avery. I go straight to the office, after stopping for a coffee on the way.

Sitting in my office chair, I swallow down some Tylenol and close my eyes. I need to relax and trust she’s going to come to her senses. But what if she doesn’t? Then I’m going to become the goddamn wooing champion of the world and do whatever it takes to change her mind.

Feeling better now that I know defeat isn’t an option, I get to work and knock some things off my to do list.

When it’s time to break for lunch, I shutdown my laptop and decide to get out of here. A change of scenery will do me some good.

As soon as I step foot out of my office, Avery walks through the front door. I freeze in place. She’s more gorgeous than my mind would allow me to remember and my chest squeezes with the pain of longing. I want her in my arms, my lips on hers followed by breathless whispers with declarations of love. What the fuck? What’s happening to me? I’m turning into a motherfucking poet.

“Avery.” Her name leaves my lips like a croak.

“Wes,” she answers, her voice not giving anything away. Staring at her face isn’t helping any. I can’t tell what her mood is.

“Did you receive the things I sent you?”

“I did. That’s why I’m here. I wanted to thank you in person and to say goodbye.”

What? “Goodbye?” I question, numbly.

She nods and tears start to flow down her cheeks.

“Avery.” I walk toward her and she doesn’t move. Stopping when I’m directly in front of her, I pull my phone out and scroll through the Timber app until I can pull up my account. “Look,” I say, holding the screen in front of her face. “I’ve never accepted any requests from anyone. You’re the only friend I have on there. I only joined because of you.”

“Why?” she questions, wiping the wetness from her cheeks.

“Do you really need to ask that? Can’t you tell that I’m head over heels in love with you?” I rake a hand nervously through my hair. “I would have done anything to get to this point with you. I missed my chance when we were in high school. I sure as hell wasn’t going to miss out a second time.”

“You liked me in high school?” she questions.

“Yes, but I never thought a girl like you would give me the time of day.” I run a hand over my mouth and down to my beard. “That’s why I teased you so much. I just wanted to see your beautiful green eyes up close. It didn’t matter if you hated me because at least you noticed me.”

“I didn’t hate you.” She presses her lips together for a moment. “I didn’t like you either, though. You were an asshole to me.”

“I know I was, and that’s why I had to make you see I’m not the same person I was back then.”

She opens her mouth to speak, but I hold my hand up effectively stopping her. “Hear me out, please. You had some preconceived notions about me based off things that happened years ago. You weren’t going to give me a fair shot to show you how being in a relationship with me would be. I’m sorry if I wasn’t honest about being Big Bad Wolf, but everything I said to you in our chat was true.”

“You’re right.” She nods her head. “I did have my mind made up about you based off our interactions in high school. While that’s not really fair, you did have ample time to tell me you were Big Bad Wolf. You should’ve told me before we slept together.”

Raking my teeth over my bottom lip, I study her face. Her cheeks are pink, flushed with anger and sadness and her eyes are still wet with tears. I never want to see her look like this again. I only want to make her laugh and show her how much I love her every day for the rest of our lives.

“Can you forgive me? Can we move past this?” I hold my breath as I wait for her answer. Dropping my head down, I stare at the floor and repeat the word please over and over in my mind. If she says no, I’ll be fucking lost.

“Are you ever going to lie to me again?” she asks.

My eyes raise to find her hands on her hips and a stern expression on her face. “No, I’ll never lie to you. I’ll always be honest. Even when you don’t want me to be.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Why wouldn’t I want you to be honest?” Her eyebrows draw together in the middle of her forehead.

“Here’s an example. You’re wearing a dress that doesn’t flatter you. Wes, does this dress look okay?” I imitate her voice and spin around like I’m modeling a dress. “Yes, baby. It looks great, I’d say, even though it really doesn’t look good. If I said no, you’d never let me forget it.”

“You do know that by telling me this, I’m going to question every time you say I look good for the rest of our lives.”

“Does that mean you’re willing to give me another chance?”

“I really wanted to make you sweat it out a little more, but I can’t do it. I love you too much to ever want to cause you pain.”

“You love me?” I question, my eyebrows raised all the way to my hairline.

“I love you, Wes. Just so you know, I’m never going to call you Big Bad Wolf.”

“What about Wolfie?”

She snorts. “No. No. Fucking. Way.”

“Does this mean we can’t talk on Timber anymore?”

“What would be the purpose of that?”

“You’re nicer to BigBadWolf than you are to me.”

“I beg to differ. Did I ever suck BigBadWolf’s dick?”

“No, but I bet you thought about it. The profile picture with my beard made you wet didn’t it?”

She rolls her eyes. “To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t really sexually attracted to BigBadWolf. He felt like an old friend to me. Now that I understand why it makes much more sense.”

I pull her into my arms and stare down at her. “I love you, Avery. I don’t know where things will go from here, but I’m going to do my best to make you laugh every single day. Even the days when you want to kick me in the balls.”

“That’s a tall order because there hasn’t been a day since I’ve been here where I didn’t want to kick you in the balls at some point.”

“But you haven’t kicked me. Do you know what that means?”

“That you’re lucky?”

I chuckle. She’s so fucking adorable. “No, it means I’m teaching you restraint.”

“Restraint this,” she says, gripping my balls through my cargo pants.

“Ouch, go easy, baby. Don’t hurt little Greg Allman. I want you to have my babies.”

“You do?”

I nod and grimace at the same time.

“That’s really sweet.” She removes her hand and I sigh in relief.

“Before I forget, I have a present for you.” I release her and spin around toward the storage closet. “Come here,” I say, opening the door. I grab the blue gift bag from the middle shelf and hold it out to her.

She tentatively takes it from me. “It’s not going to bite you,” I tease as she peers inside. She pulls out the white envelope and tears into it. When she pulls out the card I can’t take my eyes off her as she reads the words I wrote. Wood you be my girl? She smiles, before glancing up at me.

“The gift in the bag is yours only if you want to be my girl. If not you can’t keep it,” I tell her.

She pulls out the black t-shirt and hands me the empty bag. Shaking out the folds, she holds it up in front of her. As her eyes take in what it says she giggles. She slips it over her head, running her fingers over the white words printed over her chest - #TeamWesForever.