Page 71 of If You Stayed

“But he should know,” Ava said, “You should keep pushing his mom to tell him. I’d hate not knowing the truth.”

“I know. Me too.”

But I also knew that pushing Amma wouldn’t bring about anything good. Yet I tried.

For the next few weeks, every single day when I showed up to Gabriel’s building to drop Ava off, I’d stop by Amma’s office and exchange a few words with her.

I’d told her how important it was for her to tell Gabriel.

She told me to go away.

I’d begged.

She’d ignored me.

Still, I tried.

The last time I saw her, I told her that if she didn’t tell Gabriel the truth soon, I might have to do it myself.

She told me to go to hell.

Though, for some odd reason, I already felt as if I was living in the burning fires.

17

Gabriel

Kierra:Ava is going to be staying home today. She has a small cold.

Gabriel:I hope she feels better.

Kierra:A day of rest will do it.

Gabriel:Wild question for you.

Kierra:Shoot.

Gabriel:Do you want to eat a cinnamon muffin with me this morning?

Kierra:Be there in twenty.

***

The problem with Kierra was that there weren’t any problems with Kierra. The more time I spent around her, the more time I craved. I knew it was an issue, and I knew I was making up a million reasons to be in her presence, but I couldn’t help it. She felt like sunbeams in the middle of the night. Unusual andbright, showing up at the oddest of times, but still it felt right. My whole life has felt like darkness. I didn’t even know it until her light came around me. It was ridiculous how I felt, and I couldn’t stop it. That fact alone was extremely alarming.

One Saturday, Ramona and I had planned to help Henry and Kierra pick out fixtures for their property. Normally, Ramona handled the interior design aspects of projects, but I couldn’t help but want to be involved this time around. Was it an excuse to spend a full Saturday with Kierra? Perhaps.

We’d met up at the first stop—bathroom fixtures at Arch Tubs Supreme. The four of us had stood in front of the shop, and I’d rolled up the sleeves of my button-down before shaking Henry’s hand.

“Good to see you both,” he said as he shook hands with me and Ramona.

“You too,” I replied. “Good morning,” I said, smiling toward Kierra.

She smiled back and nodded slightly. “Good morning.”

I clapped my hands together. “Today is going to be a long day, but a successful day if we tackle it right. We’ll start with the bathroom fixtures and move on to the fixtures for the kitchen. This area is packed with all those types of stores, so we’ll be able to walk to a few of them from here. Lastly, we’ll end up at the marble shop for countertops and tiles. How does that sound?”

Henry was looking down at his phone, half listening to me. “Sounds good,” he said, tapping away at his phone. “Sorry, work never ends.”

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