Page 1 of This Love
Chapter 1
Tucker
My mom, back when she was alive, loved poetry.
I never really understood it, being a twelve-year-old numbskull who’d rather be zapping zombies on my PlayStation.
She’d quote one of them all the time. Something like, “She walks in beauty.”
It had a line about a cheek and a smile.
I could probably Google it, but at that moment, with the first glow of morning casting across Ava’s face, I didn’t need the words.
I had the feeling.
Rosy. Content. She sleeps in beauty.
Ha. Sleeping beauty. Suddenly, the fairy tale made sense, too. I’d cut down thorn bushes to get to her. Could I defeat a dragon?
Maybe those PlayStation hours I’d logged as a kid would come in handy if I had to wield a sword and aim for an imaginary jugular.
But this morning seemed the right kind for poems.
This afternoon, Ava and I would get married.
It felt like a long time coming, but we had met young when we were only seventeen. In the eight years since then, I’d found her, lost her, and found her again, like a river traversing a mountainside.
I hoped the wedding would be a linchpin, a moment in time we could look back on as, yes, this was the day we committed to this course, no matter where it took us.
Ava slept soundly and hated how alarms startled her like a shock to the heart. I leaned over to stroke her pale cheek with the back of my fingers to rouse her gently.
Another line returned from that long-latent memory.
“Mellowed to that tender light.”
I glanced at the ceiling, as if Mom might be there, feeding me the words. “Thanks for being here,” I whispered. Thirteen years gone, along with my father and younger brother, lost in an instant, leaving only me to survive the crash.
But today, on this day, she was with me.
Ava shifted toward me. “What did you say? I missed it.”
“Just good morning.” I leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Happy wedding day.”
She smiled. “But this is the one day you don’t have to get up early.”
My hours at Jiffy Lube normally started at seven. Ava worked for herself and never stirred before nine.
“But it’s the one day you do.” I stayed close, reveling in the sleepy warmth of her neck and bare shoulder.
She blew out a gust of air. “Right. Hairdresser. Makeup artist.” She rolled into me, tucking her head against my chest. “How about I sleep in and rely on my natural beauty?”
“Works for me.” I pulled her in more tightly.
She lay there for a few more seconds, then blew out another huff. “I can’t. Tina would be disappointed. So would Dad.”
“And your sisters.” Ava’s father had a second family who adored her. “They’re all so excited to do girly things with you.”
Ava kicked the covers aside. “I regret agreeing to this big production. We should have eloped.”
