Page 2 of This Love
“Not too late. I can sneak you out of the house.”
But at that moment, a car door slammed. Then another. Cheerful voices filtered up from the yard.
Then the front door opened. Ava’s stepmother Tina had a spare key. All our close friends and family did. They worried about us. They had their reasons.
Ava ducked beneath the sheets, visible only as a spray of long, brown hair fanned over the pillow.
I burrowed my way next to her until I could make out her shadowy face. “You think they’ll find us in here?”
Fingernails tapped on the bedroom door. “Ava? You up? It’s time.”
Ava’s face tilted toward mine. “That’s Tina.”
“I think you’re stuck.”
“Okay.” She leaned forward to kiss me lightly on the mouth, then threw the sheets down. “Coming!” she called.
I pulled on her arm to drag her in for another kiss before I let her go. “See you this afternoon,” I said. “I’ll be the one in the black tux.”
“I’ll be all in white,” she said. “Unless I make a run for it.”
“You’d better take me with you.”
She grinned. “Of course.” Then she was up, opening the door in her tank top and shorts, slipping into the hall.
I stayed in her warm spot a moment longer, trying to remember more of the poem. It felt like a gift. I had a feeling Mom knew I’d miss her, miss all of them, on a day like this.
I picked up my phone and Googled the words I remembered. The full text showed up easily. Lord Byron.
“She walks in beauty, like the night / Of cloudless climes and starry skies.”
It fit. Mom couldn’t have predicted who I would meet years after she was gone. But all those words suited Ava. Night. Cloudless. Starry.
Gram had been with me that day eight years ago when Ava turned up at the children’s hospital, wired for seizures, same as me. We were about to age out of pediatrics.
Epilepsy had been a battle for both of us, but now, in our mid-twenties, it felt like we had it licked. With puberty and growth spurts and hormonal imbalances behind us, we had treatments that worked. Meds for her. An implanted device for me.
Life was good. And with hope came optimism, so we made the leap to marriage, even though I was taking college classes while working full time.
Her photography business was thriving. She had even hired an assistant, Vinnie, who would photograph our wedding today.
Normal life finally seemed possible.
I slid out of the covers and headed to the window. Down below, Tina’s car gleamed on the curb. It looked out of place against the line of weary houses in need of paint, like a shiny diamond in the dirt.
It wasn’t a fancy neighborhood like theirs in Houston. But Ava and I were making our own way. We were proud of what we’d accomplished, despite everything life had thrown at us.
I turned to the closet. Time for me to head to Gram’s house to meet up with my best buds, Bill and Fuentes. We had it easy with nothing more to do than getting dressed in our fancy duds and driving over to the country club in the late afternoon.
It would be a good day.
And Mom, sitting on whatever star looked down on us, had somehow made sure it started out exactly right.
Maybe I’d add a little Lord Byron to my vows.
Chapter 2
Ava
