Page 44 of This Love
I flipped through more of the pages. “It’s still hard to read. I get headaches.”
“Yes, that happened before, too.”
I kept turning pages. It was maddening, Tucker knowing more about me than I did. “Listening is easier.”
“That’s why we made the videos.”
Was he right about everything?
“Okay, fine. Let’s watch some videos. Then I guess we can start the date.”
He grinned at that. “Let me go get the laptop.”
Chapter 17
Tucker
I had to choose carefully. Ava had burned out on watching the videos during our hour visits, often slamming the laptop shut when she couldn’t keep up.
As I returned to the living room with the laptop, I tried to remember the sequence we’d used in the previous resets. The first part would go a lot like it did with the video she gave Vinnie. Not that it had worked very well.
But Ava always started by establishing that she could read and understand using the tattoo. She’d explain who she was—a photographer. Where she lived—in Austin. And who the important people in her life were —me, her father, Big Harry, Maya.
In the last iteration of the sequence, we hadn’t emphasized her mother, although we always mention Geneva due to the tattoo.
Then we included video clips showing where she lived, the people she’d talked about. We told stories together on camera. Laughed a lot, touched each other, to establish who she and I were. Kissed.
It was all there. It just took time and attention to get through it. Ava was always impatient with it.
When I sat down on the sofa, Ava was reading the messages she’d transcribed into the book.
“Learning anything good?” I asked her.
“I really didn’t like my mother when I wrote these,” she said. “Are there any videos with her in them? Or photos? I should know what she looks like if she tries to approach. It sounds like she came to Big Harry’s once?”
I set the laptop on the table. “Yes. When you were looking for a job, she found where you’d posted in response to the diner’s ad. We used Craig’s List back then. She also showed up at your college when a fellow photography student posted an image with your real name.”
“Real name? Do I have one that isn’t real?”
“Yes, you go by Ava Flowers for your business and on your photo credits.”
“Oh, that’s interesting.”
I opened the laptop. “You like to photograph flowers, plus you used to call Maya by Grandma Flowers when she lived next door to you and your mom. The name was an homage to her.”
“Homage?”
“To honor her.”
“I haven’t met her yet.”
“She’s ready when you are. She knows you like to take it slow.”
Ava peered at the laptop screen. “Do you have a video of my mother?”
I did. It’s not what I would have preferred to show at this moment, but I clicked onto the folder for the sequence. “How much do you know about her so far?”
She flipped to the opening of her book. “I know I felt it was important to put her on the first page.”
