Page 54 of This Love
“Ava, I wanted to ask how your wedding went.”
“You weren’t invited.”
“I know. But I knew of it. Your father posted your engagement in the Houston paper.” She dug through a tattered bag on her elbow and pulled out a clipping. “He seems very proud.”
I had seen the newspaper announcement. Father had showed it to me on one of his visits since the wedding. The image he used of Tucker and me was one I had taken. A color copy of it hung on the wall of the bedroom.
I almost told her the wedding hadn’t happened, but that weird tingle came back, so I stayed silent.
“It didn’t happen, did it?” she asked in a tone that told me she already knew the answer. This was all a ruse.
I turned around and began walking. I should have taken self-defense classes right away. Tucker was supposed to find one.
I’d find a class on my own.
I hurried for two more blocks before I sensed she was still behind me. I was leading her right to my house. I halted and turned around.
Her face was red, and sweat made her hair damp around the edges. Walking fast was hard for her. “I won’t hurt you, Ava.”
“I read all about you.”
“You seem different. Have you lost your memory recently?”
I didn’t want to answer that either, but I felt stuck. I couldn’t walk home. She’d know where I live. Maybe I should go back to Harry’s.
She pressed a tissue to her forehead. “I’m guessing you have. And that’s why the wedding didn’t take place.” She gripped the purse handle with both hands. “I checked the public records. Your marriage certificate was never filed.”
So, she’d checked up on me.
“Please go away.”
“Ava, you’re a grown woman. I have no power over you.”
Not true. “If you hid me away somewhere, stopped me from taking my meds, I would eventually have a seizure and forget where I was supposed to be. You could tell me anything. You were good at that.”
“You always were so very smart,” she said. “I just—I had hoped?—”
“Whatever it is you want, I can’t give it to you,” I said. “If I feel safe later, maybe we can have lunch or something. But right now, I’m trying to rebuild my life.”
“I’m so sorry it happened again,” she said. “If you would listen to me, the treatments I found were better.”
“Right, because I had so many fewer seizures with you.” I left the sidewalk and went into the street. I would cross it here and head back toward Harry’s. This wasn’t safe at all.
“When you were growing up, sure.” Her voice took on a pleading tone. “Ava, please listen. You went a long time with no trouble until you ran away. There are studies on what I was doing. It’s a real treatment!”
I didn’t know what she was talking about, and I wouldn’t believe anything she said without asking my father first.
I walked swiftly toward First Street.
“Ava, you have my number on your phone. If you keep struggling, please consider what I have to say.”
I waved her off, hurrying toward the busier street, to people I knew.
She stood in place for as long as I walked. Eventually, I turned a corner, and I couldn’t see her anymore.
When I was far enough away, my belly shook so hard that my teeth chattered. When I got to Harry’s, I didn’t go in, but I sat on a bench, watching for her to emerge from the neighborhood.
She never did.
