Page 77 of My One
“Not here, unless it’s a fluke. But up in the mountains there is.”
“Do you miss living here?”
Avery thought for a moment. “Yes, but there is nothing here for me except nice weather.”
“We have a house here,” I reminded him. “A house we don’t have to sell.”
“A house that my mother didn’t feel welcome in,” he countered.
At least that was what we assumed given the lack of personal belongings and keepsakes. “So, you for sure don’t want to keep the house?”
“Why would I?”
I shrugged. “Because it’s a house.”
“It may be a house, but it’s not ourhome.” He stopped us and cupped my face with his hand. “Unless you want to make it our home?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I just want to make sure before we sell it.”
“I’m sure, but we can always come back for In-N-Out and tacos.”
I grinned. “Well, that was actually the point I was trying to make.”
Avery chuckled. “And that is why I love you.”
He leaned forward pressing his lips to mine. Every kiss was like the first—the one on the cruise ship that got interrupted by drunks. I’d never get tired of his lips, his tongue, the way he made my heart skip a beat with just a press of his mouth to mine. It also wasn’t bad that we were kissing on the beach while the sun was going down.
“I love you too,” I told him when we pulled apart.
“Now, let’s go see if the pool at the house is heated.”
The poolwasheated.
And so was the shower we took after we took ourswim.
The next morning, Avery left to meet with the realtor while I continued going through the house. I was still sorting Denise’s closet, making sure to write down everything we were selling, and packing the jewelry we were taking back.
I was on the last drawer in the huge walk-in closet when I pulled too hard on the bottom drawer to open it. The damn thing flew out and landed on my toe, making me squeal. “Fuck!” I shouted and looked down at my big toe. Part of my skin had been scraped off, and the drawer’s contents had fallen out onto the carpeted floor.
At first, I thought it was Doug messing with me from the dead, but as I was putting the now empty drawer back into its slot, I saw that it wasn’t Doug punishing me, but Denise making me find what she wanted me to find just like the safety deposit box key. Putting the drawer to the side, I crouched and pulled the stack of pictures out of its hiding spot. I sat against the drawers and flipped through them, one by one. They were of Avery—not Avery Senior, butmyAvery. They ranged from when he was a baby to a picture of us we took on our honeymoon cruise. Tears slid down my face as I realized that shedidFacebook stalk her son, and my heart broke again at the realization that she’d wanted to be in his life but couldn’t.
“Nic!” I heard Avery shout, coming up the stairs.
There was no hiding my tears as I called out, “I’m in your mom’s closet.”
“Hey,” he said a few seconds later as he came into the closet. I looked up at him. “Are you crying?” He squatted beside me.
I handed him the stack of photos. “I found these.” He took them and sat next to me, flipping through each one and smiling as he did so.
“You were so cute,” I cooed, looking at one of him with shaggy blond hair peeking out of a baseball cap, and him in a baseball uniform, smiling with a bat in his hand. He couldn’t have been older than ten.
“And I’m not now?” he teased.
“Well, you’re even cuter now.” I kissed his cheek. He flipped through more of the pictures, stopping on one of him and Easton. They were a little older (maybe thirteen or fourteen), laughing on some sofa with video game controllers in their hands. More tears streamed down my face as my heart hurt a little more knowing that even though Doug and Denise kept secrets from my husband, everyone except Doug tried to keep Avery happy.
“Why are you crying?”
I shrugged. “Just sad. Your mom had to hide so much from Doug, and shedidwant a relationship with you.”
