Page 69 of My One
“No, but secrets can only stay buried for so long, Doug.”
“And so can Avery Moore.”
I stopped. Easton stopped. Once again my head was spinning. “Why is this happening?” I asked, looking at Easton as though he knew more than I did. “Have your parents ever said anything to you?”
“Of course not.”
“How could they know all this time and not tell me?”
“I don’t know.” Easton shrugged.
“They know how he used to treat me. Why not tell me?”
“Probably because it’s not their secret to tell.”
“Well, whose is it now? Everyone’s dead!”
He thought for a moment. “Maybe that means it’s time for my parents to tell you what they know.”
Easton better be right because I was tired of feeling as though I knew nothing.
Abso-fucken-lutely nothing.
Avery and Easton had been gone for over an hour, and I was starting to worry. But Easton had texted not long after Avery stormed out of Edna’s house saying that he and Avery were walking around. What could I say to make it all better? How could I take the pain away? I wished there was something I could do to help.
But there wasn’t.
“Tomorrow Easton and I can go to the store and get stuff for the viewing,” Brooke suggested as we sat at the island in the kitchen at Avery’s parents’.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to. Plus, you’ll need to pick up the urns. You have a busy day.”
“Thank you.” I smiled warmly at her. Thank god they’d shown up. I knew that Avery and I would be lost without them. I heard the front door open, and I slid off the barstool and hurried into the living room. “Hey.”
Avery started for the stairs. “I’m just going to shower and go to bed.”
I looked toward Easton, and he shrugged.
“A shower and bed sound amazing,” Brooke agreed. “It’s been a long day.”
That night, I held my husband as tight as I could while he cried himself to sleep.
The next day, we all went to breakfast, and then while Avery and I picked up the urns, Brooke and Easton went to the store as planned. No one mentioned the tape. I was waiting for Avery to speak about it first, but he never did.
At three o’clock, Edna came over, and we all sat around, dressed in whatever black we had in our suitcases, and waited for people to show. Some people from Avery’s dad’s office showed up. Apparently, I’d texted his secretary from his mom’s phone. There were some more people who told us they were friends and some from Denise’s book club. Even Arnold and his wife, Elise, showed up, but none of the handful of people who came—except Arnold and his wife—knew that Doug and Denise had a son. The entire situation was hurting my husband even more, and I felt as though I couldn’t talk to him about it. What could I say or do other than be there for him? Nothing. I had no clue what he was going through. No words would be enough.
And I hated it.
That night we spent time with Edna. We were leaving in the morning to head home, and I was going to miss her. We told her that if she ever wanted to come to New York, our doors would always be open for her. The bright side of it all was when the judge granted Avery official beneficiary status, we would be back to deal with his parents’ assets and belongings, and we’d get to see Edna again.
I’d never tell Avery this, but I was going to miss In-N-Out too.
And especially those batting cage tacos.
Our plane touched down the next night in New York. By the time we made it home, I was exhausted both mentally and physically. Avery was quiet most of the trip back. I didn’t blame him. We’d left his parents’ ashes and everything back in California because we figured in just a few weeks we would need to return.
“You okay?” I asked as we pulled the covers back on our bed. I needed to know.
