Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
Camryn meets me in the driveway when I get home from coffee with Gabriel. At first I think she’s too excited to hear about my date to stay in the house, but her panicked expression quickly informs me otherwise.
“Dad’s here.” Her tone holds far more than that single announcement.
“That’s ok,” I assure her, climbing from my car and forcing her back a few steps. He’s two days early, but it’s not a problem. I’ll just tell him about the fire sooner than planned.
Camryn makes a disbelieving face, but I don’t care. I’m still riding high from my date with Gabriel. I’m not sure my feet are touching the ground right now.
“No, it is not ok, Avery.” A vein near Camryn’s temple throbs. “He’s brought home a woman.”
The news makes me pause, but not for long. “That isn’t abnormal for Dad.” I stop outside the front door. “Is there something I’m missing?”
She sets fisted hands on her hips. “He says they’re getting married.”
I stare at my sister, determining if she’s telling the world’s worst joke. I’m comfortable with my dad treating his life like it’s one giant round of speed dating. But getting married? I can’t picture it.
“What’s she like?” I whisper, in case my dad and this unknown woman have their ears pressed to the other side of the door.
Camryn’s nose scrunches. “She’s–”
The door flies open. My dad stands on the other side, grinning like a loon. The reason for his goofy grin pops out from behind him, as if they’re performing on a variety show.
She has blonde hair, and deep smile lines. The top of her head is level with the top of my dad’s arm, and her eyes are big and brown.
“Hi, hon.” My dad pulls me in for a hug. “Camryn said you had big news for me, but I have some pretty big news myself.” He smiles down at the petite woman beside him. I have to admit, I haven’t seen him smile this shamelessly in years. Not since my mother.
“First things first.” I look at his companion and offer my hand. “I’m Avery. And you are?”
“Lara.” My arm rocks with the force of her enthusiasm as she shakes my hand. “I’ve heard so much about you and your sister. It’s lovely to meet you.”
“You as well.” I look from Lara to my dad. “You have something you wanted to tell me?”
At this point, I’m feeling supremely grateful Camryn already clued me in to the bomb my dad is about to drop.
“Let’s sit,” he says, standing back from the open door and gesturing with an open arm to the living room.
“Oh no,” I say in a joking voice. “Something I need to sit down for?”
Lara’s laugh is a tad shrill. Camryn gives me a knowing look, but presses her lips together to keep from smirking.
Dad and Lara settle in across from me and Camryn. “I’d wanted to tell both of you girls together, but?—”
Camryn interrupts. “But I walked in on them?—”
“Kissing,” my dad finishes.
“Not for much longer,” Camryn mutters.
He gives her a stern look. His eyes move to me, and the expression in them changes. He’s preparing to not only tell me about his engagement to a woman I didn’t know existed until three minutes ago, but he’s going to plead his case. Asking for both permission and forgiveness.
In most relationships, the parent does not ask the child for permission, and unless they have really messed up, they rarely ask for forgiveness. But my relationship with my dad is about as atypical as it gets. Not only did I become a parent to Cam when our mom died, I also morphed into the woman of the house, closer to my dad’s equal than any child should ever be. It was unfair to me, and I hate how I still carry around the resentment.
He’s looking at me now, trepidation in his irises as he takes Lara’s hand. As if I don’t see the enormous diamond shining on her finger.
“Lara and I met on the flight out to Japan. She was headed there to teach a seminar, and we got to talking,” he pauses, looking down at her. She returns his puppy dog eyes with a lovesick grin. “We hit a bit of turbulence and she grabbed my arm.”
Lara looks at us and grins sheepishly. “I’m a nervous flyer.”
I have no idea what my face looks like right now. I hope I’m wearing an expression that is at least somewhat acceptable for the situation, because my sister is not.
“That was, what, a month ago?” Camryn asks.
I push my leg against hers. I was thinking it, but of course Camryn’s the one who would say it.
“When you know, you know.” Dad squeezes Lara’s hand. “Right, babe?”
Babe.
Camryn knocks her knee into mine. It’s super obvious, but it doesn’t matter, because the lovebirds across from us are in their own world.
“So, are congratulations in order?” They tear their gazes from one another and look back to me. I nod at the small ice skating rink on Lara’s finger. “Looks like an engagement ring.”
“That’s exactly what it is. I asked Lara to marry me last week, and she said yes. We were so excited, we flew home early so we could start telling our families in person.”
I plaster a smile on my face. “Well, let me be one of the first to say congratulations.”
“Thank you,” my dad says, but he looks pointedly at Camryn. I’m guessing she didn’t offer the same well-wish.
He continues. “Lara has two boys from her first marriage, and we’re planning to tell them tonight.”
“They’re about the same ages as you two,” Lara adds. “Eighteen and twenty-two. They go to college in Texas, but they’re here for the upcoming long weekend.” Her smile dips just enough for me to see that she’s nervous.
“After that, well”—Dad stares into Lara’s eyes—“we don’t want to wait too long to marry. Something small, intimate. Maybe even here, in the backyard, before it gets hot.”
“It’s mid-November,” I say, trying to keep from sputtering. If they want to marry before it gets hot, that means they’re targeting a March or April wedding.
Oh my God.
My pulse pounds at different points in my body, my breath turning shallow as thoughts skitter around my brain. Dad is getting married. I don’t have anywhere to live. I don’t have a job. And I’m graduating in May.
The panic must be obvious on my face, because my dad’s chest puffs out, eyebrows cinching in defensiveness mixed with a dash of indignation.
“I don’t need your permission, Avery.” His voice turns to sandpaper, covering up the softness of his hurt feelings.
“Dad,” I begin, my tone kind but firm as I step into territory that is familiar for us. “This is a big surprise, so you should expect us to feel surprised. A lot of emotions happening here,” I gesture from me to Camryn. “It doesn’t mean we aren’t happy for you and Lara.”
He nods, mollified. Lara’s gaze darts from me to my dad. She’s taking in the exchange, cataloging the volley and understanding the dynamics.
“Right, hon. Sorry, I should’ve known that. Guess I just really want you to be happy your old man has finally found someone to spend his life with.”
I don’t bother pointing out he already found someone to spend his life with, and her life was cut short. Or that if he’d remarried while I was still a kid, maybe I could’ve spent more time being one. Instead, I look at my sister and say, “We are, right Cam?”
She nods slowly. “We sure are. In fact…” Her eyes light up. I can see it now, this idea she’s getting. “We should throw you an engagement party. Avery can bring her boyfriend.”
I close my eyes and shake my head. Stirring the pot is Camryn’s favorite pastime.
“I guess now I get to be on the receiving end of the surprise,” my dad comments, eyebrows lifted. “Since when do you have a boyfriend?”
My mouth opens to answer, but Camryn is there first, delivering another one-two punch. “Since he rescued her from her house as it burned down last weekend.” Cam reaches over the arm of the couch, hand disappearing from sight. When she straightens, there’s a newspaper in her grasp. Tossing it on the table, she announces, “Extra extra, read all about it.”
My dad takes one look at the front page, using the photo itself to tell him the story. His jaw slackens, and he swallows. Hard. “This is you? Being rescued?”
Horror. That’s what I hear in his voice.
“I was waiting to tell you in person. I knew you’d be home soon, and I thought it was better to learn something like this about your child when you’re face-to-face with them.”
Lara’s hand is at her mouth as she skims the article. Her eyes are wide. “Avery, I’m so sorry you had to go through this. It must have been terrifying for you.”
“I’ve never been so scared in my life.” In my mind I see Gabriel, opening the door to my bedroom and striding inside. The memory has shifted, changed by what I’ve learned since. I know the face beneath the mask. The body beneath the heavy clothing. The lip bite and the expressive eyebrows and the emotions that go into the job.
It alters the memory, casting a warmth to it where there should be nothing but terror and trauma. My hindsight has become rose-colored.
My dad has twenty questions. I answer them as best as I can, but there are some, like what Sabrina’s parents are doing about the house and insurance, for which I don’t have a response.
“Where are you staying?” he asks.
I point to Cam, who will be on the receiving end of some grief later. “Her bed.”
Guilt flits across his face. It crosses my mind to needle him a little, remind him I can’t make a bed out of a weight bench, but I leave it be.
Dad threads his arm around Lara’s shoulders. “Sounds like it’s going to be a full house,” he tells her.
I guess that means she’s moving in here.
“Fine by me,” she says brightly. “It’ll give me a chance to get to know the girls.”
The girls . Maybe one day I won’t mind being called that, but for right now the motherly way she says it irritates me.
“Speaking of kids—” My dad twists his wrist to check his watch, the action pulling Lara in closer to him. He takes the opportunity to kiss her temple. “We’d better get going. Lara’s boys are expecting her.”
“The question is…” Camryn points at our dad and moves her finger in a circle. “Are they expecting you?”
Lara’s lips twist, worry filtering into her eyes.
“We’re surprising everybody today,” Dad says, standing. He offers a hand to Lara, helping her upright.
“Good luck with that,” Cam responds brightly, doing nothing to hide the amusement in her tone.
“Thanks, Cam,” my dad answers dryly.
He steps around the coffee table, and I stand. He places a kiss on my forehead. Against my skin, he says, “I’m still processing what happened to you.” He steps back and looks down at me. “The firefighter is your boyfriend now?”
I throw a dirty look down at my seated sister. “We’ve been on one date.”
He swipes the newspaper off the table. “Quite an interesting way to meet. Very memorable.”
I reach out an arm for the paper. “Don’t throw that away.”
“I’m saving it,” he answers, tucking it under his arm and winking at Lara as he speaks. “Few people get footage of the moment their lives changed.”
“Such a romantic,” Lara says, pretending to swoon.
They say goodbye, leaving through the door that leads into the garage. I wait until I hear his car start up, and then I look down at Cam, prepared to give her an earful about all the instigating.
The tears rolling down her cheeks stop me. It’s uncharacteristic of her, and just as I’m opening my mouth to ask why she’s crying, she tugs my hand, pulling me back down beside her. She picks up her phone, opens the camera and holds it out, trained on us.
“Let’s take a picture. You heard Dad. Not everybody gets footage of the moment their lives changed.” She sniffs. “And our lives just turned upside down.”
She snaps the photo. Neither of us smile.
“I don’t think our lives are upside down,” I tell her when she slips the phone into her pocket.
She trains her wide-eyed gaze on me. “You know when you break glass, even if it doesn’t shatter, it never goes back together perfectly? Alongside those big pieces are tiny shards that have a big impact? That’s what this is. Even if you don’t go on another date with Gabriel, which I can already tell that won’t be the case, or if Dad suddenly drops Lara because her boys are adult hellions, we can’t revert to who we were last week. You were in a nearly catastrophic house fire, and Dad has shown us he is capable of really moving on from Mom.”
“Cam,” I say as gently as possible. “I don’t understand why you’re upset. You don’t remember Mom.”
“Exactly,” Cam half-shouts, her hand in the air. “And now her memory is one step further from me.”
“Irrevocable shifts,” I say, as a buzzing sound comes from inside my purse. I grab my phone and open the text from Gabriel.
I was wrong. I can’t wait until tomorrow to see you. Please tell me you don’t have plans for dinner tonight.
I smile at his impatience and begin typing my response. Camryn chuckles softly, and I look up. “What?”
“You’re smiling so hard at that phone screen it’s making my cheeks hurt. Told you.” She shrugs as she walks away. “Upside down.”
I finish my text to Gabriel and hit send. Camryn leaves soon after, promising she’ll meet Gabriel next time. She sails out the front door when her friend Danielle pulls up in her car and idles at the curb.
An hour later, Gabriel knocks on my front door.
“Hey, hero.”
He grins. He’s so handsome, standing there with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, filling the space without even trying.
My stomach hovers around my knees and I think maybe I could float away at any moment. Upside down is not enough to describe how I feel. Backward and inside out, also.
I am on the cusp, the edge, the precipice.
Gabriel reaches for me, and I sail into his arms, allowing him to tuck me into his warm, solid body. He kisses me like he has missed me for years.
And I throw myself over the edge, to whatever waits for me below.