Chapter 5 #2
By the time she got out of therapy, Ava was beat.
The therapist had worked with her on range-of-motion exercises for her neck and shoulders to prevent stiffness, then aligned her neck and focused on flexibility while being cautious of Ava’s broken rib.
And after that she’d given Ava a soft tissue massage in an attempt to relieve tension from the injury and travel.
From that alone, Ava was ready to take a nap, but they went on to assess her core strength and upper-body durability before making her sit for a rundown of her at-home exercises.
“I really wanted to get a coffee and even try to shop for a new laptop, but getting out of the house and then going through an hour of therapy was more taxing than I expected. Do you think we can just go home?” she asked her mom.
“Of course. We can pick up some coffee to take with us if you’d like.”
“That sounds great. But what I really need is a computer. I feel like doing work might actually help me recover faster, since I love what I do. It energizes me.” And she must get a handle on what Scott Strobel had been up to, but she wasn’t going to mention that.
“You’d have to set limits for yourself. You couldn’t work hours on end. Would you be able to cut it off to give yourself time to rest?”
“I think I can.”
They parked outside The Pink Mug, and Martha ran in to get their order. With their coffees in hand, they drove the half hour back home.
“If I show you something,” her mom said, opening the front door for Ava and leading her toward the back corner of the cabin to her sewing room, “you have to use restraint.”
“Okay.”
Martha pushed open the door. The sewing room had been converted into a small office.
The fall foliage filled the large window that overlooked the lake and let natural light into the small room.
One wall was a bookshelf, full of Martha’s books, and her sewing machine was set up in a corner of the room next to an old wooden trunk.
But in the center of the oatmeal-colored braided rug, was a simple wooden desk with a laptop.
“I have full internet access and Wi-Fi,” her mom said.
Ava’s mouth dropped open. “You. Held. Out on me!”
“All in the name of health. I thought I should wait to show you this, to force you to rest. You’re welcome to use it. Just please take it easy. You aren’t healed yet.”
Ava went over to the desk and pulled out the wooden chair, standing behind it. “When did you get all this?”
“Remember how I got my espresso machine? Well, that’s not all.
Your dad’s insurance wasn’t a lot, and I needed a way to make extra money, so I started quilting those little handbags.
A friend of mine told me about a website where I can sell them.
So I made up a bunch of them and sold them online and at craft stores and festivals until I’d earned enough money to buy that desk and computer.
I’ve just started to post more bags on the website. ”
“That’s wonderful, Mom.”
“Yeah, well, it gives me something to do out here.” That heaviness flickered again in her gaze.
“Have you had many orders?”
“Just a few so far. But it’s enough to give me the extra money. For so long, we didn’t have a lot, and I never asked for anything. After all those years of taking a backseat while your dad worked hard, living with very little, I feel as though I’ve earned the right to treat myself now and again.”
“You don’t have to validate your desire to work hard to get things for yourself. I know all about it.”
Her mother smiled, and they shared a small moment of unity that they’d never had before.
The idea of her mother having her own goals hadn’t occurred to Ava until now.
She’d always seemed happy to stay in the background.
She had dinner on the table every night, clean sheets on the beds, fresh towels in the closets.
But that whole time, had she given up herself to be the anchor of the family unit?
She’d done all that, and Ava hadn’t even been able to give up enough hours in the day to save her marriage.
“Well, I’ll leave you be.” Martha pointed a finger at Ava. “Don’t overwork yourself.”
“I won’t . I promise.” Ava placed her coffee next to the laptop and took a seat. She hit the power button, and the glorious sound of the computer booting up gave her a jolt of exhilaration.
Her mom shut the door on her way out.
The first thing she did was order herself a new phone. She typed in her credit card number that she knew by heart and entered her mom’s address.
Then, before she got into her work, Ava wanted to see if she could find anything on Lucas, now that she thought he might be in Nashville.
She pulled up his profile picture on the Columbia-Presbyterian website, taking time to study his face again on a larger screen than her phone.
The man in front of her sure did look like the boy she’d known.
What were the odds that her Lucas and this one both had green eyes with gold flecks?
If this photo was the same Lucas, he had strong cheekbones and chiseled features now, but she could almost see the young boy she’d known.
She slipped back in time to that final day, eighteen years ago …
Ava had risen with the sun, knowing her best friend was about to leave her life for good. She brushed her teeth, combed her hair, and threw on a T-shirt and shorts. After slipping on her sneakers, she bounded down the stairs of their old farmhouse.
“Where are you going?” her mom had called through the screened door as it clapped shut behind her.
“To Lucas’s!”
She sprinted along the meadow of wildflowers between their houses, past the old fence gate they used to swing on when her daddy opened it to let the tractor through.
She carried on down the dirt road that led to Lucas’s, coming to an abrupt stop in front of the large moving van.
The back was open, a ramp leading into it.
Men in gray shirts were carrying Lucas’s things out of the house and packing them away like she stacked her favorite books on her bookshelf—filling in every open space.
Lucas came outside, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. His eyes were red.
“Hey,” he said, throwing a cutting glance at the truck.
“I didn’t want you to leave without saying goodbye,” Ava said, having to force the words through her tight throat.
He took her hand. They walked to the old crab apple tree in his yard.
He let go, and they both jumped up and grabbed the lowest branch, the way they’d done so many times.
She swung her weight back and forth to create enough momentum to get her legs over so she could make it onto the limb.
Lucas was tall and thin, agile, and he could swing up no problem.
Once she’d climbed onto the bottom branch, however, they were neck-and-neck as they ascended to the top, from where they could see the whole field.
“I can’t believe my dad took that job in Charlotte,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning against the trunk of the tree. “I thought I was going to live here on the farm forever.” He angrily wiped his eye as if a bug had flown into it, but it was probably a tear.
She’d never seen him cry before.
A lump formed in her throat, and she took in his face, wanting to commit it to memory. They’d spent every day together since kindergarten. She didn’t know what she was going to do without him.
“You can write me letters, and we can send emails back and forth on our parents’ computers,” Ava said.
“It ain’t the same, and you know it.”
“I could hide in that big truck,” she whispered .
Her comment softened his scowl, which she was glad for. But she’d only made the joke to keep from crying herself.
“You’re my favorite person, you know,” he said, his voice breaking with emotion.
That was when the tears won over and fell from her eyes. “I don’t wanna walk to school without you or do science class. I’m gonna fail.”
“You ain’t gonna fail. You’re smart. Lean on your numbers, and you’ll be able to do science.”
“Yeah, I can do all that. But I still don’t want to without you. I’m gonna miss you so much.”
He reached over and wiped her tears as they straddled the large branch. Then, he leaned over and kissed her.
He’d been her best friend. She’d never felt his lips—or any for that matter—on hers before.
She was glad he was the first. And as his soft breath touched her skin, she wondered why they’d waited so long.
She should’ve been kissing him before today.
Her chest ached with the perfection of it.
Would her heart ever survive without him?
They kept in touch a lot at first, but as their high school days continued, they got busier, and the letters and notes became less frequent.
She’d needed him the most a few years later when she’d lost her dad. After that, she had no male influences in her life at all. It was then that she learned about her inner strength and how not to rely on anyone, because life could be cruel and take them without notice.
Now, at her mom’s computer, Ava shook the memory from her mind, put her sleuth skills to the test, and began her research.
She typed in Lucas’s name and Nashville —nothing.
She searched Vanderbilt and his name, but still nothing.
She went back to the social media channels and logged in, searching Lucas Phillips , but none of the people who came up were him.
Had she really seen him in Nashville? Maybe her mom had been right, and she’d dreamed the whole thing because she’d heard his name in the hospital while she was unconscious.
That would be the logical explanation. She lived in the world of probability and statistics. This rationalization made sense.
But her heart told her otherwise.