Chapter 33
The Past
Summer sat in Matt’s vacated seat and busied herself with her phone instead of acknowledging Ava. Avery snuggled closer to Ava with his eyes closed, oblivious to the awkward tension between the two of them. They hadn’t been alone since their fight at the cabin weeks ago.
Avery’s breathing evened out, his back rising and falling rhythmically.
“I think he’s asleep,” Ava whispered, a fond smile on her face as she gazed down at him.
She chanced a glance at Summer sitting on Avery’s other side who steadfastly ignored her.
“Are you still mad at me?” Ava ventured after several beats of silence. She hated the silence between them. It caused her chest to tighten with even more anxiety given the situation.
Summer looked up from her phone and frowned at Ava.
“I don't know,” Summer sighed. Her shoulders slumped in resignation.
Ava debated what she could say to smooth things over between them. She missed her best friend, and since she was planning to stay, she had to make things right with her. So she decided to go with the truth.
“Almost exactly ten years ago, I was pregnant,” Ava whispered.
Summer’s head snapped up, her mouth dropping open in surprise.
“It was the summer I started my internship at the Grand Bohemian. Owen had just graduated and was about to start culinary school, I still had two more years of college left. That was the first full summer I didn't spend here in Cedar Falls.”
Summer nodded. “I remember. Owen was grumpy the whole summer without you here.”
Ava smiled sadly, remembering how hard their separation had been on Owen that summer. How the short visits he made on her weekends off were filled with an almost desperate longing in the moments they spent together.
“That summer I was so busy. Between working long hours at the hotel trying to impress the managers and going out at night with my coworkers, I was running on little sleep and a lot of stress. I didn’t even notice the missed periods.”
Summer nodded, but stayed silent, willing her to continue.
“When I finally managed to come up those two weeks in August that summer, I had time to breathe and knew something wasn’t right.
We took the pregnancy test together. He was so excited by the prospect.
Before we even saw the results he was planning our future together in Cedar Falls, talking about me leaving college and staying here permanently. He was so happy. But I was terrified.”
Ava looked down at Avery and smoothed a hand down his hair. She dreaded telling Summer this next part.
“You have to remember what my mom was like.
Always talking about not relying on a man to take care of me.
How much she hated living in this town raising three small kids with my dad before they divorced.
Always pushing me in school and my career to excel.
And when Owen brought up leaving Columbia to raise a baby, all I could think about was how I was a failure.
How I'd disappoint my parents. I was only twenty.”
Ava blinked back the unexpected tears that sprang up with the memory.
“And then the test came back positive.”
“Oh, Birdie,” Summer whispered.
Ava choked down the emotion clogging her throat and pushed through the rest of the story.
“And just as quickly as it began, it ended. A few days later, I started to bleed. If I’d never taken the test, I probably wouldn’t have even known.
It was like an unusually heavy period. I was filled with relief, but Owen was devastated.
He was ready to start our lives together, making plans for a family that would never exist while I was quietly happy to not upend my life so suddenly.
In the end, it created a divide between us that we couldn’t fix.
That's when Owen told me not to bother coming back. And I never did.”
She pulled her gaze away from Avery’s sleeping form to meet Summer’s. Her face marred with sympathy at the secret Ava revealed.
“I didn’t know,” she said.
Taking a chance, Ava removed her hand holding Avery close and held it out to Summer. Taking the peace offering, Summer grabbed her hand and squeezed.
“I’m sorry for not telling you. I wanted to forget it ever happened, otherwise the regret would consume me. Imagine my surprise when I came back and learned about Avery.” Ava chuckled.
Summer nodded in understanding.
“But now I can’t envision being with Owen without Avery in the picture.”
Summer’s brows raised, tentative hope spreading across her features.
Ava looked down at Avery again, and that familiar pang of grief resurfaced, like every time she thought of her dad and the future he’d miss out on. A future with grandkids and a cabin full of noise and laughter again. And loons. Many, many loons.
Summer squeezed her hand again.
“You’d be a great mom,” Summer said quietly, picking up on Ava’s unspoken words.
Ava’s chest warmed at her friend’s confidence in her.
Matt’s familiar, booming voice echoed from the end of the hallway, disrupting their quiet moment together.
Owen and Matt were returning. Ava let go of Summer’s hand and smiled at the two men, but Owen didn’t return it.
Matt avoided looking at her, walking straight past and sitting on Summer’s other side.
Owen stopped in front of her, tension rolling off him in waves.
“Can we talk?”
Ava brushed the hair back from Avery’s face and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. Then she motioned for Summer to trade places with her. They gingerly swapped, transferring Avery’s sleeping form to Summer so Ava could stand. She smoothed her dress with shaky hands.
“Sure,” she said.
Without a word, Owen turned on his heel.
With a muttered ‘be right back’ to Summer and Matt, Ava followed him down the hall, past the lobby, and into the parking lot.
The cooling evening air battled against the rush of heat consuming her body as anxiety gripped her.
Owen wasn’t acting like himself and that scared her.
Owen stopped under a streetlight and spun to face her.
“I think you should leave,” he said simply.