Chapter 48
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Avery
My heart would eventually unbreak, right? Was that possible?
I ran a brush through my hair. This time, I was wearing gloves. And this time, I was following a set of instructions from June on how to dye my hair the color I wanted.
It was the same anime blue, of course. It was my favorite. But over the last few weeks, I’d let it run out until the ends turned seafoam silver. It was not my least favorite color on canvas, but certainly my least favorite color on myself.
So it was time. Time to put the blue back in, time to glue my heart back together, time to go back to the studio.
I crossed my legs on my stool and went strip by strip, pinning them back with clips June had given me. The first half wasn’t too bad, aside from the occasional wisp of hair that would cling to my cheek and leave a blue line.
“Avery!”
I squeaked as Mateo’s voice startled me and a glob of blue dropped straight onto my nose.
“Dammit. No. Oh god. Fuck.” I pushed all my hair over my shoulders and tried to flick the glob off my nose.
It spattered against the porcelain sink as I stripped off my gloves and grabbed a makeup remover wipe, quickly trying to salvage my skin.
That was what Mateo walked in on.
His eyes widened and his hand clamped over his mouth. “Avery.”
“Don’t laugh,” I hissed as I scrubbed my nose. “It was going great until you startled me.”
“Well, you see, I need you to come with me.”
He wasn’t serious, right?
“I’m literally in the middle of dyeing my hair.”
“I’m aware. I need you to come with me.”
“I’ll come with you later,” I teased.
“Avery.” His expression became serious. “You want to come with me.”
Had he hit head? I stared at him for a moment but his brows wiggled and he disappeared, off to the kitchen or somewhere else in the house. I sighed and shook my head as I attempted to put my hair up.
I looked like Weird Barbie. I shook my head but slid off the stool. I wasn’t wearing a bra. I was in an old paint-stained T-shirt and ratty cut offs, but the man wanted to show me something.
I sighed and followed him down the hall to the living room. A soft voice made me freeze before I rounded the corner.
“She’s coming.”
“What if she doesn’t want to see me?”
Levi? Tears sprang to my eyes and I leapt forward, rounding the corner to see if I was hearing things.
Levi stood in my living room. He wore a T-shirt and jeans and boots, as if he’d never left. As if he’d never gone back to Minnesota.
My breath whooshed out. “You’re here.”
“I am,” he whispered with a soft sniffle.
Was he crying? Or was that me?
“What are you doing here?” I said. I couldn’t hear anything but my pounding heart. “What . . .” I looked over at Mateo, my breaths quick. “Did you . . . What . . .”
Mateo offered a smile, but didn’t say anything.
Levi took a step closer, his gaze locked on me. “I’m here, Avery.”
“Here?”
“Yes. To stay.”
“To stay,” I echoed. Another sniffle. This time, it was definitely me.
He took another step. Just a little closer. So close. “The tip of your nose is blue.”
“I see you still have no manners.” All of the broken parts of me started to slowly knit back together. Hope. Was that it? “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to stay. I’m doing what I should have done to begin with.” Another step. “I’m here, Avery. I never should have left. I got back to Minnesota and got your sketch, and I . . . I knew how much I’d fucked up.”
I stared at him. I’d forgotten about that. I’d dropped that in the mail as some sort of . . . I don’t even know what. A giant fuck you, look at what you lost?
“I realize that I’ve hurt you. I’ve hurt both of you. And I don’t know if I deserve another chance, but I love you. I love both of you. There’s not a life I want without the two of you in it. I would give up anything, everything, to be with you.”
Mateo sucked in a breath and looked at me. I held his gaze as I registered what Levi said.
“Wait. You love . . . ?”
“I love you.” Another step closer. There were just a few inches between the three of us now. He looked at me, and then Mateo. “I love you. I love you.” Back to me. “I love you.”
I couldn’t stop myself anymore. I grabbed both Mateo and Levi and dragged them into a hug, letting the tears flow. “I love you. I’ve loved you for a while. Maybe since you caught my hair on fire.”
“I’ve loved Avery since I came to Whynot. And I’ve loved you, Levi, since you tried to feed me bad protein muffins.”
Levi’s chuckle was also a sob. His arms wrapped around us, and we sank to the floor, a pile of tender words and tears and laughter and love.
I love you, I love you, I love you.
It turned out the way to unbreak a heart was those three little words.