I kiss her lips. “Positive, darlin’. My mama loves you. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Turns out she’s got plenty to worry about...and a bullet with my name on it to prove it.
***
Ava
Surprising me, Felicia comes home a couple of days early, and she’s got a smile on her face that I can't decipher, but her glow tells me that something good happened while she was at the conference. “How did it go?” I ask as she unpacks.
“Wonderful, love. Oh, but I couldn’t stay the whole time, something came up.”
My face registers concern. “Is everything okay?”
“Oh, everything’s fine, doll. Come sit and I'll tell you.” she pats her bed. Clothes are all over it, but I sit anyway, and she clears a spot for me and for herself. “I was offered a job at Harvard, love!” she practically squeals.
“Are you serious?!” I gasp, hands on cheeks.
“I’m absolutely serious, love! A position opened up and I took it!”
“Felicia, oh my goodness! I’m so happy for you!”
“I’m just tickled!” she pats my leg. “Now, don’t you worry about a thing, neither, darlin’. This job pays double my current salary, and it covers all my moving expenses, and more. I'll leave you plenty of money so you can rent some place or move in on campus if there’s room. I can probably pull some strings or something for you, darlin’.”
“Here you are, worrying about me, when you’ve got a million things to worry about. Felicia, I’ll be fine. You've got to sell your house and move, my goodness!”
“Oh, I'm not worried about that, darlin’. I never had much, anyway. It’s just me, after all. The problem is that I've got to go back straight away, as the position starts the end of this week. So, I've got to hustle.”
“I’ll help you any way I can.”
“Ava, I think I'm just going to leave everything here. Sell it as is and buy everything new there. What do you think?”
“A fresh start? Sure. Your place is beautiful. You’ll get good money for it.”
“You really think so?”
“For sure.”
“I’ve got to find me a realtor and get him moving lickety split.”
“I’ll start looking if you want to start packing.”
“Oh, you’ve got enough stuff to worry about, with school and all.”
“I can manage.” I shrug.
She smiles warmly. “Gosh, I’m sure going to miss you, doll.”
“I’m going to miss you, too. But I can come visit.”
“You better.” she warns playfully.
“And you’ll make lots of new friends. Just...look at you. You’re the nicest person I know.”
She grins modestly and changes the subject. “How did it go around here?”
“Good. I spent most of my time at the ranch though.”
“I figured you would. It sounds like you’ve got yourself a very special man.”
