He sat up straight. “With all the rights and privileges thereof.”
“Ava, it’s okay to acknowledge your condition,” Morena said. “Has this happened before?”
“It hasn’t happened now.” The more I spoke with confidence, the better I felt. This was the way to live. Not scared in a bathroom shower. Old Ava told me in the notes that I learned quickly. I would turn eighteen in a couple of months. Then I could leave home no matter what Mother said.
And now I had a boyfriend. Boyfriends were good, if they were like Dr. McDreamy for Meredith. Or bad, if they made you cry, like Alex. I wasn’t sure how often either thing happened, but this felt like the right kind.
I held our joined hands to my chest. “Tad and I are about to celebrate four months of boyfriend and girlfriend bliss.”
I immediately caught myself. Tad? Where had that come from?
Jared slid back down in his chair. Ria’s mouth became a frown.
I’d messed up. I would not pass the test.
Morena lifted both eyebrows this time. “His name is Tucker.”
I had to fix this. My gaze moved from the counselor to the other teens while I thought about it. Then I said, “I call him Tad.”
Tucker put his arm around me. “She thinks Tucker is hokey.”
My belly swooped again. I ran through the episodes of the shows I’d watched, thinking fast for a way to prove we had memories together. Then I had it.The Simpsons. “Tad swept me off my feet at a school dance,” I said. “He tried to do some fancy dip, and I ended up on the ground.”
“Super embarrassing,” he added.
I squeezed his hand. “But in true Tad fashion, he picked me right up again, and we continued dancing.” I grinned up at him and was rewarded with a glorious smile in return. “And since then, he’s picked me up every time I’ve fallen.”
His smile faltered.
Oh no.I’d said the wrong thing.
But his expression must have meant something good because he lifted my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. The feeling became more than a swoop. It was a glow. An assurance that everything was absolutely right. I sank into it like the blankets on the bed. It was the most secure, the most safe I’d felt since reading the shower curtain.
“That’s what people do,” he said. “When they’re in love. They pick each other up.”
I didn’t know if love worked this way. I hadn’t seen enough TV or lived enough life to know for sure.
But I believed him. Because when Tucker said he’d pick me up when I fell, the gooey goodness inside told me it was absolutely true.
CHAPTER 6
Tucker
My life had taken an unexpected turn for the best. After group, my feet scarcely touched the ground as I walked Ava back to her room with the nurses, our hands joined. Everything was happening fast, but my friend Bill said it was the same with his girlfriend. One minute he was sure nobody would take a second look at him, and the next, he was buying flowers for Valentine’s Day.
Sleep deprivation was ordered, but it didn’t matter. I couldn’t have come down from this high if I wanted to. I rode the stationary bike every few hours. Watched movies. Texted Bill my latest thoughts about Ava.
Gram stayed up with me through the power of coffee. Around six a.m., the nurse came in and said I was allowed to sleep a few hours, and we both finally crashed.
I woke to Gram shaking my shoulder. “Tucker, you need to get up.”
It took me a moment to remember where I was, but the wires and gauze were quick to remind me.
I sat up. “Is the nuclear med guy here?”
“No, he’s delayed his visit,” she said. “Apparently, you got signed up for an art therapy class.”
I dropped my head onto the pillow. “Really? Do I have to?”
