I had to watch out for Ava. I spent a lot of time at a twenty-four-hour laundromat in a strip mall across the street from the diner where she worked. I wanted to catch her without the big brute of an owner knowing.
The first time I managed to get to her, it was late, after midnight. A misty rain had fallen, and the streets were quiet and wet.
I tried not to scare her as I closed in from behind. She walked with a tough stride and carried her keys with the ends sticking out of her fist like she would attack someone with them. She was dressed in ripped jeans and a shirt with the sleeves cut off. Her hair was twisted into two tight balls high on her head.
“I can tell you more about who you used to be,” I called out.
She stopped and turned around. “Oh, it’s you.”
“Tucker,” I said.
“I remember.”
My heart beat faster. “Remember what?”
“Your name. You said itlast time.”
I shoved aside my disappointment. “Are you willing to talk to me yet?”
“Nope.” She started walking again.
I hurried to catch up. “I met you in the children’s hospital. We were in the disco room, where they run strobes to set off seizures.”
“Why would they do that? It takes away your memory!”
“It doesn’t do that to everybody. I have seizures all the time, and I’m fine.”
“That doesn’t sound fine.” Her eyes glanced my way, then back to the sidewalk. I could barely keep up with her. But this version of her wasn’t completely unfamiliar to me. She was Survivor Ava, the one who had kissed me once just to make her mother mad.
This was an Ava I admired. I wanted us to be on the same side.
“We started seeing each other in secret. Your mother kept you locked in your house. We had to sneak you out.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“We were in love.”
She stopped at that. “Were we?”
We faced each other under a streetlight.
“Yes. I arranged a place for you to live. A job. We were waiting until you turned eighteen so we could be together.”
“I ran away a few months after my eighteenth birthday. I didn’t know I had a plan.” Her posture relaxed. I saw the other Ava I knew. The softer, gentler one. I loved her both ways. My feelings rushed at me so hard, I almost staggered back.
I held out my hand, realized she would never take it,and let it drop to my side. “We only had three weeks to wait. But we got caught.”
“What did my mother do?”
“She had me arrested and moved you overnight. And either you had another seizure on your own, or else she…” I hesitated. It was a big thing to accuse someone of.
“I forgot everything.” Ava pressed her hand to her forehead. “It was terrible. I have a diary. When it first happened, I couldn’t read or write. It took months to be able to function.” Her eyes lifted to mine. “Did you look for me?”
“Every day. I searched for youeveryday.”
“We were outside of town.”
“Wimberley. I saw the police report the moment your mother called it in.”
