I couldn’t stand it anymore. I grabbed his arm and angled the camera toward me. “I’m sure we’re completely out of focus and this footage is so shaky it will look like we’re living through an earthquake.”
He turned the camera back to his face and said in a shaky voice, as if it really were an earthquake, “Thisssss isss the lassst will and tesssstament of Tucker Giddingsss.”
“Get on with it,” I said, but my anxiety had eased. Tucker was always good for that.
“Before my transformation into a cyborg and a life of robotic crime, I wanted proof that I was once a loving and doting boyfriend.” He kissed my hair. “And that we are definitely going to be together forever.”
He lowered the camera. “And… cut.” He set the camera on the carpet.
“You’re nuts,” I told him. “Was that for me to remember you by if you die in surgery?”
He pulled me close. “I won’t die. I’m excited. And I’d like you to come. I don’t have an exact date yet. I can work around your classes if you think Harry will let you off.”
“I’ll skip classes. You’re more important.”
“It’s outpatient. And maybe one night in a hotel if I’m not up for the drive back.”
“You’d ride in a car the day they cut you?”
“It’ll be tiny cuts. You’ll barely see them after they heal.” He cradled me against his chest. “I’ll be fine, Ava. This is my best chance at knocking this problem out.”
“What if it doesn’t work?”
“Then it doesn’t work. But it’s a shot.”
“Why does anything have to change?” I pressed my face into his chest, trying to stop myself from trembling. Trusting someone was hard for me. I was so vulnerable. And now Tucker wanted to take this big risk.
“Because I want a life again, like when we were first together. Remember how I drove a car and took you on dates? We stayed out late and sent messages half the night.”
Of course, I remembered none of that, but I knew what he meant. “Okay. I’ll come. But do what’s best for you. I can miss a class. The professor thinks I’m God’s gift to photography already.”
He laughed and the rumble of it set my soul at ease. He squeezed me inside his embrace. “You’re God’s gift to everything.”
“Tell that to those idiots who don’t tip their server.”
We sat there a moment, holding each other. I sensed he had something else to say.
“What?” I asked.
“I was thinking. If we’re in Houston…”
I pulled away to stare at the bar signs on the wall. “I don’t know.”
“We know where he lives.”
“I can’t simply drop in. Hey, Pops, remember me? The kid you ditched?”
“There was a pink bike there. Wouldn’t you like to know if you have a sister? She might be worth more than a dad.”
A sister.
I had no real concept of blood ties. Just a mother who’d wrecked me, bound me to her through a condition I couldn’t control.
“I’ll think about it.”
Tucker pulled me back into his embrace. “I once had a dad. Your mother—she’s a mess. I don’t blame you for never wanting to see her. But if I could see my dad again—” His voice broke, and my chest tightened. Tucker rarely talked about his family.
“But your dad didn’t leave you when he could have stayed.” I brushed his hair back from his forehead.
