“Come visit me for a weekend,” he said against my hair. “We should all get to know our Ava.”
I could only nod against the grip of his arms.
With my seizures, our past had been erased. But Tucker was right. We could make new memories.
CHAPTER 34
Tucker
The VNS worked like a damn miracle.
Within a day of the technician turning it on, my headaches became manageable. And by the time we’d fine-tuned it, I felt like my old self.
I taught Ava to drive while we waited for my license to be reinstated. We trundled around the neighborhood in Gram’s Buick, laughing when Ava hit curbs or slammed on the brakes. It took two tries for her to pass her test, and we both got the right to drive within a week of each other.
Ava and I road-tripped to Houston for the holidays to meet Ava’s sisters. Amanda was quiet and serious and resembled her mother Tina. Twelve-year-old Jennifer, however, was a mini Ava and followed us around with stars in her eyes, asking Ava’s opinions on her hair and clothes. Ava patiently twisted the girl’s hair into pinwheels to match hers.
Marcus set up a college fund for Ava. I got my old job at Shelfmart back and started thinking about school again. What did I want to be? The future had broken wide open.
Ava quit her job at Big Harry’s to intern for one of thebig-wig portrait photographers in town when she wasn’t in class. Some weekends, I would go with her on portrait shoots to carry equipment and watch her work. She was a natural, goofy to get the kids to smile for her, focused on how she wanted to set up the shot. She became more and more like the Ava I knew at the end of our first time together, light-hearted and fun.
Some days we lay on the floor of her apartment, now furnished with old pieces from my life before the accident, staring at the ceiling and reveling in how good we finally had it.
We should have known the easy part couldn’t last.
A classmate uploaded an image of Ava from a photoshoot on social media and tagged her real name. The very next day, Ava’s mother showed up at the community college, chatting up the professor.
Ava was blindsided by the sight of her mother and took off running. She jumped on a bus to Gram’s to wait until I got home.
They sat at the table, drinking tea, but I could tell by the way Ava slumped in her chair she wasn’t going to get past this easily.
I sat down opposite them.
“Poor child,” Gram said. “Her mother won’t leave her alone.”
“I’m dropping out,” Ava said. “And probably I should get a name change. And maybe I’ll move. I could go to Houston. Live with Dad, even.”
Gram’s eyes met mine over her teacup.
“I could apply to schools in Houston,” I said. But I couldn’t miss how Gram’s throat bobbed when I said it. I’d be leaving her.
“Could you find another big studio in Houston to apprentice for?” Gram asked.
Ava held her head in her hands. “Doubtful. And I’d lose my credits if I left mid-semester. I’d have to start over.”
“Let’s call your dad,” Gram suggested. “He’ll know better than any of us what to do.”
Ava set her cell phone in the middle of the table and turned on the speaker. Her dad’s secretary put us straight through.
Marcus’s deep voice telegraphed concern. “Ava, is everything okay?”
“Mom found me.”
“Where?”
“At school. Some idiot tagged me in a picture. She must be scouring the internet for any mention of me. She showed up within a day.”
“Did you speak to her?”
