Or Ava’s man.
Though in his head, he couldn’t picture his life without her. Might be too late on that one. Or a Hot Cheetos situation where he had to stop going to Dark Canyon…which would make adopting Gracie tricky. Because there was no way Ava was walking out of Gracie’s life.
She got up and came back with two packs of natural fruit gummies. “These are healthy. Kind of defeats the entire good snacks thing.”
Chay made a face.
“Healthy doesn’t mean bad. They have real fruit juices, so I kid myself that these are part of my five a day.”
He couldn’t help laughing at the way she said it. “Or you could just have an apple. But no strawberries, right?”
Giving him a soft smile, she nodded. “Yeah, I have to limit myself to just one or two. But they are delicious. Here’s the thing with these,” she said, tossing him one of the bags. “I can eat as many of the strawberry-flavored ones as I like…there’s only two per pack.”
“Conducted a study on them?”
“It needed to be done. Plus, I was waiting for my oil to get changed. It’s like when you sense there’s more blue M&M’s than the others and you make a bet with your brother. You gotta know what you’re betting on.”
“Sounds like you suckered your brother into a bet,” Chay said.
“Only once. It’s sort of his fault for being gullible.”
“Or believing his older sister wouldn’t con him,” Chay pointed out.
“We were eight and six… I wasn’t as sweet back then,” she said as she opened her pack of gummies and dug into it.
He noticed she pulled out the two strawberry ones and set them aside.
“Saving the best for last?”
“Definitely. What about you?”
“Don’t hate me, but they all taste the same.” He poured a handful of them into his mouth at once. Fruit snacks didn’t do anything for him, but he liked that Ava enjoyed them.
“That’s so wrong, but I’ll give it you. Some of them do sort of taste the same, and I think I’m sense remembering strawberries when I eat the red ones.”
“I’d have to agree these don’t taste much like real fruit.” Gracie squirmed like she wanted to get down. So Chay put his snack down and took off the baby’s bib before putting her back on her blanket.
They had made enough space for her to crawl with a pillow barrier, and the light from the fire illuminated her blanket area.
“Thanks,” Ava said.
“For what?”
“Distracting me.”
“No biggie. It helped me, too. There is always that moment in a storm when you feel like it’s never going to end. That this is what the world will be from now on.” It wasn’t just storms that got him like that. Fall nights affected him that way, too, mainly because it had been November 5 when his mom had left him. That night he hadn’t slept a wink, willing her to come back to him, promising that even if she brought another abusive boyfriend with her, he’d accept it. Be as good as he could be.
God, what a mess he’d been. Some days he felt like he’d left that messed-up boy in the dust, but most of the time he had to acknowledge that a big part of who he was had that boy at the heart of him.
“I’m glad. So, rummy. This time we’re not allowed to talk about anything but pop culture stuff. Favorite movies, books and songs. That kind of thing. I’m not going to ruin another rummy game.”
“You didn’t ruin the last one. Things just got…intense. That happens around you,” he said.
“I try not to let it,” she admitted. “But if I see something, I’ve got to say it.”
“Which is probably why you are a good therapist. So, favorite song?” he asked as she dealt the cards.
He learned shelovedpop and R&B and that his favorite country artist was hit-or-miss for her. She teased him aboutThe Lord of the Rings. She’d only read the books but hadn’t been able to sit through the movies. He promised her she was missing out and invited her to a marathon when the blizzard was over.
