“I quit,” she says as she tries to catch her breath.
“You what?” I ask in shock.
“I quit. I walked right into Max’s office this morning and told him that I quit,” she says. I can see that her hands are shaking so I reach out to hold them. “I just wasn’t willing to keep us both here in the city when I know that we both want to go home.”
I am amazed and very surprised.
“What did he say?” I ask.
“No idea,” she says in a frantic shake of her head. “I told him I quit, and then I walked right back out the door. He was calling after me, the same kinds of threats and things as before, I think, but I just kept right on walking and didn’t turn around to listen to him.”
“Wow,” I say in awe. “I’ll bet that really burned his ego. He’s probably raving mad.”
“I don’t care,” she says with determination. “I want to go home—now.”
I lean forward and kiss her on the forehead. I’m really proud of her for finally standing up for herself and knowing what she wants. Screw that guy for having ever gotten in her way and in her head to begin with.
“You got it,” I smile. “Let’s get our stuff and go.”
We pack up everything we want and toss it into my truck. Then we get in the vehicle and leave. It feelssomuch better driving out of the city then it felt driving in. I reach across the seat and hold Ava’s hand.I did it. I came and got her and am bringing her back home. I feel like my smile lasts all the way to Fairport.
As soon as we get back home and pull into the house, a sense of relief and contentment falls over both of us. I walk around to her side of the truck to open the door for her, and when she steps out, I stay there to press my body against her as we lean against the side of the truck and both take a deep breath of fresh air.
“You’re right,” she smiles. “The air is so much better here. What was I ever thinking?”
“Sometimes we need to lose our way in order to find the right path to get back on,” I smile at her. “That’s all that matters now.”
After we get everything unloaded from the truck, we have a peaceful night complete with wine under the stars in the clear sky. Ava giggles and I look at her to see what she’s laughing about. I can see her looking at the busted-out window in the kitchen.
“Yeah, we’ve got some repairs to do again,” I chuckle, feeling a little guilty for all the damage I did to the house. Especially after we had just fixed it all up.
“We can start making all the repairs together tomorrow,” she smiles as she leans against my chest. “I kind of like working on this old house with you.”
“You know,” I say after I pause for a moment. “We don’t need to sell this house at all, Ava. We don’t need to ever put it back on the market. We could just take our time and fix everything up the way we want to. I could sell my other house, and we could keep this one and both move in here and truly live in it,together.”
I wait to see what her response will be. I know it was a pretty forward and assuming thing for me to say, especially since we literally just got back here together today.
“I think I’d like that,” she smiles.
7
Ava
Today is fun and playful as we work on the house together. We laugh over some of the repairs that we’re having to do for asecondtime and stop to hold each other intermittently to appreciate what we’ve been through and where we’re at now. Everything is going great, and I finally feel as though I’m restarting my life again, in the right direction this time. When there’s a knock at the door, I get a wave of instant unease. No one should be coming here. I walk behind Trevor as he goes to open it, and as soon as I see the police waiting there, my heart sinks.
“Hey guys,” Trevor says casually since it’s such a small town that we went to high school with the two cops standing at the door. “What can I do for you?”
One of the cops shifts on his feet and hands Trevor a packet of paperwork.
“Sorry about this, Trevor,” he says. “But I’m afraid that we’re here to put you under arrest.”
“What?” I say as I grab the papers from Trevor’s hand.
I look over them, and sure enough, they’re charges of assault and battery—filed by Max.
“You can’t just arrest him though,” I say. “Not without proof and a trial and all of that, right?”
“Well, actually we can. The attorney for the guy that filed the charges submitted video of the incident.”
