“Any big plans this week?” Frankie asked, plucking a small cookie off the tray in the middle of the room. “I’ll be taking over game night at Northstar again. What’s the rest of the team up to?”
Ava folded her legs under her on the couch. “I’m supposed to start my next round of oboe lessons,” she said. “But I actually wanted to talk to you about that.”
“Of course,” I said. “What’s up?”
She frowned, then fidgeted in her seat. “I think I want to stop studying the oboe,” she said glumly.
“Oh!” Frankie replied. “If that’s what you’d like to do, sure. You sound kind of sad about it, though.”
“I feel bad,” she replied. “Mom liked that I played the oboe.”
My heart ached, thinking of the guilt she must have wrestled through to get to this decision. “I understand feeling bad about that,” I acknowledged. “It’s easy to feel like we’re supposed to keep things the same when we lose someone we care about. But I hope you know, your mom wouldn’t want you to keep doing something you didn’t want to do just for her sake. She wants you to be happy, Ava.”
Frankie offered her his hand, which she took. “Annabel loved that you went your own way and didn’t follow everyone else’s rules. She wouldn’t want you to change for her or for anyone else.” He rubbed the back of his head, then grinned. “Although oboe players are a nonconformist lot.”
Ava laughed. “They’re not exactly trending, Uncle Franklin.”
Frankie and I both chuckled. “Would you like us to call the school and withdraw from the class?” I asked. “I can take care of it tomorrow, if you’re sure that’s what you want to do.”
“Thanks,” Ava said. “I appreciate it.”
I wondered for a second if there was such a thing as K-pop music classes, then shook my head. “My pleasure.”
We went through some more of our regular routine, going over Ava’s classes and the new developments in Frankie’s business. When Marlene needed to go outside, we noticed the sunset and all ended up standing in the yard in our jackets and slippers for a while, talking while we took in the view.
Somehow, the perfect moment had presented itself, and we couldn’t delay the conversation anymore.
“Ava?” Frankie asked. “There is something we wanted to tell you about.”
Ava crossed her arms, her eyes still on the sunset. “What’s that?”
I swallowed. We had good reason to assume this would go well, but if it didn’t, I wasn’t quite sure what we were going to do. “We wanted to tell you that we started seeing someone,” I said gently.
“Do you remember how you talked to Clark at the store, and he had two boyfriends?”
“Oh, are you talking about Asher?” Ava asked. “Yeah, I know.”
Frankie and I turned to each other. “Excuse me?” he asked. “Say that again?”
Ava rolled her eyes. “Uncles, it was kind of obvious. I thought you just weren’t telling me because you were embarrassed.”
“Embarrassed?” Frankie asked.
“Because he’s younger than you,” Ava said flatly. “Not that I care. I just thought you did.”
Frankie and I looked at each other, then exploded with laughter. I held his shoulder while I wheezed in a breath, all the tension I had built up around the moment disappearing like a popped balloon.
“It’s not that funny,” Ava muttered to herself.
“Just relieving,” Frankie said with a grin. “We did want to tell you, though, that no matter what happens between us and Asher, we promise that things won’t change at home.”
I nodded, then caught Ava’s eye, holding it steady. “Our priority is always to you first, okay? Whatever it is you’re feeling, whatever it is you need, we’re always here to listen and to help. Okay?”
Ava laughed. “Okay, okay! It’s not that big deal, anyway. Everyone’s heard of a triad.” She pulled down on the cord to her clunky headphones, then turned back to the house. “Can we watch a movie tonight?”
“Oh, sure!” Frankie answered, shooting me a grin as we followed her into the house. “You got your homework done?”
“And now I don’t have to practice the oboe,” Ava answered.
