“Thanks, Pop. And I promise I won’t bug you guys about it.”
He just shot her a wry look.
“Marco!” Her sister Eden’s voice rose up from downstairs.
“POLO!” Avalon bellowed.
They all thundered downstairs to greet her.
She’d sent Eden a quick text with the gist of what had gone down with both the house and Corbin. Eden had sent back an emoji of the scream face, followed by a house, some celebratory confetti, and a question mark. Which about summed everything up.
“Hey! So happy you’re here, oy, except for, you know, thecircumstances.” Eden lowered her voice on the last word as they moved in to give each other a hug.
“Hey, what shampoo is that?” She and Eden were forever sniffing each other.
“I grabbed it because it was on sale at CVS near the register when I was in a rush. It’s pale pink, that’s about all I know.” Eden was busy as hell. A single mom with her own business. The nearest Sephora was hours away.
A colty-legged blur hurtled into Avalon and wrapped her arms around her in a big hug. Annelise had added a pink streak to her hair that made her look like a wild little fairy. She was ten, going on eleven. “Auntie Ava!”
“Baby girl! Good God, Leesy, did you grow five inches since the last time I saw you?” She and Annelise Skyped and FaceTimed, but not as often lately. She just worked so much. She and Annelise got the biggest kick out of each other.
“I’m going to be taller than Mom.”
“I’d say that’s a safe bet.” Eden was long and lean, while Avalon was short and curvy, like her mom. Whoever Annelise’s dad was (and Eden wasn’t telling) clearly wasn’t petite, either. And her sister Eden’s continued silence on the subject of who Annelise’s father was bothered her parents more than they would ever say out loud. And there was very little her mother wasn’t willing to say out loud.
Annelise slipped her hand into Avalon’s. “I saw your blue car parked in the driveway, Auntie Ava. It’s soooo pretty.”
“Thanks, sweetie. I like it, too.”
“It’s called a douchemobile, right?”
Avalon nearly choked.
“ANNELISE HARWOOD!”
It was an astounded chorus. Four jaws swung open and hung there.
Avalon almost laughed. Boy, when it rained ignominy, it poured.
Eden found her voice and wow, she sure sounded like their own mom. “Annelise Emily Harwood. What in the...wherein the...whatin God’s name did you just say?”
“What? What’s a douchemobile? What’s wrong with saying douchemobile?” Annelise was both genuinely surprised and a little thrilled to have caused such an uproar, and clearly rather savored saying that word again, because she likely had a hunch this would be the last time she’d get to say it.
And now Avalon’s parents weren’t preciselyglaringat Eden, but their expressions of mingled hilarity, severity, and alarm did rather demand answers.
“Oh, God, Ava, Mom, Dad... I swear I have no idea where...” Eden looked wretched. “The internet?” she hazarded weakly. The source of all unknowns.
Pity for Eden surged through Avalon. Her sister always felt as though she was damned if she did, damned if she didn’t. “See?” she’d imagine people saying. “Without the bulwark of a complete set of parents, a word likedoucheis bound to creep into a child’s vocabulary.”
“Hey, Leesy?” Avalon draped an arm around her and scooped her into her side, so Annelise would know she wasn’t mad. “My car is actually called a BMW, and it’s an awesome car because it’s built very well and it can go very fast, so it’s fun to drive. But a lot of people who aren’t very considerate drivemuchtoo fast and recklessly in them, which is dangerous and bad. And those people are sometimes called douches, which is another way of saying ‘jerk.’ But it’s not a nice thing to say toanyone. You only say it to hurt someone’s feelings or if you’re being naughty on purpose. So we’ll give you this one, but you can’t say it again. Deal?”
“Deal.” Annelise beamed up at her worshipfully. Avalon felt a bittersweet pang. The last few years had whipped by in such a blur of work. How had she forgotten how much she just loved hanging out with kids?
Eden shot Avalon a grateful look. “Annelise, where did you hear that word?”
“Megan’s brother Tod. He said BMWs are... that mean thing I’m not allowed to say anymore.” She was a little subdued. She shot a look at Avalon. She was worried she’d hurt her auntie’s feelings.
“Megan is...” Avalon prompted.
