14.
Avery lost her appetite for breakfast. And lunch. By the time afternoon rolled around, her happy mood from earlier was completely replaced with a low grade worry that was all too familiar. Also, a bit of anger that was familiar too.
It wasn't until Emily got home that Avery finally relaxed. Her daughter was sharp. She would figure out something was wrong. So they had cooked a late supper and Emily had gone to her room to play on her computer for a bit. Avery was going to call it a night. She was still tired from the night before.
The phone rang before she made it to the stairs. Avery picked it up with a frown and glanced at the clock. It was after 10. She immediately wondered if something had happened to her dad. It seemed like that only reason anyone had called her this late in recent memory had been related to her mother's health.
"Hello?" Avery said it cautiously.
"Hey."
She relaxed at the sound of Mark's voice. Emily appeared at the top of the stairs, expectant look on her face. "Hey." Avery waved at her daughter. At least this time, the phone wasn't for her.
"Sorry to call so late. Couldn't seem to get out of there."
"What happened?" Avery took the phone to the front porch and sat on the swing. A strong breeze was blowing. The smell of rain was in the air. Avery loved that smell. She could hear the first of the drops falling on the tree leaves in front of the house.
"Oh just a lot of bullshit." Mark sighed heavily. "He asked where I was, what I was doin' here, what I was doin' with you. I don't think he liked it when I told him it was none of his goddamned business. And he kept askin' about my relationship with that asshole that got shot." Avery could hear the spite in his voice at the word. "I haven't talked to, or wanted to talk to, that piece of shit since the day I left." He got quiet for a moment. "Sorry. I'm just tired and aggravated."
"Yeah. I know that feeling." Avery said with a smirk.
"And I worried all day that you were thinkin' I was gonna run off again."
"But you didn't." Avery pointed out. "Are you back at the motel?"
"Yeah." He sighed again. "Seems a lot lonelier now."
Avery smiled at that. "I'd invite you over, but you haven't even met my daughter. And it's late."
"I know. And I don't wanna intrude on your family."
"You're not. But...baby steps. I haven't brought anybody home since her dad and I split up. And I don't want to rush this."
"Any more than we already have?" Mark said with a chuckle.
"Well. That was 20 years coming. I mean whatever comes next."
"What do you want to come next?"
Avery thought it over for a moment. "I don't know. I'm too scared to imagine."
"Scared?" Mark asked, confused. "Darlin' if I need to back off..."
"Ha. Yes. Another 10 years or so and I might figure out what I want."
"Not that backed off. I mean if you need a few days. I'm here for a couple of weeks. There's not a big rush. I'd rather enjoy what time we have and not put any kinda pressure on it. At least not yet."
"No pressure. Got it." Avery said it softly.
"I'm not sayin' I don't want to see what we got..."
"I know. Believe it or not, I am an adult now. I can handle taking things slow." Avery snorted. "It doesn't mean I have to like it. So maybe one night this week you can come over for dinner, and meet Emily. Night to be determined later."
"I'll look forward to it. Now go get some sleep. I'll call you tomorrow."
They said their goodbyes and Avery sat with the phone in her hand, listening to the rainfall but not really hearing it. It was true she had not really thought about what came next when it came to Mark. Were they just going to sleep together a few times then he'd head back to Houston? The thought left her feeling rather hollow.
"You should have thought of this shit before you slept with him again, Av." She chided herself and finally got up. Bed. She needed 8 solid hours of sleep. And then she'd worry about where she was going with Mark.
The next morning she dropped Emily off at Danielle's dance studio. Some things never change. The dance school was still there, although Danielle only ran the business end. Her daughters actually taught the classes. Avery headed to the school. Even though the last day had been Friday, she still had about a week's worth of planning and paperwork to do before she would be officially done.
Most of it involved cleaning out her files. She had to box up the graduated fifth grader files for storage, and start creating new files for incoming first graders. They were already in the computer, but they kept paper copies as well so that the teacher has reference material. So far the push to go strictly computer had been very hit and miss. It meant a little more paperwork but it seemed to be a good system.
Ellie reminded her to take a lunch break. The morning had flown by. Quite a few teachers were there, stripping the classrooms down. Every year they got new materials to hang up, and new decorations. But for deep cleaning purposes, once school was out the rooms were stripped of everything so that the custodial staff could get their jobs done efficiently.
"I'm tired of looking at tacky tape. This stuff is gross." Ellie observed as they headed outside. She was picking gummy tape off of her fingers, lip curled in disgust.
"It's not the tape, it's the cleaner you use to get it off." Avery observed. They walked the two blocks to a small cafe on the first intersection in town. The place was tiny, and nowt hat school was out, the lunch crowd was thin. They took a table in a corner and ordered sandwiches, chips, and drinks. They didn't talk again until they had their food.
"I heard your buddy got taken in for questioning yesterday." Ellie said, around a mouthful of food.
"My buddy?" Avery raised an eyebrow.
"Yup. Also heard they picked him up at your house." Ellie wiggled her eyebrows, making Avery laugh. "You know how it goes. Your business is everybody's business around here."
"Everybody's business is everybody's business around here." Avery muttered, munching on a chip. "And yes. He did get asked some questions. I guess." She wasn't sure exactly what questions, since Mark hadn't seemed too eager to get her involved in it on the phone the night before.
"Poor guy. In town for less than a week, already hot on the rumor circuit." Ellie looked around. "Remember the rumors when he took off?"
Avery frowned. "What rumors?" She had been too upset to pay attention to any rumors at the time, not that she ever put any sort of bank into gossip. People needed better hobbies, in her estimation.
"That your mom paid him off."
Avery choked on her soda. The offhand way Ellie had said it was what caused it. It took a minute to stop coughing. "Why...would my mom...pay him off?" She finally managed to ask between coughs.
Ellie was grinning. "Because he had the hots for you. And your mom didn't want that anywhere near you." She sobered. "I'm sorry. It's not nice, since she just passed away..."
Avery waved that off. "How the hell would anybody get the idea that my mom paid Mark to take off?"
"Who knows how shit gets started?" Ellie shrugged. "You two were seeing an awful lot of each other though."
"I was tutoring him."
"And what are you doing with him now?" Ellie smirked.
"Still tutoring him." Avery didn't miss a beat. It made Ellie laugh.
"Remember Jon?" At Avery's confused look. "Jon Ashton? God's gift to high school girls? He said that Mark bragged to him about it."
"Why would Mark brag to him? I didn't know they were friends." Avery said it cautiously. It was a long time ago, but she was pretty sure they ran in completely different circles. Just like the cliques that formed around certain things – sports, money, cars, cloths – the clique itself could be separated even more. Jocks didn't hang out with all other jocks. The basketball types tended to avoid the football types, and vice versa. They were constantly trying to one-up each other, which made no sense to Avery.
"They weren't. Which is why I thought it was utter horseshit." Ellie grinned again. "I think Jon was jealous. He was chompin' at the bit to ask you out but Mark cock blocked him."
"What? When?"
Ellie started laughing. "Right before prom. He was going to ask you. Be the first brave one to go against the evil dragon principal and rescue the princess. Because apparently prom is like the ball where the prince picks his Cinderella."
Avery had to snort a laugh at that. The joke was on Jon. When it was time for prom, she'd never had any intention of going even if she were asked. Not only was she two to three years younger than everybody else there, but at the time her self-esteem wasn't high enough to let her believe that anyone would want to date her unless they had some 'Carrie' level pranking planned for the night.
"And yet I sat at home, promless."
"I told you. Cock blocked. Mark told him to stay the fuck away from you, and he was just scary enough for Jon to believe he'd better." Ellie polished off her sandwich. "You about ready to head back? I still have two walls to go before I can tackle the cabinets."
"Sure." Avery finished her drink and left enough money on the table to cover their food and the tip. Although the concept of Mark stepping in on her behalf was rather funny, the tidbit about her mother had stung. Because it sounded like something her mother might do.
Mark had said they'd talked. And it went more toward Suzanne's nature to pay off the boy she feared was soiling her daughter rather than being forced to make a promise to play nice. The sandwich she ate, which had been good, seemed to sit like a brick in her stomach. She didn't want to believe it. She couldn't believe it. But when it came to her mother, Avery was well aware of the lengths she would have gone to get her way.
