16.
Of course, hiding at home was boring too. It didn't help that Mark had called her a few times, and she was pretty sure he'd stopped by at least once. As it got closer to lunchtime, Avery'd had enough. She didn't want to see him or talk to him because she was still angry, but she'd be damned if she had to lock herself away just because he failed to mention some important details about his visit.
That didn't stop her from making sure the coast was clear before going out and getting her car. She headed for the dance studio. Emily was working there part time that summer, helping teach the little ones. She spotted her mother and grinned. "Jump in, Mom. You remember this stuff."
Avery had to laugh. Emily wasn't entirely wrong. The drills didn't change much.
Her daughter wandered toward her. "What's up?"
"Nothing. I'm playing hooky."
"It's not hooky when you're the boss." Emily pointed out.
"It is to me. Since I never do it." She nodded at the little girls practicing in front of the mirror. "You about done for the day? I need some retail therapy."
"Twenty minutes. And you actually want to take me shopping?"
"I actually want to take you shopping." Avery said with a nod.
"Did you get hit on the head this morning?" Emily asked suspiciously. "I don't have a dentist appointment do I?"
Avery had to laugh at that. A long time ago, when Emily was small, they had sweet-talked her into doing hateful tasks like dental visits or vaccines by promising her shopping trips out of town. She didn't mind the small Walmart they had in town but it was much more fun to drive the 45 minutes and go to the closest mall. Avery didn't doubt that her daughter would have been a full on mall rat if they had lived closer to it.
It was way better than hiding out at home. They stopped for lunch and spent the afternoon wandering from store to store. Emily had her own money to spend from her job, and Avery found some things for herself that she wasn't looking for but couldn't say no to. Retail therapy. Most of her anger was gone by the time they got home that evening. They had stopped and picked up a pizza on the way back to the house, and the smell of it had Avery's stomach growling, which made Emily laugh.
Her appetite disappeared when they got to the house. Mark was sitting in the driveway, leaning against the back of his car. He looked worried. When he spotted their car, the worry vanished off his features.
"Oh hey, it's your friend. Is he eating with us again?" Emily asked, breaking Avery out of her thoughts.
"Not tonight." Avery shook her head.
"Aw. Too bad. Yesterday was fun." Emily was balancing the big pizza box in her hand and trying to open her door. "I'll come back out for the rest of the stuff."
Avery shook her head. "Save at least a couple of slices for me." She called after her daughter as she went into the house. Emily's laugh carried back to her as she turned to look at Mark. He had approached although it was very cautious. Just like the first night he'd shown up and she had gotten so angry at him.
He seemed to be bracing for it. Avery just looked at him. Waiting him out again.
Mark glanced at her car. "Shopping trip?" He asked, noticing all the bags.
"Very astute. Now I know why they made promoted you to detective." Avery didn't normally do sarcasm. It didn't jibe well with her personality. But she couldn't seem to help herself.
Mark scoffed at that. "I heard you met my partner this morning."
"Partner? Do you mean the undressed redhead in your single bed motel room? Can't say we actually met since I didn't catch her name." Avery shook her head and backed off when Mark reached out to try to take her hand.
"Partner from work. She just got here this morning. I let her crash in my room since the motel office was closed. Her name's Leah Reynolds." Mark frowned as he spoke, as if annoyed Avery didn't jump to accept his explanation.
"Good for her. And you. She's a real knockout." Avery backed away another step.
"You don't seriously think something is goin' on do you?" The frown was still there, but he sounded amused.
"Nope. Not at all. I'm sure it's perfectly normal to share a bed and a shower with some beautiful woman at least a few times a week."
"We didn't share a shower." Mark said with a snort. "She's been my partner for six years, Avery. Like a sister to me. Besides that, she's not into guys. So it's not weird that she shared my bed. At least not to me. I'm sorry if you got the wrong idea..."
"What idea was I supposed to get, Mark?" Avery was starting to wonder if she were crazy. Of if he was.
"I don't know. Maybe just give me a little credit. I wouldn't screw this up twice." He gestured to her, then himself. "At least I hope I won't. Leah came down here to help me with a kinda side project."
"Good for her. And you." But Avery felt herself wavering. Again. She hated herself for it. Did she actually believe him? The short answers was yes. He hadn't lied to her about anything before, why start now?
"Sheriff won't talk to me about anything. And I wanna prove that asshole killed my mother. Leah can get people to talk. Plus they don't know her. It'll make 'em more inclined to give us some information." Mark finally managed to catch her fingers with his. He pulled her closer, and Avery let herself be pulled.
"A heads-up would have been nice." She said, refusing to completely give in.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know she was gonna show up at 4 in the mornin'." Mark shook his had. "But I want you to meet her. Like I said. She's like a sister. I didn't have much of a family and she's the closest I've ever gotten. At least so far." The way he said the last part, coupled with the look he was giving her, had Avery's knees feeling weak.
She didn't know how she was supposed to stand against something like that. She also didn't like the jealousy she felt toward the other woman. "There's still a lot I don't know about you. I keep finding things to remind me of that." Avery pointed out. "And I feel like we're already attached. Somehow."
Mark was nodding. "I feel it too. We lost a lot of years. Doesn't mean we have to lose anymore. Tell me what you want to know."
Avery raised an eyebrow. "Did my mother pay you off?"
The question seemed to throw him off for a moment. Avery hadn't been aware she was going to ask it until it came out. "Why would your mother pay me off?" Mark sounded genuinely confused. That in itself was the answer she was looking for.
"Rumors. My mom paid you to stay away from me, and you did."
Mark snorted but it was without humor. "Your mom threatened to call the police on me. But she never tried to pay me anything."
"She threatened you?"
"Yeah. The age difference." He shook his head. "I didn't get it at the time. You were way more mature than I was. She could have called the sheriff I guess. I don't think anything woulda come of it. But I think she just felt sorry for me, because of my mom. And that made her listen."
"Hm." Avery made a low sound. It wasn't an acceptance. But she knew he wasn't lying. She was trying to hold on to some of her anger, because otherwise she had a feeling that she'd get way more attached to Mark than she already was. "And the prom?"
"What prom?" Mark was confused again.
"Your senior prom. I heard that I was going to be asked by someone and you shut them down."
Mark started laughing at that one. "I admit it, that one was true. I didn't want that jackass Jon Ashton anywhere near you."
"And yet you didn't want to ask me yourself?"
"Would you have gone with me?" Mark asked, curious.
"I don't know. I didn't know that going was an option. I was technically 2 years behind you guys."
"I ended up not goin'. Didn't seem worth the time." Mark shrugged.
"Mark, what are we doing?" Avery asked, changing the subject again.
"Talkin' about the old stuff."
"I mean us. Now."
"What do you want us to do, Avery?" He asked back. She shook her head.
"I wish I knew." She looked toward the house. "I need to go in. Emily's going to hog all the pizza otherwise and I'm hungry." She squeezed his fingers.
"In other words, you need time to think." Mark said with a smile.
"That too." She looked at him, expression serious. "Emily is going to her Dad's tomorrow for a few days. You can come over if you want. If you're not too busy."
Mark's smile widened. "I do want. More than anything else."
"Ok. See you tomorrow." Avery started to pull away but Mark held on. He dipped his head and kissed her. It was slow, and tender, and toe-curling but Avery wasn't going to be swayed. She'd think about it, and dream about it probably, but she wasn't going to change her mind about waiting until the next day.
She watched him get into his car before heading toward the house. Emily was at the table, munching on a slice of pizza, knowing smile on her face.
"What?" Avery asked, picking up a slice for herself. It had cooled but it was still delicious.
"Nothing. But...I saw that." Emily winked at her. Avery laughed around the bite of pizza she was trying to take. "And I approve. Just so you know."
"Great." She chewed enthusiastically. Appetite returned. "I've lived my entire life, waiting for my child to approve of the things I do in life."
Emily snickered at that. "You know that you do. Your life revolves around me."
Avery let her daughter joke her out of the serious mood she had been in. It was easy. Emily just had that way about her. Plus, she approved of Mark. It seemed to settle something inside her, knowing that. It was silly but true.
