Everlasting - Christine Michelle Page 0,58
talked to Toby, then they’d go search down and try to destroy Avalyn. It wouldn’t matter that she refused my money and just wanted to help. They’d think I finally lost it all together. Instead, I now had an investigator acting as my front for the information I was about to hand deliver.
When I got to the girls’ school, I had to wait in the pickup line for another 15 minutes before they would come out. I ended up sending a text.
Ever: I hope I’m not bothering you…
Ava: Just feeding fucks on the lawn
Ever: That sounds personal
Ava: Damp it! This ducking phone hates me.
Ever: Looks like your phone is confused about ducks and fucks.
Ava: lol I was feeding actual D U C K S on my lawn.
Ever: I knew that from the beginning, it was cute watching you fight autocorrect. Lol
Ava: You’re a brat!
Ever: Would you mind if I talk to you once in a while about things? If I tell the people in my life that I talked to my brother today, they’ll think I’ve gone completely insane and lock me up. If I don’t talk, I’m afraid I’ll burst.
I waited a moment, and nothing came back. Then my phone rang in my hand and startled me to the point I dropped the damn thing and had to become super-bendy woman and contort myself to try to get it out from under the seat I was sitting in. I had giant, milk-filled boobs! They did not mesh well with the steering wheel that was in the way. When I finally managed to squirm my way to the phone and lift it triumphantly in my hands, the ringing stopped. I glanced down at the screen to see who had been calling only to watch it light up and ring again.
“Hey, sorry, karma just kicked my ass. You rang, I dropped my phone and it slid under my seat.”
Ava’s laughter was good to hear. “Oh my God, I think you might just be my people, Ever!” We both ended up laughing at our phone fuck ups before Ava spoke again. “I wanted to call so that nothing got lost in translation with the way I text. You can talk to me any time. I know this is a strange situation and requires you to suspend your belief or expand it. It’s something that will never be easy to speak about with others. It requires you to have to convince them to believe when you’re still wondering if you experienced something real. I totally get it. Remember, I told you I went to doctors and thought my family had mental issues instead of gifts.” She chuckled. “Well, I think they had a bit of both, but that’s beside the point.”
It was my turn to laugh. “Sounds like my family, only their special gifts are a different skill set entirely.”
“What’s it like being a motorcycle club princess?”
“I wouldn’t know,” I answered honestly.
“Oh, I thought Toby said…”
“He did. I have an unusual story about how I came to my family and it wasn’t really a happy one, so I was never treated like a princess the way my sister was. I can, however, tell you all about what it’s like to be an old lady.” I saw my girls barreling toward the car then. “It will have to be another time because my girls are about to hop in the car. I’ll call you later though, when everyone’s settled in for the night.”
“I’d really like that, Ever.”
“Me too,” I told her and then hung up just as Amber threw the back door open. She jumped inside as and threw her bookbag in the floorboard then hopped in the seat. “Hey, my beautiful girls!” I called out to them as Ashton followed suit and got buckled in. “How was your day?”
“You seem happy, Momma,” Ash mentioned while looking at her sister as if it was the weirdest thing ever to see me happy. It struck me then that I hadn’t been doing a very good job of reassuring my girls. What I thought was passing for normal simply wasn’t our normal and it wasn’t something I was capable of faking.
“I made a new friend today,” I told them.
“Oh! Maybe you can have a sleepover and we’ll order pizzas and watch movies,” Amber added excitedly.
“Maybe one day,” I placated her. “We can still do pizza and movies tonight if you want.” Both girls cheered, and for the first time in almost a year, things felt normal