Twisted Up (Taking Chances #1) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,88
deeper than graduation night.”
It did. Graduation night had been just one more fantasy that came from a mind that had been building happily ever afters her whole life. Make-believe happily ever afters.
Avery nodded. “It’s what I always did with my mom.”
She sniffed and Bree slid closer, taking Avery’s other hand.
“Tell us about your mom,” Kit said gently. “I know she was in and out of your life a lot when you were younger.”
Avery nodded. She wanted to talk about this. That shocked her. She usually didn’t even like thinking about it.
“My mom came to visit two or three times a year. She’d stay for a few days, and while she was here we had such a great time. But she never stayed in one place very long. She said there was a great big world out there and exciting places to go and people to meet.”
Avery stopped, needing another breath. Until she’d said that all out loud she hadn’t realized how much . . .
“That sounds like Jake,” Bree said.
Yeah, that.
Kit was biting her bottom lip, something Avery knew meant she was thinking hard.
“Go on,” she said.
Avery took another breath. She hated thinking about her mom and how every damned time Avery got sucked into the fantasy of Brooke staying in Chance and being a real mom—sitting in the front row at the spelling bee and beaming proudly, or taking Avery shopping and holding her hand, showing everyone they belonged together.
“The last time she ever visited was two days before my twelfth birthday,” Avery said, hating how her voice wobbled. “She promised she was staying for my birthday, and we even planned a party. She was going to make me a cake.”
“She left without doing the cake or having the party?” Bree demanded, clearly outraged.
Avery nodded, her heart a little lighter simply because Bree looked pissed enough for both of them. “Left the morning of the party. When I asked my grandmother why she’d gone, Ruth said, ‘Got what she came for.’ When I cried about it, Ruth told me that’s what I got for thinking I was something special.” Avery wished she was mature and wise enough to not let the replay of those words bother her all these years later, but she wasn’t quite.
Kit squeezed her hand. “That’s how you feel about Jake? That once he gets what he came for, he’ll leave because you’re not important enough for him to stay?”
It was precisely how she felt about Jake. She nodded.
“And you think the training center is like the birthday party,” Kit said. “That he’s making promises in the moment, but when something else comes along, he’ll be gone.”
Avery nodded again, feeling like someone was squeezing her heart in a vise.
“My God, I wish your grandma were still alive!” Bree exclaimed, sitting back in her chair, nearly vibrating with anger. “I would love to give that old bitch a piece of my mind.”
Avery couldn’t believe it, but she smiled. It was good Ruth was gone, because Bree would, no doubt, storm over to the trailer park to have a talk with her . . . and maybe end up looking out through the bars she was supposed to put other people behind. Avery’s heart tried to expand inside the tight fist of emotions and memories that had a hold on it.
It was amazing what a little love could do.
“I’ve told myself over and over that there will always be something more important to Jake, that he’s here short term. I was kind of okay with it. I didn’t like having feelings for a guy who’s always going to leave, but I was dealing,” she said. “Then this whole tornado thing happened, and the Bronsons are coming to town so he stayed for the cleanup, and now he’s talking about this training center. He’s getting all caught up in things, and when I listen to it I find myself getting wrapped up, too, and thinking maybe this time is different.”
“Maybe it is,” Bree said. “People change. Their priorities can change.”
That might be true. For some people.
“But it would have to be something more important than his current priorities.”
“Something like you,” Bree said loyally.
Avery gave her a smile. She would love for that to be true. She would love to think she was special to Jake, important enough for him to want to change his life.
“I’m just a girl,” she said. “There are millions like me in the world. He’s one of a kind, and what he does is extraordinary.”