to hear that you think so highly of our program, and secondly, you didn’t apply.”
“Oh.” My heart sinks.
“However,” she adds, “we’ve just had an anonymous donor who wants to start an ongoing program dedicated specifically for people in your situation—for injured veterans and their families—and I mentioned it to a friend of mine who’s a director over at Riverside. Do you remember applying there?”
“Yes.” I nod, frantic.
“Well, my friend mentioned your case and about how he wishes he had placement available for your mom there, but since they can’t and we can, I was wondering if you’d like to take us up on our offer?”
“Um…” I look up at Trevor, tears in my eyes, while my pulse races against my flesh. “I mean, obviously, I would love to, but… we’re in Texas right now, and I’d need to come up with the money to fly there and… and I’d need to find a place to live…” My mind won’t stop spinning. “How—how long can you hold—”
“Ava,” Lydia interrupts. “This particular program comes with some very generous extras. It covers all travel expenses and comes with a fully furnished apartment nearby that you can either live in or just stay in whenever you’re in town.”
“For how long?” I ask, my voice hoarse with emotion.
“For as long as your mom needs the care. It covers all living expenses for her, as well as any and all medication, and we have the best doctors…” She continues to speak while all air leaves my lungs, and I look up at my brother, see the hope in his eyes, feel the magic floating between us.
“So, what do you say, Ava?”
I can’t speak through the giant lump in my throat, can’t see through the tears of relief welling in my eyes.
Trevor grasps my shoulders and then pulls me to him, his arms tight around me.
“Ava?” Lydia asks. “Are you there?”
I wipe the liquid salvation from my cheeks. “How soon can you take her?”
“How soon can you get here?”
Chapter 45
Connor
Austin throws a sock at my head, but I manage to duck it just in time. “Why are you trying to ruin my life?” he yells.
Nose scrunched, I pick up his dirty sock from my bed and throw it back to his side of the dorm room. “Why can’t you get your own social life?”
His eyebrows lift, and he motions up and down the length of his torso. “Have you met me?”
I shake my head, grab my basketball, and spin it around my finger. “There’s nothing wrong with you, Austin.”
He sighs, taking the ball from me and hiding it behind his back. “Says the jock who has every girl vying for his attention.”
I scratch my head. “What do you want?”
He adjusts his glasses. “Take me to the party with you.”
“I’m not going to the party,” I reply.
“Thus, you ruining my life.”
I chuckle. Austin and I were randomly paired to room together in the dorms, and I don’t know how Duke decides who gets roomed with who, but you couldn’t find an odder match if you tried. At least on paper. He must’ve felt the same way when we first met because I’m pretty sure he hated me. It took a good few months of us living and breathing in the same space for him to realize that I was nothing at all like the jocks who apparently bullied him all through high school. Now, he calls me his best friend. I’d do the same, except mine is somewhere in Texas, probably living with a guy who managed to coerce her into his home, or worse, his bed.
No, I’m still not over it.
And clearly, I’m still not over her.
“I’m never going to get laid,” he mumbles, throwing himself on his bed.
“There’s nothing wrong with you,” I repeat honestly. “You’ll find a girl when you least expect it. I was eighteen when I lost my virginity.”
He sits up, eyes narrowed, then shakes his head. “So, what are we doing tonight?”
I pick up my laptop. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but I have to study for finals. We can’t all be geniuses like you.” Like me, Austin got a full ride to Duke, but unlike me, his is purely academic. I still don’t really understand what his end game is or what any of the subjects are that he takes. Something about computers and science and algorithms and I don’t know… sometimes I see him on his laptop, his fingers flying across the keyboard, and on the screen is a