by Cat Mann
Chapter 20
Max
Weeks passed with only bits of information to add to the cryptic message.
One piece of the puzzle read, “I fled with you away from Margaux, away from what she had become.” I read that sentence a hundred times. I was more positive than ever that Margaux was No. 7, but I didn’t know what to do with the information. I couldn’t just kill beloved fashion icon Margaux Baio – a stunt like that would ensure a life behind bars. Frustration set in and I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders.
“Ava. Ava, Baby.”
My eyes shot open, but I couldn’t see anything. My vision was blurred from cloudy tears. Ari held my face in his hands as he whispered at me to wake up; I wiped the tears away with the back of my hand and sat up in bed.
“Ava, you’ve been crying in your sleep all night. What’s going on?”
I closed my eyes, remembering my dream; I had been in Greece, in a familiar stone home on a slope in a hillside town. Night had just fallen and I was with Maya.
“It’s Maya … she’s gone.”
He looked at me for a minute cocking his head to the side.
“What do you mean?”
“She was with me last night in my dream; it was her time to go, Ari. There wasn’t anything I could do for her. She wouldn’t let me spare her again; she was old and tired and was ready to go home.”
“Oh, Ava,” Ari said and began to rock me softly back and forth.
I laid my head on his shoulder while he held me and we remained silent for a while.
“Ari?”
“Hmm?” he murmured softy in my ear.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
“She put Max in our custody.”
I felt Ari’s arms go a little slack and I heard him suck in a breath. I could feel his heart pick up the pace. I felt his jaw against my cheek drop open, he pulled me back a little bit to look me in the eyes.
“Max?” he asked slowly.
“She didn’t have anyone else she trusted to care for him. We are the only family he has left and she had no one else to turn to for help. She couldn’t just leave Max alone with no one to care for him.”
I was getting defensive, as though I thought Ari had been going to say no. I was starting to panic. I was starting to fight for Max.
“Shhh,” Ari stopped me. He put his hands on my face.
“Ava, calm down,” he smiled at me. His smile was small at first then it grew bigger and bigger as he let the information sink in. His eyes sparkled with excitement. “We have to go get him!”
“We can’t … ” I frowned. “Well, you can’t anyway, you have finals and work.”
“Well, you can’t go to Greece by yourself, Ava. It’s not safe for you.”
I let my shoulders drop. He was right. It wasn’t smart for me to travel by myself right now. “What about Rory or Julia; could they come with me?”
“They have finals, too,” he reminded me.
“Ok, August or Collin can come.”
“August has to work and don’t take this the wrong way, but you still make Collin a little bit uncomfortable.”
I bit the inside of my lip.
“Who then?”
“I bet my mom would be thrilled to go with you.”
I groaned at the thought of Ari asking his mom to babysit me in Greece, but there was no one else.
“Yeah, ok, you ask her. I’ll book the flight.”
I went down the hall to my study, stepped over a pile of scissors on the floor, got on my computer and booked round-trip tickets to Greece. We had a few hours to make an afternoon flight and we would be back by the end of the week. I hoped the window would give us enough time to pay our respects and get all the legal work started for Max. Maya had been adamant that he be put under my custody; she said, in fact that the legal work had all been taken care of and I hoped she was right.
I booked a few days’ stay at The Loft, the same place Ari and I lodged in a few months back. It was fairly close to Maya’s home, so packing up some of Max’s belongings and taking them back to our rooms would be simple.
I went back to our bedroom, took a quick shower and got ready for the trip. I do tend to be a major over-packer and already had half my suitcase filled before I even started on clothes. I sat down on the closet floor and readied myself for the chore of packing outfits, shoes and underwear. Ari walked through the door a few minutes later. He had gone next door to explain everything to Aggie. Ari never phoned home when something special was happening; he always had to tell his mom in person. He had been gone quite a while.
“Is she coming?” I asked.
“Yes. She’s glad to go along with you and is already almost done packing. I’ll put her stuff in the car in a little bit. I just wanted to see if you needed any help.”
“Sure,” I said with a smile and patted the space on the closet floor next to me. Ari took a seat beside me and at the same time handed me a box wrapped in Christmas paper. I had been so busy folding clothes into tiny squares I hadn’t even noticed him holding the package. I looked at him curiously.
“What’s this?”
“Well, it’s one of your Christmas presents. I want you to have it now; you may want it for the plane,” he shrugged.
A large grin grew on my face, “are you sure?” I asked before tearing into the paper.
“Yeah, I’m sure; go ahead.”
“I love you,” I said before opening it.
He laughed then gave me one of his huge beautiful smiles and said, “I love you.”
I finished ripping the paper off and then squealed with delight.
“My very own iPad! Ari, wow, thanks!”
“You are most welcome, Ava; it’s actually more of a gift for me than it is for you … now you can give mine back to me.”
“Well, do you want this one? I can just use your old one,” I asked, thinking that letting Ari have the new one was the fair thing to do.
“Nope, this one is all yours. I know an iPad is not a very romantic gift, but I also know you’ve been wanting one. It’s already charged and I downloaded all of your favorite apps.”
I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly.
“Oh, Ari, I am going to miss you.”
He ran his fingers down my arms.
“I know, and I am going to miss you, too, but it will only be a few days and you’ll have my mom to keep you company.”
“Lucky me,” I said sarcastically into his shoulder.
“She won’t be that bad, besides she’s great with little kids. She’ll probably be a really big help to you. I should know – she was the best mom ever when I was little.”
I unlocked my arms from around Ari’s neck and rolled my eyes at him, “Ari, you are such a mama’s boy.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Well, it certainly isn’t good,” I teased.
He shrugged his shoulders at me and then zipped up my bag and took it to the car.
Ari drove Aggie and me to the airport. I held on to him for as long as I could in the noisy, crowded corridor, not wanting to say goodbye. I hated that he couldn’t come with me. I hated being apart from him.
“Hey,” he tilted my chin up with his finger. They had just announced our flight over the loud speaker and I was beginning to cry.
“It’s just a few days, Ava. Call me anytime day or night.”
I nodded my head up and down and wiped my nose with my shirtsleeve.
Ari smiled a smile that was so huge it made my breath catch in my throat. He pulled a tissue from his pocket and handed it to me.
“Be safe. You hold my heart in here,” he gently placed his hand on my chest. “I can’t live without it.”
“Okay,” I hiccupped and sobbed simultaneously and gave him one last kiss before we parted.