by Amity Hope
***
“One day?!” Ava muttered to herself as she wiped her hands off on the dishtowel. Her friends couldn’t allow her more than one measly day alone? She knew she should be grateful that they cared so much but at the moment she was only intensely aware of the wave of aggravation that grated across her nerves.
She covered the platter of pancakes and placed them on the table.
As she went to the door she wondered if she could keep them outside if she stepped out onto the porch. She just needed to convince them that she was okay. That she just needed some time alone.
“Hey!” she said with false cheer as she swung the door open. Her friends, standing side by side, frowned back, blocking her from stepping out.
“Where were you?!” Julia demanded as she squeezed her into a hug. “You told everyone you would be there! We were so worried when you didn’t show up last night! And you didn’t answer your phone!”
Oh, that. She’d forgotten all about the party. And her phone? She wasn’t even sure where it was it. In her car? Probably.
“I…” she began but faltered at coming up with anything.
“What’s going on with you?” Molly asked, not trying to hide her suspicion.
“What do you mean?”
She pushed her way through the door, circling Ava but her eyes scoured her face. “I was expecting you to be moping. All gloom and doom like. But you’re not. Something’s up.”
Ava shrugged, not wanting to flat out lie.
“You look…well, maybe not happy. But you don’t look so devastated.” She squinted at Ava, making her fidget. “Your eyes!” Molly said, sounding almost accusatory. “They’re all sparkly. Lately they’ve been all dull and dreary.”
Molly was so busy assessing Ava that she wasn’t paying attention to anything else. Julia, however, was. Her eyes darted to the bathroom door.
Julia gasped as her hand flew to her mouth.
The shower was no longer running but Ava realized the shuffling sounds from within were evident. She scooted around her friends, putting herself between them and the bathroom despite the fact it wouldn’t do much good.
Julia’s gasp snatched up Molly’s attention. Her gaze swung to the bathroom door as well and then her nose twitched and her eyes became huge. “Did you make breakfast for someone?”
Ava’s hands landed on their shoulders as she smiled and tried to nudge them back outside. “Thanks for stopping—”
“Not a chance!” Molly said as she ducked out from under her. She pointed to the door, her lips jumping into a huge grin. “You met someone! Who is it? Who?!”
“Is it Dawson?” Julia asked. Her eyes were wide and interested. “He was worried about you last night, too. He mentioned he might need to stop out here and check on you because he was expecting you to be there and you weren’t.”
“Wh-what? No!” Ava stammered. Grateful beyond words that he had, for whatever reason, decided against it. “Nonono. But you two need to go. We can talk about this—”
“Ava, I need a new razor,” Gabe flatly stated as he emerged from the bathroom.
Julia’s face immediately creased over in curious concern while Molly’s eyebrows shot up and her eyes grew even wider. The both craned their necks, trying to peer over Ava’s shoulder to ascertain who, precisely, the masculine voice was coming from.
“Oh my…” Julia muttered as she gently pushed past Ava. Molly was trailing only inches behind. “Gabe.”
He held the pink disposable razor in one hand and a wet washcloth in the other. Little pools of blood were scattered across his face where the cheap razor had nicked him repeatedly. His eyebrows quirked as his eyes darted from the strange people before him to Ava.
Several of the nicks began to pool over and blood trickled down his face. The unpleasant feeling seemed to jolt him back to awareness. He swiped the washcloth across his cheek even as he lurched backward and disappeared behind the bathroom door.
“What the hell?” Molly demanded.
Ava grabbed her friends by the elbows and towed them back toward the door. “It’s a long story,” she blurted before they had a chance to bombard her with questions.
“Try to condense it,” Molly suggested. “Quickly, because I’m—”
“Because we’re really concerned,” Julia cut in, slicing Molly a look.
“Condensed version is that he showed up at the church last night. And,” she said, taking a deep breath, “he has no memory.”
“Of anything?” Molly nearly shrieked.
“Not of anything prior to yesterday,” Ava admitted with a grimace.
“Including you?” Julia whispered.
Ava hesitantly nodded.
“Oh, sweetie,” Julia murmured.
“So,” Molly said carefully, “he has no idea who you are but he’s staying with you?”
“Of course he is!” Ava exclaimed. “I can’t just let him wander the streets!”
“Um,” Molly said, frowning. “What about his family? Do they know he’s here? Shouldn’t they be taking care of him?”
Ava scrubbed her hand over her face. She was so unprepared for this conversation that it was unnerving. “No.”
“No they don’t know he’s here? Or no they don’t want to take care of him? But wait, how would you know they don’t want to take care of them if they don’t even know he’s here?” Julia demanded.
Ava groaned. “It is so complicated. Please, just believe me. He belongs here, with me. It’s the best place for him right now.”
“I get that you missed him and you went through hell thinking the worst had happened to him but you can’t keep him here like he’s some stray puppy that you’re taking in!” Julia cried.
“Julia!” Molly snapped.
“Molly, I’m serious! First he was terminally ill. Now he’s back, looking like he still has one foot dangling in the grave. He’s suffering from amnesia and I’m the only one who thinks this guy might need some medical attention?!”
“I’m taking care of him,” Ava said, determinedly.
“He’s terminally ill!” Julia cried again.
“I’m dying?” Gabe, who had accidentally crept up behind them gasped.
“What are you wearing?” Molly demanded as she took in his ill-fitting clothes, similar to the ones he’d had on the night before.
“No, you’re not dying,” Ava said softly. She reached for him but he jerked his hand away, the mistrustful look flooding back into his eyes.
“I know my memory is trashed but isn’t that what ‘terminal’ means?” he snapped.
Ava stepped in front of him, taking his hands and looking him in the eye. “Yes, that’s what it means. But you? You are not sick. There’s been a huge misunderstanding but I swear to you, you are fine.”
“He doesn’t look fine,” Julia moaned.
Ava ignored her. She slid her hand across Gabe’s face, cupping his jaw in her palm as she tilted his head so he’d have to look at her. “I have never lied to you. I am not going to start now. There are definitely some things we need to talk about, though.”
“We sure do,” Molly said.
She and Julia sat on the couch. Gabe tossed himself between them. To Ava’s surprise, Julia took Gabe’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He gave her a questioning look before the three of them turned to face her. She sighed and settled herself into the chair, across from them, hating how it felt like they were the jury and she was about to give false testimony on the witness stand.
“Soooo?” Molly prompted. “He looks terrible, but he’s not sick.”
Gabe scowled at her words but didn’t say anything.
“Why did you say he was?” Julia asked. Her voice was curious, not accusatory.
“I didn’t,” Ava stressed. “Whatever you heard, you heard from Grier. No one ever asked me what was wrong with Gabe.”
“Of course we did!” Molly said, looking offended.
Ava looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Really? When?”
This got both of her friends thinking.
Julia slowly shook her head. “I don’t think we did. How could we not have asked?” She looked disgusted with herself at the thought.
Ava couldn’t bring herself to tell them it was because an angel had messed with their heads. This conversation was going to be complicated enough. “I think maybe,” she suggested, “you were so worried about me, that you didn’t dare bring it up. You asked how I was doing and if I had heard from him. You never asked, specifically, where Gabe went or what was wrong with him.”
They both nodded, seemingly grateful to Ava for giving them a way out of feeling like neglectful friends.
“I never said he was terminal,” she clarified. “Maybe Grier led you to believe that? I never corrected you because it wasn’t my place. Actually, I’m pretty sure if you thought back to whatever her wording was, that Grier did not flat out say he was terminally ill. I don’t think she would’ve flat out lied.”
“So you just lied by omission?” Molly asked, her eyebrows shooting up. Ava was the most honest person she’d ever met. For her to lie was a little mind bending.
“There were things going on with Gabe,” she said carefully, “that he asked me not to speak about. I was honoring that request. I guess if you want to look at that as lying by omission then…what can I say? Yes, I omitted information about him because he asked me to. It wasn’t my place to tell.”
“Such as?” Molly pressed, not looking particularly convinced.
Ava looked to Gabe, he looked as curious as the girls he was sitting in between. “Well?” he finally asked.
“You don’t want me to talk about this in front of them,” Ava told him. He didn’t look convinced. “Gabe, trust me,” it was a gentle plea, not a command. “I’ll tell you everything I know but it’s best if we’re alone.”
His eyes took her in. He nodded slowly. “Okay.”
“What have you gotten yourself into?” Julia muttered.
Molly shrugged but looked disappointed. “It’s none of our business. I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it.”
“Ava, with his memory gone, do you really think this is a good idea?” Julia wondered.
“Probably not,” Gabe agreed. “I’ve probably been enough of a bother already. I don’t want to be any more trouble.”
“Oh, no you don’t,” Ava said to him in a warning tone. “You told me you would stay. It’s no trouble. It’s the opposite of no trouble. It’s what I want. I was thinking we could drive through town today. Maybe something will flicker in your memory.”
“While you’re at it, get that boy a decent razor,” Molly commanded. “Although,” she said, her face scrunching in confusion, “you can’t even tell you nicked yourself.” She leaned closer. “That’s odd, your face—”
“Well!” Ava cried as she jumped to her feet. “Gabe’s breakfast is getting cold. He and I have a lot of talking to do so you should probably…”
“We should go,” Julia finished for her.
Ava nodded and Molly finally pulled her attention away from Gabe. She stood, going to give Ava a hug. “For whatever it’s worth, I’m glad he’s back.”
“Thanks,” Ava said, returning the hug.
When Ava released her, Molly took hold of Gabe and tugged him to the door.
“You need to listen to me. I know that you have no reason to believe me when I say this, but Ava? She’s the most genuinely kind, sweetest, most honest and caring person I have ever met. She loves you and everything I said? When it comes to you, you can multiple it by ten. By a hundred. You can trust her. She would do anything for you. This past month,” Molly shook her head, “I can’t even put into words how hard this was for her. She was devastated.”
Gabe said nothing, raptly listening to Molly as she spoke. His eyes did dart to Ava. His heart tumbled in his chest at the sight of her speaking softly with Julia and he quickly looked away.
“It’s obvious you need her right now. What I’m not sure you understand is just how much she needs you,” Molly informed him.
Chapter 7
Gabe nodded slowly, mulling over the story of his past.
Ava’s body was a burning bundle of nerves as she waited for his reaction of disbelief. She was preparing to do something trite such as utter a “just kidding.” But to her relief, Gabe didn’t look all that skeptical.
He had eaten his reheated pancakes and then they had settled onto the couch where Ava told him as much as she’d dared. She didn’t want to overload him with information. Just the realization that his dad was a demon and that he—along with his estranged brother—was a Nephilim, Ava had been sure, would be more than he could handle.
When she had told him that his father had been locked in a mystical cage and was now safely entombed in the depths of Hell, he had not even flinched. He had, however, looked upset when she’d told him what little she knew of his past. She tried to be gentle when she’d told him he had done things that were so awful that he would not even admit them to her.
She wouldn’t have told him that much but she didn’t know how else to explain how he had ended up choosing repentance in The Abyss without giving him some kind of background. So, she’d told him as little as possible.
All in all, he had taken it well.
Meaning he had not jumped off the couch and called her crazy, insane or a raving lunatic.
Yet.
Then again, with his memory gone, perhaps he didn’t remember that something like that would be very, very out of the ordinary.
“It doesn’t sound familiar but it doesn’t…it doesn’t sound impossible to me either,” he finally admitted.
Ava released the breath she’d been holding hostage.
“How do you think I ended up here?” he finally asked. “I mean, I chose The Abyss? How did I come back?”
It was the one thing he’d questioned that she didn’t have an answer to.
“I honestly don’t know. But after I met you, so many things happened that I never thought would be possible. This is the one thing, the one twist that has been thrown at us that I’m grateful for. I don’t know how the floor of the church opened up. I don’t know how it closed back up again. This,” she said as she fingered the cross around her neck, “I thought was gone forever but somehow, you got it back for me. I didn’t question it. And I’m not going to question how you came back to me. The important thing is that you’re here.”
“Is that everything?” Gabe asked.
She sighed. “I covered the important things. There are a million little details, things I didn’t get to. It’s not that I’m trying to keep anything from you. It’s just that it’s a lot of information. I can keep trying to explain?” she offered.
“I think that’s enough for now,” Gabe decided. He was clearly busy enough trying to assimilate what he’d already been told.
“If you have any questions, about anything, just ask. I’ll do my best to answer. You were pretty private about your life before me but I’ll tell you what I do know,” she promised.
He was quiet for a long while. His eyes would settle on Ava only to dart away again. They finally, cautiously landed on her and stayed there. “I must’ve really loved you. I mean, if I did that.”
The weight of the surprise in his voice crushed her heart but she just nodded. Her eyes welled up with tears but she managed to blink them away.
“If I’d have known that was what you were planning, I never would’ve allowed it,” she fiercely replied. “I never would’ve let you trade your life for mine.”
Gabe looked contemplative for a moment. “That’s obviously why I didn’t tell you then.”
Ava blinked a few more times but a renegade tear made its way down her cheek. “It was awful,” she whispered, her lower lip trembling. “I was there and I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t stop you. I have never, ever in my life felt so helpless. It was the worst feeling in the world. Watching you die—,” her voice cracked, stopping her from saying more. She pressed
her face into her hands, trying to push back the memory. “I’ve relived that moment every day since, playing it out in my head, wondering what I could have done differently.” She took a deep, shuddering breath.
“Are you okay?” Gabe asked.
She nodded but more tears coursed down, disputing her.
“Hey,” Gabe said, pulling her into his chest, “don’t cry.”
This, of course, only made her cry harder. It wasn’t just the memory of that horrific night. It was a culmination of all of the emotions she’d been feeling since she’d found him. She’d stuffed them down deep but they were suddenly spilling over. When he pulled her into him, she wrapped her arms around him so tightly she heard him take in a sharp breath of surprise. After a few hesitant moments his arms tightened around her and she relaxed into him. When his hand started rubbing small, calming circles against her back, he felt so much like the Gabe she knew that it made the tears really flow.
“Ava,” Gabe said softly, “please don’t cry. What can I do?”
“C-can I just stay here a minute?” Ava asked.
“It’s your house,” Gabe said, sounding confused.
“No. I mean can I stay right here? Will you just keep your arms around me for a little bit? I never thought I’d see you again. I never thought I’d feel you again. I know I’m a total stranger to you so if you don’t want me to, I understand.” She tilted her head up to look at him.
His features were dancing with unspoken emotions, confusion being the most prevalent.
He finally simply nodded and Ava put her head back down on his chest. She curled into his warmth, into his familiarity.
Slowly, she managed to pull herself together. Finally, she forced a little laugh. “You look like you. You sound like you. You feel like you,” she quietly admitted, then smiled, trying to lighten the dreary mood she’d created. “But you smell like coconuts.”
Gabe chuckled. “Is that your way of saying you want to go shopping?”
She wanted nothing more than to stay where she was forever, but she sat up, allowing his arms to slide away. He’d allowed her to stay where she was for quite a while. She didn’t want to drag it out so that he was wishing she’d go away.