A Promised Fate (35 page)

“Fauna bought a ticket?”

“Not really, she is just someone’s plus one, she is
coming with another donator of your dad's.”

“Oh. Cool. I guess.”

“Very.” Ava rolled her eyes in a tease. She never
liked Fauna. “I am putting this away now. I don’t want to see my
laptop out for the rest of the evening – you promised you would
help.”

“Whatever, whatever, that computer is garbage anyway.
I am buying you a new one first thing tomorrow.”

“You wouldn’t dare, Ari!”

“Obviously, you don’t know me well enough.”

Shit
. I regretted that sentence immediately.
Ava frowned and three worried creases set in place in her forehead.
Her light happy attitude was instantly gone and her mind filled
with dozens of what ifs and doubts. What if Persephone comes for
me? What if we were wrong for each other… What if What if What
if…

“I love only you, Ava.”

“Please start working, Ari.”

She left and I knew she wouldn’t come back to the
table, she would find something else, some other task that was more
pressing and needed her full attention.

Sitting alone, I sorted through hundreds of names and
numbers slowly, putting everyone in his or her place.

“Have you seen Ava?” Lauren fell back into the seat
next to me with an exhausted breath.

“Nope. Not for a couple of hours anyway.”

“I need a break from centerpieces
and
mom and
aunt G. Whatcha doing?”

“Place cards.” I handed her the last of a small stack
to sort.

“Yikes, what do I do with this, Ari?” Lauren plucked
the card from the top of the stack and held up Julia’s name that
was perfectly penned in calligraphy script across the heavy, cream
cardstock.

“Crap.” Raking my hands up my scruffy face and
through my hair, I stared back for a moment. I missed her. It had
been nearly six weeks since Julia left. She hadn’t returned any of
my calls. The only person she had any contact with was my father
and he assured Rory that she was fine; Julia just needed some space
to grow. Whatever that means. I hadn’t gone this long without
talking to Julia since she came into my life when we were thirteen.
I missed her more than I ever knew I would.

“I don’t know, Lauren.”

“Well, is she coming?”

“I don’t know, Lauren! I doubt it.”

“What do I do with this?”

“Just give it here!” I snatched it from her hand.

“Where do I get to sit?” Lauren looked over the
diagram searching for her name.

“Umm, you aren’t coming, Lo.”

“What?!” She snapped.

“You’re on Max duty all night. Mom volunteered
you.”

“You're joking right?”

“No…”

Her face fell in complete disappointment.

“Get real, Lauren, you don’t want to be stuck at some
stuffy charity event.”

“I do when everyone else is gonna be there! Let me
take Julia’s spot.”

“You can’t. If you're at the gala, then who'll watch
Max? Ava and I really need you this time, and Max loves hanging
with you.”

“Mommmmm!” She yelled as if she were seven years old
again.

“Ava invited Luke for the weekend, so you two will
pretty much have my house all to yourselves. All night.”

“Oohh.”

“Max goes to bed at eight.”

“Ohh.” She smiled.

“What is it, Lauren?” My mom rushed in from the
kitchen. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m cool. Ari took care of it! Thanks, Mom! Love
ya!”

“Gosh! You nearly gave me a heart attack, Lauren! But
I love you, too!”

Lauren was giddy with the idea of time
alone…completely alone…with Luke.

“No sex or else I will kill you.”

“Oh, my God will you shut up! You are so gross. You
literally make me puke.” She pushed away from the table. “You’re
stupid, Ari. That is totally none of your business. Like literally,
oh, my God…I’m outta here!” Lauren stormed out of the dining room
and out on the deck to head for home.

“Yeesh, what’s the matter with her?”

“Hey Baby! I missed you, I thought we were working as
a team tonight.”

“Sorry, I got busy. Did you finish?”

“Nearly.”

She took the last stack of place cards and quickly
organized them into their pre-determined order. “There, all done.
Your mom and Aunt just left, too.”

“What do we do with this one?” I asked, holding up
Julia’s card.

“Oh, my gosh, Julia! I saw her today! I talked to
her!” Ava squeaked.

“You talked to her?”

“I did! I’m sorry I can’t believe I didn’t tell you
sooner! My mind is so distracted with all of this.”

“When did you talk to her, Ava? I have been trying to
reach Julia for weeks!”

“Earlier this afternoon. You were out and Max and I
had just pulled into the driveway from the store. Julia was waiting
for me at the front of the house. She asked if she could come
inside to talk. She came into the house with us but she seemed
weird...”

“Weird how?”

“She said she wanted to talk to me, but as soon as we
got inside, she said she had to leave. She told me she was sorry,
gave me a hug and left. It was all so strange, I highly doubt she
comes to the gala.”

“How long did she stay?”

“Not even a minute.”

“What time was it?” I pulled my cell from my pocket
and accessed our security footage from the day.

“Umm, sometime before three. Maybe two thirty?”

“Two thirty.”

“Yeah, that’s probably right.”

At two thirty-two, Ava’s car pulled into the
driveway. I could see her make the turn from the road and I saw
Julia waiting for her by the front gate. Julia walked up to Ava’s
car, got in and they entered the garage. Julia followed Ava and Max
into the house.

“I miss you all so much.” The sound kicked in as soon
as they entered the house.

“We miss
you
, Jules. Come on in and we can
talk about everything. Rory is a mess.”

The alarm was giving a warning beep in the
background.

A close up of Ava’s pretty face was on the screen,
she pulled up the system and gave her verbal code and then the
alarm gave one last beep and disengaged.

“Ava, I gotta go.” Julia slipped her cell phone into
her pocket.

“You just got here. We really need to talk.”

“I love you, okay?” Julia threw her arms around Ava’s
neck. Ava hugged her back, hard. “Ava, I am so sorry.”

“Don’t leave, Julia.”

Jules grabbed Ava’s palm and squeezed. “I love you,
Ava. Bye!”

She darted back out the garage door and I watched as
she slipped through the side door and head toward the beach.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that happened
today, Ava.”

“Ari, I am so sorry. I can’t believe I forgot…it was
so strange.”

“That
was
strange.” I rewound the footage
beyond the two thirty mark to watch Julia approach the property.
She was on foot and waited for Ava at the gate for over an hour…and
then left as soon as she got inside the house.

What the hell was she doing?

I watched the video three more times. Julia was
visibly nervous. She paced the property while she waited for Ava to
arrive home. She fiddled with her cell phone again and again and
fidgeted with her bangle bracelet. I zoomed in. The Band-Aide was
finally gone. There was a black circle of ink. Julie had been
hiding a tattoo. I zoomed in further to see what the tiny tattoo
was of and the image turned grainy.

“Ari, I am so sorry, I really cannot believe I didn’t
tell you.” Ava had wet eyes. “I wasn’t trying to keep this from
you, I promise.”

“It’s okay, Baby. Are you alright?” My hands
encompassed hers and I pressed our foreheads together.

“I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“Mmm…”

My lips pressed into the corner of her curvy
mouth.

“It’s okay that you forgot. I know you have a lot on
your mind. Did she say anything out of the ordinary while she rode
up in your car? Did she do anything?”

“She was nervous.”

“Yeah, I can see that. Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Ava, do you know anything about the Ziloti?”

“Ziloti?”

“Yeah…ever heard of them?”

“Yes. I have.”

“How come your feet are always so dirty, Max? Where
do you walk when I’m not watching you, huh? I’ve never seen feet
this dirty before in my life.”

He giggled, sucked in a breath of air and sank below
the bubbles in the tub. The washcloth was working overtime as I
scrubbed black, charcoal-like smudges away from the bottoms of
Max’s peachy feet and removed globs of sand and God knows what from
between his very small toes.

He was talking again. Ever since Max had said goodbye
to Lola Gallo at The Rangers game, he had been back to his normal
three-year-old self. It was as if he had never really stopped
talking to begin with. Max was carefree again and his cheery
talkative self helped ease the strain and stress between Ava and
me.

“Alright.” I rubbed my knuckles on the top of his
sodden, water-logged hair. “Come up for a breath.” I pulled the
plug when he didn’t float to the surface. I was in a hurry to get
to Ava. I was in a hurry to talk.

Max’s grimace became more and more pinched as the
water slowly seeped away and circled down the drain.

“Sorry, Buddy, it's too late tonight to play any
longer.” I was prepared for Max’s post-bath, naked dash through the
house and already had the door closed with me blocking it, a towel
in my hand and his pajamas sitting on the countertop.

Running the towel through his springy hair, I
couldn't help but crack a smile. Ava had attempted to give him a
trim a couple of weeks earlier and the makeshift haircut had not
gone as she had hoped. Max ended up with a major chunk being
snipped right from the top of his head. He looked pretty silly for
a number of days. Now, hair all grown back cartoonish and floppy
with chocolate brown tufts poking through in all directions, Max
looked like...well, like me. An outsider could look at the two of
us together and would never question whether or not I was his
biological father. It was the Greek in us – dark eyes, dark hair
and an olive undertone that only became more evident in the
California sun.

I wasn’t sure, but I think Max had forgotten Maya,
his grandmother. He no longer asked about her. He had stopped
mentioning her altogether. His own parents had been killed when he
was slightly more than an infant and so new to the world that he
had no recollection of them or of the scary night of their deaths.
I think he believed Ava and me to be his birth parents. Our family
felt so right. He fit into our life so perfectly that I sometimes
forget someone else, another set of loving parents, doted on him
and kissed him and loved him. I was sad for them. I hope that Ava
and I made them proud, if they were watching from above. I hope we
were raising Max the way they had planned to.

“There.” Yanking his pajama shirt over his pouty lip,
I tossed him over my shoulder to ensure he could not escape me.
“Time for bed, sweet boy. You can pick one book.”

Max contemplated his bookshelf for several minutes
before choosing the same title that he had chosen for the last four
nights.

“No, no, we can’t do that one tonight.” Max’s pick
came from the French shelf. “Your Mama isn’t reading to you
tonight, she’s in the shower, you’re stuck with me, Buddy. Pick a
book from the English shelf.”

“
Daddy
.” This really upset him. He liked the
French stories better because Ava read them with so much animation,
her accent is cute and her language was interesting. It is always
fun listening to her speak and watching her eyes sparkle. A deep
whine started to rumble from the pit of his stomach, his lip
trembled and his eyes started to tear in preparation for a
tantrum.

“Okay, okay, I’ll try … I have heard Ava read you
La Lune
enough times, I can maybe swing it.”

“K.” His eyes dried quickly, Max smiled triumphantly
and carried his little story over to his bed and crawled between
the sheets.

“If I come across a word I don’t, know will you help
me?” I asked.

He nodded proudly that I had asked him for assistance
and I read what I had memorized from Ava. “
La petite souris a
pris une bouchee de la lune
…”

Max snuggled into my arm. He pointed to the pictures
the way that Ava does and said the French word and then the English
word. “La Lune. Moon.”

“
Oui, la lune, c’est the moon.”
I said what
Ava always says.

“
Souris.”
He pointed at the tiny mouse on the
page.

“
Oui, tres bien. Souris, c’est mouse.”

I read the book twice before Max fell asleep. Easing
him onto a pillow, I kissed the top of his head goodnight, flipped
off his lamp and closed the door behind me, making my way straight
to Ava.

I could always find her in our bedroom. The space was
our mecca, our meeting point, the nerve center of our whole home.
It is where Ava and I do nearly everything – we eat, work and sleep
in there, and, most importantly, we do all of our serious talking
in bed. Our first real conversation ever was in her bed. I learned
everything about Ava when her head was on a pillow and her smile
was sleepy.

We have shared a number of firsts together in our
bed, and despite our setbacks and tragedies, Ava and I know that we
are blessed people. We count our blessings daily and take nothing
for granted. Our home is one of those amazing blessings. It is a
piece of art. The space is open and the view from every window is
spectacular. Reclaimed wood merges seamlessly with clear glass. We
want nothing more than to be at peace in this home but I am willing
to leave it all behind and never look back if I can keep my family
safe from what is hunting us.