Avery
After Knox leaves the room, I pick my clothes up off the floor and pull them on, making as little noise as possible.
Sleeping in Knox’s strong arms all night was too wonderful for words. And it turns out that the dream I had about him last night was real in all its glory. It’s no wonder I slept in and that was a dream I didn’t want to wake up from. And one I hope he’ll let us repeat. Assuming I can get out of the house without Piper seeing me.
I creak the door open and creep into the hallway. At the top of the stairs, I strain my ears to try to figure out what room Piper’s in.
At first I can’t hear anything, so I take a couple steps down the stairs, my feet coming into view to anyone in the living room.
“Avery,” Piper says, sobbing, her voice coming from the living room.
Why is she sobbing? My heart races, and I rush down the rest of the steps.
They’re standing in the center of the living room, Knox is holding Piper as she sobs against him. Her eyes are rimmed in red, and she wipes her nose on her sleeve as she looks at me.
Panicking, I hurry over to them, and rub her back. “What’s wrong?”
What if she’s upset because I stayed over? Knox will be furious, but hopefully not at me. Why didn’t I set my alarm on my phone? Why today, of all days, did I have to sleep in?
I flick my eyes up to Knox and he shrugs, his eyes wide. Piper cries harder against his chest. He hugs her tight but she’s in hysterics, her body heaving as she cries. Knox breathes heavily through his nose, his body tense.
“Talk to us, Piper. You’ll feel better, and maybe we can help you,” I say.
“My surprise. It’s ruined,” she says and wails against Knox.
Part of me wants to tell her to stop overreacting. Nothing is this bad. But Knox’s face is taut, and I bite my tongue.
“What was the surprise?” I ask in my nicest voice.
“It’s not fair,” she says between sobs.
Knox picks her up and carries her to the couch. He sits down, cradling Piper on his lap. She looks tiny against his massive frame.
I’m not sure what to do. I don’t want to intrude on them, but I want to help them both. Neither are looking at me, Piper’s face is buried in Knox’s chest, and Knox is looking helplessly at his daughter. I end up perching on the coffee table across from them.
“What was the surprise?” Knox asks.
“I was following my dream,” Piper says. As she speaks, she looks at me.
My eyes widen, remembering the conversation I had with her a couple of weeks ago. She asked me if she should follow her dreams, and I said always. I was in too much of a rush to leave before Knox got home bother asking what that dream was.
“What dream?” Knox asks.
Piper dissolves into another fit of tears, and Knox visibly tenses even more.
“Avery said to follow my dream.” I flinch as Piper says my name. I’m officially a part of this.
“We should all follow our dreams,” I say quietly, my eyes on Knox.
He doesn’t react as I speak. I don’t think his body could get any more tense to begin with.
“Piper, you need to tell us what the surprise was,” Knox says, his voice strained.
I’m sure he thinks it’s a boy. At least, that’s what I’m thinking it is. Did he break up with her on the morning of the graduation? Is this was a young broken heart looks like?
“No,” she whispers.
“I mean it, Piper, What was the surprise?” Knox says, his voice stern.
“No! I said no I’m not telling you. I don’t have to tell you anything.”
“You don’t have to, but if you want us to help you, we need to know. Come on, sweetie, you’ll feel better to say it out loud,” I say, reaching over to stroke down her arm.
“What was the surprise?” Knox says again, his teeth gritted.
“She’s not coming,” Piper wails.
“Who’s not coming?” Knox asks.
“Mom,” she says.
My heart stops. I thought her mother didn’t have anything to do with her.
“What do you mean mom? Do you mean Grandma?”
“My mom. She’s not coming and I thought she was going to come and I, I…”
“What are you talking about?” Knox says, his nostrils flaring.
“Why don’t you start at the beginning,” I say, and take her hand. Knox runs his hand down her arm, and takes her hand from me.
“When Darla was here,” she says. Knox winces at Darla’s name. “She told me if I want to know the truth about my mother, I should look it up on the internet.”
“Not ask me?” Knox says.
“I do ask you, but you always say you don’t know.”
“Because I don’t.”
“But Darla,” Knox closes his eyes at her name, “said that everyone in the world is online, and if I really wanted, I could find her.” She pauses to swallow and wipe her nose. “And I found her, on Facebook.”
“What did she say?” Knox says, the tendons in his neck straining.
“I asked her to come to my graduation. Because Avery said to follow my dream, and that was my dream. For her to see me graduate.”
“What did she write back?” I ask, and Knox glares at me with daggers in his eyes, and I slouch.
“She didn’t. Until this morning, she told me to… to stop sending her messages and leave her alone,” she says, and dissolves into another fit of tears.
“You should’ve asked me,” Knox says to her.
“But Darla and Avery…” she says through an open-mouthed sob.
Knox’s face becomes stone and he swallows hard. He glares at me and says, “Weren't you leaving?”
My heart stops and my arms fall to my sides. He continues to glare into me, my skin burning under his eyes. My mouth hangs open, but his eyes continue to bore into me.
I don’t want to make a scene in front of Piper. But I want to defend myself, to not be lumped in with Darla.
“I didn’t know,” I say.
“It doesn’t matter,” Knox says, and wraps his arms even tighter around Piper.
Brushing a tear from my cheek, I stand. My knees are weak and my heart thumps all the way up in my throat. I want to defend myself. But Piper is still crying, and I don’t want to upset her further.
“I’ll come over after and help you get ready,” I say, my hand on Piper’s shoulder.
“I’m not going!” she yells, and I step back from them.
“I’ll see you later?” I say to Knox hopefully, but his attention is on Piper.
My heart shattering into a million pieces, I turn, stumble into the coffee table, and flee the house.
I can barely get the key in my lock, my hand is shaking so badly. Finally I get the door open, and stagger to my living room. Stunned, I collapse onto the couch and try to understand what happened. The whole time, tears flow down my cheeks until it seems like I’m crying just as much as Piper.
All day, I’m hopeful Knox will come to my door once Piper has calmed down. The closer and closer it gets to midnight, the more my hope drains. At two in the morning, all hope is gone and I make my way upstairs to bed.
The next afternoon, there’s still no word from Knox. He hasn’t been in his garage all day, but I tell myself that’s because it’s Sunday.
In the late afternoon, I work up the courage to knock on his front door.