Page 31 of Exile and Embrace

I guess there’s no going back now.

I park the car and turn it off.

When I get out, the woman’s jaw drops.

Her eyes are glassy as she walks toward me, the gardening tools dropping from her hands.

“Ava?”

My chest tightens as I stay close to the car, ready to escape if I need to. “Yes.”

Her bottom lip quivers as the dog trots over to me. A big block head collides with my leg, sending me stumbling back into the car.

The woman laughs and shakes her head.

“Sorry about Lola, she’s a gentle giant, and I don’t think she’s ever met a person that she didn’t like.” The woman holds a shaking hand to her mouth. “I’m sorry. I’m Courtney. I didn’t think that I would ever get to meet you. Jeremiah always wanted the family to stay away from you and your sister. He used to come back here every now and then, though. He told us about you two.”

My stomach twists itself into a tight knot. “He never said anything about you.”

She swipes away a tear that tracks down her cheek. “That doesn’t surprise me. He always thought that I was trying to stand in his way. I’m his younger sister.”

My aunt. I have an aunt.

An aunt that I knew nothing about. One that I never heard Dad speak of.

For the entire twenty-seven years of my life, I’ve thought that my dad was an only child.

“Are my grandparents here?” My voice wavers as I reach down and rub Lola’s fluffy head.

Her pink tongue lolls to the side as she looks up at me with big brown eyes.

Courtney gives me a sad smile as she shakes her head. “No. They died nearly a decade ago. It’s just me now.”

“You know that Dad died?”

She nods and gestures toward the house. “I know this is a lot. Why don’t you come in and we talk?”

My legs feel numb as I follow her into the little stone house, but my mind is spinning. Even something so simple about my dad’s life was hidden from me.

It’s only my first full day in Oregon, and I’m already starting to question everything I know.

Everything I thought I knew.

Courtney leads the way through a small living room and into a slightly bigger kitchen. She takes a seat at the table and nods to the other seat.

As soon as I’m sitting, Lola puts her big head in my lap, her tail slapping against the white cabinets.

I run my hand along the dog’s head, using it as something to distract myself from spiraling too far.

Courtney leans forward and clasps her hands together. “What do you want to know?”

Pictures of my dad when he was younger stare back at me from the walls.

A lump in my throat threatens to choke me. I keep running my hands along Lola’s silky fur, trying to figure out what I want to know first.

There are so many different places we could begin.

I force down the lump. “What was he like as a child?”

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