Page 10 of More Than Anything

Avery sighed. She’d never understand. All her life she’d just done what she was supposed to do and never really thought about it, so there was no way she could relate. “No, Mom. I’m fine. I’ll give you more information in a few weeks or months, but right now I’ve got a lot of work to do. But I promise, I wasn’t ignoring you and I’ll call you every week, okay?”

“Avery, please, just come?—”

“No, Mom. That’s not up for discussion.”

“Your brother wants you to?—”

“I don’t care what my brother wants. That’s his problem, not mine. Bye, Mom. Talk to you soon.”

As Avery took the phone down from his ear, he heard his mother saying, “But Avery, please, just…” He hit END and dropped the phone in his lap.

He’d done the right thing. As he sat there, thinking about everything that was going on around him, there was a tapping on his window. He turned to see Arlene standing there, and he put his window down. “There you are!” she exclaimed. “Would you like to come to my house for lunch? Walter and ReverendPotter are coming. It’ll be fun!”

“Sure!” What could it hurt? They were friendly and he was pretty sure he’d have a good time. “Just tell me how to get there and I’ll see you there.” He listened to her instructions and waited until she pulled her huge eighties-model Buick out of the parking lot, then followed her in case he had trouble finding her house.

They got separated at one of the few traffic lights in town, but he had no trouble locating the house. When he pulled up, there were about six cars in the drive, and he recognized Arlene’s and Walter’s. He’d barely made it halfway up the walk when Arlene popped her head out the door. “There you are! I was afraid you got lost! Well, come on in here, son! Glad to have you!” Avery’s smile was huge until he stepped through the front door.

And there stood Danette.Oh, lord, no. I can’t do this, Avery moaned to himself. Walter and ReverendPotter were already seated in the little living room, and a couple of other ladies were buzzing around the dining room table, one of whom Avery recognized. Arlene grinned and pointed to the two women. “This here’s LouevaParker and that there is BabsColtharp. Ladies, this here is AveryHolcomb.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Loueva called out, but there was a hint of sarcasm in her voice that Avery found alarming.

“Pleasure’s all mine, Ms.Loueva. Ms.Babs?” Avery said, bobbing his head toward her.

“Good to meet you, young fella. Hope you’re hungry. We’ve got all kinds of food here!” Babs sang out.

“Oh, yes, ma’am! I haven’t had a home-cooked meal in a while.”

“Well, you came to the right place. Let’s all get in here and dig in,” Arlene called out toward the living room.

Everyone took a seat and, fulfilling his biggest fear, Arlene made sure Danette sat right beside Avery.Okay, just be polite and it’ll be over soon, he told himself, but it was difficult. He could feel Danette’s eyes boring into him all through lunch. He had to admit, though, that the food was delicious, and it was really nice to be able to sit and eat and laugh with a group of people who didn’t seem to want anything from him?well, except for Danette. It was more than clear to him what she had in mind, and he didn’t want anything to do with that.

“So, Avery, how have you managed to stay unattached all this time?” Arlene asked out of the blue.

“I haven’t. I’m just getting past a divorce,” Avery said and watched faces around the table frown. That was exactly what he was hoping for.

“Oh! Children?” ReverendPotter asked.

“No. No children.” He took another sip of sweet tea and tried hard to will away the conversation. “I really don’t like to talk about it. It was particularly nasty.”Oh, if they only knew the whole story, he told himself, cringing internally.

“Of course. And we shouldn’t make you,” ReverendPotter said. “What’s for dessert, Arlene?” he asked, letting Avery off the hook.

“Loueva’s peach cobbler!”

Walter groaned. “Oh, lordy, I’m not sure I can eat any. I’m stuffed!”

The tea was making itself known to Avery, and he looked around for a few seconds before he decided to just come right out and ask. “Hey, which way is the bathroom?” he leaned over and whispered to Arlene when she came to take away his plate.

“Right down the hall there, second door on the right,” Arlene whispered back.

“If you all will excuse me,” Avery said and made his way down the hallway. He found the bathroom with no trouble and when he was finished, he washed his hands with the sweet-smelling lavender soap at Arlene’s bathroom sink and dried them carefully on the pretty monogrammed towel in the ring on the wall.

But when he opened the door, it was to Danette’s face right in the doorway, and Avery jumped in surprise. “Danette! I’m sorry. Did you need in here?”

She smiled sweetly. “No. I just wanted to talk to you.” Moving toward him, she pressed him back into the bathroom until she could almost close the door. “Just thought maybe we could catch a minute alone here.”

“Um, we’re in the bathroom and I’m really uncomfortable with?—”

“Don’t be,” Danette whispered out. “We just need to get to know each other, that’s all.”

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