Page 26 of Where Are You Now
He visibly gathered himself. “Nice to see you, Mrs. Barnes.”
“Well, come on over. I’ll make us some iced tea, and we can catch up,” Martha said.
Lucas waved his hands. “Actually, I …”
“Don’t try to be polite,” Martha said. “It’s not an imposition at all. I can make us some lunch while you two fish.”
Ava gave him a conspiratorial smile. “We won’t take no for an answer.”
Chapter Eight
“Ow.” Ava flinched as she climbed into her mother’s car, her body still responding to her Usain Bolt impression across the parking lot.
Her mother clipped her seatbelt while Lucas’s Range Rover pulled up behind her, waiting for them to go.
“Would you like to tell me what’s going on and why you sprinted out of the therapy office like someone set fire to the building?”
“I might have offended Lucas, and I’m not sure how.” Ava explained what she’d said and the way he’d responded with an abrupt departure. “Out of nowhere, the nurse said he wasn’t feeling well and had to leave.”
“Did you consider that he might actually have fallen ill?”
Ava rolled her eyes. “He’s not sick.”
“Did you also consider the fact that even so, while you’ve been given some divine directive to find him, his earthly issues are none of your business, and if he wants to take a sick day—even in the middle of a therapy session—that’s his prerogative?”
Martha put the car in drive and pulled out of her parking spot, Lucas following behind.
“I can’t just let him leave without resolving things,” Ava said. “Whywas I supposed to find him? That’s the piece of the puzzle I don’t yet know. All I can do is act on my gut feelings, and my gut told me to run after him.”
Ava chewed her lip, trying to figure out her next move.
“There’s something wrong,” she continued. “I can tell. And maybe it’s none of my business, but to figure out thewhybehind this, I have to see if he’ll talk to me. He used to.”
“He’s not a boy anymore, Ava.”
“I know. But I keep thinking there’s something more to our meeting than this.”
“Well, maybe he’ll lighten up once we get him to the cabin, and you can find out what upset him,” her mother said.
Ava eyed him in her side-view mirror. “Maybe.”
Lucas trailed them all the way home, where he pulled to a stop behind Martha. He got out and looked around the yard.
“This is really nice, Mrs. Barnes,” he said as Ava and her mother came around to his side of the car.
“Thank you,” Martha said. “It’s been a lovely place to relax, out here on my own.”
“I heard about Mr. Barnes. I’m sorry.”
Martha smiled. “Thanks. I sure do miss him.” She turned to Ava. “It’s wonderful having this lovely lady stay, though. She’s brought quite a bit of action to my quiet days.”
He smiled.
Ava stepped over to him. “Want to help me find Dad’s fishing poles in the shed?” She eyed Lucas’s nice trousers and button-up. “We don’t have to get the canoe out or anything. We can just fish from the deck.”
“Oh, that’s a great idea,” her mother said. “I’ll make you two a plate of nibbles to take out while you fish.”
“Please, Mrs. Barnes, don’t go to all that trouble. I’m not able to stay very long.”
