Page 49 of Leave Before I Love You
She pulls back, mascara streaking her cheeks, and glares at me like I just insulted her unborn child. “Relax? Relax?! You were missing for two weeks, Avery! I thought I lost you! I thought I was never going to see you again! And you want me to relax? Are you kidding me!”
Oh boy.
“Juni, honey,” I say, gently putting my hand on her shoulder. “I think you need to calm down. You’re pregnant, and there’s no way it’s healthy to be this worked up. I mean, I know how scary a life without me in it sounded…” Beau and my mom both bark little laughs, obviously relieved to find I’m still the same Avery they know and love. “But I’m here. I’ve been here for fifteen minutes.”
“You’re impossible,” she huffs, swatting my arm away before pulling me into another hug. “I hate you. Don’t ever do that again.”
“I love you too,” I mumble into her shoulder.
When June finally lets me go, my gaze latches on to my dad’s face. He’s crying actual tears—something I haven’t seen him do in years, and a pang of serious discomfort runs through me. If he’s feeling things this strongly, they truly must have thought I was dead.
“Dad, are you crying?” I ask, my voice dripping with disbelief.
“Shut up, Avery,” he says, sniffing loudly. “Shut up and give me another hug because I thought I’d never see you again.”
I roll my eyes but step into his arms. His hug is tight, almost crushing and a little painful, but it’s comforting. There’s never been a problem my daddy couldn’t fix—or, at the very least, would try to with all the money and resources at his disposal. I can’t imagine the lack of control he felt not even being able to find me, let alone save me.
“Okay, okay, Neil. Release the vise grip, or else you’re going to break my ribs,” I say, laughing softly.
“Good,” he mutters, eventually letting me go. “Serves you right for scaring me half to death.”
My mother pulls me into another hug, her forty-seventh, if I recall, squeezing me a tiny bit less tightly because her breast implants make it tough to get as close, and then Beau is next, his expression a mix of relief and annoyance. “If you ever pull a stunt like this again, I swear…”
“You swear, what?” I retort, quirking a brow at him. “I only went on this trip because of the two of you, remember?You can’tback out. It’ll still be fun,” I mock, using my best version of his and June’s voices.
I don’t mean to place any blame or renew erroneous guilt at all—it’s a joke, at best—but good intentions or not, the words do not help June’s emotions. My niece Addy tries to console her with a few pats to her shoulders, but I have a feeling the pregnancy hormones are running this ship now. “Oh my God!” she wails. “I did this to you. We did this to you! We—”
Beau cuts off her tormented tirade by pulling her and Addy into his arms and pressing a soft kiss to June’s forehead. “It’s okay, Juniper June. Don’t focus on the what-ifs, baby. Focus on the fact that both Avery and Henry are safe.”
“Avery and Henry!” June wails into his shoulder. “That’s all I’ve heard for the past two weeks.Avery and Henryhave been missing for forty-eight hours.Avery and Henryhave been missing for five days. Ten days and the rescue teams have still not been able to findAvery and Henry.” She sobs harder and pulls me back into her arms, and with a quick glance over her shoulder at my brother’s tired eyes, I start to wonder if he’s had it harder than me after all.
Sure, I was hungry and thirsty and I missed my creature comforts, but for thirteen days, he’s had…this.
“Don’t ever do that again!” June yells at me, but her face is pressed into my shoulder, and her voice is muffled through her sobs. “You’re never allowed to travel anywhere, Ave. And if you go anywhere, you need to tell me first. I don’t care if it’s to your stupid Botox appointment. You need my permission.”
My poor June. She’s a mess.
“I love you. I’m safe.” I squeeze her tightly, gently rubbing my hand up and down her back. “And I promise I won’t travel anywhere without your approval, okay? You can even come to my pap smear appointments and hold the speculum if it makes you feel better.”
“Okay.” She nods and sniffles, which makes me smile. Volunteering for OB-GYN duties without a degree is the definition ofbeing in a bad way.
Eventually, she leans back, shaking her head as she does, and Beau reaches forward to swipe a few tears from her face. He also takes Addy from June’s hip, and June releases me from her Hulklike hold and steps into Beau’s side.
“You’s okays, Auntie?” Addy asks, and I rush to press a kiss to her cheek. This has to be so confusing for her, and I imagine I look nothing like she’s used to either.
“Yes, Addy. I’m okay. Promise.”
Addy smiles and even holds out her hand to give me a high five.
My grandma Bev shoves out of my grandpa Phil’s arms and wraps me in a hug clogged with expensive perfume. It’s a popular older ladies’ scent apparently, as I’ve learned over the last year.
I hug her back, squishing into her plush, blood-red sweater and breathing her in. My grandparents are the ritzy type—not the cookie-baking, sleepover-holding, lollipop-doling-out kind I’ve heard of online—but their love and loyalty is immeasurable, and I can’t imagine the strain of watching their own children long for me.
“Love you, Grandma,” I whisper into her ear, and she just purses her red-stained lips and pokes the tip of my nose before retreating back to her posse.
I know my other three grandparents are dying for hugs, too, but staying back to keep from smothering me, so I go to them instead, pulling them each into my embrace and holding them as tightly as my arms will manage.
My grandfathers both pull back quickly, trying to conceal the shaking embodiment of their tears. My mom’s mom, Judy, though, she lays a wet kiss on my cheek so moist, I’m pretty sure if I spread it around, I could use it as a shower.
