Page 27 of Destiny

Ava pauses a moment, strokes her chin. “I’m going to do something I never thought I would do.”

“What’s that?” I ask.

She pauses again, closes her eyes, and then exhales before reopening them. “I’m going to close the bakery. I’ve been wanting to remodel anyway, and now is as good a time as any to get that started. While that’s happening, I will be devoting myself full-time to figuring out what the hell my grandmother’s doing. Why she reached out to me. And why she’s still here when we all thought she was dead.”

I drop my jaw. “Baby…”

“I’m serious,” she says. “I’ll be staying here at my parents’ house tonight. I will be staying in this room with my father. I will be here when this woman wakes up, and I will ask her, point-blank, why she has gotten in touch with me.”

I inhale.

Ava’s stance is indignant, and her countenance serious. She wouldn’t close the bakery if she weren’t completely sure she needs to be here.

I’ll step back for now.

But there’s something else at work, as well.

Because while Wendy reached out to Ava and not Ryan and Ruby, she also reached out tome.

Chapter Eight

Ava

Saying goodbye to Brendan wasn’t easy. We shared a searing kiss, and I waited outside until his truck was no longer visible driving down our winding driveway. Then I texted both Luke and Maya, telling them I was closing the bakery for remodeling and that they’d be paid for the time off. And no, I won’t be dipping into my trust fund to do so. I have some money saved to use for the remodeling, and it’s enough to take care of my people.

I wish I had my tarot deck. I do have a deck here, but I don’t like to use it. The one I have at home is a simple Rider-Waite deck, but that’s not what makes it special. What makes it special is that it’s wrapped in my grandmother Didi’s scarf.

The deck I have here—which is a fancier deck, no doubt, with intricate drawings of fairies on each card—doesn’t speak to me the way the other deck does. It’s more beautiful, to be sure, but these things don’t always make sense. So even though I want to draw a card, I resist. It will have to wait until I’m back at my place.

Mom is in the kitchen, heating up some water in a kettle on the stove. “Would you like a cup of tea, Ava?”

I shake my head. “No, thank you.”

“I’m fixing some chamomile for myself. I need to try to get some sleep. I wish I could convince your father.”

“No one will convince him until there’s someone else watching Wendy.”

She sighs. “I know.”

“We could just lock her in,” I say.

“No.” Mom shakes her head. “That’s false imprisonment.”

I can’t help a scoff. “Mom, isn’t this false imprisonment anyway?”

“No. Your father, as Wendy’s next of kin—”

“Not legally.” I roll my eyes. “Don’t say it. We’ve already been through this. The Steel name.”

“You carry the Steel name too, Ava. I know you don’t like to use it, and I commend you for that, but it will serve you well if you ever need it. Besides, your father didn’t lie to anyone. HeisWendy’s son.”

“At the risk of repeating myself…notlegally.”

“He is now. Or he will be. Aunt Jade is working on that. At any rate, your dad was able to make the decision to have her discharged from the hospital. He had to sign an AMA.”

“What’s that?”

“A document saying that he was having her discharged against medical advice.”

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