Lie of My Life

21 All Things Good

My apartment was dark when I arrived. I tossed my keys into the bowl by the door and wheeled my suitcase inside. I looked around at the untouched, unopened bag of chips on the counter, the roses now dead in their vase. Nothing had changed and yet I felt totally different.

I was only a few feet into the apartment when my cellphone emitted a shrill ring and I pulled it from my purse to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Ava! Are you back?" Emma squealed excitedly.

"Just got in," I told her, going to the refrigerator and opening it, hoping there was a snack of some sort inside.

"That's great! Take the day to relax but I wanted to let you know that Mindy booked a meeting with a condo developer tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure we could make the sale a lot easier if you were present."

"I'll be there."

"Great. I'll let her know. Great to have you back, babe."

She hung up then and I set my phone on the counter as I started scouring the pantry for something that wasn't expired.

"Knock knock," someone said, knocking on my apartment door as they entered. I turned to see Aaron entering.

"You don't have to say knock knock," I said, turning back to the pantry, trying to be as casual as I could, trying to speak to my brother the way I would have done before, trying to forget about the fact that the last time I saw him he was storming out of my apartment in a rage.

"What?" He asked now.

"You don't have to say knock knock if you're also actually knocking. It's repetitive."

He grinned.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said and then he spun me around and wrapped his arms around me and, just like that, all was forgiven.

We stayed like that for a moment, in an embrace fighting the urge to say we'd actually missed one another, until he separated and I returned to my search for snacks as he took a seat at the counter.

"I've got big news," he told me and I glanced at him over my shoulder. "We sold the house."

I froze, hand over a box of fruit loops, wondering if I'd heard him correctly. The house. My house.

"You did?" I asked, turning back to face him. His grin broadened as he nodded proudly.

"Five hundred thousand, fifty over asking, and they bought it unfinished," he told me. I nodded, forgetting to smile, forgetting to celebrate with him, because I wasn't sure how I truly felt about this.

The intent had always been, of course, to sell the house. But I'd designed that home, the first design I ever sat down and put on physical paper, to be my dream home. Every detail of that house had come right from my heart and soul. It was the home I wanted to get married in, to raise children in and to, someday, grow old in. It was the home meant for me and my soul mate. It was a piece of me. And, though I knew we would sell it eventually, I'd always hoped that, by the time it was completed, I'd be ready to start that life. I'd be ready to buy it myself. But the truth was, I'd never been farther from it.

So, even though I felt the tears coming unbidden to my eyes, I nodded along with my brother and said, "that's great."

"I thought you might want to see it one more time," he told me. "You know, before it's sold."

I nodded.

"I'd like that very much," I said, gulping back tears.

"Great. Grab your coat," he said.

"What? Now?"

"They're closing on it tomorrow. It's now or never."

I was too stunned to do anything but nod and follow after my brother. Someone had bought my house. They were closing on it tomorrow. This was the last time I was ever going to see it again. All of these thoughts were running through my mind as Aaron drove us to the lot we'd built the house upon.

I wanted nothing more than to see it again, to witness the progress they must have made while I was gone if it was finished enough for the buyers to be closing now. But when we rolled to a stop in the driveway, my heart sank and I wasn't sure if I could face this.

Aaron seemed to understand, coming around my side of the car and holding out his hand for support. I took it and let him lead me slowly to the door. When we reached it, I took a breath, and then turned the doorknob and stepped inside.

It was dark. I reached for the light switch but stopped with I saw the faint glow in the kitchen. I turned to Aaron and found him smiling at me. Confused, I made my way onward, toward the mysterious glow, and when I rounded the corner to the kitchen, my jaw dropped at the scene that awaited me.

Carter stood in the center of the kitchen, candles arranged in bunched on all the counters around him, light flickering over his face as he smiled nervously at me.

"Carter?" I asked slowly. "What's going on?"

"You were right, Ava," he told me, breathing hard as if afraid I would turn tail and run from the room. "We needed our time and our space. I needed the distance to realize how much I hated it. I needed you to leave to see that I would do anything, anything at all, to ensure that you never left again."

The tears already formed in the corners of my eyes began to fall as my best friend stated the impossible.

"I love you, Ava," he told me, taking a step forward, his own eyes moistening as well. "I think I always have."

I lifted a hand to cover my mouth in surprise at what came next.

"I bought this house," he said. "Because I knew how much it would kill you if someone else did. I know what this house means to you, Ava. I see it in the way you talk about it, in the way your eyes light up whenever you came to see our progress, in the passion in your voice whenever you pull out your designs. I know this is your dream home. Move in with me."

My jaw dropped.

"Ava Collins," he started, finally reaching me. He pulled my hand up from my side and uncurled my fingers. He placed a key in my palm and smiled down at me. "You're my best friend. Maybe it's selfish of me to ask you to be more. But you're the only woman I've ever been willing to risk my heart for. And I don't think I'll ever get it back."

I couldn't help the happy tears flowing down my cheek or the way I was already sniffling because of them. All I could do was throw my arms around Carter and kiss him deeply. I heard whooping from my left and separated from him to see all of our friends standing in the dark of the dining room, moving forward into the light with smiles on their faces. I chuckled as I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. Carter didn't even look at them. He lifted his hand and wiped away a tear with the pad of his thumb.

"Is that a yes?" He whispered against my ear.

"It's a you-bet-your-ass, Holden," I answered and he laughed once before our friends were upon us, wrapping their arms around us in an enormous group hug for a moment that I never wanted to leave.