Mrs. Avery

Chapter 18

She got a call from Evan the next morning rather early. He asked how Liam was and explained he was going to drop off her wallet.

Agnes quietly went down stairs to avoid waking Liam and James. She met Evan outside by his car. He handed her the wallet and just sighed, but he wasn't sure why. Agnes leaned into him and he wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm sorry about last night." She said after a moment.

"You don't have to be sorry."

He looked at the house, this place that he didn't belong.

"Do you know when you get to be just an aunt?" He asked after the prolonged silence.

She shook her head against him.

He sighed and his eyes started to water. "I took a promotion at work about two months ago."

Agnes frowned. He didn't sound happy and she knew something bad was bound to follow this information.

"I wouldn't be in Paxon near as much, which wouldn't be a problem when we can both travel, but it doesn't seem like you can do that anymore."

She shook her head slightly.

"Were you even wanting to move this relationship forward or was that fight about something else entirely?" He asked hoping she would say it was a fluke so that this part wouldn't be so hard. The path forward was vague, but they both just knew that they wanted more of each other, even if it was just more time with themselves as the same thing they had always been.

She nodded against him, the tears soaking into his shirt.

"Is there even a place for us in this now?" He asked staring at he house.

Agnes didn't respond, but the tears doubled their flow and she hugged him tightly.

"So this is it then?" He asked tears overflowing, eyes fixed on this stupid fucking house that he hated now. To him, it was just a prison that kept Agnes away from him.

She looked up at him and he couldn't help but brush the tears off her cheeks.

"I think so." She said and he closed his eyes tightly. Even if she was just the aunt, she couldn't leave them all the time. She had to make this right. She had to do right by Molly after all these years.

Evan hated this. He had shown up here knowing what to expect after knowing Agnes for all these years, but there was always that shred of possibility that she might surprise him. Today just wasn't the day for such things.

"Could I at least see you today or tonight?" He asked. "I'm leaving town soon. I wanted us to have some fun yesterday before we broke into all of that, but now I'd at least like us to talk about it, if we can."

"I'll check with James. What time do you want me to come over?"

"Whenever you can, just like always." He smiled weakly and kissed her. She kissed him back hard, worried that this might be the last time that she ever got to kiss him. He pulled back. "I better get going before anyone wakes up."

"Yeah." She quietly agreed with him and she pulled back slowly. She watched him drive off. And shook her head when his car was out of sight. She putzed around with her feet and flopped a small stone around. Then she took a deep breath and sighed. It was time to go back inside.

James was sitting up on the couch. "Was that Evan?"

"Don't worry." She waved him off. "He already left so he's not coming in." She continued towards the kitchen. James got up to follow her.

"Agnes." He said quietly while she continued to ignore him and make coffee. "I'm sorry about last night. I-" He shook his head. He had no good explanation. He'd messed up.