Mrs. Avery

Chapter 21

James was on edge when Agnes arrived home like he had to make sure she was okay. He felt responsible for the entire mess and in truth he was, even if it was an accident. To his surprise, she came home and made all the right noises. He was considering that maybe he had been overly concerned. Whatever had made her cry might not have had anything to do with Friday night.

She was wrapped up in Liam the moment she walked in the door. She was tricking him into reading to her on the couch, when James came over and had to interrupt. They were snuggled up and Agnes had a hand on his head as she occasionally whispered the correct pronunciation to him.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but we have some decisions to make here." He said sitting down on the coffee table.

Agnes turned her head and the lamplight caught her eyes just so and there it was, that emerald as bright as it ever was. It took James by surprise. It shouldn't still be that bright from Saturday.

Liam groaned at them.

"Yeah, Dad, spit it out, we're trying to read over here." Agnes said batting him on the knee.

"Oh, yes. Sorry. So I'm going to go pick up Julianna and when I get back I can make us some homemade mac and cheese ... ORRRR... while I'm out I can pick up sandwiches and pizza for dinner from Lady Bella's."

"Lady Bella's." Agnes spat out quickly.

"Wow. My cooking isn't that bad."

"No, no. It's not that. I swear. C'mon now. I haven't had a Lady Bella's sub in years."

"Well you've NEVER had my mac and cheese before."

"Exactly. So I can't miss what I've never had." Her following smile was over the top and large, but his eyes kept focusing back on the emerald, which was contradicting all of her behavior.

"Alright fine. Liam what are you thinking little man?"

"Pizza for sure."

"I thought you were still feeling a little sick." Agnes teased him. He was being a bit clingy when she walked in the door and upon asking if he was still sick he had nodded, but James was directly behind him and shook his head and mouthed "NO" while making big eyes. Agnes smiled and accepted his affections anyway.

"Well, I think I'm okay enough to have pizza." He said sheepishly worried that he might not get pizza now.

"If you're sure." She said and he smiled at her as he became more bouncy. She kissed him on the head. James was walking towards the door.

"Hey, wait. I need to tell you what I want." Agnes yelled after him.

He didn't turn to face her, but rattled off. "Turkey sub, toasted, everything on it, but hot peppers and OBVIOUSLY some curly fries if they've got them." He looked over his shoulder with a devilish smile as he started to open the door. "Unless your tastes have changed?"

"Get outta here." She tried to give him some attitude back as she snuggled back into reading with Liam. James chuckled and left.

Agnes wasn't super into the books written for small children, but she loved hearing his little voice rattle on. And the fact that she had to pay attention in order to help, kept her mind from wandering off. She didn't want to think about what had happed earlier this weekend. She just wanted to live in her decision and her decision was to stay here and be with the kids as long as they needed her. What they needed and how long they would need her was unclear, but she couldn't drag Evan along that way. She was right in her decision and she knew it. She just had to keep reminding herself.

When James and Juli arrived, Agnes got a noncommittal wave from Juli before she disappeared upstairs. It wasn't much, but it was unprompted and that was progress.

"Eventually, she'll say hi." James encouraged.

"Her progression with sign language is nothing to gloss over." Agnes said divvying up food for herself and Liam.

Agnes went to grab the plates and then started her return to the couch.

"Hey." James said and she stopped short.

"Is everything okay?" He said quietly.

"Yeah." She said.

"I mean with Evan." He said even lower so as not to intrigue Liam.

"Yes." She nodded, but couldn't come up with a more thorough lie to sprawl out for him.

"I can take the kids all next weekend... and not mess it up like Friday so that you two can have a less traumatic visit."

She shrugged her shoulders at him and looked down. "Everything really is fine."

He knew she was lying, but didn't know how to get past it.

They spent the evening on the couch watching Beauty and the Beast.

"This was our movie, kid." Agnes said to Juli. She vaguely looked at her and then looked back the TV.

"I don't know what that means." She said.

"Well," Agnes said ignoring her tone. "It means back when you were little and we were buddies, we used to watch this together."

Juli shrugged. She wasn't sure what to make of that and Agnes wasn't sure what she was trying to do by saying it. It just jogged her memory and she wanted to share. She was reminded why she loved these kids at their cores even if it wasn't quite at the surface yet. It was baby steps with Juli and Agnes was shuffling along.

Agnes's phone buzzed and she turned to see the preview on her lock screen.

When you're right, you're right. Said a message from Evan and there was a picture of muffins below.

Always:). She texted back and then put her phone away, but her lips immediately turned down against her will, which didn't go unnoticed by James. He had been fielding messages from Kelly all day about his disappearance on Friday. She wasn't having it. And he was trying to answer discreetly and be understanding, but she was starting to aggravate him. After catching Agnes's response, he found himself less bothered with Kelly. He needed to fix what he could for Agnes before being concerned by Kelly's petty rant.