Seeing Blind (Rough Draft)

Chapter Twenty

 Ben was in lockup and the police have been searching for Ric and LeBron for the last week. Ben wouldn't give any details about where they could be, in fact, he wasn't talking at all.

A lawyer hasn't even been provided for him since he hasn't asked for one.

The doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Avery called. She hadn't left the house much in the last three days, knots of apprehension knotting her stomach on Ric and LeBron's whereabouts. They could still be in Greenwich for all she knew, for all any of them knew.

"Hey." Ambrose was smiling on the other side.

"Hey." Avery smiled back.

"I have a surprise for you, but you need to grab your birth certificate or a passport if you don't have the certificate and your permit."

Avery furrowed her brows. "Why? Where are we going?"

"I just told you, it's a surprise."

"I don't like surprises."

"It's still a surprise, doesn't matter if you like them or not. Now come on, do I have to get your father involved?"

"He's not home."

"Well, then what's with the wasting time? I took off of 'The Fitness Zone' for this--you."

"You did?"

"Yeah."

"O-Okay, I'll go get my birth certificate. Um...come in and wait." Avery moved aside to let Ambrose through. She had no idea why she was nervous, but she was. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, it felt like. When was the last time Ambrose was in her house?

When they first met?

Wow, two months ago.

Ambrose stood in the middle of their "living room" while looking around awkwardly. "You have a rug now. And pictures on the wall. It almost looks like people live here."

"Haha." Avery walked up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist, as he did her. "Dad's been back and forth to furniture stores, only buying what's on sale, and we got paint so I can change the color of my walls. They're going to be pink now instead of ugly peach."

"I wouldn't have picked pink but whatever."

"Dad thinks it's a good idea and besides he already let me buy the paint. Anyway, he wasn't the one who had the interior decorating skills, that was always..."

"Have you heard from her at all, after what happened?"

Avery shook her head. "Not since she told me she wasn't coming back. In a text."

"I'm sorry about that, sweetie."

Avery shrugged nonchalantly. "Not your fault." It was still weird hearing Ambrose call her pet names, she wasn't sure what to think about it.

"It is what it is. Can't change the past, no matter how much you want to."

"I told you I forgive you."

"I know." She cleared her throat. "I'll go get my birth certificate now." She slid away from Ambrose, thoughts of her mother, and her abandonment, plaguing her mind. Why did Ambrose have to bring her up, anyway?

He didn't mean to, the rational side of her brain tried telling her. She knew that she had to keep telling herself that.

She grabbed the lockbox under her father's bed and got out her birth certificate and permit, returning the box. She walked back out to the living room, to a waiting Ambrose, with it in her hands. "Ready."