After losing her job and her girlfriend, it's time for Annie Abraham to admit defeat and move back in with her parents. She has hardly been back to her tiny Montana hometown since the unforgettable summer before her senior year of college, when she...
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After a long week and the last seven hours with Ruth, the story of every Thursday and Friday, I'm ready to get home and veg out. I can't wait to cuddle my daughter and order a pizza and see Annie. She's hardly left my mind all day. My footsteps speed up once my home is in sight, until I skid on the sidewalk and almost careen into a tree and remember that these boots may look great but they weren't made for walking on ice.
I get home at a quarter after five to chaos.
Annie's on her back on the floor in the playroom, surrounded by cushions and pillows and half of Ava's toys. She hasn't heard me come through the front door. Neither has Ava, who speedily crawls across the floor over all the stuff like a girl on a mission and when she reaches Annie, Annie grabs her and growls and says, "The tickle monster's got you!"
Ava shrieks and wriggles and laughs and my heart melts to see them having so much fun. I lean against the doorframe to watch but I step on one of her toys. It lets out a high-pitched squeak and Annie scrambles to her feet, my daughter cradled against her chest. When she sees it's only me, she laughs.
"Oh my god, you scared me. When did you get back?"
"Just now. You look like you're having fun."
"Much like her sister, Ava loves an obstacle course and the tickle monster. Look who's home, Ava, it's your mama! Say hi, Mama!"
Ava reaches out for me and I take her, swaying her on my hip. "How've you been, hon? Are you feeling better?"
"She's been great. But I may have, uh, taught her some bad language."
I look at her over the top of Ava's head. "How bad?"
Annie grimaces. "Pretty bad."
"On purpose?"
"Oh my god, no! We were at the garden center and we had a run-in with someone who tried to kidnap Ava."
I almost drop her. My heart drops to my toes, all the blood leaving my face. "What the fuck?"
"My reaction exactly. So if she starts dropping F-bombs, I'm sorry."
"Hold on, Annie, seriously, what the hell?" I drop onto the edge of the sofa when my knees threaten to give in. "Someone tried to kidnap my child? Who?"
"Your mom."
"Jesus, Annabelle, way to bury the lede." I press a hand to my forehead, my fingers shaking. Ava struggles to get off my lap. I let her slink onto the floor and she wrestles with an upturned laundry basket, piling her toys into it once she gets it the right way up. "You can't start a story like that, god, I think my heart rate just tripled."
"Sorry. I was going for dramatic effect."
"A bit too dramatic." I close my eyes and when I no longer feel like I could pass out from the rush of adrenaline, I bend over to unzip my boots and release my aching feet.
