One Night ✔

54. Moving Slow

"So, you're trusting your teenage daughter to go visit her boyfriend...in another state?" Maya asks, her eyebrows raised dubiously.

"Don't give me that look" I reply, chuckling softly as I take a slice of summer sausage off the platter that Lucas was making. "You're talking about our kid" I remind her, motioning between my fiancè and myself. "We didn't sleep together until-."

"Avery's conception" Lucas interjects. I shoot him a glare.

"I was going to say graduation night."

"Both are true" he smirks, taking a bite of the Colby jack cheese he's slicing now. "But look shortstack, what my fiancèe is attempting to explain is that Avery isn't having sex and she isn't going to start just because we bought her plane tickets."

Maya simply hums, keeping her opinions to herself for the time being and I roll my eyes. There wasn't much my best friend and I disagreed on but sex was one of the biggest. She had given it up to Josh by the time junior prom had rolled around while I waited until well, graduation day.

Luckily, the conversation comes to an end when the front door swings open and my parents walk in.

Usually their appearance makes me sick to my stomach, dreading what's to come but not today. Today Lucas had my father's blessing and I couldn't wait to flaunt my engagement.

"Mom. Dad." I hop off the bar stool I'd been sitting on and rush towards them. "Hi. Merry Christmas." I hug them both individually before pulling away with a beaming grin.

"You're in a good mood" my mom notes as my father helps her with her jacket. "Did we miss something?" She asks, looking past me to my fiancè.

Lucas doesn't hesitate to join me, placing his hands on my shoulders. "I may have popped a certain question this morning" he admits and I immediately thrust my hand out to show off the ring.

"With my help" Avery interjects, walking into the room, no longer attached to her phone. "Hi grandma. Grandpa." She hugs them too and I can't wipe the smile off my face. "So," she begins, stepping away from them. "What do you think of her ring? Dad did good, right?"

My mom is angling my hand in every which direction, analyzing it. "It certainly is unique."

"It's supposed to resemble the color of a maple leaf" Lucas explains. My dad smiles softly, seemingly catching on to what Lucas is referencing.

"That damn maple leaf" he laughs, directing his story at me. "You sat in that window for ages just staring at that leaf."

"And then she gave it to me" Lucas beams. "That was the day she agreed to be my girlfriend so, I saw it fitting for it to be incorporated in the day she agreed to be my wife."

I swear I see tears in my mom's eyes...and Avery's. "You never told me that story" Avery says at the same time my mother replies, "how sweet."

I simply smile, leaning into Lucas and feeling at peace for the first time in a very long time.

~ 🌌 ~

Avery's POV

I'm sitting on the bench of the bay window in the living room impatiently waiting for Uncle Auggie and Aunt Ava to show up so we can eat and it's torturous. "Hey kid." I look up and find my Aunt Maya smiling at me...but it's not her real smile, it's the one that translates to a serious conversation.

"Oh no. What did I do?" I ask as she takes a seat across from me.

She sits criss-cross and stares at me intently, almost too intently. It's like her eyes are seeing into my soul. "I hate fighting with your mom" she finally speaks but it doesn't make what's happening any more clear.