Intaglio Dragons All The Way Down

chapter 5: Bedtime Stories



Ava waited in her truck, her eyes on the monochrome street. The light changed as afternoon slowly wore away. Earlier, there’d been a distinct lack of sharpness, just dulled layers of grey, like a murky watercolour painting with too much ink wash. Now bands of light slanted down as the sun moved toward the horizon. Bright yellows eked out of the drab day, hints of O’Keefe’s bluish shadows in the alleyways and under cars. Ava smiled to herself, eyes half-shut, capturing it all for later.

‘Cole should be here soon…’

A woman in a black coat pulled the building's door open and disappeared.

Another five minutes passed.

The door opened a second time and Frank Thomas strode out, face tipped into his collar. It was cold out, the wind coming gusty and brisk off the ocean as a winter storm brewed in the distance. Cole’s father looked tired, more careworn than he had since the first weekend Ava visited. Her shoulders tensed as she followed his progress. He was heading to his vehicle, a grey SUV parked a few spots down from her own.

Seizing the opportunity, Ava rolled down the window, leaning out.

“Hey there, Sarge!” she called, grinning as he jerked up in surprise. The first hint of a smile pushed up one side of his mouth as he saw who it was. He changed direction, wandering over.

“Afternoon, Ava,” Frank said, pausing by the window, his arm against the side of the vehicle. “What’d you and Nina get up to today?”

“She tried to teach me to make crepes,” Ava scoffed. “Not sure that she knew quite how lacking I am in the kitchen.”

“She always needs an assistant,” Frank offered.

“She did NOT get an assistant though, she got me,” Ava giggled. Frank’s smile broadened. “We had to open all the doors to get the smoke out. The fire alarm beeped for a good ten minutes!”

His low chuckle joined hers and for a moment everything felt easy and right. Ava smiled to herself. ‘See…? This is going to work.’

“So how’d the meeting with you and Cole go?” she asked. With her words, a curtain fell across Frank's face, cold control replacing his laughter.

“Mmph…”

“Not good?” she prompted.

He grumbled again, lifting his hand from the truck, and taking a step back. Pulling away.

“You know,” Ava rushed to explain, “the first session’s the hardest.” Frank’s eyes widened in surprise. “At least that’s how I remember it.”

He cleared his throat, standing silently. He glanced back to the building, then back to her.

“I’m glad you’re here to pick him up today,” Frank answered, the lines on his face deepening. “I don’t know if this will work, Ava. Cole’s just not...” He shook his head. “It’s like he’s not interested.”

“It’ll take time,” Ava said quietly. “Cole’s here. That’s huge. Try to keep that in mind.” Her voice dropped. “And of course it’s hard to begin with. I’m sure you and Nina found the same thing.”

He pulled his glasses off and cleaned them on his shirt.

“Maybe,” he said tiredly, putting the glasses back on. He reached out, rapping his knuckles once on the side of her truck. “Alright then, Ava, I’m gonna head home. Thanks for coming by for Cole.” He stepped up to the curb, then turned back. “Nina’s right, you know.”

Ava tipped her head, confused.

“About what?”

“You’re good for Cole.”

Heat rose up her neck to her cheeks.

“Um… thank you, sir.”

Frank laughed at the formality.

“Why do I think when you say ‘sir’,” he said, raising a bushy eyebrow, “you actually mean something totally different.”

Ava winked.

“Because you’re a wise man.”

: : : : : : : : : :

Ava was fiddling with the radio, smiling in bemusement, when Cole came out of the office. He climbed in the truck, ashen-faced and unspeaking.

“Hey,” she said. “How’d it go today?”

He made a choking sound, letting his face fall into his hands, body curling down. Ava slid past the gear shift, fitting herself next to him on the bench seat. She put her hand against his back, rubbing lightly.

“That good, huh?”

Cole laughed bitterly. Ava wrapped her arms around him, her chin settling on his shoulder. Beyond the pitted windows of her truck, the afternoon sun slanted across the buildings, lighting them with the golden tones and deep shadows of an Edward Hopper painting. She waited, but he sat motionless, face in hands.

“I hated going at first,” Ava said quietly. “I didn’t have a choice about going... wasn’t making an effort, like you are...”

She closed her eyes, remembering this other version of herself, her rage coming out against everyone and anything. It was strange remembering herself this way. It reminded her just how lucky she was to have had her father with her.

“I had to go to counselling as part of my probation,” she admitted, her hand circling gently against his shoulders and arms, her face next to his ear. “It certainly wasn’t something that I wanted to do, and I fought it tooth and nail. You think you were a rotten teen? I made my dad’s life a living hell.”

For some reason, it was the last statement that broke the melancholy mood. Cole choked back a laugh, glancing at her.

“I don’t believe you.”

Ava punched his thigh twice, indignant.

“You’re damn right, I did. Total f*cking badass.”

“Uh-huh?” Cole said, chuckling again. This time she grinned, leaning back in, brushing her cheek against his shoulder.

“Cole Thomas, I’ve got street cred you can’t even dream of having.” He snorted, and Ava continued. “The first session was really hard,” she said, tightening her arms around him. “Really f*cking awful.”

She felt Cole shifting so that he could move his arms around her too. She smiled against him as he pulled her into a hug. The two of them were side-by-side, the light on the buildings becoming burnished, blue shadows lengthening. Cole’s hands , clung to her like he was in too-deep water and she was a raft.

“Must’ve been hard,” he said. His face was hidden from view against her ear. His voice was thick and close to tears.

“Yeah, it was,” she admitted, her fingers running down his back, feeling the tension ebb away. “But it had to be, because if you don’t get the hard stuff out, then you can’t move past it. That’s the whole point.”

He nuzzled her hair, lips brushing her neck.

“Was it worth it?” he asked.

There was more than that to the question... layers of self-doubt and fear, and she knew it. Ava pulled back after he said it, her hand running down the side of his face, comforting him.

“You, Cole, are absolutely worth it,” she said, answering the question he hadn’t asked.

He nodded, leaned in to kiss her with sudden passion. When they finally broke apart, she could see that some of the worry was gone, the despair faded to resignation.

“Thank you,” he said, “for coming to get me.”

She giggled.

“You’re not the only one who can break someone out of jail, you know.”

: : : : : : : : : :

The storm blew in that night, leaving the lights flickering angrily for ten minutes before finally going out, plunging the house into darkness. Cole suggested he and Ava drive back to the city, but Nina refused. She was full of reckless excitement. Marta Langden had been her suggestion and Nina seemed determined to use the first meeting to force Cole and Frank together.

“Family was the whole point of you two coming out,” she argued. “Power outage or not, I want my family time, and I’m getting it.”

Nina was adamant and no one was willing to argue. Cole and Ava were staying the night, no questions asked.

Under her instruction, the group gathered in the den next to the stone fireplace, surrounded by the warm glow of candles set around the room. There was stilted silence between Frank and Cole, so Nina told stories about her childhood and her many years as a journalist. She was happy and lighthearted; the atmosphere was easy as heavy drops of rain snapped against the windowpanes. Her words eventually slowed and then stopped, the roaring rain filling the room with dull static.

The lightning was blinding when it hit, and for an hour, flashes came in quick succession, leaving bright after-shapes that slowly faded from view. Torrents of rain fell in heavy sheets, leaving the room reverberating with a buzzing sound that crackled in its sheer intensity. The four of them were together, secluded by the noise. Wrapped in the vibration of it.

Nina and Frank sat on one couch. She was tucked under his shoulder, watching receding flashes of lightning on the water while he stroked her arm. Frank’s gaze was soft and hazy, his attention lost in the distant storm, a pensive look painting his brow.

Cole and Ava sat across from them, nestled together on the second couch. Ava lay partially-reclined across Cole’s lap, his fingers combing her hair. During the heaviest part of the squall, she asked him about living here as a child... about what it was like to see these storms.

His words were muffled from Frank and Nina. He recounted the memories in a hushed tone, starting with his childhood fears of lightning and the angry ocean storms... later switching to happier tales of learning to sail with his grandparents, and then finally... inevitably.... to Hanna. By this time, the sound of the rain had faded, hiding but no longer obscuring his words. Ava lay in his arms, the two of them focused solely on each other. For the first time in many years inside this room, Cole’s laughter was genuine and happy. He told her one story after the other, reliving the details of his sister’s life and their years together, ending finally with cliff-diving that long-ago summer.

“God, Ava, you just should’ve seen her. No fear, though she should’ve known better!” Cole chuckled, but there was truth in his words. “If Dad had known, he would’ve killed us, but Hanna was determined to do it... wanted to say that she had.” Cole laughed. “I think it actually had more to do with her showing off for all her friends than anything else, but damn if Hanna wasn’t single-minded about the idea.”

Cole was grinning ruefully. Their eyes were on one another, everyone else forgotten.

“I was down at the bottom of the cliff,” he continued, “floating in the water, waiting for her to jump. There are rocks there – like I said, Dad had warned us... threatened us really...” Cole shook his head, “...but we were there anyhow. Two stupid kids pulling the dumbest stunt we could’ve pulled. I remember Hanna jumping off the cliff and me just waiting there terrified. So scared shitless you can’t imagine. But she asked me not to tell him, and so I didn’t. I thought she could…” His voice broke. “Thought she could do anything.”

Ava put a hand against his cheek, smiling sadly.

“She sounds like a pretty amazing sister.”

Cole nodded. There was a slight lull, the rain fading until it was only a steady hum in the air.

“She really was,” he said mournfully. “You can’t imagine what Hanna was like. Everyone loved her, and she just did everything full tilt. Present in the moment.” Cole paused, his expression soft. “I’ve never known anyone so… so... alive like that…”

From on the other couch, Frank Thomas cleared his throat, the sound pulling everyone’s eyes to him.

“I have,” he said quietly. “I see that same quality in you, Cole.”