I narrow my eyes at her. “What’s going on, A? First, you cancelled on me the other day for this, and now you’re in a mess, and you’re never in a mess. Is Helena worse?”
Avery stops and stares at me blankly as if she’s fighting through the jumble in her mind in order to answer my question. “My family’s falling apart. More than we already had. Dad’s been diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease, Helena’s depression has spiralled into a dark place and Beth is fucking self-harming.” She blows out a long breath. “After sixteen years of looking after them, I’m not sure I have it in me to cope with all this. Not all at once. I could have done each one on its own, but fuck, for it all to land on me this week, it’s too much, Callie.” Her voice breaks and tears slide down her face.
I wrap my arms around her and hold her tightly in a hug. “I’m so sorry.”
She clings to me, and I hold her until she lets go. We don’t speak. Avery and I don’t need words. We just need to know each other will be there, and in the three years we’ve been best friends, we’ve never let the other down.
Wiping madly at her tear-stained face, she says, “This is going to sound awful, but I feel like I lost my life to my family the day my mum died.” Her face crumples as more tears fall.
“You did. And it’s not awful for you to say the truth out loud. You were ten for God’s sake. And you took on the care for your family. I know he wasn’t coping, but your dad let you down, Avery. A parent is supposed to hold everything together when life screws up their family. That’s not a child’s job.”
Her sobs grow louder, and she slumps against me again. My heart breaks for everything she’s been through. I wish I could take her burdens from her. Avery deserves the chance to chase her dreams. If I could give her anything, I’d give her that.
When she moves out of my embrace, she takes a deep breath and says, “Okay, that’s enough complaining. We’ve got a shitload of work to do here today. I hope you’re up for it.”
I know this is her way of telling me she doesn’t want to discuss her problems anymore. Avery hates going over problems incessantly. She’s a fixer rather than a grumbler, and I always respect that. I never try to force her into talking about something she’s not ready to tackle.
I reach into my bag and pull more lollipops out. Smiling, I say, “I came prepared.”
A smile slowly spreads across her face. “I love you.”
We spend the next five hours sorting through her orders and packaging them up for shipping. Avery sells a wide range of women’s products from hair accessories to make-up tools, handbags, clothes and phone accessories. Over the last few years, she has amassed a large customer base and sources anything they ask for. If she didn’t have the expense of caring for her family members, she’d be able to live off her earnings from the eBay shop alone.
“I think that’s all for today,” she says after collapsing onto the couch once we finish packing the last order.
I join her. “Are you sure there’s nothing else I can do to help? I’ve got the whole day off.”
“No, I’m all caught up now. Thank you so much for helping. It feels like a huge weight off my shoulders.” Her lips curl up into a smile. “What you can do, though, is tell me how things are between you and Luke.”
“Oh, God, I tried to cook him a roast last night. Epic fail. And when I say epic, I mean fucking epic with a capital E.”
Her smile morphs into a frown. “What, the date was a fail? Or the roast?”
“The roast! You know I can’t cook to save myself. I don’t know what I was thinking when I told him I could cook.”
She laughs and doesn’t stop. Tears are soon streaming down her face again, but these ones are happy at least. “This is too funny, Callie. Thank you for the laugh. I needed it.”
“I’m pretty sure Luke was holding his laughter back last night.”
“So what did you eat instead? Or did you starve the man?”
“He resurrected the roast and then cooked the gravy and veggies. It’s so embarrassing. I’m never cooking for a man again.”
She’s still laughing. “It will go down in your history. You guys will remember this for years to come, and that’s something pretty special. But yeah, maybe let him cook in future.”
I love the way she talks about our future as if it’s a given. “I hope we’re together that long for it to become a favourite memory,” I say softly.
“Am I allowed to know Luke’s big secret yet?”
Smiling, I say, “Yes. I asked him last night if it was okay to tell you. He was kind of weird about it at first; he muttered something about women having to know everything. But he did agree that so long as you don’t broadcast it around the bar, he’s okay with it.”
Her eyes light up, and she practically bounces on the spot. “So spill!”