Page 23 of Close to Heaven

“She’s worked there a long time.”

He remembers! “I’m sure the Sawyers are going to miss her.”

“Such a nice family. Shame what happened.”

Avery set down her half-eaten slice. “Do you remember that day?”

“Of course I do.”

She’d learned the details of the accident from Dakota, but she didn’t want to discourage her dad from flexing his memory muscles.

“It happened at that sharp turn just up the road. A semi was coming from the opposite direction and crossed the line. The only blessing is they probably never knew what hit them.”

Avery shuddered at the thought of it as empathy for Dakota and her brothers swelled inside of her. She remembered the aftermath, when she’d consoled her friend through a seemingly endless supply of tears. Avery and Carl had attended the double funeral, and her heart had broken for the Sawyer siblings and all that they had lost. Carl was losing his memory, but at least he was still alive, and she didn’t want to waste a single moment of the time they had left together.

“Don’t you like the pizza?” Carl asked, pointing to her plate.

Rather than admit what she’d been thinking about, she picked up the slice and took another bite. He looked pleased to see her eating again, and then he plucked a second slice out of the box.

“How’s Travis?” he asked after he’d swallowed a bite.

“Travis?”

“Your boyfriend.”

“Oh. You mean Trevor.”

“Travis, Trevor, it’s all the same,” he said, attempting to make light of his faux pas.

Avery suspected her dad didn’t care for Trevor and maybe that was the real reason for the mistake.

“He’s okay, I guess,” she said, feigning intense interest in her pizza.

“You guess?”

“We haven’t talked much since I came back here.” Her conversations with Trevor had been limited, tense, and argumentative, but she kept those details to herself.

He took a long drink of water and dabbed his lips with a napkin. “It’s because of me, isn’t it?”

“What? No!”

Carl shook his head. “I told you I can take care of myself. You didn’t have to upend your whole life for me.”

How could she explain that although she didn’t have to, she’d wanted to, and maybe even needed to? Suddenly it felt like nobody wanted her there, not her dad, Trevor, or even her new boss.

“Dad…”

“I know what you’re going to say, but hear me out. Even though I told you not to come, I’m glad you’re here. If Travis, or Trevor, or whatever his name is, can’t accept that… Well, maybe he’s just not worth it.”

She stared at her dad in shock, first because he’d admitted he was glad to have her back, but mostly at what he’d said about Trevor. It was the most advice he’d ever given her about a man, and instead of feeling offended, she felt oddly vindicated.

“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” she admitted.

“What about those Sawyer boys?”

She’d just taken a sip of water, and she almost spit it out. “What about them?”

“Well, if things don’t work out between you and…”