Page 98 of Call You Mine
But also, seeing Ava’s name written, followed by my last name.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I offer, as he holds the envelope out to me.
My uncle shrugs. “It’s nothing crazy, just something for you two to put toward a honeymoon or something for the house for you two. Her younger sister, too.”
Georgie.
I haven’t seen her since before we left—since we got in late last night, and I had to be here this morning for my first shift back. Sadie was going to drop her off sometime this morning since Georgie’s Spring Break started today.
I left her a note that I would take her back to the record store tomorrow when I get home.
I miss the kid.
“I really appreciate it,” I tell him, slipping the envelope into my back pocket.
“There’s something else,” my uncle starts, just before I turn to head back out to the truck. He walks past me, grabs the door, and shuts it before gesturing to one of the chairs in front of his desk.
As I sit, he leans back against the desk, crossing his arms. It’s a warm day, even for March, both of us in a short-sleeved Northshore Fire Department t-shirt tucked into our cargos.
Uneasiness coats my skin again, anxiety radiating deep in my chest as I wait for him to say more. I know it can’t be anything too urgent—he wouldn’t be this slow to fill me in if it were something that required immediate attention.
“It’s about Auggie.”
I lean my head back, resisting the urge to groan. Frustration takes over any worry that was settling over me, mypatience with my youngest brother becoming nonexistent. “What did he do now?”
“Nothing,” Uncle Artie answers, before adding, “yet.”
I raise a brow in response, waiting for him to explain.
“Your mom said she might be switching doctors again.”
“What?” I stand from my chair, immediately on edge, remembering that bad feeling I had when Auggie called me for Mom’s insurance information just a few weeks ago for switching doctors. “Why? She just did.”
My uncle shakes his head, rubbing a palm over his mouth before settling his hands on his hips. “I don’t know. When I asked her about it, she didn’t think it was an issue. It sounds like it was Auggie’s idea. Something about this doctor being a little closer to your mom’s work.”
I’m happy to hear Auggie is helping my mom out, and he hasn’t been calling me asking to do things for him lately, so it sounds like he’s starting to figure out his shit and grow up.
But there’s still that weird feeling in my gut about him switching my mom’s doctor. It’s a feeling I can’t shake, even when a call interrupts our conversation, and I have to gear up.
I don’t have a chance to ask my uncle more about it for the rest of my shift, and I decide to push it to the back of my mind for now—if they need me, they’ll call me.
And since I haven’t heard from them, I’ll just have to assume everything is fine.
When I get home the next morning, I take a nap before taking Georgie to the record store like I promised. She’s my priority right now—her and Ava.
“How was your weekend with Sadie and Evee?” I ask Georgie as we get into my car. The sun is shining, and the weather is warm for late March in Wisconsin.
“More fun than I thought it would be,” Georgie answers, buckling her seat belt. Her dirty blonde hair is down and tucked behind her ears, her purple long-sleeved shirt makingher hazel eyes shine as she tells me everything they did from Thursday morning to Monday morning, relaying each and every detail as I drive.
I nod along, asking questions, smiling bigger the more she talks. She goes off on small tangents with each story, giving me a play-by-play for each of the days, and she reminds me so much of Ava in those unguarded moments she gives me every so often.
Ava is slammed with work. She lost two baristas over the weekend we were gone, and she needs to catch up on administrative work that piled up while we were away. I don’t mind making sure Georgie is taken care of—it’s honestly the least I can do, especially with the adoption moving forward now that CPS has our marriage certificate.
With Georgie home for Spring Break and Ava busy with work, it’s my job not only to get Georgie to her soccer practices and piano lessons this week, but also to keep her alive and entertained. When I’m at work, Emerson or Rumi will be hanging out with her, and Sadie is available to pick up any slack between the three of us.
I could tell on the plane ride home that Ava was buzzing with that numbing energy—the kind she gets all wrapped up in when she gets stuck in her head. We ended up sitting next to each other on the way home, and I’m thankful she pretended not to notice I was blushing like a schoolgirl when she didn’t come up with some excuse to switch seats with Emerson, Rumi, or Jack.
She looked exhausted, so I was hoping she’d sleep. Instead, I noticed her counting under her breath, opening and closing her fists, checking her seatbelt lock, tapping her thumb against the pad of each of her fingers.
