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“She’ll hate you if she finds out in a different manner. Time isnotin your favor.”
“She already hates me, so I don’t see the problem with that.”
“How come you’re smart in everything but excruciatingly obtuse when it comes to her?”
“I’m not obtuse, I’m realistic. She’ll never know and that’s final.”
I take one last glance at my wife’s form that rivals Sleeping Beauty’s.
Sam is right. Time is not in my favor.
Every day is a tick drawing Ava closer to her next episode that, according to Dr. Blaine, will be worse than the last.
The last being that she’ll forget everything.
But even if she erases me again, there’s no escaping me.
I’ll claim her again.
And again.
I’ll carve my name beneath her skin so deeply, she’ll find me in her dreams.
And her nightmares.
26
AVA
“You seem different.”
I look up from my phone after checking it for maybe the millionth time. And no, I’m totally not obsessing or anything obnoxiously similar.
My eyes meet Mama’s and she smiles softly as she passes me the popcorn bowl. Salted caramel flavor—my favorite.
We’ve always had girls’ night—just me, her, and Ari. Oftentimes, Nan will join when she’s not busy touring the world with Grandpapa in their various humanitarian endeavors.
During these nights, we watch the cheesiest chick flicks or my comfort film,Bridget Jones’s Diary, while we gossip about everything and nothing.
This often happens when Papa is caught up in late meetings or events for the company. Such as he is tonight. Otherwise, he wouldn’t tolerate being separated from his ‘girls,’ as he likes to call us.
On this occasion, we put on a Japanese drama per Ari’s request. And by request, I mean she forced her opinion as always, and now we have to read subtitles because she refuses to watch it dubbed in English.
“Or you can, like, learn the language. It’s a disgrace that most Brits only speak their mother tongue when there are so many beautiful languages out there,” she said when I tried to persuade her to change the show.
“I speak Latin and French, thank you very much,” I informed her.
“One is useless and the other is practically useless as well. I, on the other hand, speak Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, and am currently learning Arabic. Talk to the hand, peasant.” She waved said hand in my face.
Mum sat between us before I could kick her and now we’re stuck with this Japanese thriller drama that’s pretty interesting, actually.
But Ari will never know that, or I won’t hear the end of it. She loves gloating and lacks any sportsmanship concerning anything.
She tries to steal my bowl of popcorn, although there’s another one on the coffee table. I manage to shove her away but not before she snatches a handful and the rest spills all over Mama and the leather sofa.
Eli would look at me with a snobbish expression if I so much as left a crumb on his precious furniture. Now, however, the three of us just laugh as Ari and I proceed to fight over the bucket of sticky candy floss.
The mere thought of my husband has obviously clouded my senses, because Ari tugs the bucket from my grip and waggles her eyebrows at me.
