"I think you and Mabella should sit down and talk in more detail." She advised. "Just because you revealed your feelings, which she already knew about, doesn’t an the two of you should act like enemies. You could pretend none of that happened and still maintain your relationship as a shrink and her patient. You don’t have to be uncomfortable around each other."
"But..."
"But you and Damon and friends. You will et Mabella whether you like it or not. Would you rather be comfortable whenever you see each other than have to hide away in awkwardness every ti her na cos up?"
Chloe took a deep sigh. "You are right."
"Go ahead and talk to her. Mabella is quite understanding." She urged.
"If I get flung out of the house, I’ll haunt you in my dreams." She joked, making Avery laugh.
"Just kidding. I’ll move on eventually. If I did it once, I can do it again." She said in self-assurance.
Avery frowned at the ntion of the exact words she was trying to avoid. Dorthe had spoken of her getting back her family before it was too late, and she instantly knew the woman was not talking about Damon. She had co over to wreak havoc because she knew the two of them had gotten back together, so she probably ant her getting back together with her birth family.
Her brows rose at the thought. Gabe was the only birth family she could think of at the top of her head. Alia and Bryce were already dead.
"I never paid her a visit." She thought aloud.
"Who?" Chloe was puzzled. The latter had been lost in her own world for a while and right before she called for her attention, here she was, speaking of things only she knew.
"No one." Avery smiled stiffly and called to Mina. "Can I join you at work in an hour, I’ll rush sowhere first."
"Of course." Mina excused her. "Be back in one piece! Or else I’ll be shedding the blood of whoever lays their hands on you." She clenched her fists as though preparing for war.
"Don’t worry. The dead touch no one."
.....
Never in a million years would Avery expect to ever want to co here. She had wanted to stay as far from Alia in life and death, so it felt odd to place a bouquet of daffodils by Alia’s headstone, it felt more like a chore she had to finish and be done with than paying respect to her mother.
"We may have had our differences but they are all behind us now. If reincarnation does exist, I hope you have a second chance." She recited. It felt as though she was reading a script but oddly, it cald so of the emotions she still had raging in her heart.
She stared at the ground for a few minutes as though it could answer the rest of the questions on her mind. Deciding that no such thing would ever happen, she turned to leave, nearly bumping into an elderly man.
"I’m so sorry. Are you alright?" She picked up the rake she had knocked over.
"It’s alright. I should have watched where I was going but I’m not used to seeing anyone visit Alia. I had to take a look." The elderly man scanned her. "I’m the grave caretaker, by the way. You are?"
"Avery."
"Alia’s daughter. You look a bit like her pictures."
"Yes." She was embarrassed to admit so, and when the caretaker gave her an odd look, she knew what he was thinking. He was more accustod to seeing children visit their parents’ graves more frequently.
"I should get going." She wanted to rush away as fast as she could.
"Avery." The caretaker called out. "There’s sothing I should give you."
"What is it?" She was suspicious. The caretaker walked away, which was her cue to follow him. She felt her waist for the gun tucked underneath her pants. She didn’t think a man as old as him would be dangerous; it was a conditioned reflex after all the dangerous situations she had been in.
The man led her to a row of lockers she didn’t know would exist in a graveyard, and took an old bunch of old, rusty keys. He audibly read out the numbers labeled on each before finally coming to 1578. She had noticed a series of digits on Alia’s headstone but she hadn’t had any impression of them until he opened a locker with the number he had just read out.
"Unclaid valuables." He explained to her, once again giving her that look that made her feel he was judging her for being the worst daughter on earth.
"Alia had too many of them. We had to donate a ton of items to charity and only kept the ones we thought had sentintal value." He continued, humming as he forced the old rusty door open. She wanted to bolt away in discomfort but it was too late as Alia’s valuables had already been revealed before her.
He took out a box as old as the keys in his hand and gave it to her. "Find what you think should be kept and dispose of the rest. We can donate it if you don’t want any of it." He instructed her and left her to resu cleaning.
She found a large rock and sat on it, pouring out all the contents of the box. She found old photos and jewelry. Deciding to return the photos to her family ho, she wanted to give the jewelry back to the caretaker for donation but one ring stood out. Aside from the unusual ruby hearts embedded in its band, it looked way too old to belong to any one of Alia’s generation. She held it up to inspect it further and noticed a deeply crafted D inside it.
"Alia Skye Russell." She said out Alia’s maiden na to confirm if any of her nas started with a D, and laughed at the fact that she didn’t even have a single D in her na. This was not nearly as puzzling as the fact that she had seen Damon with this ring before.
"Did you find anything worth keeping?" Asked the caretaker when he returned.
"This ring." She quickly decided, then changed her mind instantly. "Actually, can I keep everything?"
"Go ahead." He looked happier than he was when she said she was only keeping the ring, and she was confused. Was it so hectic to keep these items? If that was the case, why didn’t donate or dispose of everything?
His next words answered her. "Families always moan about how inadequate a certain person was. It’s always about what a bad husband, wife, mother, father, or sibling they were. Has any of you ever put yourselves in their shoes?"
She stood from the rock, having had enough. "Have you put yourself in my shoes? You can’t go making it sound like I’m a bad daughter if you don’t know what kind of mother she was."
"Who is a good mother anyway? One who sacrifices her entire life for her children as soon as she has them?" He challenged. "You expect her to love you but what makes you so certain that she wanted to have you?"
She frowned. Were grave caretakers always in everyone’s business? She decided to save her strength and not argue with a man she didn’t know.
"I’ve heard stories about different families during the five decades I’ve worked here but your family’s is the most painful. A carefree young woman, forced into marriage with a man she hated and then sohow being expected to love her new family. Can you imagine sothing more torturous?"
She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. "I don’t know where you got that kind of tale—whether it’s from the ghosts you take care of or the few humans you et, it would only explain why she hated , not what I did to deserve it. So don’t try to shove your opinions down my throat." She hoped she would never et him if she ever ca back here.
______
Having started her day on the wrong foot, it took two cups of coffee for her to finally focus on work. Even then, it was only because she wanted to. What she wanted was to crawl back ho and have Damon wrap her into a burrito so she would sleep for the rest of the day.
She was seriously considering it and was pleasantly surprised when he showed up at lunch hour with burritos in a box.
She facepald. "Mina told you what I said, didn’t she?" She rembered ntioning it to her.
He nodded in agreent. "I thought I’d bring so of them to you since you wouldn’t agree to take the afternoon off." He kissed her lips gently and straightened up. "I’m on a way to a eting. See you later?"
She couldn’t believe he had made ti out of his busy schedule just to bring her burritos. She kissed him in appreciation. "Wait a second. Is this yours?" She took out the ring she had found among Alia’s valuables.
He took it in confusion and inspected it. "It’s not."
"It’s not? I saw you with it before."
"I still have mine at ho and besides, the rubies are bigger."
She took it back and checked it out, with more questions than before. It was already odd for Damon’s ring to be found among Alia’s valuables, but it was even more strange for them to have nearly identical rings.
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