“You’re giving Gramma and Grampa a house? After...?” Her voice trailed off, but I knew what she meant.
“Maybe it’ll help.” I shrugged. “I’m thinking about buying a winemaking set for Granny and a craft beer homebrewing set for Grandpa. Maybe they’ll take it up as a new hobby and stay around, instead of fucking off on another year-long cruise.”
She sat there staring at me, visibly stunned by my revelation. Then her eyes dropped to the floor while she seemed to be thinking it over. I don’t know what kind of conclusion she reached but, after about a minute, she suddenly looked at me with admiration in her eyes, which was somewhat lessened by the sad smile on her lips.
“Why don’t you tell them?” she finally asked quietly. “If they knew that you’re the one making all of this possible, and not Uncle John, I’m sure they would do anything to get back into your good graces.”
“Yeah, great, cause that’s what I always wanted.” I said with disgust. “Grandparents who only give a shit about me when they find out that I have money. Let them think it’s John who’s making this all possible. It’s better that way. As soon as any of the others find out about the money, there’s no way I’ll trust anything they say or do anymore. That’s why I really want you to not tell anyone about this.”
She got on all fours, crawled into my lap, and cuddled herself into me.
“My lips are sealed. I promised.” she said, and we sat there for a while before she spoke up again. “So ... you’re not kicking me out? I don’t have to move here?”
“No, I’m not kicking you out. But, honestly, I would prefer it if you moved in here with Maggie.”
“Why?” She sounded business-like. I was sure she would try to negotiate.
“Well, let’s be honest here, we are three people living in an apartment with two beds.”
“Given what we do in those beds, there shouldn’t be a problem if it’s a little cramped.” She giggled. “And now that your girlfriend is sharing you with your sweet and loving big sister, why don’t I just move into your bedroom and let Mom have the guest room for herself?”
I sighed, realizing I had to address this carefully.
“Ava ... Do you think this is healthy?” I asked. “When you told me that you want to devote yourself to me, it made me happy. And horny. I’m not gonna deny that. But don’t you want to find a boyfriend for yourself?”
“And who would that be? I already told you that you’re the best thing that ever happened to us.” She sounded defiant, almost insulted by my suggestion. “Look at the other girls in the cheer team. Their boyfriends are all boys who never accomplished anything. Boys who think with their dicks and believe they somehow deserve everything. They’re all like Logan. You want me to hook up with one of those assholes just to have hooked up with someone?”
“Oh, I’m not advocating for those guys, believe me. But, once you enter college, that market should look a little different. There’ll be many guys that are a lot more mature than high school jocks. And you’d have a lot more chances to get to know them if you didn’t live in your little brother’s two-bedroom apartment with your mother.”
She remained seated in my lap, her face now buried in my chest, and her hand clutching at my shirt. I actually got the impression that she looked like a little girl, afraid of being left behind.
“Look at me, Ava.” I continued, and it took her a few seconds before her eyes met mine. “I’m not looking to get you out of my life. And I’m also not going to throw you out of the apartment. If you absolutely don’t want to do this, Maggie can live here alone for all I care. But ... Do you remember the conversation we had last year in my car, when I drove you home because of the social worker?”
She squinted her eyes a little while trying to recall what was said that day. It looked cute.
“Yes.” she finally nodded. “You were afraid that I’d end up as ‘the secret side chick’ of some asshole if I didn’t get my submissive tendencies under control.”
“Exactly! Now, if you want to be with me because that’s what you really want, I won’t stop you. You’re my sister and I love you. But I’ll be damned if I turn into another Logan and abuse this to keep you as my own side chick.”
“But you’re...” she attempted to protest, but stopped herself. Instead, she let out a sigh before smiling at me. “That’s exactly the reason why I think you’re so much better than the other guys. Fine! If you want me to try, I’ll move in here with Maggie. I’ll even keep an open mind and look for someone to date. But I’m warning you! I don’t expect to find someone anytime soon.”
I wrapped my arms around her body and squeezed a little, coercing a content sigh out of her. Without another word, we got up and resumed our work in the room until we had it completely painted.
We had one short interruption, though. After about another hour, my phone pinged to notify me of a new message. It was from John, and only read “You were right. I’m sorry”.
At first I assumed he had told his wife about my outburst and she helped him understand what I meant. The real meaning, however, became clear when we arrived home and were met with a bit of a surprise.
“Hey kids!” Claire greeted us from the couch she was sitting on. She sounded upbeat, but her wavering smile made me think it was forced. “Where were you two?”
“Uh ... Ava helped me with something.” I answered, eyeing her carefully in an attempt to understand why I doubted her good mood. “Sorry, if I had known you’d be home today, I’d have given you a call.”
Hearing my comment, her shoulders slumped slightly and her smile wavered even more.
“Ah ... no problem, Honey. You hungry?”
She didn’t even properly look at me as she asked, and didn’t wait for an answer before she turned to walk into the kitchen to start dinner preparations. Whatever made her uncomfortable, I opted to not force it out of her.
Ava and I cleaned up before entering the kitchen to help, but Mom’s subdued mood was strangely overbearing. We also barely spoke during dinner, since Mom merely poked around on her plate while Ava kept throwing our mother concerned glances. In the end, Mom left her barely touched food on the table and announced that she was tired.
Ava gave me an apologetic look before rushing after her, leaving me to deal with the dishes by myself.
I don’t know if she did it intentionally, but she left their door cracked open when she joined Mom, so I could faintly hear what was happening in there while I placed mom’s plate in the fridge and loaded the dishwasher.
“What’s going on, Mom?” I heard Ava ask softly. “You barely touched your food.”
There was silence for a few seconds, before I heard the sheets rustling when Ava must have been joining Mom on the bed, followed by another uncomfortably long moment of silence.
“Come on, Mom. Talk to me.” I heard Ava’s follow-up.
Again, Ava’s words were met with silence. I started to feel anxious about this whole situation, and looked around the room in an attempt to find something to do with myself. Mom not talking with Ava was too strange to just file away as a bad mood!
That’s when my eyes fell upon Mom’s purse. Maybe I could find some clues to her behavior in it.
Hearing Ava’s whispered voice that was now too low for me to make out her words, I stalked over to the small bag and opened it. There was nothing suspicious in it, but I found her phone. Making a quick decision, I restored its previous appearance and left to start my PC.
Booting up my phone surveillance software, I immediately went for her messages. Sure enough, there was a lot to take in. Chats and messages with the whole worried family over the past few months confirmed that Ava had told the truth about Mom only watching their get togethers without participating. Apparently, she had not joined in on any of their fun since that epic thanksgiving-blowout four months ago. There was only one sole exception to her self-imposed celibacy, which was the night they ‘cared for’ Logan after the bookie had roughed him up, and even then she rather took on the role of a director than letting him fuck her.