“Who has Ben asked to fill the extra groomsman spot?” Avalon’s mother asked, then took a small bite of her field green salad.
It was Monday afternoon and they’d had plans to get together to start planning the invitations and the menu and all manner of other things for the wedding. However. Avalon had spent the last half an hour listening to her mother rattle on and on about Maggie and Grey. Avalon was so damned tired of hearing about, thinking about, pretending to care at all about Maggie and Grey that she thought her head might explode from the effort it was taking not to flip out at her frustratingly clueless mother.
And now? The first wedding-related question she asks all afternoon and it has to do entirely with Maggie? Avalon thought she might just lose it. She calmly lifted her ice water to her lips, wishing it were a soda but soda has too many calories, and she held her features perfectly still while she sipped.
Ben wouldn’t need to go fishing for an extra groomsman if her mother hadn’t absolutely insisted Avalon include Maggie in the bridal party. ‘But Ava, darling, she’s your sister now! She’s family! You wouldn’t want to exclude family!’
Ugh. She’d have looked like the world’s biggest bitch if she’d refused. Even though asking a complete stranger to be in one’s wedding seemed to Avalon to be absolute lunacy. Apparently if the complete stranger elopes with your stupid bastard of a brother they just have to be a bridesmaid!
“Ethan.” Avalon replied after swallowing and setting her cool glass back onto the table.
Velvet chewed thoughtfully for a moment, then swallowed, took a drink of her own ice water and smiled that dazzling Velvet Delaney smile. “Ethan Harcourt?”
“Mmmhmm.” Avalon replied dispassionately.
Velvet looked sly. “But didn’t you and he—“
“Mum.” Avalon’s brows drew together sharply.
A flash of something mischievous flashed in Velvet’s big pale green eyes and she set her fork down.
“Does Ben know?”
Avalon licked the inside of her teeth and looked at her mother as sternly as possible.
Her mother giggled in response.
“This isn’t funny.” Avalon snapped.
Velvet covered her irrepressible smile with perfectly manicured fingers, but the twinkle in her eyes gave her guilty mirth away. “I’m so sorry—it’s just—you look so much like your father when you make that face.” She giggled again before clearing her throat and composing her features into some semblance of calm and appropriate concern.
Avalon picked up her own fork and stabbed ruthlessly at her salad. She wanted something awful, like pizza or cookies. She’d kill for a big ole bowl of mashed potatoes with tons of melty butter. Grimly she opened her mouth to accept the baby spinach, radicchio, and kale with just the barest tease of raspberry vinaigrette.
“I’m sorry.” Velvet repeated, really trying for an expression of compassion or at least sympathy. “But, does he? Does Ben know about you and-“
“Yes.” Avalon answered. It was half true. Ben knew she’d dated his good friend Ethan a few times before they’d become a pair. He even knew that she’d slept with Ethan. But he really didn’t know the half of it. And she would prefer it to remain that way.
Her mother knew more than she was strictly comfortable with. She’d found the pictures on Avalon’s computer one day when she was trying to put together a damned photo album as a surprise present for Jonah’s birthday a few years back. Stumbling upon those pictures must have been a real eye-opener. She’d certainly expressed her concerns at the time.
Now Velvet looked quite astonished. “He does?” She was incredulous.
“Mum, drop it.”
Velvet pressed her lips together and Avalon recognized, from a lifetime of seeing her do it, that her mother was struggling very, very hard to control her tongue.
Just as she always did, Avalon began a silent count in her head, a silent count to see how many Mississippis it would take before Velvet inevitably lost the private little battle and succumbed to her inability to govern her mouth.
One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three Mississippi. Four Mississippi. Five Mississi—
“Has he seen the pictures?!”
Mother and daughter both paused to sigh out in unison. Velvet looked apologetic and Avalon tried to feel forgiving. Afterall, it wasn’t her fault. The woman was like a giddy child. All heart and very little self-control.
“I am not discussing this one minute more.” Avalon replied as civilly as she could manage. “And you promised you would never mention those pictures again.”
Again Velvet looked apologetic. She even blushed just a little. “Sorry.”
Avalon nodded her acceptance of the apology and took another bite of her salad while her mother sipped some more water. Then Avalon’s eyes flew open wide. “Oh my god, you didn’t tell Dad, did you? Oh my god, tell me you never told Dad. Tell me he doesn’t know—oh jesus, you didn’t show him right?” Avalon’s mouth was dry and she felt panicky.
Velvet looked stunned. “No, of course not, no, honey—no, absolutely he has no idea, Av—I wouldn’t do that to you.” She soothed and assured quickly and with enough conviction that Avalon allowed herself to calm down, to relax. “No, honey.” Her mother repeated solemnly. “I love your father and want him around a while longer. I have no desire to give him a heart attack.”
Avalon’s eyes widened and she gaped at her mother. The tiniest hint of a smile flitted across Velvet’s oh-so-innocent expression and her pale green eyes danced with merriment.
Avalon burst into laughter. What else could she do? Cry about it? She laughed deeply and fully. Her mother joined in readily and they laughed for several full minutes before managing to settle back down.
“Have you ever done any of that stuff with Ben?” Her mother asked suddenly, her voice low and giddy and hungry for juicy gossip.
Avalon was still tingling and merry from the cathartic bout of laughter so instead of getting sour at the probing invasion of privacy, she grinned. “Wouldn’t you just love to know.” She teased.
Her mother grinned back. Avalon waited until her mother had lifted her water glass once more to get her payback. As her mother sipped Avalon asked casually: “Have you ever done that stuff with Dad?”
The spit-take was perfect. Paragon Velvet Delaney expelled a spray of water out over the table with the full force of her surprise and, judging by the smile, her delighted amusement.
Avalon laughed, satisfied with her little victory, and set her salad fork down on the plate now that her meal was covered in a mist of her mother’s spittle. It was a necessary sacrifice.
“Avalon Grace!” Her mother responded when she’d stopped giggling. Then she tisked. “That’ll teach me, I guess.”
Avalon leaned back in her seat and sighed, knowing that Velvet Delaney would never learn. She knew her mother would always probe too deeply; ask questions that were far too personal and private. She was unstoppable and she was tenacious.
“And I’m not answering one way or the other,” She said with a coy little smile as she dabbed her face with a napkin. “But when you’re looking for something old and borrowed, if I were you I’d avoid the trunk in my bedroom closet unless you want to see things you can’t un-see.”
“Ugh!” Avalon groaned. “Gross, Mum!” Velvet was giggling hysterically as she stood and collected their salad plates and shuttled them off to the counter near the sink. “I wish I could un-hear what you just said!” She shivered and tried desperately to stop picturing her Mum and Dad doing some of the things she’d been into with Ethan. Bleck.
“Oh Avalon relax. There’s nothing that hasn’t been done before. The ancient Greeks—“
“Mum, please, for God’s sake!” She was half-laughing but she was very firm in her tone.
“But it’s natural to want to experiment—“
“Holy God, shut your trap, for five minutes, just zip your lips, can you?” She half-laughed and half wished she were just having a terrible dream. “I don’t care what you and dad do, I just really really really do not need to know about it.” She rushed desperately. “Or think about it. Or imagine it in any way.” It was bad enough she’d grown up listening to it from two bedrooms away.
Her mother giggled again but she relented. “I hope your children are more accepting of your lovelife then you are of mine.” She teased pleasantly.
“Let’s talk wedding, please, can we?”
Velvet grinned as she filled the kettle for tea. “So Ethan Harcourt, hmm?” She chuckled merrily and moved the kettle over to the stove. “I wonder what other delightful little surprises we’ll get as this wedding draws nearer!”
Avalon rolled her eyes as she pulled a legal pad and pen from her wedding-planning-canvas-ecofriendly-bag. No more surprises. Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?
She slapped the pad down on the table and began scribbling down the names of her bridesmaids, junior bridesmaids and flower girls on one side, and on the other she listed the groomsmen, junior usher, and ringbearer.
She frowned at the list. She’d slept with more of the listed parties than she was strictly comfortable with. And the other ones were her blood relatives. Or children.
She rolled her eyes to the heavens. No more surprises, ok? No more little speed bumps or screw-ups, or anything like that. K? You got that? Are you hearing this?
“Hey—“ Her mother said, slipping back into her seat and dabbing at the rest of the sprayed water droplets with a dishtowel. “Does Ben know about you and his cousin?”
Avalon grimaced. Maybe she should just elope.
“Or, actually, I should say cousins—both of them, right?“
She almost wished they were still talking about goddamn Grey and Maggie.
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