I smile, remembering. Rudy had been Sarah’s best friend for a few years before I met either one of them, and when she and I had started dating, she’d introduced me to him and we’d hit it off, with him quickly becoming my best friend, too.
I explain all this to Ava before going on. “Sarah and I eventually got married, then had Brie, made Rudy her godfather, and everything was perfect,” I feel the smile slowly melt from my face, “Until Brie was six months old, and a drunk driver hit Sarah head-on in broad daylight.”
Ava’s gasp is audible, and she covers her mouth with her hands. “Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry, Dustin, that’s…there are no words.”
I nod, unable to speak for a moment. “I miss her every day.” I murmur finally.
“My uh, my mom died eight months ago,” Ava says after a long pause, “Cancer.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I know it’s not the same thing or anything, but-”
“But you’ve had your own tastes of grief,” I finish for her.
She nods. “We thought she was better, she’d been in remission for a while, but then out of nowhere, she relapsed, and flew downhill like she was on a fucking roller coaster.”
Suddenly, something clicks in my brain. “U.T. Austin…that’s why you dropped out, isn’t it?”
Ava nods again. “Her initial diagnosis. I dropped out to take care of her and pay the bills.”
I get it. Her “something personal” wasn’t something she was hiding out of embarrassment or anything, it was a raw wound that was still too painful to talk about. One I could fully understand and sympathize with.
“So now it’s just me on my own, and I’m getting used to that. Everyone’s got to grow up and leave the nest eventually, right?” she forces cheer into her voice.
“Eh, not Brie, she’ll be staying in the nest well into her days of being old and gray,” I say with a grin.
I’m only half joking. The nest would always be open for my baby bird, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t hoping to see her soar someday. Just…someday a long way down the line. For now, my sweet hatchling isn’t going anywhere.
Ava giggles. “Spoken like a true overprotective daddy,” she teases.
“Notoverprotective. Just the right amount of protective,” I correct her matter-of-factly.
“Mhmm,” her tone says she doesn’t believe me, but even so, it’s nice to see her smiling again after nearly bringing her to tears.
“So,” she says after a moment, “How did you and Rudy end up getting together? If you don’t mind my asking, that is.”
“Not at all. I kind of never expected it to happen. Shit, I didn’t even know I, uh…swung this way. At first, he was just our best friend, someone who loved us both, stepping in to help me pull myself together and just get through day-to-day and raise my daughter. And soon, he was kind of a second father to Brie, and he was the person I wanted to see at the end of my day.”
I smile to myself. “I kind of never expected to love again, but I guess I realized maybe I’d kind of loved him all along without knowing it.”
“That’s sweet,” she smiles, “I mean, obviously the circumstances that kind of pushed you together are awful, but it’s kind of nice to find something beautiful out of a tragedy, if that makes sense?”
I look at her, into those big brown eyes, and for a split second, she reminds me of Sarah. I’d never noticed before how similar their eyes are. That’s where the resemblance ends, but even so, it stirs an unexpected wave of feelings.
“Yeah, I get what you mean,” I nod, “I’ve always liked looking at it like that. And what about you? No boyfriend you could be spending the evening with? Or girlfriend, no judgement. Obviously.”
“No, neither,” she shakes her head, “And I mean, I won’t say it’s completely out of the realm of possibility, because…well, you’re kind of an example of the unexpected, but I don’t think a girlfriend is in the cards.”
“You’re missing out,” I tease her, “Women are great.”
“I’ll keep that in mind in case the right situation ever comes up,” she laughs.
“So, a pretty thing like you, how is it that you don’t have something better to do than hang out with little old me this evening?” I ask.
She blushes and shrugs. “Just haven’t met the right person, I guess. I’ve dated here and there, but things just never really work out.”
I nod. “I get that. Better to wait for something right than waste your time trying to ‘fix’ someone who isn’t right for you.”