» The Meadow Legacy Chapter 1.2 - Avery’s Crush

Avery was covered in sweat.

He had always been nervous around women he liked. In high school it took him about three minutes to stammer out an invitation to prom. The girl he asked had said no, so he stayed home and painted instead while his dad played classic rock music on their little radio.

His dad would have liked Jamie. She was smart. Funny. He’d always had a thing for blondes, too. He had only been texting Jamie for a few days, since the morning after he first messaged her at the library, but she already felt familiar to him, as if they’d grown up on the same street. They hadn’t of course– he’d asked. She said that maybe they’d met in another life.

Avery was in a fantastic mood for his first few days at work, because Jamie sent him texts throughout the day. Though she’d been living in Sunset Valley for years, she seemed to be lonely. She was an extremely driven young woman, always working toward her dream of being a world-class surgeon. Avery suspected that she’d focused on her career at the expense of her social life. He could relate. Avery had worked for several years at a dead-end job as a bus boy, thinking only of how badly he wanted to start over in a new city, leaving the pain of his past behind in Twinbrook.

Avery was surprised to wake up to a text from Jamie quite early one morning: “I’ve decided that you’re not a creep or a murderer, so I’d like you to come have breakfast with me. I don’t have much time before work, but there’s always enough time for waffles!”

He’d scrambled to get dressed, quickly letting her know that he would “br thre son.” He hoped she wouldn’t realize that his typos were a result of his eagerness to meet her in person. She sent him a laughing emoticon along with her address.

Avery waited on her front porch for what felt like a month. Maybe she left for work already, he thought. Maybe she gave me a fake address. He wondered if they would get along well in person, or if she would like him once she saw his face. He had weird ears, a too-big nose. His lips were too thin. He wiped his palms on his jeans.

Avery would later claim that his heart literally stopped when she walked outside. Jamie would tell him that, as a medical doctor, she highly doubted it. Still, she was even lovelier in person. She had the kindest eyes Avery had ever seen.

The two of them mumbled awkwardly on the porch until she finally invited him in.

“The waffles aren’t quite ready yet. You got here sooner than I expected,” she giggled. “Turn on the TV; make yourself at home.”

Jamie’s house was bright, neat, and lively, just how Avery had pictured it. He pretended to watch TV but kept sneaking glances at her while she cooked. The way she moved was far more interesting than anything on television.

They ate together happily. “These are some damn good waffles,” he said, and Jamie blushed.

He offered to help clean up, but she playfully pushed him away. She caught his hands in hers, holding them for a moment. He looked down awkwardly, then he heard his father’s voice in his head.

A broad like that doesn’t come into your life often, son, Avery imagined his dad saying. She’s every bit as pretty as your mother, but a hundred times kinder. Don’t let her get away.

Avery swallowed the lump in his throat.

Jamie turned away after he kissed her. She was surprised but delighted. “Maybe we could go out sometime, someplace other than in my kitchen. That is, if you don’t mind dating an old lady like me.”

The two of them did go out, and often. Jamie had a busy schedule, but, despite the fatigue that came with being a surgeon, she saw him as frequently as possible. And she was older than him, by about 7 years, but it didn’t bother him. In Avery’s eyes, Jamie was perfect.

One afternoon, the two of them met at the Summer Festival. Jamie arrived in her scrubs as she usually did, since they tended to meet after she got done with a shift at work.They had a greeting card photo taken together in the booth at the park.

They two of them laughed at the photo, with Jamie decked out in her ugly green scrubs and Avery dressed in his favorite outfit, the one Jamie told him made him look like a middle schooler.

“I don’t care what we’re wearing,” he said with a grin. “I love this picture. Man, I haven’t had a picture like this in years, not since before my dad died.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Jamie sadly. She’d often wondered why Avery had moved across the country to a town full of strangers, but she’d always been afraid to ask. “What about your mom, is she still alive?”

“I don’t know. Probably,” muttered Avery, and Jamie detected a trace of bitterness in his voice. “She ran out on us before I could walk.”

Jamie looked extremely sad. “Hey, don’t worry,” said Avery quickly. “My dad was great. I had a super happy childhood. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we sure had fun. He died when I was a teenager in a freak meteor shower. Look, I got this for him.”

Avery pulled up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo of an anchor on his bicep. His face fell as Jamie began to cry.

“That’s… So… Horrible,” she gasped between sobs. “I… Don’t know… How you could, sob, stand to lose someone like that."

Jamie buried her face in his shoulder and he pulled her into a hug. She quickly composed herself.

"I’m sorry about that,” she said sheepishly. “I was thinking about how I’ve never had a family photo before, or a family at all. I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose someone like that. I didn’t know you were on your own, too.”

Avery had been right when he guessed that Jamie was lonely. She explained that she had been raised in a foster home with six kids and drug addicted foster parents. She left the house at midnight on her 18th birthday and got full scholarships to both college and med school.

The two of them had more in common than had Avery imagined. They both had sad pasts; they’d just escaped them differently. He walked her home with his arm around her, a crazy idea taking shape in his head.