The Perfect Liar (46 page)
Carly's eyes darted to Luke as if she was interested in continuing the conversation, but Ava shut the door.
"What do you think?" Ava asked.
"She's not
nearly
as attractive as you are," he said. Then he motioned to the letter Carly had brought. "What's that?"
"Nothing important." Forcing a smile, Ava shoved it in the bookcase and moved toward the kitchen.
Luke seemed to know it wasn't "nothing," but he didn't push the issue.
He followed her into the kitchen and started the coffeemaker while she scrambled the eggs.
It wasn't until Ava got home after picking out her wedding ring and having dinner at Skye's that she retrieved the letter. Luke had gone to his apartment because he had to be at the base by seven in the morning, so she was alone. Now she could throw it away without seeming hard-hearted.
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Or she could read it....
She thought of the events ahead of her--her wedding on December 5, the birth of her first child a year or two after that, the addition of other children. Was it a life she wanted to live without Zelinda? Could she forgive herself, and her mother, enough to rebuild as much of a relationship as they could have, considering the situation?
No. She couldn't deal with it, even now. Maybe later, she told herself.
But that letter beckoned as if her mother was standing in the room with her arms outstretched--and the longing to walk into them, to feel them close around her again, was suddenly too overpowering to refuse.
Her throat tight with unshed tears, Ava slowly opened the envelope.
The note was short. She guessed it was basically the same note her mother had been sending for years.
Dear Ava--
I miss you so much. I think about you all the time. I know you need
answers. I can't explain what got into me. I was desperately angry and
bitter. It ate at me like a cancer. But that's no excuse. There is no excuse. I
deserve to be where I am, but that doesn't change the fact that I love you
more than life.
I'm sorry.
Mom
Ava stared at those words until they began to blur with her tears.
Then she remembered better days--days when her mother would be waiting to pick her up from school or was throwing her a birthday party--and went to the dining room table. Taking out a piece of paper, she began to write a reply.
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ISBN: 978-1-4268-3872-9
THE PERFECT LIAR
Copyright (c) 2009 by Brenda Novak.
Al rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, MIRA Books, 225 Duncan Mil Road, Don Mil s, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
MIRA and the Star Colophon are trademarks used under license and registered in Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, United States Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.
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