Hold Me Now

Chapter 47: Peace

After surviving the monster named Misty, Johnny felt compelled to live in the moment. The thing is, at his lowest moment he discovered who he is and what he's really made of. That whole ordeal has taught him to let go of the past and just live. Living is the greatest adventure. He doesn't have to chase extraordinary moments or do extraordinary things. The key is to find happiness in what's right in front of him. He just has to open his eyes and pay attention. 

Life isn't out to get him all the time. He doesn't have to go looking for a fight or be anxious about everything. He can just live. He can get up each morning and realize the day will have both good and bad moments. That's life. Just deal with the bad when it comes and appreciate all of the good that's waiting. Just take it all in and deal with it, the best he can. And the thing about that is, he doesn't have to deal with it alone. 

The whole ordeal showed him a lot about the people he has in his life too. There are a lot of great people around him. He has his family. He has his friends. Then he has friends that have become family. But there's also his wife. His wife is his love, his family, and his best friend. She's all three. Love is not about how many days, months, or years you've spent together. It's about how you love each other every single day. 

Life is also about making moments and memories together with the one you love. That is exactly what he's going to do, make memories and live life with his wife and friends. On Spring Break he'll be making a ton of memories with Ava. He only needs to get through this week. Dinner with the in-laws on tonight, the soccer game Wednesday, guys afternoon and dinner with friends Thursday, dinner at the country club on Friday, and dinner with the grandparents on Sunday. 

They actually may postpone Sunday dinner and leave for Spain Sunday morning. That's not been set in stone. But it seems like there's dinner with someone almost every night this week. Good grief. He loves people. He loves food, but he also loves quiet too. If thought bubbles ever appeared over his head he'd be screwed.

After one last comb of the hair, he met Ava in the kitchen, where she had brewed a big pot of coffee and had breakfast ready. Putting bacon on his plate, he told her "You know I feel like my greatest accomplishment yesterday, at school, was not saying what I was thinking out loud."

Giving him a weird look, Ava passed him a napkin. "Why is that?" Having already eaten, she began fixing her cup of coffee.

"Because everyone wanted to know about your cousin. I got tired of hearing her name. She's gone to the nuthouse. Time to move on," he explained. Just thinking about Monday makes him ill.

Of course, their friends wanted to know what happened. That's fine, but everyone else can kiss off. Once people learned she had withdrawn from school, naturally they all flocked his wife (and to him). Did they care when Ava was hit in the head with a ball? Did they care when gossip was spread about her past? Did these losers care when gossip was spread around about their relationship? 

No. But now they suddenly care enough to talk to Ava about her cousin. He wonders if people ever look both ways before getting on his nerves. And if he had a quarter for every time someone got on his nerves, he'd have a sock full of quarters to beat them with. It's just that simple.

Ava agreed with Johnny's remark. "I know what you mean. But the fact she pulled out so suddenly made people wonder. For me, the weirdest part was my ex-friends asking about her. Like I care." She sipped her coffee. "Anyway, today should be better. We have dinner with my parents tonight. I know you have practice after school today for your game tomorrow. Since I'm driving myself today, I have to stop by the grocery store in preparation for tonight. Is there anything you need?"