Free Taste (Ava Delaney #5) by Claire Farrell

name it.”
    “You didn’t hurt me, Wes,” I said, my voice shaking. “ I hurt you .”
    “There wasn’t a mark on me.” His voice lowered. “But there was so much blood. I should have been more careful. I knew the things that had happened to you. I knew you needed to be looked after. I should have known better than to rush you like that.”
    I blinked a couple of times. Had I healed him? I had spent all of those years assuming he hated me, and he had been thinking the same thing about me. It came back to me in a rush, how delicately he had treated me, how he was the direct opposite of Peter, who expected me to take care of myself or he would leave me behind where I fell.
    I laughed, a tinge hysterically, unable to stop myself. “I literally can’t deal with this right now. This is insane. And bad, really bad , timing. Nancy. She’s sick? Is there something I should be doing for her?”
    “She needs stability,” Wesley said, watching me carefully. “She needs patience, love, and comfort. She’s struggling a lot. When she’s lucid, she’s upset about something she doesn’t want to share. When she’s not , she gets distressed because she thinks she’s back in the old days. Probably because of… well, you know how it was.”
    “So how do we fix it?”
    He reached for my hand, but I put it behind my back. “You can’t fix her,” he said softly. “There’s no cure for this.”
    Frowning, I shook my head. “There has to be.”
    He cleared his throat. “Ava, people don’t survive Alzheimer’s. It doesn’t happen.”
    I waved a hand. “That’s ridiculous. She’s not going to die from some… some… I can’t leave her here. There’s stuff going on that’s… well, dangerous. They could come here, and I can’t leave her in this house, at risk.”
    “Do you need me to take her back to my mother’s place?”
    I bit my lip, thinking hard. “How would she react around a lot of strangers, do you think?”
    “Honestly? I think she would be terrified. It’s hard to tell, but I know it’s gotten a lot worse this year. She’s scared a lot. She mostly won’t say what it is, but she seems to be constantly waiting for something bad to happen.”
    Since I had come back into her life.
    He shrugged. “I can take care of her, Ava. We can all help her.”
    “You would do that? No questions?”
    He looked hurt. “You know I would.”
    “No, I don’t. I knew a boy.” I looked him up and down. “You are most certainly not a boy.”
    He grinned, and it was a flashback all on its own. I had loved him once, loved his dark skin and darker eyes, his mellow voice, and how different we were. He was warm, happy, and content and able to deal with people so easily. He had been the one to teach me how to act around others. I wore a mask to outsiders but could be myself with him. I used to think we were two halves of a whole. Those days were over.
    “Something bad is coming,” I said, attempting to keep my voice even. “Something dangerous for everyone. In the meantime, someone will guard your house if she’s there. If anything unusual happens, you contact me immediately. She has my number saved in her mobile.” I took a deep breath. “This country’s going to be involved in a war, Wes. You need to prepare yourself.”
    “Are you in the army or something?”
    I winced. “Kind of. I’ll be in touch unless your house number has changed.”
    “No, nothing’s changed. It’s been great to see you again, Ava.” He reached out to hug me.
    I panicked and backed away. “Yeah, I… I’m glad you’re well. Nancy told me you had emigrated.”
    “I didn’t find what I was looking for, so I came back.”
    I exhaled, only then realising I had been holding my breath. “I need to go. You should be safe in this neighbourhood. It’s quiet here.”
    He looked confused, but I swept out of the room, my insides trembling.
    Too many confusing memories. I couldn’t think straight.
     

Chapter Seven
    On the morning