Page 63 of My One

I went to the end of the hall and grabbed Avery’s mom’s cell phone. “First, we have a phone to crack.”

“And then?”

“Then we’re going across the street to Edna’s because if anyone were to have a VCR, it has to be her.”

“And then?”

I looked up from the phone as it turned on. “And then hopefully we have answers and not more questions.”

Brooke stepped closer and lowered her voice. “I hate to say this, but this is kinda fun. I thought we’d be sitting around crying the whole time.”

“Avery’s only cried once since we’ve been here,” I whispered back.

Her brown eyes widened. “Really?”

“Would you cry if your mother died?”

She blinked and thought for a moment. “Now I would.”

“But before you made amends?”

“I …” Brooke hesitated. “I don’t know.”

“We all grieve in our own way, right?”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “I can tell he’s grieving just from the aggressive swings in the batting cage.”

“I know.” I sighed. “We’ll get through this.”

“Yes, you will.”

I sat on the edge of the bed. “Okay, so if Avery’s birthdate doesn’t work to unlock her phone, I have no idea what to do.”

“I’m sure we can find out on Google how to jailbreak a phone.”

I looked up at her. “Let’s hope this works though.”

“Well, try it.”

After taking a deep breath, I put in Avery’s birthday as the six digit code. It worked. “Oh, thank fuck.”

“Oh good. Now you’re just going to text all of her contacts?”

“Do you have a better idea on how to tell their friends about their viewing?”

“Nope.”

I started to compose a text to the last person she sent one to. It was a woman named Martha.

“Are any of them to Avery Senior?”

My gaze darted up to Brooke. “Shit.”

“What?”

“What if he shows?”

Brooke shrugged. “Then Avery Junior might get some answers.”