It's been a few days, Owen walks upstairs to Avery's room to find her lying on the floor staring at the ceiling. Her phone is beside her playing Illicit Affairs by Taylor Swift.

'Ave, you okay?' He asks, slightly concerned.

'Nope.' She replies, popping the "p". 'Miss Swift is out to get me.' Owen chuckles and shakes his head. 'You don't get it.' Avery bolts upright and looks at him. 'She re-released 1989 not that long ago. So, it's now 1989 Taylor's Version. There's a song from the vault called Is It Over Now? I've had it on repeat, it's my favourite vault song. Anyways, it's the sister song of Out of the Woods which is another one of my fave Taylor songs.'

'Ave, you're rambling.' Owen laughs slightly.

'Right,' Avery sighs, 'anyways, she sang those two songs as a mashup for one of her surprise songs. THEN, she gets to the piano song. No little intro for that one which is kinda normal now. She does Endgame. From Reputation. Which is in my top three Taylor albums. And I wasn't there.' She falls back down onto her back, throwing her arms up. 'Unbelievable.'

'You really wanna go see her don't you?' Owen questions.

'Yeah.' Avery nods, sitting up once more as Owen sits on the edge of her bed, facing her. 'Her music has helped me. A lot. One of my main focuses in therapy was the shooting and I've finally come to terms with what happened. I'm not going to let it ruin concerts for me. If I ever get to go to another concert I'll just need time to prepare.' She adds. 'Jason and I tried to get tickets, but we had no luck which fucking sucks.'

'Well, I spoke to Sharon when I first heard the music earlier.' Owen starts. 'I know you've mentioned wanting to go see her before and I wanted to talk to her and see if we can figure something else.'

'Right.' Avery says, slowly.

'Sharon initially wanted to wait but I suggested we tell you now.' Owen carries on. 'She managed to three tickets so she could take you and Jason.' He finishes with a smile.

'What?!' Avery exclaims, scrambling to her feet. 'Are you serious?'

'You can call her and ask her yourself.' Owen raises an eyebrow. Avery picks her phone up from the floor, brings Sharon's number up and calls her. After a few rings, Sharon answers.

'Hey, Sweetie.'

'Is it true?' Avery asks, jumping up and down. 'You got tickets to the Eras tour?'

'I did.' Sharon laughs.

'Thank you, thank you, thank you!' Avery squeals. 'Does Jase know?'

'He does.' Sharon replies. 'I told him after I got the tickets and asked him to keep quiet.'

'I'm going to murder your son, you know that, right?' Avery raises an eyebrow.

'I wouldn't expect anything less.' Sharon laughs. 'Anyways, what are you doing today?'

'Mope around because Taylor Swift did one of the best, if not the best, surprise songs combo and I wasn't there.' Avery huffs earning a chuckle from Sharon.

'Well, get ready and I'll come pick you up. We'll go for lunch, and do some shopping.' Sharon informs her.

'Just like old times.' Avery smiles slightly.

'Just like old times.' Sharon repeats. 'I'll be there in about an hour.'

'KK. See you soon.' They both say goodbye before hanging up. 'Sharon is going to take me out for the day.'

'Yeah, she asked me if it was okay first.' Owen nods. 'I'll leave you to get ready. I'll let Marcy know that you'll be going out but she doesn't need to go with you.' He stands up and walks out of the room, closing the door behind him.

.

An hour and a half later, Sharon and Avery are sitting in a Starbucks having a coffee before they start shopping.

'I can't believe you got tickets to the Eras Tour!' Avery grins, still not quite believing it. 'What show are we going to?'

'That part I want to keep a surprise for now.' Sharon tells her. 'I'll tell you closer to the time so you can prepare.

'I only have one question.' Avery states and Sharon nods for her to continue. 'But what would I wear?' She adds in the voice of "The Grinch". Sharon laughs and shakes her head. 'I mean,' she adds, 'I have a Pinterest board with outfit inspo and a shit ton saved on Insta and Tiktok but it's so hard.' She puts her head down on the table and groans.

'You've got time to figure it out.' Sharon laughs, reassuring the young girl. Avery lifts her head. 'It's okay.' Sharons downs the rest of her coffee before standing up. 'Right, come on then trouble, let's see how much damage you can do to my bank account.' Avery finishes the rest of her coffee and they both head out.

.

It's later that night, Sharon is pulling up in front of the Strand residence.

'Your dad is probably going to kill me when he sees how much stuff I bought you.' Sharon laughs slightly.

'He won't.' Avery says confidently. 'I'll just tell him you couldn't resist my puppy dog eyes.' She adds joking earning a raised eyebrow from Sharon. 'Okay, he probably will be a little mad, but he'll forgive you. He knows you're like a mom to me.' She unbuckles her seatbelt and goes to open the door but stops herself and turns back to Sharon. 'Do you think you and Jason could come over in a few days? There's something I want to speak to you guys about. Well, everyone really.'

'Of course.' Sharon nods. 'Just text one of us when you know what day and time and we'll be here.'

'Thank you.' Avery quickly leans over to hug her, 'and thank you for today.' She smiles as they part.

'You know you don't need to thank me Ave.' Sharon smiles slightly. 'You want some help with the bags?'

'I think I'll be fine.' Avery chuckles. 'I'll speak to you soon.'

'Bye.' Sharon smiles. Avery gets out of the car, gets her bags out, and says one last goodbye to Sharon before walking up to the house. Sharon laughs watching her struggle with the amount of bags she has.

'Dad! I'm back.' Avery shouts as she walks through the front door and closes it. Owen walks out of the kitchen and into the hallway, stopping dead in his tracks when he sees all the bags.

'How much did Sharon spend?' Owen asks, knowing he's not going to like the answer.

'You really don't want to know.' Avery laughs nervously.

'Okay.' Owen says slowly. 'Where'd you go?'

'We started at Starbucks, then we went to Sephora, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Ulta and Lush. We then went out for dinner.' Avery replies.

'No Barnes and Noble?' Owen questions, folding his arms across his chest. Avery cocks her hip and raises an eyebrow. 'Right,' he laughs, 'of course, you did.'

'The books are gonna stay at Sharon's for whenever I'm there.' Avery clarifies. 'Hence why I don't have the bags.'

'I mean, it's a good call.' Owen chuckles. 'You are already running out of space in your reading room.'

'It's not my fault I read fast and all these authors are putting out these amazing books I wanna read.' Avery puts her hands up in surrender which just makes Owen laugh and shake his head. 'I'm gonna go and put these up in my room. Is Marcy still here?'

'I let her go home early. Sharon texted saying you'd probably be home late so I told Marcy there was no point in sticking around. I already spoke to the agency at go reassurance that she'll still be paid for the entire shift.' Owen tells her.

'Cool. I'll be right back down,' Avery says, picking up the bags, 'it's nearly time for my meds, right?'

'Yeah.' Owen nods. Avery nods as well before taking her bags up to her room. She puts everything away and gets changed into some pyjamas before making her way back downstairs. When she walks into the kitchen, she sees Owen already setting up her medication so she sits on one of the stools at the island. 'Did you put everything away?' He questions, looking up at his daughter.

'Yeah.' She puts her arms on the island and leans forward slightly. 'I knew if I didn't I'd put it off and it won't get done for days.' She adds with a slight laugh. Owen slides over a little pot with all her medication in and a glass of water.

A few minutes later, Avery has taken her meds. Owen takes the empty pot and glass and starts washing them up.

'Dad?' Avery gets her dad's attention. Owen turns to face her. 'Do you think we could gather everyone here in a few days?'

'I think so.' Owen nods. 'Why?'

'I erm- I want to tell everyone what happened in Chicago.' Avery gulps.

'Ave, are you sure?' Owen asks, concerned.

'Yeah.' Avery nods. 'If I keep putting it off, the stress of trying to figure out the best way to deal with it will build and build and I'm scared it will lead to me relapsing and I don't want that to happen.'

'Okay, I'll see what I can do, but only if you're sure.' Owen responds.

'I'm sure.' Avery confirms.

'That settles it then.' Owen smiles, nodding. 'That aside, what are your plans for tomorrow?'

'I dunno.' Avery shrugs.

'Well, whilst you were out with Sharon, I went out and got some bits so we can build that chair you liked at Safe Haven.' Owen tells her and Avery's face lights up. 'We can work on it tomorrow. You wanted to put it in your reading room, right?'

'Yeah.' Avery nods, a massive grin on her face. 'Can we put some other sensory lights up too?'

'I already bought some, just in case you asked that.' Owen responds.

'Thank you, Dad.' Avery smiles, standing up, walking around to him and hugging him.

'I've already told you, Ave.' Owen sighs, wrapping his arms around her. 'I'm your dad, you don't need to thank me.'

'You do a lot for us, T.K. and I, it's the bare minimum.' Avery whispers. 

~~~~~~~~

I have an idea for two of the characters in this book... who do you think they are and what do you think will happen?

Let me know what you think!

Much love