Before We Were Yours

In the company of her father’s assistant’s intern, Avery returns to the nursing home where the Senator had his recent photo op. A bracelet belonging to Avery was found in the possession of May, the old woman who grabbed her hand and called her Fern. Avery goes to retrieve the bracelet because it contains sentimental value for her. It was a gift from her grandmother, Grandma Judy, who is also now in the nursing home. It pains Avery to connect the dots between this lonesome woman, May, and any sadness Grandma Judy might be feeling, emotions that could be buried beneath her worsening dementia. Avery feels that she needs to know more about this woman, May. She reflects inwardly: “She’s a person, like Grandma Judy” (45). Avery wants to show kindness towards May because she worries that she may have gotten her in trouble over the bracelet that May somehow managed to slip off Avery’s arm. Avery worries that she “made a bad situation worse” (45).

After picking up the bracelet from the nursing home director, Avery asks a few questions about May, namely if she has any family nearby. She is told simply that “it’s complicated” (45), and it seems to Avery that May is utterly alone.