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She sees me.
And I recognize her.
It’s Lyra, Nova’s sister.
* * *
I watchLyra shuffle her feet. Her eyes are locked on her open-toed sandals. I look down too and notice that some of her nail polish is chipping off.
She pulls her toes back as if she’s ashamed and I quickly avert my gaze.
The two sisters are as different as can be.
Nova is polished and elegant. Always put-together. Always composed. She favors business jackets and pencil skirts.
Lyra seems to be the more…artistic of the pair with her adventurous dyed hair, flair for animal print clothing, and… uh… casual form of speech.
“Don’t let me keep you from going upstairs,” I tell Lyra when she keeps staring at me without saying anything. “If you came to visit Nova—”
“Actually, I’m glad I ran into you.”
“Me?” I stuff a finger in my chest, uneasy.
Everything about this meeting with Lyra feels shady—from the way she urged me out of the car, to slinking into the shadows near the garbage can, to whispering so we’re not overheard despite no one being around. It feels like I’m betraying Nova, even if I’m not sure how.
Lyra stares up at me. “You’reNova’s mysterious boss, aren’t you? The one she can’t tell anyone about?”
My cheeks get hot. “What makes you say that?”
“My sister don’t listen tonobody, but I saw her with you that day. She was gonna listen to you if it was anybody but me in front of her.” Lyra narrows her eyes like she’s trying to see to my soul. “She respects you.”
I don’t know what she expects me to say to that, so I don’t reply.
Lyra faces me fully and squares her shoulders. “My sister’s got some issues. You probably know that. She don’t trust nobody and she keeps to herself. That’s my fault.” Tears start sprouting in Lyra’s eyes. “I made a lot of mistakes and Nova had to bail me out a couple times.”
“Hey, don’t cry.” I touch her shoulder.
She sniffs harder.
I fish around in my pocket for a handkerchief.
Lyra takes it and blows her nose loudly. The elephant that had been sitting on my chest earlier would probably be jealous.
“Do you know about our mama?”
I shake my head. Nova doesn’t mention anything about her family. At all. I only knew she’d taken the day off for her mother’s funeral because I overheard someone talking about it.
To say I’d been hurt that she kept such an occasion from me would be an understatement. But Nova simply told me that she preferred to keep her work and her personal life separate.
“She was a seamstress. She worked long hours for little pay and never could make it out of the hood. When Nova started working at Vision Tech, the first thing she did was buy our mama a house. She’s that kind of person. Always keeps her promises.”
I nod, resonating with that.
“But then I had some trouble,” Lyra clears her throat, “and mama had to sell the house to help me out. She went right back to the lousy neighborhood. Nova never forgave me or mama for that. It put a big dent in our family, ya know?”
I’m not sure why Lyra is telling me all this, but I’m gobbling up all the crumbs about Nova’s past that I can get. Anything to understand her better.
“Now that we’re older, I want to show Nova I’ve changed.” Lyra pats her chest and it sounds like she’s beating a drum. “And I have. I’m a completely new person, but Nova won’t give me a chance to prove that.”
