My hand trembled as I pointed at the folded hearts. “Who made those?”
Steven twisted on his stool. His cheeks turned pink. “Lizzie did.”
Lizzie, as in RoseElizabethLyon? I’d never known my sister to go by her middle name, but then again, I hadn’t spoken with her in four years. Who knew how much she’d changed?
“Is this her? This Lizzie person?” I asked, holding out the picture for him to examine.
He leaned over the counter. “Her hair is different,” he said, “but yeah. That’s Lizzie. She’s our upstairs tenant.”
My heart nearly exploded at his response.
“Why didn’t you mention her earlier?” Asha asked before I could sort through my shock.
“Oh, I don’t know.” His tone was hardened by sarcasm. “Probably because Rose Lyon and Lizzie O’Brien aren’t the same name.”
Alec cast a worried glance in my direction. “O’Brien?”
“It’s my mom’s maiden name,” I explained. “I’ve tried to find Rose online before, and now it makes sense why I never could.”
“As much as I’ve enjoyed this impromptu interrogation, I’d really like to get back to mycomic.” Steven speared Asha with a glare. “Lizzie or whatever her name is got back from work an hour ago. If I let you upstairs, would you leave me alone?”
Holy shit.
Rose was here.
Rose was hereright now.
I gripped the counter for support and took a steadying breath. “Yes,” I exclaimed. “Please.”
Chapter 17
Steven led us through the gallery and out the back of the building into the sun. He stopped in front of another door and flipped through the collection of keys. I clasped and unclasped my hands as he found the one he needed and let us in.
Without another word, he disappeared back inside the shop.
“They really need to work on their customer service here,” Boomer muttered, but I was only half listening.
A staircase stretched out in front of me.
The last forty-eight hours had passed in a whirlwind since I found my sister’s letters. I’d wanted to track down Rose so badly that I took off without giving myself a chance to consider how reading her words made me feel. And now that I was on the verge of seeing her, I was filled with anger. I was mad at her for leaving, for all the years of not knowing if she was okay. Mad at her for not coming back. It was the kind of long-lasting anger that simmered under the skin, unnoticed for long stretches of time until something like a song, a snippet of conversation, or a paper heart brought it to the surface again.
The only emotion strong enough to cut through my anger was my fear. Rose wrote to me, but she’d also abandoned me. She wasgoing by a different name. What if I knocked on her door and she wanted nothing to do with me?
Calloused fingers knitted with mine, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. Alec didn’t say anything, but his eyes did the asking:Are you okay?I couldn’t think of a scenario where I’d actually be okay given the situation, but having him at my side, the warmth of his hand in mine… That was exactly what I needed to be brave.
Hitching up a smile, I said, “Okay, let’s do this.” And then I squared my shoulders and marched up the steps. When I reached the top, I knocked before I had time to panic again. The sound of footsteps followed immediately, along with the chatter of a familiar voice.
“…probably just Steven. He’s always thinking of excuses to visit. Oh, not at all! He’s totally harmless. It’s kinda cute actually.”
I heard a click as the deadbolt was unlocked. The door swung open, and—
There, after all this time, stood my sister.
She nearly dropped the phone when she saw me.
Whoever was on the other end said something, because Rose quickly replied, “I gotta go. Call you later.” The phone disappeared into her pocket, but neither of us spoke. We took a long moment to study each other, almost as if we could catch up on the years we’d missed by staring. Finally, she pressed a hand to her chest as if she was feeling physical pain. “Felicity?”
“Hey,” I responded.Four years apart, and all you can manage is ahey? Genius, Felicity.
