But that relief fades quickly.
“Nothing,” she says. “Don’t worry about it.”
I glance at Sol’s bedroom door, then back to her, but I don’t say anything. The question hangs in the air.
But the only answer Rose offers is a shrug of tense shoulders. “Don’t worry about it,” she says again.
As if that’s possible.
But I don’t push the question. Partly because I don’t want to drive her further away. And partly because I don’t think I want to know why she was in Sol’s room. I don’t want to find myself torn between whose trust to break. Not again.
I take a step forward. “Can we talk?” I ask. “Please?”
It’sonly been two days since our talk in the shed, but it feels like it’s been so much longer. The distance has left an ache in my chest, like I’m missing a crucial part of me. It’s strange, since I only met her a couple months ago. But now I can’t imagine life without her here.
Her eyes soften a little, but she shakes her head. “Not right now. I’ve gotta go.”
I don’t realize that my hand is raised, as if to reach for her, until it drops to my side again. “Go where?”
She glances over her shoulder, toward the front door, and fidgets with the sleeves of her shirt. Then she sighs. As if deciding that she doesn’t have time for the back-and-forth with me.
“I’m going into town.”
“You can’t,” I say. “You heard Sol: He doesn’t want any of us leaving the hollow.”
But Rose shrugs. “I’m going anyway.”
She turns and begins walking toward the front door, and I follow, flabbergasted and worried.
“He’ll get upset,” I tell her. “If Sol finds out you left, he’ll—”
“He’ll what?” She’s pulling on her boots now, my words not slowing her down in the slightest. “Sol can’t tell me what to do. He’s not my parent. Not my guardian. He’s just some guy in the woods who likes flowers.”
Istare at her, shocked. “He gave us a home,” I say.
“He did,” she says. “And I’m grateful for that. But it doesn’t mean I’m gonna let him force me to stay here. I don’t like rules. If I wanna go to town, I will. And right now, I want to.”
Rose is stubborn. I know that. And I know that nothing I can say will change her mind right now. She’s got one hand on the door.
“Why do you need to go to town? Do you even know how to get there?”
“I remember the way Lily brought me,” she says. “Just three miles up the dirt road.” She pulls the knob, and the door swings open. She barely even looks at me as she speaks. If anything, she seems to be in a hurry to go.
“Will you come back?” The question sounds pathetic. Quiet and shaky, my voice hitching as I ask it.
If Rose hears me, she doesn’t show it. She’s already down the steps now, checking to make sure none of the other girls are in the front yard. They’re not. Nearly everyone else is out back, near the shed. So she runs. Her sprinter’s legs carry her down the muddy road fast. And in no time at all, she disappears into the mountain fog.
I’mon edge the rest of the day, waiting for her to return. Wondering if shewillreturn. Did me telling her about Mr. Brophy’s store upset her so much she decided to leave for good? Why had she been in Sol’s room? The questions spiral relentlessly through my mind, distracting me from everything else.
I find myself in the attic, staring out the window, waiting—or, at least, hoping—to see her running back down the path, inky black hair streaming behind her. But the sun moves from one wall of mountains to the other, and there’s still no sign of Rose.
Eventually, the others notice her absence.
“Where’s Rose?” Poppy asks. She’s joined me in the attic. “It’s our turn to make dinner tonight.”
I bite my lip and glance toward the window again. But still nothing.
“That’s a great question.”
