“Alright, how can I help?” I sit at the table across from her. “Give me a job.”
She hands over a pile of thick paper with hearts stenciled in. “Cut these.”
I get to work. “This is easy. You’ve given me the easy job.”
“I’m glad you think so. We need fifty.”
I immediately regret volunteering.
“Fifty? How many people are we expecting?”
“I mean…a lot. I invited everyone.”
I snap the scissors closed too soon, slicing a paper heart in half. “Everyone?”
Her smile morphs into a confused pinch. “Yeah. Is that bad?”
Of course not. How can it be bad?
I have a history. Ophelia knows I have history.
I’m pushing fifty. I’m not a virgin.
I’m not hiding anything.
Or anyone.
Besides. Trinity probably won’t even come.
PART VI
THIS IS WHY NO ONE LIKES VALENTINE’S DAY
33
Ophelia.Now.
To go, or not to go.
That is the question.
Today’s the day of the Seekers’ Club Valentine’s Day bash and even as I put on my makeup, I think:you can still back out of this.
On one hand, I love a party. I miss the club. I miss my friends. And I miss…
Phantom.
Seeing him last night…softer, tender, open and willing to imagine a future with me…
It rooted a seed of hope inside of me, a seed that I’m currently terrified to water.
What if I let it grow big again only to have him chop it down?
How many times can we do this dance?
I drown out the noise in my head with Olivia Rodrigo hits. My dresser is covered in setting powder and glitter. I look at myself in the mirror and battle my hair into submission witha curling iron. Phantom’s note mocks me in the corner of my mirror. Still, I don’t have the heart to take it down.
My curling iron has gone cold. I try a different outlet—nothing. Stupid old building.
