Page 4 of Windward Hearts

She really was lucky in that regard. She had a wonderful family. She had an apartment. She had decent savings too, because her rent was very reasonable for Boston and she didn’t have any expensive hobbies.

Even so, her nervous system seemed determined to treat this professional step back as a total emergency. She’d spent most of the night lying awake, staring at her ceiling, trying to remember that this was not actually a catastrophe.

The bright light of day wasn’t helping her calm down though.

“Hello, hello!”

Hope’s sister, Felicity, called out as she let herself into Hope’s apartment. Felicity lived about fifteen minutes away, and she had her own set of keys. Even so, Hope was surprised by the appearance of her sister at ten thirty in the morning on a school day.

“Hey, Felicity,” she called back, so that her sister would know where to find her. “What are you doing here?”

Felicity breezed into the kitchen, bright and unhurried as ever.

“I had a doctor’s appointment this morning, so I took a half day,” Felicity explained, hefting two reusable grocery bags onto Hope’s small kitchen counter. “Clean bill of health, thank goodness. Although I did have to sit through the whole lecture about drinking more water and getting more sleep, as if any teacher on earth has ever managed either.”

“The audacity, making you show up just to be told you’re fine,” Hope said in commiseration, “but if it’s any consolation, you look great.”

Felicity playfully fluffed her hair. The two sisters had always looked enough alike that they occasionally got asked if they were twins, but Felicity always looked like someone had taken Hope and added a really high-tech filter. The loose chestnut waves were the same, and the warm brown eyes were shared too. But Felicity just looked like she was walking around with perfect lighting on her at every moment.

“Thanks,” Felicity said. “It does sort of help. Anyway, I woke up today with weird energy, so I thought I would bring you some treats so that you don’t have that hangdog look on your face any longer.”

Hope dropped open her mouth in mock offense, then gestured at her own face. “This,” she said, waving her finger in a circle, “is not hangdog. This is contemplation.”

“Can you contemplate with muffins?” Felicity asked pointedly.

Hope scoffed. “I can do anything with muffins. Sheesh. It’s like you don’t even know me.”

While Felicity unpacked her grocery bags, which contained some healthy options like fresh fruit and Hope’s favorite quinoa salad, Hope poured herself another cup of coffee. That was one thing she could prepare perfectly, thank you very much.

“Girl, that is a wild amount of vanilla creamer,” Felicity commented as Hope doctored her coffee to perfection.

“Why do you always need to point that out?” Hope countered. It had the well-worn pattern of a habitual exchange, because, yes, Felicity always teased Hope about using too much creamer.

Hope hadn’t been bothered by her sister’s mocking before, however, and she wasn’t about to start now. Besides, the next thing Felicity removed from her grocery bags was Hope’s preferred brand of creamer.

“You can’t tease me and be my supplier,” Hope joked. She raised the coffee pot in her sister’s direction, but Felicity shook her head.

“I’ve already hit my limit for the day,” she said, casting the coffee a longing look. “Any more and I’ll never sleep tonight.”

When the two sisters settled in at the table, each with her own apple crumble muffin, Hope with her sweet, milky coffee and Felicity with herbal tea, Felicity finally revealed that she had a secret, sneaky intention for her visit.

She reached into the grocery bag, which Hope had mistakenly assumed to be empty, and pulled out a book.

“I got something for you,” Felicity said with the tone of somebody who was not giving you the kind of gift you’d want to receive.

Hope reached out cautiously and accepted a copy of…

“The Art of Taking the Next Step?” she asked incredulously.

Felicity gave her an innocent, winsome smile, but Hope had seen Felicity use that smile to try to get out of trouble for eating a crayon when she was four, so Hope remained unmoved.

“I don’t need a book,” she told her sister.

Felicity slid the book across the table. “Okay, first, it is actually illegal to say that to a teacher,” she said.

“Good thing you’re not a lawyer,” Hope teased.

“And second,” Felicity continued, “you are sulking. I am here to make sure you don’t keep sulking. And books help!”