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That’s who she was back then, barely old enough to drink and an adorable pain in the ass with an attitude bigger than her frame.
The Ophelia who came back is a stranger and all woman.
And that woman doesn’t need me dumping more trouble on her doorstep than she’s ready to handle, especially with her ma’s cancer relapsing. That’s probably why Ros didn’t want to fess up and tell her yet.
I should just trust her to know her sister.
She’ll know the right place and time.
What matters is that it’s notmyplace.
Doubt I could’ve spilled the truth without doing more damage, anyway. Hell, I almost didn’t recognize Ophelia when I saw her, changed by time and the sorcery of growing up.
Somehow, those girlish features got refined into sophisticated elegance, but the glacial perfection of her face just can’t be cold when her mouth is crooked and red and sweet.
Yeah, fuck me for staring at hermouth.
She’s got this way of quirking her head to one side and biting her cheek like she’s always about to laugh. The cold October breeze turned her honey-blonde hair from a tumble into a cloud, flaring around her in streaming wisps. They glowed like gold where the sun caught them, the entire mass caught up inside the collar of my coat.
Then there are those wide green eyes, gone angled and soft and wiser with age, yet still so innocent.
Still so familiar it kicks me in the face when I know the sharp mind behind that pointed gaze.
She’s so much morethan a distant memory when she’s here again.
And I can’t believe she’s still got my heart tied up with nothing more than a glance.
Hell, if Ethan were around, he’d sock me in the mouth and tell me to keep my eyesandmy dirty paws off his little sister.
He’d probably be right.
I’m pretty sure she hates me anyway.
She has every right.
After the way we parted, I’d hate my miserable, bitter, antisocial ass, too.
* * *
Ten Years Ago
“There’ssomething you’re not telling me.”
For such a skinny string bean of a girl, Ophelia’s always been as perceptive as a mirror.
Sometimes I want to ask her how she always knows.
Only, I think she’d smack me clean across the face if I did.
We’re sitting out back on her ma’s porch. It’s gotten to be a habit in the time since Ethan disappeared without a trace.
Almost ten damn years now.
I couldn’t do much, not back when he first vanished.
I was only twenty then, still in college and working to get on the Redhaven PD. After that, I was just a rookie. As I’ve worked my way up to a proper badge, I’ve kept up the same habit, year after year.
I have to look in on the Sandersons.
