Page 70 of No More Words

Amber leans back and nibbles a carrot. “What does Daddio want with Lily?”

“Ding-ding-ding. That’s the question of the day.” Charlotte never really told her.

“Maybe he wanted to let her know she’s welcome back home.”

“Then why is Josh afraid of him?” Before she left for Charlotte’s she told Amber about yesterday’s visit with her mom and why she needed to go back.

“Good question.” Amber drags a carrot through the hummus. “What are you going to do if you can’t find Lily?”

“I will find her,” Olivia says, adamant. The other possibility is too disastrous to consider.

“But if you don’t. What if she’s dead?”

“She’s not dead.” She slaps a hand on the table. Lily is not allowed to die before Olivia has the chance to make up for being a sad excuse of a big sister. If it’s the last thing she does, she will reunite Josh and Lily. She owes her sister after turning her back on her before. She catches Amber’s wide-eyed expression. “Sorry.”

Olivia leans on the table and presses the cool can to her cheek. She thinks of the power of attorney document on her desk and her mood turns somber.

“What is it?” Amber asks quietly and her mouth turns downward, reading Olivia’s conflicting emotions. “You’re afraid.”

Olivia rolls her lips over her teeth and nods.

“What are you more afraid of, not finding Lily or getting attached to Josh?”

She scoffs. Amber cocks her head. Olivia sighs. “Both.” Josh will think she betrayed him if she can’t follow through on her promise. And if she can’t find Lily? It will be like losing her all over again. Only this time she cares, and it’ll hurt that much more.

Olivia puts the Rolodex back in her purse and notices an old iPhone at the other end of the table. “Whose is that?”

“Mine, an old one. Mike ran into his speech pathologist friend at the hospital and got some app recommendations. I downloaded them.”

“Great.” She perks up with interest. She’d been waiting for Mike to text her the pathologist’s number. Now Josh can work on his speech. If he makes some immediate progress, he can explain more about what happened to Lily. She picks up the phone and the screen awakens with a photo of Josh smirking. Amber took the picture in Olivia’s backyard. She can see the pergola Blaze built behind him. His expression is corny and she chuckles.

“It doesn’t have cell service. I tapped into your Wi-Fi.”

Olivia returns the phone and searches the kitchen, unsure if she’s hungry, or even motivated to fix a sandwich. A bouquet of peonies she didn’t notice before brightens her kitchen island.

“Did you bring those?”

“Blaze. He scared the shit out of us. We were out back and I couldn’t tell it was him in the kitchen.”

“Sorry about that. He should have called first.” And returned his house key. She’d also promised to call him today.

“They’re pretty,” Amber says.

Olivia sniffs the flowers. They’re beautiful. Perfectly imperfect, like her and Blaze. He’s never given her flowers. The gesture is oddlyromantic. Her stomach feels like a ballerina twirling. A hint of a smile adds a curve to her lips.

“He’s so in love with you, Olivia.”

“I know.” She really hurt him and sensed that much last night when he saw Ethan.

“He was also very curious about Josh.”

That gets her attention. “How so?”

“He asked a lot of questions, like where he’s from, and all that.”

Her heart rate speeds up. Josh could have had another anxiety attack and she wouldn’t have been here for him.

“Did Blaze find out anything new?”

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