My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 04
My fingers paused on the clasp. “Free with what?”
Lily set her glass down and pulled a jewelry box out of her bag. Flipped it open.
Rose gold. A butterfly pendant, small stones set along the wings.
“Ethan has such good taste! I’ve been eyeing this one for months!”
She held it up against her collarbone.
“It was four hundred and thirty dollars! I’d never buy it for myself!”
Ethan shrugged. “You deserve something nice. Off to college and everything.”
Mom leaned in. “Ethan, honey, that’s too much—”
“Only the best for our Lil, Ms. Mercer.”
I turned the bracelet over in my palm. On the back of the charm, tiny letters:
PROMOTIONAL — NOT FOR RESALE
Lily went quiet.
She looked at me, then down at her own box. Her voice went soft.
“Anna — you don’t like it, do you?”
“I’m sorry — I didn’t think — Ethan was trying to include you, and I was so set on that necklace, and I just—”
Her eyes went pink at the corners.
“I always do this. Everything nice ends up with me and you end up with — with — I’m so selfish.”
The tears came, right on cue.
Mom was across the room in a heartbeat. “Lily! Don’t say that — there is no “yours” and “mine” in this family!”
Lily pushed her jewelry box across the counter toward me.
“Anna — you take it. I don’t want it.”
Mom caught her wrist. “Sweetheart, no. Ethan bought it for you.”
Lily shook her head, tears now streaming down her face.
“No — Anna’s hurt — it’s my fault for coming into this house, if I hadn’t—”
Then her gaze landed on the little dish by the fireplace.
It was where Grandma’s bracelets were kept.
Two thin silver bangles. Grandma had slipped them onto my wrist the week before she died, sitting up in her hospital bed with the oxygen still hissing.
These belong to you, honey. Nobody takes them from you.
Lily picked one up. Held it against her own wrist.
“Anna — what if we traded? My necklace for one of your bangles. That way we both have something. Fair?”
I was on my feet.
“No. Those were Grandma’s.”
Lily flinched. The bangle came down. The tears came harder.
“I’m sorry — I didn’t — I just thought—”
Ryan stepped between us.
“Jesus, Anna. Do you have to?”
“She’s offering you a four-hundred-dollar necklace for a piece of scrap silver, and you’re still not happy?”
“That bangle isn’t worth anything. You could take it to a pawn shop and they wouldn’t give you anything for it.”
I balled my fists. “It was Grandma’s.”
Ethan came over and put a hand on my arm.
“Anna. Come on. Lily’s dad was left in a vegetative state because of this family. Her being happy matters more than anything. It’s just a bracelet. You can get another one.”
I looked at him.
Every person in the room was waiting for me to say yes.
I nodded. “Fine.”
Lily whispered, “thank you, Anna.”
I turned around, walked into the mudroom, and closed the door.
I sat on the camp cot with my back against the water heater.
These belong to you, honey. Nobody takes them from you.
Somebody had, in the end. And it hadn’t been hard.
The morning Lily left for New York, they were up at five. The trunk was packed to the ceiling — comforter, bedding set, a whole crate of snacks Mom had spent Saturday assembling.
Mom handed me an envelope.
A seventeen-hour Greyhound ride in a cramped seat.
“Get some rest when you get there, honey.”
“I guess I’ll go, then.”
She was buckling Lily’s seatbelt. She didn’t look up.
Lily leaned out the back window and waved.
“See you soon, Anna!”
I watched the taillights around the bend. Then I turned, went into the mudroom, picked up my passport and duffel I’d packed the night before, and walked to the bus stop.
By four that afternoon I was through security at SFO.
My phone lit up. Messages stacking. Fifteen. Twenty.
Anna where ARE you??? The bus company says you never boarded!!!
Anna answer your damn phone!!
Please tell me you’re safe, honey, please just—
I deleted every contact. Powered the phone off. Dropped it into the trash can by the gate.
The plane climbed through the clouds. I said goodbye to all of it.
……
At exactly that moment, back home, Dad’s phone rang. A number he didn’t recognize.
“Mr. Mercer? This is Detective Halloran. I’m calling about the Bennett workplace injury from seven years ago. We’ve been going back over the old file, and something’s turned up that we’d like to talk to you about—”