Page 154 of Sincerely, Your Enemy

The elevator dings when we reach the fourth floor, and Vera gets out first, blazing a trail down the hall. TJ walks slowly, continuously checking in on me as if to make sure I’m not going to run away scared. I wish he knew I have no intention of leaving, no matter how intimidating the situation is.

Vera stops in front of door 405 and reaches for the doorknob, but then… she hesitates. For a moment, her confident, rock-solid demeanor falters, and she stops.

She can’t do it.

I notice TJ standing still from the corner of my eye. He’s holding his breath, pain evident on his face. Seeing him like this… so scared… it breaks me to my core.

I only realize I’ve taken hold of his hand when his eyes dart to mine, filled with shock. In response, I hold on tighter.

My affection must’ve been the push he needed because the next thing I know, he’s opening the door for Vera, who finally snaps out of whatever trance was holding her prisoner.

The first thing I notice when we walk in is the color of the walls. They’re a pale shade of blue, almost white. The second thing I notice is the twin bed pushed up against a wall next to a nightstand with a picture frame on top.

A woman is sitting in a wheelchair that’s facing the only rectangular window in her room, with her back turned to us. I can’t see much of her aside from her dark brown hair.

I expected some sort of reaction, but she doesn’t so much as move a muscle when we walk in. Not even when TJ closes the door behind us.

“Hey, Soph,” Vera breaks the silence.

Nothing.

My stomach drops like a bag of rocks when my brain decides to revisit the conversation TJ and I had in the car.

I asked him if he’d talked to his mother about Daniel not being his biological father, and after he told me that he did talk to her, he added, “I just wish she’d heard me.”

Oh my God.

This is what he meant, isn’t it?

“We’ve missed you,” Vera adds, walking right over to her sister and then slowly spinning her wheelchair around.

The first words that pop into my mind when I get a good look at Sophie Jacobs arenatural beauty.

Because she is.

Even with no makeup on and disheveled hair, she’s stunning.

With long, dark lashes, freckles, and a heart-shaped mouth, she doesn’t look a day over forty.

And God, those brown eyes… They’re exactly like TJ’s.

The difference is her eyes are vacant.

Emotionless.

She’s staring blankly ahead, and my entire body begins to ache when it hits me…

She’s gone.

Vera carefully pushes a strand of brown hair away from her sister’s face and tucks it behind her ear.

“Hey, Mom.” TJ’s voice breaks on the wordmom.

I watch as he kneels down in front of her and captures her hand into his.

“I’m sorry I haven’t come to see you as often in the past few weeks. Things have been… crazy.”

Sophie blinks in response.

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