Page 97 of Meet Me in the Valley
“Where’s Cali?” I divert, not wanting to talk about Logan right now. I bring the tea to my lips, but as soon as the taste hits my tongue, I’m instantly hit with nausea. I attempt to hide my grimace, but Nora catches me.
“Does it not taste good?”
“It’s fine. Just not in the mood for tea. Where’s Cali?” I ask again.
Now that I’m back here in Nora’s house, the reality of our situation swells like an incoming wave. It’s growing with intensity, and if I don’t navigate this correctly, it will end up drowning me.
Cali—my niece. The niece she hid from me for twelve years.
“She’s with Hanny,” Nora whispers. Guilt marks her face, avoiding eye contact while fidgeting with the handle of her mug.
Hannah.Hanny. The woman my sister looks up to the most. It stings like unspoken betrayal. But I want to understand, even if it hurts.
“So you really had no idea she was Logan’s mom? This entire time you’ve let her into your life—your child’s life—you never knew?”
“No,” shaking her head, “I didn’t. She told me she had a son, but I didn’t even know she was married to Chief Harper. She told me she was leaving her husband and had a plan to go to Vegas.”
I scoff. “That was really stupid of you, Nora. I always knew you to be street smart. She could’ve been a child trafficker, or a goddamn serial killer. And you were pregnant. She could’ve stolen your baby like those crazy ladies who stalk pregnant women,” I say in disbelief. “I just don’t understand.”
Nora rolls her eyes, taking a sip of her tea before pinning me with a hard stare. “I don’t need you to understand. It wasn’t like I left with her that day. You don’t know the half of it?—”
“And whose fault is that? You made damn sure I didn’t know anything about you or your life. That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? You send me a half-assed postcard with no return address, telling me to come find you. And now that I have, you want me to have empathy for you? To feel sorry for you? You hid your child from us and let a stranger take care of you instead of us. Your family!”
“Tia, I don’t need you to berate me for my choices. Calm the fuck down. We’ve already talked about this. You want the truth? Hannah saved me. I was at the clinic b-because I was c-considering—” Nora stutters, overcome with emotion as a rush of tears leave her.
“Hannah became my friend. She could relate to what I was going through—feeling scared and sick of Oakwood Valley. I wanted out, and the more I got to know her, the more I trusted her. She was a safe person for me, and Cali adores her. I’m not going to feel bad for doing what I needed to do at the time to survive,” Nora breathes, furiously wiping the onslaught of tears running down her face.
“I’m sorry it hurt Logan. I hate that he resents me, but I seriously didn’t know, Tia. Hannah’s been a mess since the whole thing went down. Honestly, so have I. I didn’t think I’d see you again.”
The four-way standoff on Nora’s patio yesterday sent Logan and me spiraling into a whirlpool of avoidance and denial. All we had to do was look at each other, say “Fuck the rest,” and disappear into each other. Neither of us had the strength to walk away from the inevitable.
And now, looking at my sister, I see the defeat written all over her face. After how we left things yesterday, it’s no wonder she didn’t think I’d come back. Years of hurt and unanswered questions. A cruel twist of fate that Logan and I never saw coming in a million years.
Everything that’s happened between then and now was blissful noise. A distraction from the reality I’ve been trying not to face because I had Logan there to shield me from the fallout.
It’s not just the guilt—though that sits heavy on my chest, a weight I can’t shake from not being honest with Logan from the start.
It’s the sharp, breath-stealing realization that I let my want for him—myneedfor him—completely distract me from the real reason I’m here.
And learning the truth about Hannah’s role in Nora’s life doesn’t change the fact that she has a son who loves and misses her.
“Well, I came back because it didn’t feel like we were done talking. You need to come back with me, Nora. I’m not leaving here until you do.”
Nora sighs, putting her mug down on the table, then threads her fingers through her long onyx hair. If anything, we look more alike the older we’ve gotten. The resemblance even has me doing a double-take for a split second. But the stark difference between us is I have empathy for my mother and, apparently, Nora doesn’t.
“Going back to California isn’t that simple, Tia. I dance at the hotel five days a week, two times a night, and I have a twelve-year-old going on twenty-two that I need to keep alive. Plus, the endless amount of bills, a mortgage, and my very lame, non-existent-social life. I can’t just up and leave my life here.”
“Huh, you had no issues up and leaving us when you wanted. It wasyouwho always told me if I wanted something in life, to go after it and never take no for an answer. So, I’m telling you to come home to see mom. You owe me that much.”
Nora’s mouth quirks up, the faintest trace of a smirk tugging at the corner. “Ah. So the student becomes the master. I’ve taught you well, young grasshopper,” she teases.
And just like that, for a moment, the years between us fall away.
Sitting across from me isn’t the stranger I’ve learned to guard myself against—it’smy sister. My big sister.
The one I once worshipped so blindly I would’ve followed her anywhere. For a flicker of time, we slip back into who we used to be before everything got so complicated. Before the silence. Before she left.
We laugh together, and something in me shifts. A crack in the wall I didn’t know I’d built around my heart, just wide enough for her light to slip in. Like the night I watched her dance. So effortless and free.
