Page 74 of Verses and Blooms
He considered it. “Maybe. But you have to be really brave. Are you really brave?”
Lilly nodded vigorously. “I am brave.”
“I thought so,” he said. “Well then, you better do good in school, and one day you’ll be able to join the Alliance.”
“Awesome,” she said, looking at me with a big grin that I easily returned. Even as her focus was on our pack, she made sure I never left her sights. Watching them leave today would be difficult.
“How do you feel about the coast?” I asked Sarah when Lilly moved on to talking with Audrey.
“Why? What’s on the coast?” she asked curiously.
Ares joined us now that Lilly had moved on, leaning against the wall beside me and giving Sara a small smile and greeting.
“We talked about moving far from here. A fresh start,” I explained.
Sara looked at me, teeth worrying her bottom lip like she did when she was reluctant about something. “Look, Sarah. I owe you the world for protecting my baby when I couldn’t. I would never force you to do anything you don’t want to do. But I want you nearby. Lilly would be lost without you. Plus, we could use all the family and support around us we can get as we get used to real life again.”
“If you really mean that,” Sarah said slowly, “then I’ll come. You were the only thing tying me to this area, and I think we’ve had enough sadness here to last a lifetime. A fresh start sounds perfect.”
“I think since Sarah and I are the only ones with access to a computer and the internet,” Ares joked, “we get to make the choices of where we live and what property we buy.”
Sarah grinned and clapped her hands, a move we’d just seen Lilly do a few minutes ago. They were so alike now. “I like the sound of that.”
“I feel like I should be scared,” I deadpanned.
“Oh, you should,” Sarah said, still grinning. “But, we both know I have better taste out of the two of us.”
“We’re going to move,” Lilly said excitedly, “and be one big family!”
“How do you feel about that?” I asked her. She deserved to have her own say in all of this.
She considered it for all of half a second, glanced around the room, and gave me an enthusiastic, “Yes!”
Just like that, my two worlds collided. The outcome was everything I’d hoped for and so much more.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Audrey
“Now you’re going to shape your dough,” Bethany instructed from her place at the front of the kitchen island. The counter was covered in flour and small mounds of dough, each of us following her directions meticulously to shape the bread.
She was a kind, older woman from a nearby bakery who came in to offer classes. She never looked at us with pity. Instead, she treated us like an extension of her grandchildren. How could you not trust an older woman who calls everyone ‘baby’ and tells it like it is?
“Now we have one final rise, and we can clean up in between. Once your bread is baked, you’ll want to put it in the loaf pan to rise and make sure that you’ve greased it properly, which you should’ve done when I explained earlier,” she added, giving the room a side eye for good measure.
I was oddly proud of my little dough baby. It looked like hers and it was satisfying to create something with my hands like this.
We made quick work of cleaning up after ourselves before she added another paper to our growing binders. She’d come by three days a week for the last two weeks to help teach us, adding recipes to the binders she brought each time.
Alice had been true to her word in making sure they implemented life-skill classes. So far, we had learned how to balance and budget finances, started the process of requesting our important documents so we’d be able to function outside of these walls, and how to properly clean and do laundry. All the things some would take for granted.
Some of the patients opted out, and I couldn’t fault them for that. If they had those life skills it wasn’t necessary to learn again. Ansel and I went to nearly every one, though.
The cooking class had been my favorite, so far. Bethany was incredible, and having Rydell and Ansel in here with me made it even more fun. We talked and joked around in between steps and Bethany often joined in. It felt like those days I used to spend in my grandmother’s kitchen as a kid.
Back then I was too young to really be able to help but I loved it all the same. It was a nice nostalgic reminder of one of the few good memories I had.
Just as we were finishing cleaning up the workspace, Ares hurried in, waving us over. I caught Ansel’s attention and grabbed Rydell before following him. My heart was pounding from the intense look on his face.Something had clearly happened.
