under an hour,” Corrie told me, winking as she followed Molly inside the store.
I sat with my head bent down for a while, listening to the sounds of life all around me. No one paid much attention to the girl sitting by herself. Everyone moved past on their way to clothing stores or toy stores or the food court. There was a card shop across from the electronics store Molly and Corrie had disappeared into. A sign hanging in the window reminded the shoppers passing by that Mother’s Day was only a couple of weeks away.
The bright colors drew me into the floral scented store. I slipped between the aisles, strolling past ridiculous displays of delicate crystal roses and teddy bears clutching “I LUV U!” hearts. Turning a corner, I found the card aisle and a huge selection of Mother’s Day cards glared down at me. My eyes scanned over the happy, sappy cards, but nothing felt right. Where were the Mother’s Day cards for the mother who had taken off and abandoned your entire family?
A familiar voice in the next aisle caught my attention and I peeked over the top of the card display to see the back of Hannah Cohen’s dark brown hair. She studied a shelf of Mother’s Day gifts while a saleswoman pointed out a few of the items.
“What about this?” the saleswoman asked, picking up a beautiful flower suspended in a glass globe.
Hannah barely glanced at it. “No, my mother says lilies are the poor man’s rose.” She let out a long sigh as she studied the rest of the offerings. “None of these are right.”
The saleswoman looked frustrated. Hannah had probably turned down everything else in the store. “Perhaps you’d like to take a look at our catalog? You may find something in there you could order.”
“My mother doesn’t order things from catalogs,” Hannah snapped. She smoothed down the front of her blouse. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude, but you don’t know my mother.”
I knew Mrs. Cohen, or at least I’d known her back when Hannah and I were kids. Even before the Cohens had suddenly found themselves teetering on the upper class wealth level, she had always wanted the best of everything. “The image you project to society says everything people need to know about you,” Mrs. Cohen used to tell Hannah and me as we watched her scrub the dust off the top of the kitchen cabinets, the part no one ever saw. “Your life can fall into ruins, but if you look like you have everything in control, you will be in control.”
Hannah smoothed out a wrinkle in her blouse again, as if she too could hear her mother’s words echo in her head. It had always been a habit she had, automatically making sure everything about her appearance was in place and orderly. I didn’t think she even realized how often she did it.
“Any Mother’s Day gift I give my mother has to be perfect,” Hannah told the saleswoman.
“I’m sure your mom will love anything you give her,” the saleswoman offered helpfully, giving Hannah a wide smile.
But Hannah’s shoulders tensed and she sighed. “Honestly, nothing here is good enough. No offense intended.”
“Maybe you should try Annabelle’s?” the woman asked, naming a high end boutique a few blocks away.
Hannah turned and I quickly stepped backward so she couldn’t see me, slipping around the corner of the card display. My back collided with a solid form behind me and I heard a muffled, “Oof!”
I spun around to find myself face-to-face with my brother.
“What are you doing here?” Ian and I asked each other at the same time.
“Nothing,” we said in unison.
Ian stood in front of the display of crystal roses, his hands shoved deep into his pockets and his face bright pink. He looked like I’d caught him red-handed doing something he should be ashamed of.
I narrowed my eyes. “What are you really doing here?”
Ian shrugged. “Nothing. Shopping.”
“Since when do you shop at Leila’s Cards and Gifts?” I asked.
“Since when do you?”
“I’m not shopping. I’m waiting for Molly and her mom. They’re in the electronics store.”
“Well, maybe I’m waiting for someone too.” But his ears were now as red as his hair and I wasn’t buying it.
I crossed my arms. “Spill, or else I’m telling Dad I caught you shoplifting.”
Ian’s mouth dropped open and his eyes bugged out at me. “I am not!”
“That’s what it looks like to me. You’re skulking around a store you never go into, near