“We’ll take it back right now,” Virginia tells my father, looking up at him. “I’m so sorry, Tom, she—”
“It was a gift, Virginia,” Dad interrupts, his tone leaving no room for argument. He picks up Lachlan and holds him to his side. Then he settles a hand on Mia’s shoulder. “It’s yours, sweetheart. Enjoy it.” To Virginia, he says, “Let’s move this conversation to my office.”
Mia doesn’t move an inch as they make their way inside. I don’t either. As soon as the front door’s closed, I let out a breath. “Holy shit. Your mom can’t let you enjoy anything, can she?”
Her eyes snap to mine, red and raw from her withheld tears. Then she grabs the handlebars, starts walking away. Over her shoulder, she says, her voice barely audible, “I guess you two have that in common.”
It’s 4:42 a.m. when the lights in the apartment illuminate, and my heart begins to race.
It’s been four days since we last spoke, since I last saw her, and I found out the day before that she’s leaving earlier than planned. In three days, she’ll be gone, and who knows if she’ll ever come back.
It’s my last chance to make up for my mistakes, to apologize, and to plead for her forgiveness. It’s been eating away at me; every second of every day I’m filled with guilt and regret. And thoughts of Mia.
My sister once told me that our mom believed profoundly in fate. That fate was the reason she met my dad and why they were able to live the kind of blessed life that allowed them to have seven beautiful children. When she told me all this, I replied that it was bullshit. If fate gave Mom all of that, then fate also took it away, left her “seven beautiful children” motherless and gave her an incurable fucking disease that killed her slowly, painfully.
Lucy had looked at me, wide-eyed. “I believe in fate,” she’d said.
I told her she was stupid and that she lived in a fantasyland full of fairy tales and princes who came to save the day. She wasn’t a princess, and she wasn’t living in one of her romance novels. I told her that fate was a lie created to make you believe you have no control over what happens in your life.
I must have had one of my so-called “outbursts” because it seemed to shock everyone. To my entire family, Lucy was a princess, and most of the time, we treated her as such.
It’s no real surprise that I made my sister cry that day. And I don’t regret it. Fate is bullshit.
But as I pedal hard now, pushing my legs until they burn, fate is the only thing I can rely on.
I thought I’d be able to catch up with Mia and follow her, but once we are off the property, I can’t see anything beyond the darkness.
Fate leads me to the water tower, the only place I can think to go.
Mia’s bike is here, exactly where the opening in the fence is. I drop my bike next to hers and crawl through the hole. I don’t want to scare her, so I use my flashlight and call out her name as I walk toward it. She’s already on the top ledge when I get to the tower, her legs dangling off the edge. “Mia!” I call out, but she doesn’t respond. Doesn’t even look down at the sound. With a heavy sigh, I shove the flashlight in my pocket and climb the ladder. Once I’m standing on the ledge, moving toward her, she finally speaks. “Did you know?” she asks, voice breaking through the silence around us.
I sit down next to her, try to hide the fact that I’m out of breath. “Know what?”
It takes her a moment to answer. “Your dad was the one to invite me here.” She turns to me, and even though there’s barely any light out, I can see the sorrow in her stare, feel the dejection in her words. “When your dad took me shopping for the bike, he mentioned it. He didn’t know that... that she hadn’t told me, I guess.”
“I’m sorry,” I mumble. It’s such a stupid, careless, impersonal thing to say, and the worst part? I don’t even know what I’m sorry for. For her mom’s actions? For mine? For her coming here believing one thing and then having it all ripped away?
“I just wish...” she chokes out, wiping a single tear from