Now That I've Found You - Kristina Forest Page 0,79

still. I have no one to blame but myself.

Milo sighs, still staring at me intensely.

“After you left, I kept thinking about where your grandmother could be,” he says. “I thought about all the places I’ve been with her before, the places we didn’t go this week.” He pauses. “Do you remember the brownstone where she lived with her family in Brooklyn? She bought it a while ago, and I think she might be there now.” Every bone in my body is telling me that I shouldn’t believe him, that I should send him away. But I think back to the photo Candice gave me of young Gigi in her white-and-yellow dress, sitting on her front stoop. And I think about the sad look on Gigi’s face when she took me to that same place five years ago. I don’t know why she would be at her old apartment, but something about it makes sense.

“She’s only brought me there once, but I think I remember where it is,” Milo says.

“The same way you remembered where Esther lived,” I say, annoyed. I shouldn’t trust him, but what if he’s right? I need to see for myself if it’s true. “Can you take me?”

“Of course.”

Kerri is in the middle of talking to the glam team when Milo and I step out of the bathroom. She turns around to face us.

“Everything okay?” she says, looking at me.

I contemplate lying, telling her that everything is fine and that I’m just walking Milo down to the lobby, when I really plan to leave and find Gigi. But I don’t want to lie to Kerri anymore. She deserves the truth.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” I ask, motioning for her to follow me back into the bathroom.

“What’s going on?” she asks, frowning once again. She closes the bathroom door.

I tell Kerri everything. How Gigi left, how I’ve been looking for her. And finally, how Milo thinks he might know where she is.

“Evie, this is ridiculous.” She runs a frantic hand through her long hair. “I can’t believe you waited until now to tell me!”

“I’m so sorry,” I say, feeling sick to my stomach.

She shakes her head. “I can’t allow you to go with Milo on a fool’s errand. We don’t have time. We can worry about James Jenkins and his team later, but right now, we need to get you ready to accept the award on your grandmother’s behalf. I’ll have someone call the FCC committee and let them know she won’t make it.” She reaches to open the bathroom door, and suddenly the idea of going to the ceremony when Gigi is so close feels impossible. I need to talk to Gigi, but more than anything, I just want to make sure she’s okay. I want to see her and hug her and hear her tell me that she doesn’t hate me.

“Wait!” I reach out and squeeze Kerri’s hands. “Please, Kerri, just give me a chance to bring her home. If Gigi isn’t where Milo thinks she is, we can call everyone and tell them the truth. But please, I just need to know if she’s there.”

Kerri is still shaking her head, blinking like she can’t understand what she’s hearing. “I’m going to come with you.”

“I need to handle this on my own,” I say. “I’ll be okay. I swear.”

She looks skeptical, and I know the last thing she wants to do is let me go. But she says, “At least have the driver who is waiting downstairs take you. And come right back. Please come right back.”

“I will,” I promise, and then Milo and I are out the door.

I hate that I’ve given Kerri a reason to distrust me.

And I hate that I’m depending on Milo again, but this will be the last time I ask for his help.

Chapter Twenty-One

There’s a SOLD sign hanging in front of Gigi’s old brownstone. Or new brownstone, I guess. I don’t know what to call it. Milo tells me that this part of Brooklyn is Fort Greene. There are lots of babies and dogs and coffee shops. I bet it wasn’t like this when Gigi was growing up.

Work has been done on the exterior of the brownstone. It’s modern and new, and there aren’t any cracks on the front stoop. But other than that, it looks the same as when Gigi posed here for a photo when she was a little girl.

In Gigi’s note, she said she wouldn’t be too far away. I just never thought to