Chapter 10 #2
“Just outside the city,” Boomer answered. Sure enough, when I glanced out the window, San Francisco loomed ahead of us, glittering against the dark sky. “I have no clue where I’m going,” he continued. “Could you give me the exact address? Asha can plug it into the GPS.”
“Um…” I hesitated. There was a reason I was always the designated navigator. Asha and Boomer argued like those snippety couples on The Amazing Race whenever she was in charge. “Are you sure?” I asked, pulling the most recent of Rose’s letters from my bag.
“Oh, just give it here,” Asha said, snatching the envelope from me.
Twenty minutes later, we arrived in the Haight-Ashbury district of the city, and after taking a few wrong turns, Boomer finally located the correct street.
Even at night, the neighborhood was colorful.
The homes were all Victorian-styled townhouses painted in crazy color combinations like lime, teal, and magenta, or lavender, yellow, and cyan.
Boomer pulled up in front of a light-pink house accented in different shades of red and turned off the car.
“This is the place,” he said.
Everyone was quiet for a moment as we surveyed the house. The tiny patch of grass out front was overgrown, and the potted plant at the top of the steps was well past saving, making it look like nobody had been here for a long time. But the porch light was on.
Please let someone be here. Please let Rose be here.
“Are we going to sit in the car all night or what?” Asha asked. She undid her seat belt and threw open the door. “Let’s go. I’ve had to pee for the past hour.”
My fingers skimmed the handle on the car door with the intention of following her, but for some reason I couldn’t open it, let alone take my eyes off the building before us.
The knowledge that Rose had been here at one time or another was overwhelming.
Over the past four years, I’d imagined countless places she could have disappeared to—a tiny, one-room apartment in New York or a shack on some Caribbean beach—but they were always intangible and abstract, like scenes out of a dream.
Here was an actual concrete place where she’d eaten and slept and lived.
A hand brushed my shoulder, and even though the touch was soft, my sunburn stung. “Felicity?” Alec asked. “You okay?”
I nodded, still staring out the window.
“You sure? I know this must be nerve-racking. If you’re not ready…” He stopped for a second, choosing his words carefully. “I’m sure Asha or Boomer would be more than willing to go knock for you.”
“I know,” I said, finally waking from my daze. I shook away the lingering fog and offered him a small smile. “Thanks, but I should do this myself.”
Alec nodded.
After taking a deep breath, I forced my body to move.
I climbed out of the car and marched up the porch steps with Asha, Boomer, and Alec at my heels.
Before I lost my confidence, I rang the bell.
It was quiet for a long time, and as each silent second passed, my heart slammed against my chest a little harder.
Just as I was about to give up, a light in the front hall flipped on.
Someone fumbled with the lock, and the door opened.
“Duncan, if you’re shit-faced again, I’m not—” The girl stopped midsentence when she realized we weren’t Duncan.
“Oh, hi.” Her curly hair was pulled back into a braid, and her face was red and shiny, as if she’d recently scrubbed it clean.
She was wearing glasses, a pair of flannel pajama shorts, a camisole, and a silky kimono bathrobe.
She pulled her robe tighter. “Can I help you?”
I knew this girl, but the problem was, I couldn’t remember how. I searched my mind for some kind of connection until I remembered the soccer player Rose was friends with before quitting the team junior year. “Kelsey?” I asked, stepping forward. “Is that you?”
Kelsey adjusted her glasses, eyes squinted at me in concentration, before recognition flickered across her face. “Felicity Lyon? Oh my gosh! I can’t believe it. You’re so grown up.”
Seeing one of my sister’s friends fueled my hope. “Thanks, Kelsey. It’s good to see you. I was wondering… Is Rose here?”
“Your sister?” She frowned. “No. I haven’t seen her since she left.”
My heart plunged into my stomach.
I’m too late. She’s already gone.
“But she was here, right?” Asha asked, stepping forward. “When did she leave?”
“About a week ago. Why, is something wrong?”
I bit my lip, not sure whether I was going to cry or laugh.
I’d missed her by days, a span of time that felt like nothing compared to the four years she’d been gone…
but she’d been here. Kelsey had seen her.
She was alive. I blinked a few times to clear my eyes and said, “Kelsey, I haven’t heard from Rose since she turned eighteen. ”
“What?” she gasped, pressing a hand to her mouth. “How is that possible? She never mentioned anything like that to me. In fact, she had me mail a letter to you when she left. Here.” She pushed open the screen door separating us. “Why don’t you come in, and we can talk.”
The four of us stepped inside, and she ushered us down the hall into a cozy living room with mismatched furniture. Asha asked to use the bathroom, and after pointing her in the right direction, Kelsey said, “How about I put on a pot of coffee?” as if she knew tonight would be a late one.
Exhausted from our day of travel, I sunk into an oversize couch. Boomer flopped down next to me, dropping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me in for a quick, supportive squeeze, while Alec took a spot on the nearby rocking chair with an afghan dropped over the back.
We waited in silence. Asha was the first to return, and eventually Kelsey came back in with a tray of steaming mugs, milk, and sugar. She set them down on the coffee table and settled into a La-Z-Boy.
Finally, she said, “Tell me everything.”
So I did. First, we breezed through introductions—Kelsey raised an eyebrow when I mentioned Alec, but she didn’t ask any questions—and then I explained that Rose had disappeared on her birthday, and I’d just found the letters she’d sent me hidden beneath my mother’s bed.
“Wow.” Kelsey shook her head when I finished. “I knew Rose was going through some stuff in high school, but I didn’t realize she’d run away. We lost touch after she quit the soccer team.”
“So how’d she end up living with you?” I was desperate to hear how the two had reconnected since my own attempts to track down Rose had been futile. She didn’t have a Facebook or Twitter, and even a simple Google search turned up nothing.
“Rose never lived with me,” Kelsey clarified.
“I can’t remember if it was for work or if she was just visiting, but she only stayed in the city for a few days.
Running into each other was a total coincidence.
I bumped into her on the street, and we spent the rest of the day catching up.
I wish I could tell you more, but I don’t know anything else. ”
Something cold and sharp coiled inside my stomach, like a spool of barbed wire.
That’s it? We’d driven all the way here to discover what?
That my sister had vacationed in San Francisco?
Why had I thought taking this road trip was a good idea?
It was the kind of rash, reckless decision that Rose would make. Not me.
Boomer leaned forward, resting both elbows on his knees and folding his hands together. “So you have no clue where she is now?”
“I think she’s living in Seattle,” Kelsey answered.
“I asked for a forwarding address in case her letter was returned. Hold on. Let me go get it.” She disappeared to the kitchen again and returned clutching a slip of paper.
She handed over an old receipt with crinkled edges and an address written on the back in bright-pink ink.
Everyone was quiet as I stared down at it.
When a full minute passed and I had yet to say anything, Alec spoke up. “We should go.”
Startled, I glanced in his direction. “Where? You mean Seattle?”
He nodded.
“Ooh, totally!” Asha said before I could answer. “I love Seattle. My cousin lives there. Last year Riya and I went to visit him, and he took us to the Seattle Center to see this glass exhibit that showcases some famous artist. I can’t remember his name. It’s like…Cholula or something.”
“The hot sauce?” Boomer asked, and Alec coughed to cover the sound of his snort.
Asha scratched her head, a flush coloring her cheeks. “I knew that didn’t sound right.”
“Do you mean Dale Chihuly?” Kelsey asked.
“Yes, him,” she said, snapping her fingers.
“There was a garden and a bunch of galleries filled with these colorful glass sculptures. I don’t know how to describe them, but it was like being on an alien planet or in a Dr. Seuss book.
My cousin took us to some cool places, but that was by far my favorite and—” She stopped midramble, the smile shrinking on her face, and looked at Boomer.
“You don’t have to babysit Kevin tomorrow, do you? ”
“Nope. My dad’s taking him fishing. I’m down for Seattle if everyone else is.”
“Awesome.” Asha clapped her hands together and faced me. “Felicity? What about you? You’re super quiet.”
“I don’t know, Asha…” I didn’t want to see the smile fade off her face again, so I lowered my gaze back to the receipt.