Tessa Live
“Hey, you all, it’s me, Tessa. It’s been a while, I know, but we need to chat. Tonight I have a mystery for you to solve—and I think we can do it together. Anyone out there?”
Instantly the counter numbers in the upper left of her screen began to climb. Ten, then thirty-five, then so swiftly past fifty that she stopped checking.
“Here I am in fabulous Indianapolis, and what an amazing time at Excelsior Books for All This Could Be Yours . Loved seeing you all, and even a few moms with dreams! And I am so grateful for how much you are loving Annabelle.”
Hold up the book, she could imagine her agent’s voice, instructing. But she didn’t have a copy next to her.
“So you all, I’m on book tour, which is magical and fabulous and I truly adore it. But tonight, something happened, and I need your help.”
Tessa watched the “we can help!” comments appear on the phone screen, so unremitting she could barely read them. She held up the locket, dangling it from her fingers.
“Could this be yours? I found it in my hotel room. Someone left what must be a treasured family heirloom—it even has a photo inside, a photo of what looks like a family, a mother and father and daughter. And I’m crossing fingers you all can help me return it to its rightful owner.”
She saw herself on the screen, realized how impossible it would be to recognize the filigreed necklace. And no way to show the photos inside.
“I’ll only post a bit of the photo, since I don’t want to invade anyone’s privacy, and I’ll put up the locket, too. But isn’t this tragic?”
She paused, looking at the heart-shaped jewelry in her palm, and the story behind the locket spooled into reality, as vividly as if she were watching a movie.
“We can all visualize some woman, probably a mom, a mom with dreams, harried and hassled and running as fast as she can, like we all do, don’t we? And in the midst of maybe a crazy-early plane, or some personal pressure we cannot even imagine, she leaves behind the most precious thing in her life.”
Tessa held up the locket again, the heart twisting at the end of the delicate chain, and watched the comments streaming in, the list racing by, emblazoned with heart emojis, crying faces, and hugs and puppies and flowers.
“We have to help her, dear readers. I know how it feels to be on the road, to be doing your best, and missing your family, and torn apart because you have no choice, no matter how happy you are, even if your dreams are coming true, that you are so tired, and so wrung out, and trying to juggle, and…”
Tessa paused, her eyes misting. Her heart twisted, just like the chain of the locket.
She had a cell phone full of photos, sure, but what if Henry and the kids had given her something like this, to keep them close to her?
What if she lost it? Their book-tour keepsake, their magical connection?
She’d be inconsolable. And this woman, wherever she was, must be, too.
“And oh, all of you, you get it, don’t you? You’re out there, too, doing what you need to do, and what have you sacrificed for it? What bargains have you made for it? When all you want to do is go home…”
And then the tears were wet on her cheeks and there was no way to stop them.
She wiped them away with two fingers. Linny, elfin and sassy, who knows what was happening in her little head?
And Zack, who’d revered Henry since he was an infant, or Henry himself, who existed through his unwavering belief that everything was always for the best. Her sweet family.
Their ties were infinitely tenuous; a spiderweb, strong but vulnerable. So very, very vulnerable.
“Oh my goodness, you all. You have made me cry with your comments, and how wonderful you are, and how brave, and let’s find this Locket Mom, okay? We need to help her. We need to be there for her. Do you know anyone who wears this? Have you seen this? Could this even be yours ?”
She held it up again, the burnished gold catching the glow of the lamplight.
“For her sake, for all of our sakes, we need to be in this together.”
She sobbed outright, her voice catching. Poor Locket Mom, she thought. Sometimes the world was so unfair.
“I know how you all feel, dear ones, and I am so embarrassed to cry, but you understand how I feel, and again, could this be yours? Locket Mom, are you out there? I am here for you, and we are all here for you, and we need to take care of each other and…”
As her voice trailed off, the comments blurred to an unending stream.