She’s a part of me. Why has it taken me this long to accept that?
“I need to get home.”
Mikey smiles. “By all means.” He motions toward the door. “Let’s get you home.”
When we walk through the front door, Nova is sitting on the couch, staring at the box on the coffee table.
“She’s been waiting for you to get home,” Mom says.
“Is this for me, Dad?” Nova asks, fingering the bow on top.
I smile, and it isn’t the dead, lifeless smile I’ve been faking for the last three weeks. It’s genuine and filled with so much hope that I’m afraid I might burst. “It is.”
She looks up, her eyes wide with excitement. “Is it from Lennon?”
I sit down next to her on the couch and hand her the box. “I guess you’ll have to open it and find out.”
That’s all Nova needs to hear. A second later she’s got the bow ripped off and she’s tearing furiously at the paper. She pulls off the top of the box and begins to squeal.
“It’s my dress!” she yells, sending tissue paper flying across the room. “It’s so pretty. Look at it. And shoes! She got me matching shoes!”
Nova strips out of her clothes in the middle of the living room, shimmies into the dress, and slips on the shoes.
“Do I look like a princess?” She goes up on her tiptoes and twirls, the silky material flaring out around her in waves.
“The most beautiful princess,” I say.
“So pretty,” my mother adds.
Mikey holds out his hand. “Can I have this dance, Princess Nova?”
Giggling, Nova slips her hand into Mikey’s. He twirls her around the room, the rhinestones on her dress sparkling with each dip and turn. Laughing along with Nova and Mikey, I scoop u
p the wrapping paper. Wadding it up in a ball, I throw it in the box and notice a small white envelope. I grab it from the bottom of the box and pull the letter out.
My dearest Nova,
You finally got your dress! I hope it’s everything you wanted it to be and more. Every single second I spent making it, I was picturing you spinning around the room with your prince. I want you to think of me every time you put it on and know that I’m always thinking about you.
Always.
I love you, sweet princess, more than you’ll ever know.
XO,
Lennon
Squeezing my eyes shut, I hold the letter to my chest, hating myself for not giving the dress to Nova sooner. I take a deep breath, building up enough courage to read the letter again, and I do, twice more—absorbing her words this time, letting them penetrate the walls of my heart. Sadness and regret take root deep in my bones as I remember the look on Lennon’s face when I walked away—when I refused to believe her. It’s the look that’s haunted my dreams ever since.
The room around me grows silent, but all I can do is think about the letter in my hands and the girl in my heart and how shitty I feel. I need to make this right.
“Mikey.” I look up and everyone is staring at me. Mikey and Nova have stopped dancing to look at me curiously.
“Everything okay?” he asks.
“I need to see Lennon. Think you can help me with that?”
A slow grin spreads across his face. “I can’t, but I know someone who can. You’re going to need a ton of pink Starbursts.”