Outside, I leaned against the wall, clutching the dress. “She wouldn’t lie to me.”
Through the window, I saw Mr. Chen watching me. Like he had been waiting for this moment.
I don’t remember how I got to Mrs. Kline’s house. One minute I was walking, the next I was on her couch, clutching the dress like it was the only thing keeping me together.
“She lied to me,” I said for the tenth time.
“Oh, honey…” Mrs. Kline wrapped an arm around me. The lilac scent was suffocating. “You’re in shock. Anyone would be.”
“It wasn’t just little things. It was… everything. My parents, our family—”
“Sometimes people think they’re protecting you,” she said softly. “But it doesn’t make it right.”
“I don’t even know who she was anymore.”
“If you want, you can stay here tonight,” Mrs. Kline offered, almost too quickly.
“Okay.”
“And about the house…” she added carefully. “If you really decide to sell, I could… try to buy it. I don’t have much, but I’d take care of it.”
I didn’t even think. “You can have it. I don’t care about the money. I just want to leave.”
Her lips curved slightly, but she turned away too quickly for me to read it.
“You can stay here tonight,” she repeated.
For illustrative purposes only
Later that night, I couldn’t sleep. I lay staring at the ceiling, replaying everything over and over.
The note. The way Mr. Chen spoke. The way Mrs. Kline kept pressing about the house. The lilac perfume in the shop.
“That’s not just a coincidence,” I whispered into the dark.
I sat up slowly. My eyes drifted to the chair where the dress hung. Something about it felt wrong now.
I walked over. The fabric was still soft under my fingers, familiar in a way that made my chest ache. But the garment bag around it—
I frowned. “That’s not yours.”
Grandma Lorna made everything herself, especially covers for her dresses. She used to say, ‘If it matters, you don’t trust store-bought.’
This bag looked new.
“The dress wasn’t hidden. It was placed. And the note…” I stepped back. “That was meant for me to find.”
At that moment, I knew exactly what I needed to do next.
The hallway in Mrs. Kline’s house creaked softly under my feet as I stepped out. That’s when I heard her voice.
Low. Sharp. Nothing like the syrupy tone she used with me.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “Everything went exactly how we planned.”
My heart pounded so hard it hurt.
“The note worked,” she continued. “She’s confused. Emotional. Exactly where we need her.”
My fingers tightened around the dress.
“No, she doesn’t suspect anything,” Mrs. Kline added. “Soon the house will be mine. And then we’ll finally get to it… whatever Lorna was hiding.”
I stopped breathing.
“Something worth all this trouble,” she whispered.
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