“DAD. I thought you weren’t back until October.”
Wyatt’s hand settled on my shoulder. Blood rushed in my ears while I watched my dad’s expression. Liya slipped away to help a customer.
He shifted on his feet, taking in the changes. I couldn’t read his expression. Furious? Sad? Confused?
“Your uncle got home early so there was no need for me to stay.” He looked around the bookstore, shaking his head at the wallpaper. He reached out and touched a leaf hanging off a nearby vine before he shook his head again. His eyebrows knitted together and his gaze flicked to Wyatt’s hand on my shoulder.
Wyatt’s hand tightened and he stepped closer so my back was against his chest.
“What is all this?” my dad asked, gesturing around us. His voice was soft, like he couldn’t believe it. “Why is everything different?”
“Everything is different because this is a business.” My heart was in my throat and unease ripped through me. “I ran the business your way for years and it wasn’t working. Now we’re doing it my way.”
Wyatt’s hand squeezed me again and I pulled a deep breath into my lungs. Holy shit. Did I actually say that?
My dad’s eyes widened, and the way he stared at me was like he didn’t recognize me. He blinked. “So your way is to paint over her? To rip out everything she picked out?” He pressed his fist to his mouth and inhaled. “You erased her mural, Hannah. That mural was everything to her.”
Something dark and miserable bled into my chest and I swallowed. “No.” I shook my head. “I didn’t erase her.”
Right? I didn’t erase her. That was ridiculous.
“You did.” His eyes were bright. “We have a duty to remember her, Hannah, and she’s slipping away from us.” His throat worked. “You lied to me. I had a bad feeling about this, about leaving you all summer, and I was right.”
We stood there in silence. The door opened. A tourist took one look at the weird energy in the bookshop and turned right back around.
Wyatt made a noise in his throat and shook his head at my dad. “You’re unbelievable.”
“Wyatt, no—” I started.
Wyatt gestured around us. “Look at this place from a different perspective, Frank. Hannah turned the store around in a few months. She made it into a tourist attraction. Not only did she do it all by herself, she did it with you dragging her down.”
I inhaled sharply and watched as my dad’s mouth fell open. “No, Dad—” I shook my head, about to dispute Wyatt’s words, but he was right.
My dad was dragging me down.
Pain wrenched my heart.
“You stick me in here,” I told him, “and you don’t let me change a single thing. You set me up to fail. You say she wouldn’t want things to be different, but you are the one who wouldn’t want things to be different.” My voice shook but something surged in me.
Anger.
I crossed my arms over my chest and my nostrils flared. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to run a store from the goddamned nineties? You think Mom would want to keep that ugly carpet for thirty years?” My pulse beat in my ears. “You think Mom wouldn’t touch the faded, crumbling mural? You think Mom wouldn’t want to throw a few plants in the window?” I paused, waiting for an answer, but he just blinked back at me.
I had never spoken to my dad this way, but finally, I was being honest with him.
“Huh?” My voice was louder than normal. I held a hand to my ear. “Speak up, Dad. What about Mom makes you think she wouldn’t want to change a thing? That’s you. That’s all you.”
My heart slammed in my chest and I heaved a breath. My eyes stung. “There are flowers on the wall because I like them, and I’m the one working here all the time. You’re never here.”
That hit the mark. My dad blinked like I’d slapped him. He pressed his mouth into a tight line. “This is all we have left of her,” he whispered.
“Maybe it is.” I wiped a tear away. “But Mom was fun and silly and wild and bold, and this—” I whirled my finger in the air at the store around us. “—this is for her. The last thing she’d want is for us to turn her store into a dusty old tomb.” A tear spilled over, running down my cheek before I wiped it away with my sleeve. Wyatt’s hand was firm on my shoulder. “She’d love what I did.”
My dad glanced at the flowers on the wallpaper like they would bite him. He couldn’t get out of this place fast enough. “I don’t want to do this but I think I need to take over the store again.”
Alarm shot up my spine and my eyes widened. “What? No.” I shook my head hard and took a step towards him. “No, you can’t. You’ll ruin everything I’ve done.”
The bell jingled as the door opened again and we all turned to see Veena from the bakery standing in the doorway. I blinked and turned to wipe the tears away.
“Hi, Veena.” I cleared my throat. “You’re back.”
She stepped into the store with hesitation. Her gaze swept around and the hesitation melted away into something awestruck. She breathed out a laugh of disbelief.
“Hannah.” A tentative smile crept onto her face. “Wow. Look at this place.”
I cleared my throat. “Um. Is there something you’re looking for?”
She turned to my dad and raised her eyebrows. “Well?”
My dad shifted and cleared his throat. “It’s not a good time.”
Her jaw dropped. “Are you serious? You didn’t tell her.”
Wyatt and I exchanged a baffled look. I narrowed my eyes at my dad and Veena, shaking my head. “What? What’s going on?”
Veena watched my dad with a sad, disappointed expression. “I wish you were as brave as your daughter.”
“What is going on?” I repeated, louder. “Dad?”
He looked like he wanted to disappear into the floor. His gaze flicked between Veena and me. He shot her a helpless glance and it hit me.
“I’m visiting a friend for a couple months,” she had said in July with a tight, cagey smile.
“Oh my god.” I covered my mouth with my hand and blinked.
Veena shook her head at my dad. “I will not be your dirty little secret. I deserve so much more.” She turned to me. “The store is beautiful. I hope you know how magnificent you are.”
My pulse pounded in my ears. I turned to Wyatt in confusion. His expression was unreadable but his hand rubbed slow circles on my back.
Veena opened the door and walked out. I stared at the door before my gaze swung to my dad.
My stomach lurched and I thought I might be sick, but instead, I burst out laughing. It was one big joke and I was at the center of it. My dad was pressuring me to keep the store the same to honor the memory of my mom but here he was, sneaking around behind my back, moving on from her. My gut twisted hard and my eyes welled up with tears in frustration.
I buried my face in my hands. “Well, I didn’t see that one coming.”
“Hannah.” His voice cracked.
“You’re the bad guy.” I stabbed a finger in the air. My voice shook. “I lied to you by not telling you about the store but you lied to me, too. And you made Veena feel like crap. She’s a really nice lady.” I clenched my eyes closed and my hands made fists at my sides. “You’re the one acting in a way that would disappoint Mom.”
I shouldn’t have said it. I clapped a hand over my mouth. It was too far.
“I’m not giving up the store,” I added, crossing my arms. “I won’t do it.”
He clenched his eyes closed in pain. The giant flowers on the walls seemed to grow even bigger. The walls pressed toward me.
“I have to go. I—I need to get out of here.” The urge to hide, to disappear, rolled through me. My dad didn’t say a word, he just stared at the floor as I backed away toward the door with my hands up, pushed the door open and strode out.
Outside, I leaned against the wall and buried my face in my hands. Tears spilled out and sobs shook in my chest. A second later, Wyatt pulled me into his arms and against his chest. I leaned into his warmth and let myself get tears all over his t-shirt, right there on the street.
“He lied to me,” I croaked.
He smoothed my hair down with his hand. “I know.” His chin rested on the top of my head and his chest rose and fell as he sighed into me. “I’m so proud of how you handled yourself in there.”
A fraction of me was proud, too, but another part knew I could never go back to before, when things were comfortable with my dad. Our relationship had shifted under our feet. I didn’t know what it would look like from now on. Maybe it was irreparable.
Wyatt leaned back to study my tear-stained, puffy face. “Do you want to get some lunch or do you want to go home?”
I shook my head, swallowing and wiping my face off. I didn’t want to go to my place, and if I went back to Wyatt’s, I’d spend the afternoon thinking about everything with my dad.
“Let’s go for lunch.” I nodded. I was okay. I’d deal with this later.
