“Mom!”
I stared at the tattoo.
I was there when Leo got it. He was seventeen, reckless, and grinning through the pain. It was an anchor because he said I kept him steady.
The E was for Emily.
“Where did you get that?” I asked.
Julian looked down at his arm.
He didn’t look surprised.
“Where did you get that?
***
“My father had one just like it,” he said quietly. “I got it for him.”
Lila pushed back her chair. “What’s going on?”
Julian reached under his shirt and pulled out a chain.
A silver heart locket swung against his palm.
It was mine.
There was a scratch near the hinge. I knew that scratch because I had made it with a bobby pin in the girls’ bathroom at prom, trying to tuck Leo’s picture inside before the dance.
“I got it for him.
I stood too fast.
“Where did you get that?”
Julian’s calm finally broke.
“I’ve been trying to find you for over ten years,” he said. “I wanted to tell you the truth.”
Lila stared at him. “What truth?”
I held out my hand. “Give it to me.”
He placed the locket in my palm.
For a second, I hated him for bringing my past into Lila’s future.
“I wanted to tell you the truth.
“You knew who I was?” I asked.
“Not at first.”
“When did you know?”
