Page 20 of Here in My Heart (Here Together #2)

CHAPTER TWENTY

“Am I glad to see your face.” Steph jumped from the train and pulled her oversized backpack onto her shoulders.

“We have the same face. You see it every morning,” Ade said and smiled.

“Not the same thing, honey. Yours comes with that biting sense of humor that I’ve missed so much.” She landed two sloppy kisses on Ade’s cheeks. “Miss me?”

“Not really. But I’m glad you’re here.” Ade looked behind Steph, then turned on her heel. “Where’s your friend? What was her name?”

“Emeline? We parted ways in Barcelona.” Steph wrinkled her nose. “It’s for the best. She was clingy. It became awkward, you know? Plus, you reminded me that the sleeping arrangements would be less than ideal. Best to cut and run while I could.”

“You broke up with her because you didn’t want to pay for a hotel?”

“When you put it like that, it sounds more like something you would do.” Steph swiped playfully at Ade’s head. “It wasn’t a long-term thing, and we were both well aware of that. I knew you wouldn’t really be that cool with an extra house guest.”

They strolled up the main street toward the city’s Place de la Comédie.

“Let’s stop for a coffee here and watch people come and go for a while.” Steph set her bag down with a groan. “I’ve been desperate for a good coffee since dawn.”

Ade navigated to her favorite spot on the square away from the bustle of the crowds but with a view of the opera house and the statue of the three angels.

She shielded the sun from her eyes, as its rays bounced off the gleaming white marble slab.

She caught the waiter making his rounds, ordered for the both of them, and rested her back against the wicker chair.

“Good spot, Ady-baby.” Steph observed from behind her oversized sunglasses. “You seem all settled in here. Is it starting to feel like home?”

Why would somewhere she’d been for a mere eight weeks feel like the house in which she’d lived since birth? “Not at all.”

“I mean. Do you feel happy here?”

“Yes, of course,” Ade said.

“Tell me why, then. I want to hear more.” Steph said, crossing her long legs.

“The university campus is clean and easy to navigate once I got used to it. My students are all quite capable and haven’t needed too much counseling, which is a relief.

Greg is the most enthusiastic, and I even kind of enjoy his company in the lab.

” Ade drummed her fingers on the table. “The lab shifts are flexible, so I can get as much time as I like in there, and the manager seems to admire my work.”

“That’s fantastic.”

“And then there’s Sylvie,” said Ade.

Steph raised her eyebrows and grinned. “Sylvie? Tell me about her.”

“She’s my supervisor. You met at the concert by the church a few weeks ago.” Ade’s mind rewound to that moment, and a vision of Sylvie’s profile in the candlelight filled her vision.

“Of course,” Steph said. “I’d forgotten about that.”

“She’s become a friend. Sort of. She helped me when I had the attempted break-in. She’s good to talk to and great to listen to. I’ve really missed her this week.”

“What do you mean?” Steph asked.

“We haven’t seen each other. It’s unusual. We’d usually bump into each other or catch up on a supervision.” Ade folded her arms.

“She sounds like someone you’ve really connected to. ”

Ade sat with her sister’s assumption and rolled it around her mind. They had connected. She didn’t want to get into it with Steph: it was her secret for now. Her heart rate spiked at the memory of Sylvie walking across Place Jean Jaurès.

She avoided Steph’s glare as their coffee arrived. “Did you like Emeline?” Ade asked.

“Yeah, she was fun to hang out with.” Steph tore at a packet of sugar and dumped it into her foam-topped café crème, leaving a dusting of granules in its wake.

“Why did you leave her in Barcelona then?”

Steph rested her head in her palm. “What’s all this about? You never ask me about my hook-ups.”

“I just wondered whether you’d connected with her, that’s all. What it might have been like.”

“Okay, precious, let me tell you. I did feel something with Emeline, but it was purely physical. We chatted, for sure, but about nothing in particular. Nothing too deep.” Steph shrugged. “I guess that’s a connection of its own kind.”

“Did you feel comfortable with her? Like you could be yourself?” Ade asked, desperate to understand more about the kind of relationship her slightly older and much wiser sister had known.

Steph frowned, as if she was working out the hidden meaning of the question.

“It’s not a trick question.” Ade smiled. She’d been told the same so many times.

“I just want to give you an honest answer.” Steph sighed. “We didn’t know each other for all that long, but I guess I wasn’t always myself. I was flirty and hilarious. I was upbeat and chatty. When I was out of sorts or lonely, I didn’t tell Emeline because I didn’t want to bring the mood down.”

Ade had shown Sylvie her most vulnerable self. As the Halloween revelers had paraded around the city in costumes, she’d unmasked, allowing her new friend to see all her fears without a filter. “Do you think Dad and Pops bonded emotionally before they got together?”

“What is this? Some sort of relationship 101 you haven’t warned me about?” Steph’s brow creased with confusion. “What’s going on with you?”

“I just wondered, that’s all.”

“You don’t wonder, Adelaide. You hypothesize and interrogate, and you find the answers. All this meandering around a topic is unnerving me.”

Steph was right. Her patterns were way out of character. But she couldn’t level with her sister, because she hadn’t worked out what was going on inside her head.

“Okay, if we’re done on that, let’s make a plan for the day.” Steph said. “Thanksgiving isn’t going to organize itself.”

Ade pushed a cart into the warehouse-style grocery store, keeping her shades on to avoid the glare of the overhead light. “I already picked up all the basics: butter, eggs, flour, sugar, oil, red wine vinegar.” She tapped her earbud back into place to block out the unbearable noise.

“So we should pick up a turkey and herbs a little later in the week, but we could get the dry and canned goods.” Steph scanned the overhead signs for clues. “Do they have bake-at-home rolls?”

“They have bakeries on every corner.” Ade rolled her eyes. “Who needs to bake at home?”

“Good point. Do you think we’ll be able to get canned pumpkin?” Steph asked.

Ade shrugged. “Honestly, it’s been really hard to get anything that tastes like it’s from home. Even the cheese tastes different over here.”

“Different, as in better?”

“Not really.” Ade shivered. “It’s not what I’m used to. ”

“What have you been surviving on?” Steph plucked a jar of cinnamon from the shelf.

“Pastries and chicken tenders.”

“Jesus, kid. You’re impossible sometimes.” Steph shook her head and darted down the next aisle.

“It’s not my fault that stuff tastes weird.” Ade organized their cart like a game of Tetris. “This isn’t going to be easy. There’s no sign of condensed milk. What are we going to do?” Her shoulders sank. She wanted everything to go to plan.

“We’ll just have to tell Dad and Pops that things might feel a little different this year.” Steph rubbed her shoulder. “They’re coming to see us, not for a perfect Thanksgiving meal.”

“I know that. I just wanted things to be the same.”

“Ade, we’re making a meal for four in your living room-cum-bedroom. Nothing is the same.” Steph handed her a jar of cranberries and held her hand. “But we’ll all be together, and that’s the main thing.”

They wandered through the market until the glare of the lights forced Ade to call it a day. Steph packed up the last of the groceries while Ade waited outside on a bench, staring at a patch of cobblestones and counting the number of shoes that stepped across it.

Back at the apartment, she laid on the bed while Steph made them something to eat. She hadn’t lied earlier when she’d said she hadn’t missed her twin. But now Steph was around, moving in and out of the small kitchenette, it was like an empty part of her had filled in.

“Whatcha thinking about there?” Steph wafted a cloud of steam rising above a boiling pot. “You’re miles away.”

“I’m right here, thinking about how it’s nice to have you around.”

“I love that.” Steph’s face lit up. “You know, you’re kind of different.”

“What do you mean?” Ade asked.

“You’re softer around your edges. Fuzzier. Almost glowing. ”

Ade wriggled under Steph’s gaze. She wasn’t aware of being any of those things.

The buzz of an incoming call disturbed them, and Steph dived at her own cell. “Hello?” She nodded excitedly at Ade and fumbled with the speaker button.

“Hey, girls.” The crackly voice of Pops filled the studio.

“Pops! Are you here?” Steph beamed.

“We just got to London and checked into our hotel. Your dad and I are pretty wiped.”

“Hey, you two. I hope you’re behaving yourselves over there. We’ll be with you in a few days. Make your beds and polish your shoes.” Their dad’s deep laughter rang out between them. “Ade, are you there, or has Steph tired you out already?”

“I’m here, Dad. Hey, Pops.” Ade scooted closer to the phone, leaning on Steph’s shoulder, a warmth radiating around her heart. She’d forgotten how it felt to be surrounded by the people she loved, by the people who loved her so much, no matter what.

“When will you be here?” Steph asked.

Ade tutted. “It’s on the calendar.” She’d been marking it off until Thanksgiving, looking forward to the reunion of her little family.

“We’re going to do a bit of sightseeing here for a couple of days, and we’ll be with you on Wednesday. We’re flying down south. Your dad didn’t want to spend that many hours on the train.”

“We just don’t know what they’re like, Sam,” their dad said. “You never know about the quality of the transportation.”

Steph laughed. “The trains are pretty good over here, Dad. You don’t need to worry.”

“Your father does nothing but worry, you know that.”

“Not true, Samuel. I worry about the important things in life and if I didn’t worry, who knows where we’d all be.

Anyhow, we just wanted to check in with you guys.

You need us to bring anything with us for Thanksgiving?

We managed to sneak a few treats in our luggage, but are you missing any essentials? ”

“Actually, we have a whole list of things we can’t get over here.” Ade peered at the shelf. “We had an agonizing trip to the market today, and I had to leave because I felt sick.”

“Oh, honey, that sounds rough.”

Ade imagined the crease of their pops’ brow in concern.

“What d’you need out there?”

“We’ll send a list. But don’t worry too much because we’re making do, aren’t we, Ade?” Steph shot a stern look in her direction.

“Sure. It’s just about us being together.” Ade folded her hands.

“Okay, well, shoot over that list, and we’ll see what we can do. See you both in a couple of days. Be good. Love you.”

“Love you.” Steph blew a kiss.

“Bye, Dad. Bye, Pops,” they said in unison.

Steph went back to her boiling pot, and Ade relaxed against the comforter, the sound of their dads’ voices echoing in her heart.

She missed them now they were so close to arriving.

The last eight weeks had been pretty lonely.

She’d had to paper over a lot of cracks in her ability to build rapport with others.

There really had only been one person she’d clicked with on a meaningful level, someone who she could be herself around, like she was with Steph and her fathers: Sylvie.

This week her absence had grown like a nagging doubt.

She wasn’t used to that. Everything about Sylvie was new and scary. Too scary to interrogate too deeply.