Page 129 of The Lost and Found Girl

Ruby was sincere. Always. “Well, maybe it’s not about what it would do for you. I mean, Ruby, history is your thing. What does history do for the people that have passed on? Nothing. It’s about what we can all learn from it, right? It’s about...the way it touches us in the present. You and I both believe, so deeply, in that.”

“Caitlin too, though? I worry about Dana...”

“I would never do anything to hurt Dana,” Dahlia said. “You know that. But it would feel wrong to leave either of you out of these kinds of...retrospectives.”

“Hmm.”

“Do you object to being the subject of a retrospective?”

Ruby scrunched her nose. “I guess not. I trust you, Dee. I know you aren’t going to write anything that bothers me.”

Dahlia wasn’t sure about that, though, since it was clear a great many of the truths Dahlia saw in her sister’s past did hurt her.

Maybe Ruby floated so none of it touched her.

So her feet never hit the ground and she never had to feel it.

And Dahlia wasn’t looking to write a puff piece. She wanted to write something new, something that hadn’t been written yet about Ruby McKee.

About Pear Blossom.

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll bring back all the Ruby papers tomorrow from the office.”

“I have a scrapbook. Of me. I think I’ve seen everything there is to see.”

Dahlia shrugged. “Don’t you think sometimes you can look at something at a different time and see...something completely new?”

A strange expression crossed Ruby’s face. “Yeah, I... I guess that’s true.”

“What?”

“I’ve been feeling that way all day. I’m on these streets, and I know them so well. But I keep noticing things I never did before. Like the way people avoid Dana. I feel like Iknewit, but I never really...felt it like I did today.”

“So maybe it’s the perfect time to revisit things.”

“Maybe,” Ruby said. “Yeah, okay. I think...yeah.”

“Not exactly an enthusiastic buy-in, but I’ll take it.”

Dahlia had often felt out of place in this bright, shiny town, but she’d always felt connected to it too. It was hard to explain. How much she cared about the history, and how compelled she felt to dig into the secrets that were here.

After all, she was part of one of them. And she had the best resource right in front of her.

Now she had a mission. And when Dahlia McKee had a mission, she was never deterred.

7

Highwaymen Afoot in Pear Blossom

BY JOHN HARDY

1918—A traveler from out of town was ambushed by highwaymen on Sentinel Bridge. It is believed to be connected to a string of such robberies happening up and down the coast. It is not believed the citizens of Pear Blossom are in any current danger, as the general method of these marauders has been to rob once, then move on to new territory where the law is not actively seeking them.

RUBY

Ruby was bone-tired by the end of the day. She’d spent the whole day with Hazel and Riley, and she had exhausted her bag of Cool Aunt Tricks. She had myriad fun clothes for dress-up and was pretty good at various dance challenges from the internet.

She loved Riley and Hazel. But when it came to being there for Lydia...she had sort of expected her sister to actually spend some time with her. But Lydia had been out on the farm all day, butting heads with Chase, most likely, and Ruby had been on kid duty, until they’d all gone to dinner at their parents.