Page 42

THIRTY-NINE

JULIA

For Julia, there is nothing quite like the joy of photographing Emma. The only thing better than that is photographing Emma when she is splashed with paint, working alongside Sana in her usual overly serious way. Sana has given Emma the very important task of painting teeny-tiny hearts here and there on the rich mural that she has drawn all over Vera’s walls. Julia is still blown away by the fact that in just two days, Sana has transformed the walls of Vera’s teahouse into something out of a Shanghainese dream—a river in the nighttime, its waters reflecting the tiny dotted stars up above, and on the riverbank, a huge Chinese teahouse, adorned with hundreds of red lanterns, patrons wearing colorful qipao and changshan spilling out of it. The sign above says: VERA WANG’S WORLD-FAMOUS TEAHORSE . Sana blames the spelling of “teahorse” on lack of sleep and says she will correct it if Vera complains.

Aside from the matter of the spelling error, the rest of the painting is incredible, larger than life, jaw-dropping. And combined with Riki’s refurbished furniture and Oliver’s new lighting, it has transformed Vera’s shop into something that would have impressed even the pickiest customer. In theory, that is. Because despite the impressive changes, nobody knows about Vera’s teahouse (or, indeed, her teahorse). Still, Julia would bet money that none of them regrets spending all this time and energy renovating Vera’s teahouse. It’s the least they can do, given how she has changed all of their lives in such a short period of time.

The tinkling of the doorbell catches Julia’s attention. It’s Oliver, carrying his toolkit. He’s fixing the electrics up in Vera’s living quarters since Riki told him how cold and dank her house is. He presses his lips into a thin line when he sees Julia, and gives her the barest of nods. Julia turns to Sana and says, “Sana, can you watch Emma for a bit?” Sana nods, and Julia reaches out, touching Oliver’s arm as he passes by. “Can we talk?”

Oliver looks hesitant but nods and follows her outside.

“Uh, so...” God, why must these things be so difficult? “I just wanted to know how things are going with—you know—Officer Gray and all that?” Even though she still feels a bit squicky about how things went down between her and Oliver, she doesn’t want him to get the blame for Marshall’s death. She feels responsible for landing him in trouble in the first place.

“No, don’t worry about that,” Oliver says. “Tilbert was a huge help. You should’ve seen how he handled my case. He told Officer Gray that they didn’t have enough evidence to charge me with anything and if they were to keep harassing me he’d file a complaint. It seems to have worked. I could definitely tell that he’s Vera’s kid.”

Julia laughs. She was hard on Tilbert when they first met because of how neglectful he’d been toward Vera, but she can see that he’s making a real effort, offering to represent Oliver pro bono after listening in complete shock and horror to the whole mess. “I’m glad to hear that,” she says, and she truly means it.

“Thanks. Um, so I’ve been really wanting to apologize for... you know.”

Julia’s instinctive reaction is to wave his apology away and scuttle out of there, but then it hits her: She’s always done that because she never thought herself worthy of an apology, and the thought of someone saying sorry to her makes her squirm. But she would like to hear what Oliver has to say, so she squashes her discomfort and makes herself stay.

“I—” Oliver takes a breath. “I had a huge crush on you back when we were kids, yeah. It lasted all throughout high school, but when high school ended, I moved on. I promise you, Lia. I went out with other girls and I had healthy relationships. But I sometimes thought of you, not in like an I must have her way, more like a concerned way because I’ve always known what Marshall was like, and I was worried. And I felt so guilty for not being friends with you anymore after you guys started dating. That was such a shitty move on my part.”

“It was,” Julia says. “I thought you were mad at me. Marshall told me it was because you were obsessed with me.”

Oliver grimaces. “Honestly? I think I was more obsessed with Marshall than anything. The way he would mistreat everyone and get away with it. I couldn’t let that go. Over time, I became more and more bitter. And the few times we saw each other over the next few years only made me realize how badly he was treating you. It killed me inside. I couldn’t do anything about it. So I wrote that manuscript. It was—” He gives a long, pained sigh. “Yeah, most of it was based on my relationship with Marshall. The part with Aurelia...” He snorts. “I guess you could say it was bad fan fiction? I don’t know, I did model Aurelia after you, but please trust me, Julia, these past couple of months, I wasn’t spending time with you to—you know—I just wanted my best friend back. I’ve missed having you as a friend more than anything.”

Julia looks into his eyes and knows, deep inside her, that Oliver is telling the truth. Just like the night he said he hadn’t killed Marshall. She’s always known when Oliver was being honest. The smile feels like it comes from the core of her, spreading slowly across her face like honey. She pulls her fist back and punches him in the shoulder.

“Ow!”

“I’ve missed you, nerd.”

He grins at her. “I’ve missed you too, loser.”

And together, they step back inside Vera’s teahouse, each of them quietly grateful that they have the other one back in their life, exactly where they belong, as lifelong friends.