Secrets We Hide by Stacy Claflin

Author:Stacy Claflin [Claflin, Stacy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stacy Claflin

22

Fleur

Tuesday, late afternoon

Mimi Perle looks at me like I’m crazy when I rush into the living room and interrupt the show she’s watching. “Everything okay?”

“Did you take the locket?”

“The one you were wearing?”

“Yes. If you ever want to wear it, just let me know. You can even have it back if you want. Just tell me if you took it.”

“I don’t have it. Did it fall off in the coffee shop?”

“No. I’m too worried about losing it, so I don’t wear it out of the house.”

We go over my last steps with it, and she even follows me to the bedroom to look in the jewelry box, asking me no less than twelve times if I’m sure I took it off before leaving.

Of course I’m sure. I remember clearly putting it in here before heading out with Zorro. I didn’t even want to take it for a walk around the neighborhood, although now it looks like I’d have been better off if I had kept it on me.

“You’re sure?” she asks again.

“Do I really need to go over the details another time? What we need is to find it.”

She nods, looking deep in thought but not terribly worried.

“Why aren’t you more upset about this?”

“I spent the last fifteen years thinking it was gone forever, and I was a lot more upset over the loss of my granddaughter than a piece of jewelry.”

“But it’s a family heirloom!”

“To you girls. To me, it was just a locket my father gave me. The same man who was so against me being with your grandfather. Did I ever tell you about the time that⁠—”

“I don’t want any more of your stories after the last one. You seriously aren’t worried about the locket? You were going to tell me about the day you took the picture in it. Remember?”

“And like I said, it wasn’t any special day. I just remember it. You want to hear that story now? It really isn’t anything special, although I was having a great hair day and I caught the attention of several⁠—”

“Tell me later. I just want to find the necklace. Will you help? It means something to me.”

“Sure, but you’re certain you put it in the box?”

“Yes. I remember it clearly.”

“And you didn’t move it after that?” She adjusts her thick glasses.

“No. I’m sure of it.”

“Then I don’t know where it would be. Do you?”

“I already looked all over this room. It didn’t fall or slip anywhere. It’s just gone!” A lump forms in my throat. “I thought it was lost with Lourdes all these years, and I just got it back. Now it’s lost again. It’s like someone is messing with me.”

Mimi pulls me into a hug, and I’m struck by how much smaller than me she is. My grandma has always seemed larger than life. She rubs circles on my back. “Even if we don’t find it, we still have all the memories. Plenty of pictures. I know it’s easy to attach our hearts to things, but the necklace isn’t her.

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