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Present day
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Rose pulled her mom’s car into the parking lot of the coffee shop, Spill the Beans, and shifted into park.
She slung her wristlet around her wrist and locked the car, heading to the coffee shop. She was focusing on checking her phone for texts from Spencer and not paying attention to where she was going when she stumbled into a solid form.
“Oh God, I’m so sorry!” she stuttered, her eyes darting up to meet the eyes of the unfortunate person she had run into.
The prettiest green eyes she had ever seen stared back at her, taking away her breath. She spotted shoulder-length, dark brown hair and admired a leather jacket covering a muscular body. She hadn’t expected to see her ex-boyfriend, Kylar.
“Hi, Rose,” he said in a scratchy voice. He cleared his throat. “Sorry I sound like crap. I’m getting over a cold.”
“Uh, hi. How are you?” she asked awkwardly.
Rose was sure her face was bright red after gawking at her ex.
“I’m okay.” He squinted as if he was scrutinizing her. “Are you?”
“Yup. Yeah. I’m good.”
“Okay.”
“Sorry, I’m meeting someone.” She pointed to the inside of the coffee shop. “He’s probably already waiting for me. I’m running late.”
It was a lie, but she would have said anything to escape the situation. Rose was only there to get coffee for herself and Spencer. Afterward, she planned to go over to his house to apologize for how she had pushed him away while dating Mason. She wasn’t sure if he was mad at her, but she needed to mend their friendship—relationship—whatever it was.
“Okay. See you later,” Kylar said, turning to walk away.
Well, that was weird.
Rose opened the door to the coffee shop and shot for the counter to order a drink. She didn’t like coffee that much, but she could order a fancy coffee drink with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Anything to drown out the coffee taste. Spencer loved café au laits, so that’s what she ordered for him.
Someone tapped on her shoulder, and Rose whipped around, on edge after her run-in with Kylar.
An elderly man smiled at her. “Excuse me, miss. I think you dropped this. It fell out of your purse.”
“No, I don’t think I dropped anything,” Rose said, turning back around dismissively.
“Is your name Rose?” the old man asked. “That’s who the note is addressed to.”
“Um, yes, thanks.” Rose snatched the folded piece of notebook paper from him and shoved it into her wristlet.
But she had seen a glimpse of the handwriting, and she knew who the note was from.
Who else could have slipped a note into her wristlet? It had to be Kylar. He hadn’t even been on her radar until now. The only question was, how had he known she would be there?
***
Spencer sipped his café au lait. “Ah, this is so good.” He smirked knowingly at her. “Why did you bring me coffee from my favorite coffee shop? Do you need a favor? You know I’ll do anything for you. You don’t need to bribe me.”
A smile spread across her face, the first genuine smile she had worn in weeks. She put her hand on his arm. “I know, and I appreciate that more than you’ll ever understand.”
Spencer gaped at her hand on his arm, then his eyes went back to her face. “Rose, what’s going on? You’re kind of freaking me out.”
“I ran in to Kylar at the coffee shop.” Rose opened her wristlet and pulled out the newest note. “This has to be from him.”
“Whoa, what? Now you think Kylar is The Midnight Flower?” Spencer asked, his eyebrows scrunching together in confusion. He set his coffee on the rickety table in his bedroom.
“I know we didn’t consider him, but he’s a suspect. I’ll add him to my list when I get home,” Rose said, taking a sip of her expensive coffee milkshake.
“Hmm, okay. I wish I had been there with you.” Spencer snuggled into her side and rested his head on her shoulder.
Rose let him, feeling at ease with her best friend by her side. “Why?”
“Because I—” Spencer started.
“Spence! Is Rose in there with you? Her mom called and wants to know why she isn’t answering her phone,” Spencer’s mom called from down the hall.
“Yeah, sorry. She’ll call her back!” Spencer yelled to his mom.
Rose pulled out her phone and saw the three missed calls. “Shit. I should probably go home and see what she wants. Text me later?”
“Of course,” Spencer said.
He always walked her to the door when she left, but this time, they had somehow ended up holding hands. Rose couldn’t remember who had initiated it. All she knew was that nothing had ever felt like this. Her fingers tingled as he squeezed her hand and said goodbye.
“Bye, Spence,” she replied, throwing her arms around his neck.
***
When Rose arrived at home, her parents were both sitting on the couch waiting for her. Uh oh. This can’t be good.
“What’s going on?” she asked, sitting on one of the armchairs across from the couch.
“Hi, pumpkin. We’re glad you’re home. The police called. They performed an autopsy on the body they found,” her dad explained.
“Oh my God. So . . .” Rose said, unable to force herself to ask the question she wanted to.
Is it Lily?
Tears slid down her mom’s cheeks as she sobbed uncontrollably. “It isn’t her. It isn’t Lily.”
“Melanie Powell. A fourteen-year-old girl who went missing two years ago,” her dad added.
“So Lily could still be alive,” Rose interjected, her heart nearly bursting full of hope.