Chapter 11 - Willa’s SecretWilla had another secret.
This one was about herself.
“I’m leaving.”
“Where?”
“Seattle.”
I stared.
“When?”
“Two months.”
She had accepted a design job.
Dream position.
She had delayed telling anyone because of the case.
“You should go.”
Her eyes widened.
“That easy?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Juniper’s backup guardian.”
“You can still be from Seattle.”
“What if you need me?”
“I need you to have your life.”
She began crying.
“Why is everyone crying in this family?”
“Genetics.”
She laughed.
Then:
“I’m afraid leaving makes me like everyone who abandoned you.”
“No.”
I thought of Mara.
Of Ethan in previous universe? irrelevant.
Of our family’s obsession with proximity as loyalty.
“Leaving a place is not abandoning people.”
Willa nodded.
She had spent her life as the peacekeeper.
Orson’s niece.
Tabitha’s helper.
My emergency babysitter.
Maybe recording the inhaler incident was the first time she chose principle over belonging.
Now she was choosing herself.
Good.
At her farewell dinner, Juniper gave her a purple keychain.
“For your new house.”
Willa hugged her.
“Come visit.”
“Do you have snow?”
“Sometimes.”
“Then yes.”
May you like
Family could stretch without breaking.
That was another thing Mercers needed to learn.
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