Page 413 of Safe With You

My hand flew to my mouth. “Ellis.”

He said nothing.

My eyes moved from one photograph to the next. There were pictures from that night and the events that came after it. Mila sitting cross-legged in the children’s section. Naomi behind the counter. My parents at one of our anniversary celebrations. Maya carrying trays from the café. Tasha and Mila laughing together.

Readers and authors filled the spaces between them, laughing, hugging, finding each other between the shelves.

Then I saw the photograph in the center.

Me.

I was behind the register, looking toward something outside the frame, and I didn’t remember him taking it.

Underneath the photographs was a small plaque.

THE LIFE WE FOUND ALONG THE WAY

I read it twice.

Then a third time.

“Ellis.”

He stepped beside me.

“I thought that wall needed something.”

I turned toward him.

“You did all of this?”

“Had some help.”

Naomi waved from across the room.

“Against my will.”

“She’s lying,” Ellis said.

“I’m absolutely lying.”

People laughed around us.

My eyes burned as I looked back at the wall.

“So this is why everybody’s here?”

Silence.

I turned.

That was my third clue.

Naomi’s smile got bigger.

My mother’s hands were already clasped in front of her.

Tasha looked like she was about three seconds from laughing.