“Are you okay?” She had a feeling that if she killed Flora, her father wouldn’t be pleased. She liked to think she wouldn’t be pleased either, but lately she didn’t recognize herself. She didn’t examine her responses too closely, because she wasn’t sure she was going to like what she saw.

Flora dragged in a great gulp of air. “I’m so unfit.” But she was laughing in between the pants and Izzy found herself almost smiling, too.

It unsettled her, so she turned away and stared at the Manhattan skyline as her mother had always done.

“It’s the greatest city in the world. City of dreams.” She parroted her mother’s words and then felt foolish. They sounded wrong coming out of her mouth, and not only because she hadn’t visited that many cities. The irony was that her mother didn’t believe in dreams. She believed in action. Goal setting. She was constantly moving forward.

“I’ve lived here all my life and this is the first time I’ve seen the sunrise from here.”

“Do you want to run onto the bridge?”

“No. I’m good here.” Flora leaned on the rail. “It’s spectacular.”

Was it?

Izzy stared at the sky and realized it actually was pretty cool. Streaked red and orange, the colors reflected off the water and the buildings.

Flora took a slug of water. “So what’s your dream, Izzy?”

“What?”

“Your dream. What is it?”

Izzy stared at her. How was she supposed to answer that? For you to leave my dad alone. For my mom to come back to life. For me to unknow what I know.

Flora didn’t want to hear any of that any more than Izzy wanted to say those thoughts aloud.

“Dreaming is a waste of time.”

“Oh no.” Flora sounded distressed. “Dreaming is never a waste of time. Dreaming is creative. It allows you to imagine a life unlike the one you’re living.”

Izzy took another mouthful of water. “Better to have goals than dreams. Better to know where you’re going and plan how to get there.” Maybe she shouldn’t have said that. What if Flora took that as a prompt to form a strategic plan to nail Izzy’s dad? “We should get going because my dad needs to get to the office this morning.” Without giving Flora the opportunity to answer, she turned and jogged back the way they’d come.

Back at the house, Izzy went straight to the shower and when she came downstairs she found Flora in the laundry room.

Her hair was damp and curled madly so she’d obviously just come from the shower, too. Her cheeks were plump and pink and her smile when she saw Izzy was a friendly, welcoming curve. Everything about Flora shrieked comfort and warmth. She was like a bowl of hot soup on a freezing day.

Izzy felt her irritation mount.

“What are you doing?” She watched as Flora loaded towels into the machine.

“These were waiting to be done, so I thought I’d help.”