She glances around the library at all the patrons and then back to me. Then she takes my arm and pulls me into the community room. Gladiola and Petunia follow her in and shut the door.

“Tell me,” Wanda says in a stern grandma voice.

Petunia starts to say something but Wanda shushes her.

I close my eyes and blink back the tears. “I’ve always wanted my mom to be proud of me.” My voice shakes at my admission. “I imagine her looking down and watching over me, and everything I’ve done, I’ve always wanted her to be proud, to be glad I’m hers. Even though she’s not here with me, I’ve always believed she can see me and that she’s proud.”

I swipe at my eyes.

“She is,” Wanda says. “We all know she is. Your mom loved you, she would be so proud of who you’ve become.”

I shake my head no and look away. They don’t know how many people I’ve hurt with my stubbornness and selfishness.

“My mom used to tell me the story, of how in Romeo, you always find your true love. The day of her funeral, I thought she sent me mine and that Gavin was her message to me that she was still with me and that love still survived. And hope. And kindness. And…that even though she was gone, I could still be loved.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Wanda pulls me into her arms and sets my head to her shoulder. I breathe in the familiar scent of her lily of the valley perfume. “She loves you. She’s proud. We all are.”

“We are,” Gladiola says.

“That’s right. Everyone in Romeo is proud. And we love you too,” Petunia says.

I pull away and sniff. “My mom told me that story so I’d be open to finding love. But I did it wrong. I hurt people.”

I think of Lacey, her stricken expression. Gavin caught up in it all, and Will. I saw the moment his heart broke. The light in his eyes flickered and died. He pulled himself back into that cold, lonely, distant place where he doesn’t let anyone close.

“What happened?” Petunia asks.

So I tell them. I tell them how I’ve been chasing the wrong Romeo. How my blind belief that Gavin was the one, and my disregard for other people resulted in losing the man I loved. I tell them how Erma predicted Gavin as my soul mate but that it doesn’t matter, because I need to stop trusting stories and fantasies and predictions and start trusting myself. And my heart knows that Will has always been the one.

“Will’s been gone for two days,” I say. “And I don’t know that he’ll ever come back.”

Everyone is quiet. Then Petunia and Gladiola give each other a speaking glance.