Hope You Love Me

Chapter 5

Hope had just finished eating, chewing along to the sounds of Rafael’s show in the other room, when she heard a knock on the door. Rafael was already on his way to answer it when Hope made it to the living room.

“Wait!” she said, throwing out a hand. “What if it’s …?”

“Relax, it’s the twins,” Rafael said lightly. He looked Hope up and down. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just -” Hope swallowed heavily. “You can’t be too careful, right?”

“Right.” Rafael opened the door.

“Surprise!” Josie said, grinning and holding a tray of cookies in front of her. 

Lizzie stood behind her with her arms crossed and rolled her eyes. “We bought you cookies,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Apparently that’s supposed to make it better that you have a stalker.” 

“Oh.” The corner’s of Hope’s mouth turned down and she nodded at the cookies. “It doesn’t,” she said honestly, raising her eyebrows. “But you two being here does.” She wrapped an arm around each of their necks and pulled them into a tight group hug. “So what exactly brings you here?” Hope side-eyed Rafael, suspecting she already knew the answer.

“Well, Rafael said he was spending the day with you,” Josie said, stepping inside.

Lizzie picked up exactly where her sister left off, “So we thought we’d come make a whole day out of it.”

“I already invited MG, so he should be here soon too,” Josie chimed in. She set the tray of cookies on the coffee table and pulled off the plastic lid, taking a bite of a sprinkled cookie. Lizzie flopped down on the couch and threw her feet up next to the tray. 

“What are we watching?” Lizzie asked, eyeing the screen. 

“I was rewatching an episode of Landon’s show,” Rafael said. “You can change it.” He tossed the remote to her and let Lizzie scroll through the millions of movies the Mikaelson-Kirbys had paid good money to have available to them at any moment. 

“So …” Josie said quietly while Lizzie and Rafael were distracted squabbling over what to watch. “Any more messages?”

Hope shook her head. “Nope. I think it’s all over.” 

Josie nodded. “It was probaby just a prank.”

“Yeah.” Hope nodded back. “Probably just one of Landon’s weird fans or something.”

“They’ve never had your phone number or known where you were eating dinner,” Josie pointed out.

Hope smiled weakly. “You’d be surprised what people can find on the internet.” She slunk back away to sit on the couch next to Lizzie, grateful for a body between her and Rafael. “Alright,” she said, grabbing the remote from where they were now wrestling over it. “My TV, my rules.”

Rafael and Lizzie both borderline pouted, crossing their arms and glaring at each other out of the corners of their eyes. Hope just smiled to herself.

They had always bickered like children, but she was secretly hoping they would end up together one day. Not that Hope wanted MG to suffer that heartbreak of losing Lizzie for good, but if Rafael and Lizzie were together then that could only serve to keep her tendency towards sabotaging her perfect marriage in check. And they were cute together. Hope knew they hooked up a few times in high school but were never serious. Maybe now that they were adults …

“Hope, no way.”

Hope glanced at Lizzie in surprise, almost wondering if she’d been reading her thoughts before she realized Lizzie’s attention was on the screen where Hope had selected a movie - some sort of new stalking thriller.

“Uh-uh. Veto.” Rafael reached for the remote. 

“What?” Hope protested, yanking it back. “It’s my TV.”

“Come on, Hope. That’s too morbid,” Josie said.

“It’s research,” Hope argued back. “For everything not to do when you have a stalker.”

“It’s mental torture,” Rafael said. He reached for the remote again but before he could make contact, they all froze, four heads whipping around to look at the front door where the knock was.

“It’s MG,” Josie said, standing up. “It has to be.”

Rafael was right behind her. “I’ll come with you.”

Hope and Lizzie exchanged a glance as they left the room, wordlessly agreeing to get up and follow them. They watched as Josie swung the door wide open and Rafael put up a hand to stop it before it got too far. 

“Expecting a package?” Josie asked, picking up the box and bringing it inside.

“Whoa.” Lizzie stepped back. She grabbed Hope’s arm and took her back with her. “Ever heard of a bomb, Jo? Or anthrax?” 

“Oh.” Josie’s face fell and she suddenly looked like she wanted to throw the box back outside. 

“Give me.” Hope took the box from her hands. “It’s not a bomb or anthrax. It’s probably something Landon or I ordered off Amazon and forgot about.”

“What kind of Amazon packages come in plain boxes?” Rafael asked. 

“Maybe it’s something from the gallery,” Hope said, working to open the box. Lizzie hung back, having a silent conversation with Josie, but Rafael stepped up next to Hope. She tore open the box the rest of the way, pulling out a bottle of expensive wine that had been cushioned inside with a note.

Share this with me? Maybe I’ll stop by tonight, XOXO

Hope dropped the note, stumbling backwards into Rafael. Her words barely made it past her lips with how soft her breath was. “They know where I live.”