Dear Celia

III

June

"So I heard your sister's coming to visit today," Celia said from the other side of Haven's.

"Yeah, she is," I said as I brushed dust off a tearing book lying on the table, and then slipped it onto the shelf.

"From Denver, right?" Her voice muffled by stacks upon stacks of books.

"Mmhm." I tucked the last book into the Classics shelf and proudly stepped back. For the past month, Celia had come regularly to Auntie Marie's house, baking cookies and brownies and all sorts of baked goods until one day she mentioned that her mom was considering selling Mr. Hawkins' bookstore, in which Auntie Marie instantly offered up me to help clean things up and get the business up and running again. And so I found myself walking with Celia from our home with a batch of some sort of baked deliciousness to the bookstore every afternoon, where we spent the rest of the day sorting, cleaning, painting, and eating.

"Done!" I called. I shrugged my gray jacket off as I wiped my dusty hands on my jeans. I listened to the sound of Celia's footsteps padding towards me until they stopped and I felt her shoulder brush against my arm.

"Looks good," she commented, tilting her head to the side.

"Should we work on Lifestyle now?"

Celia glanced at the sun lowering across the sky behind us through the bay window. She scrunched up her nose. "Nah," she said, and then glanced at her phone. "It's like 5:30. Shouldn't you be home to see your sister?"

I shrugged. In all honesty, I wasn't excited to see Noelle. She had always been the better one, the one who always had friends over while I was hiding in my room. As an orphaned older sister, I guess she felt an obligation to be responsible for me; and she hated it. Nobody wanted to baby their little brother, especially not Noelle. Whenever she visited, tension between us was high and conversation little.

But, "I guess," was all I said to Celia. I maneuvered my way through the shelves that I had become extremely familiar with.

Thunk.

Something toppled from a shelf beside me and fell to my feet. I bent down to pick it up and saw that it was leather-bound book with no title. Curious, I flipped through the pages and realized that it was an empty journal.

"You should keep it," Celia said from behind me. "To document your life or whatever."

"For what?" I replied, rising. "In case I become famous?"

She grinned. "You never know why you'll need it. Who knows, maybe one day people will pay to read Lucas Anker's diary."

I raised my eyebrows at her, but tucked the journal under my arm anyway.

"See you tomorrow, then" Celia said to me as we approached the exit. She had been homeschooled, like me, and had gotten her GED when she was 16 a year ago so we both didn't really have anywhere to go during weekdays.

"Yeah," I said. "See you."

~.~

Noelle had already arrived at the house before I did. When I walked through the door, I was instantly met with the sounds of laughter and the smell of roast beef. Auntie Marie always put an effort into cooking whenever Noelle visited.

"Lucas!" Auntie Marie cheerily greeted me when I walked into the living room. She was seated on the couch beside Uncle Jed, who looked like he was daydreaming. Across from them in an armchair sat Noelle, looking as bright and happy as ever.

"Hi," I said.

"Hey Lucas," Noelle replied in a polite tone. She hadn't changed much. She was as beautiful as ever, with her dark wavy hair and bright, brown eyes. She looked more like mom than I did, with fragile bones and foreign Asian features. The only resemblance she held to our father was her squared jaw; and even that made her look beautiful. I took after my father in everything though, with my tallness and awkward lankiness; and I didn't quite enjoy looking like a man locked up in a mental hospital.