Sasha scowled, then put on an affected, high-pitched voice, fluttering her hand around in, honestly, an insulting impression. “No, I won’t because I’m a strong, independent lady and I don’t need anyone.”
“Is that supposed to be me?”
“I call it like I see it.”
“I needyou, don’t I?”
“You need me because I am, admittedly, brilliant and wise, but also because I’m April adjacent.”
Daphne frowned. “Sasha. That’s not true. I love you.”
“How could you not? My point stands though.”
Daphne rubbed her forehead. Shedidlove Sasha, but dear god, she was exhausting.
And possibly right.
“Listen, I didn’t text you to talk about April,” Daphne said. “I need to bounce some ideas off someone for my fifth piece, and I can’t do that with Nicola, who is pretty much my boss and probably freaking out that she’s backing the wrong horse.”
Sasha sat up, sending a hand through her charmingly disastrous hair. She wore a stretched-out white tank top. “One and the same.”
“What?”
“April,” Sasha said, “and your fifth piece.”
Daphne wrinkled her nose, even as something bright started to burn underneath her ribs.
“You didn’t get here by yourself,” Sasha said, waving her hand at Daphne’s face. “This brand-new you.”
“I know that.”
“So. Let her in. You keep trying to avoid her, give her space, give yourself space, and I get it. I even commend you for going to London alone. You’re brave and capable and strong, and you know it now. You’ve proven it to yourself already, Daph.”
Daphne’s eyes started to sting a little. “Thanks, Sasha,” she said softly.
“Don’t thank me yet,” Sasha said. “Remember how I called you ridiculous?”
“I recall.”
“Well, it bears repeating. You know what that fifth piece is supposed to be.Iknow what that fifth piece is supposed to be. April even knows. Hell, I bet Nicola knows it too.”
Daphne groaned, tangled a hand in her faded lavender hair. “This ismyjourney, Sasha.Myevolution. No one else’s.”
Sasha’s eyes softened. “Exactly.”
Daphne went silent for a few seconds, processing, sifting, fighting. She changed the subject, asking where Sasha and April were headed next (Carlsbad Caverns), and if they were still on track to be in LA at the end of October for Jack and Carrie’s party (they should roll into Tinseltown on the 31).
After she ended the call, Daphne stood in front of her blankcanvas for a long time. She stood and stared and thought until an image formed in her mind. She’d seen the image before, had felt it, even, the warmth and peace and safety.
The love.
And she realized that in order to tell the kind of story she wanted, the story that washers, the story that was true, she didn’t need five pieces.
She needed six.
She picked up her pencil and started sketching.
Chapter
