Lily walked around the table of new releases careful not to spill her coffee. She counted each step, 22 since she left the café and 85 since she entered the store. One day she would take steps without counting. One day she would eat without counting the number of bites, the times she chewed, the tines on her fork over and over.
One day, but not this one.
Hiding it was second nature and exhausting simultaneously. She picked up one book, scanned the back cover, placed it back in its spot and casually picked up another. Eight books so far; she needed to choose carefully so that she’d have the book she really wanted when she reached the 16th; she could make 12 work, but 16 was better.
She pushed a stray section of dark hair behind her tiny ear and picked up book number 9. A pale blue cover, hex code #a6d0d1 probably. The author photo on the back cover looked back at Lily with eyes she hadn’t seen in 20 years. Miss Malloy kept her after school to meet the social worker away from the other 6th graders. She never went home after that. She’d forgotten her mother’s face a long time ago, but she knew it when she saw it. The blurb confirmed that her eyes and memory weren’t playing tricks on her.
Rose Jones didn’t just survive mental illness and addiction, she thrived despite them. Her debut book details her heroic battle…
Ms. Jones lives on the coast with her husband, their two young children, and a bossy French bulldog.
Lily dropped the book and her coffee and walked out of the bookstore as fast as she could on needle thin heels. She forgot to count her steps.
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