（And there is something new: the postcard of Klimt’s The Kiss, slipped into the Bible behind Brenna’s purple-crayoned coloring-book heart.）
PART FIVE
TALLIE
In November and December, Tallie checked in with Rye often. Winter was hard, and she wanted to make sure he was okay. He always responded to say hi and ask how she was doing. They exchanged the same sort of texts, with Rye reminding her that she mattered, too.
happy thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving!
how are you? how are your hands? not small talk. i really mean it. i always think of you, pray for you. tell me how you are pls.
I’m ok. My hands are fine. I appreciate you thinking of me. I think about you too. I hope you’re good.
i’m v good. talk anytime, ok?
Ok, I will. Thank you, Tallie.
*
merry christmas, rye. i know it’s brenna’s birthday. how are you? big talk!
Merry Christmas. Thank you for remembering. I’m ok. I love big talk.
*
are you taking care of yourself?
Trying my best. Heard One Direction yesterday and smiled. What have you done.
oh woooow! so proud of you. good boy!
Forever trying to impress you, good girl.
*
your feelings are just as important as everyone else’s.
So are yours. :）
*
He’d sent her recipes for his favorite ramen soup, the best spicy-hot chicken, and the cognac sauce for his steak. Occasionally in the middle of the night, she’d wake to a hi text from him, and she’d hi him back.
big hearts in my eyes when you reach out first! forgive my therapist-talk but honestly, it’s so reassuring. feels significant, so i let it in!
Let it in, let it in. Glad to hear it. And all right then…consider it meticulously noted. :） Btw, I told my new therapist he reminds me of you. A good thing. A really good thing. Thanks again for helping me find him.
oh wow i’m so stoked to hear this! he’s a gem and so are you. a perfect match!
You’re the gem.
jsyk, i miss you.
Just so YOU know, I miss you too.
i like you, Rye.
I like you too, Tallie.
*
And sometimes.
are you ok?
Close.
*
Tallie told her family just enough about Rye, letting them look up his case for themselves. She let them know he’d been trying to start fresh: that was why he’d called himself Emmett and lied about where he was from. Lionel said he didn’t care what his name was; he was his buddy for life after saving him. And her mom swore she’d thought it was him but didn’t want to say anything. As if she could ever keep her mouth shut about something as huge as Tallie hanging out with a guy who’d been accused of murdering his family. But it bothered Tallie very little, her mom claiming that. She was determined to go easier on her.
After love, forgiveness is the strongest glue holding every family together.
*
In the new year, TLC Counseling Services added two more therapists, and Tallie stayed busy with work, coming home to her house at night tired and satisfied. Some evenings she came home to Nicodemus Tate bundled up, sitting on her porch in the cold or in his white Jeep, waiting for her. They’d go inside and make dinner. Make love in her bed before falling asleep and wake to have their coffee together in the morning before going to work.
She and Nico had fallen together completely, Tallie finally admitting to herself and to him that yes, he was her boyfriend. She’d told him everything about Rye, even the embarrassing parts. She told him that she and Rye were kissing when Lionel’s costume caught fire.
Tallie was clear with Nico about not wanting to get married again and needing her freedom, always. And she made sure he knew she would remain in contact with Rye because he was her friend. “I understand. I know you. I know who you are,” Nico had said. And as soon as he’d said that, she knew she would marry him someday. Maybe. Probably. His vim was heady and arresting. Dreamy. Enough. She loved Nico to distraction; she’d easily agreed not to sleep with anyone else. They’d finally gotten the timing right, and now they could set their watches to it.
“Ik hou van jou,” he’d said after he’d given her a key to his place.
“Ik hou van jou,” she’d said after she’d given him a key to hers. She’d said it in Dutch and English. French, too.
I love you, Nico. Je t’aime, Nico. Je t’aime follement de tout mon c?ur.
*
When it got warm again, Tallie and Nico went to Florence to eat and drink and visit David at the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze. “You have to do things when you have a chance to do them,” her dad had told her when she’d mentioned wanting to go. The advice was so simple that it rang poignant. She’d been focusing on remaining heart-open and ready for anything. Zora had gotten pregnant not long after Lionel’s last skin-graft surgery, and although Tallie couldn’t have been happier for them, it reminded her of what she wanted but didn’t have, the things she hadn’t done yet.