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Grace frowned down at the wrinkled letters stacked in the dusty box, and Lexi couldn’t help feeling asha “Oh ”

“I know it isn’t much of a present ”

“My daddy loved me from the first second he saw me ”

“Yes, he did ”

Grace’s lower lip trembled just a little “He says you named me Grace and he named me Mia ”

“He loved his sister more than anyone else in the world Except you ”

Grace peered up at Lexi “Did you know her?”

Lexi heard Jude’s sharp intake of breath Lexi looked up Across the room, Jude stared back at her

“She was my best friend in the whole world,” Lexi said “Mia Eileen Farraday You are so lucky to look like her She loved practical jokes Did anyone ever tell you that? She used to put Saran Wrap across your daddy’s toilet seat And she couldn’t sing at all, but she thought she could, and when your dad told her to shut up, she laughed and sang louder ” Lexi felt so open up inside of her when she talked about Mia These onfly in aave Mia that green sweater hanging in the entryway It took all the money I made one month, but when I saw it, I kneould be perfect—it would match her eyes—and I wanted her to kno much her friendship meant to me ”

“Daddy never talks about her ”

“Yeah,” Lexi said, looking down at her daughter again “It’s easier that way, I guess When you love someone … and you lose them, you can kind of lose yourself, too But your daddy has had you to love all these years I want that, too ”

“What do you mean?”

“What would you think about living with et to know each other, and I could—”

“I knew it ” Grace scraonna leave my daddy ”

“I didn’t mean that, Grace ”