Chapter 25

Sharon turned down the radio as she drove down the busy street. "Thanks for trying," she said. "I wish Anna would have been there. Maybe she's seen her," Tallulah said. "I don't know where she would go." She felt her cell phone vibrate, pulled it out of her purse, and clicked on.

"Hey, Zoe," she said. "I'm with Sharon Eckerson. Do you think I can call you back?" "Ah...well, I have Lily in my office, and she wants to speak with you.

"Lily's there?" Tallulah said.

"Yep. She's looking for you," Zoe said.

"Okay. Tell her I'm on my way. I should be about 20 minutes."

"Okay," said Zoe, then she clicked off the phone and looked at Sharon. "I know where Lily is. Make a U-turn at the next light."

Twenty minutes later, Sharon parked in front of Zoe's Soul Food Kitchen. She put the car in park and looked at Tallulah.

"Can we just sit a moment? I'm not feeling well," she said.

"Sure. Are you okay?" Tallulah asked.

"I��m good. Maybe too much coffee this morning," she said.

They sat for a few moments. A wave of nausea passed over Sharon. She thought she was going to vomit, but it quickly passed.

She took a few deep breaths and said, "Okay, I'm feeling better now. Let's go inside."

They entered the restaurant. Patrons were talking, smiling, and eating. The aroma of home-cooked soul food floated through the air. Sharon's stomach growled, and she stood next to Tallulah.

Tallulah looked around the dining room and said, "Let's go to Zoe's office." She motioned for Sharon to follow her.

"It smells wonderful in here," Sharon said.

"Zoe is quite the chef."

She led Sharon through the kitchen and into Zoe's office. She stopped short of walking through the door and stared at the woman sitting in one of the chairs in front of Zoe's desk. Her mouth was slightly open, and she gasped loudly.

"Lily?" she said.

Lily turned towards her and stood up. She then slowly nodded her head and smiled.

"I can't believe it. You look…good," Tallulah said.

She walked over to her and gave her a hug. Sharon stood in the doorway, watching the exchange. She glanced at the woman sitting behind the desk and noticed she was smiling.

Tallulah released Lily and said, "What are you doing here?"

She turned her glance towards Zoe, who was staring at the two of them, smiling.

"Why don't you sit down, T, and let Lily explain," Zoe said in her most reassuring voice.

"I brought someone with me. Someone who wants to meet you." Tallulah turned toward Sharon. "Lily, this is Sharon Eckerson. Sharon, this is Lily Duke."

Sharon crossed the doorway threshold and extended her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Lily." Lily looked at her hand and then shook it.

Zoe stood up. "I'll go grab another chair. Sharon, please take my seat."

She walked past Lily and Tallulah and left the office. Sharon sat in Zoe's chair. Lily and Tallulah sat as well.

"I…I…wanted to find you to thank you. Ever since you played my record, my brain has been all over the place. It woke up something in me. I'm in a program and have been staying at a small motel. I bought some clothes, too."

"That's great, Lily. Sharon has been looking for you. She works for Sylvia Blass. She sent her here to find you," said Tallulah.

Lily looked at Sharon, and a wave of fear rushed over her. Her first instinct was to run, but she didn't.

Instead, she said, "What do you want?"

Sharon cleared her throat. "It's a long story, Lily, so I'll start from the beginning."

Sharon, Lily, and Tallulah talked in Zoe's office for over an hour. Zoe would come in from time to time but never interrupted them. Sharon told Lily about Sylvia and how she'd asked her to find her. She showed her the file from the private investigator, and Lily took it and went through each page, then set it down on Zoe's desk and exhaled.

"Sharon, you don't know me, and I don't know you, but we have something in common: Sylvia. I've been running from the Blass name since the day I turned 18. I knew about Sylvia. I wanted to approach her after the death of her mother, but I was dealing with my own demons. I also knew she would never accept me."

"Sylvia wants to meet you, Lily," Sharon said.

"Why?" she asked.

Sharon shook her head. "I don't know. I think she's trying to right her wrongs before it's too late." "Right her wrongs?" Lily said, sounding surprised.

"I know this is a lot to take in, Lily. I'm here because I told Sylvia I would help her. I've worked for Sylvia as Editor-in-Chief for You & Me magazine. I think I'm the only person she could turn to. I truly don't know what she wants from you. It's really all quite strange. I hired Tallulah to freelance for the magazine. We'd never met prior to that. She told me about the story she's doing on you and the shelter. We put two and two together, and it led me to you."

Lily glanced at Tallulah, who was sitting quietly, listening. Lily thought her face was kind, and she reminded her of herself when she was younger.

"Sharon, I've been running from my past for a very long time. A place where Amanda Worthington-Blass couldn't find me. A place where I could just drown myself. I don't know if I'm ready to meet Sylvia or what she wants from me. You see, I'm still bitter because of what her mother did to me. I'm not saying Sylvia can make it better or even make it up to me. A lot of things I did or didn't do were my choice, and I accept that. But meeting her…" Lily's voice trailed off. She had tears in her eyes.

Sharon looked at Tallulah, then at Lily. She then took a deep breath and said, "Lily, I'm not here to cause you any trouble. I'm really here as a messenger. I'm not here to force you into doing anything. I'm also not here as an editor or reporter. I'll do whatever you like, but she does want to meet you."

Lily looked at Tallulah. "Do you still have my record?" Tallulah nodded her head. "I'd like to hear it again," Lily said. She then looked at Sharon. "You can tell Sylvia you met me, but that's as far as I'll go. I don't want to meet her."

Sharon nodded her head. "Okay, Lily. I understand. I do have one question for you." "Okay," Lily said.

"There was a large amount of money to be donated to a shelter. The money had been held in a trust for years. Is it yours?" Sharon asked.

Lily's facial expression quickly changed. She squinted her eyes together and licked her lips. She looked at them, then the floor.

"When I turned eighteen, me and Clyde received an inheritance from Cliff Blass. Clyde took his money, moved out, bought a hot rod, and forgot about writing. You'd think he had all the money in the world. I didn't want anything to do with the money. I contacted a lawyer, and he helped me put the money in a trust. When Clyde passed away, I got what was left of his money. I didn't want it, so I put it in a bank. The money in the trust is gone. Someone took it. I found out a little while ago. I decided to give the money to the shelter, but someone took it."

Sharon sighed. "Thank you, Lily."

Tallulah looked surprised. "Lily, you donated your inheritance to the shelter?"

Lily nodded her head yes.

Tallulah looked at Sharon, then at Lily. "So, what happened to the money?"

Lily didn't answer. She just looked at Sharon, who shifted in her chair. She knew what happened to the money but felt this wasn't the time to divulge that information.

She sat for a moment longer, then said, "The private investigator I hired found your old producer, Owen Katz."

Lily's demeanor perked up. "You mean Owen is alive?"

Sharon nodded her head, "Yes, he's living in a nursing home in Georgia. I can give you the information. I didn't reach out to him because I found you."

Lily smiled. "Owen is alive."

Sharon took a page out of the folder and handed it to Lily. ���This is his address and contact number. I didn't call him," Sharon said.

Lily took the paper. She stared at the name and number, then smiled. "Owen was my friend. He was like the father I never had. He was kind to me and my family. He lost everything. I used to write to him but stopped after a while." She folded the paper and put it in her pocket, then took a deep breath. "Tallulah, can you play my record again?"

"I don't have it with me. You can come to my apartment, and I can play it for you," she said. Lily smiled. "I would like that." She turned towards Sharon. "Tell Sylvia I don't want to meet her. I'm really trying to get my life back. I want to sing again, even if it's just for a little while."

Sharon nodded. "I understand. I'll tell Sylvia. I do wish you well, Lily. I've heard you have a beautiful voice."

Tallulah grabbed a piece of paper on Zoe's desk, then wrote down her address and handed the paper to Lily. "This is my address. If you want to come by tomorrow evening, I'll be home. I'm working here tonight."

"Thank you," Lily replied. She stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow, Tallulah. Goodbye, Sharon." They watched her walk out of the office, then out of sight.

"You work here, too, Tallulah?"

Tallulah nodded. "Yeah, I usually work the dinner shift, sometimes lunch, too. The tips are good."

Sharon smiled. "You remind me of myself when I was starting out. My writing career was off to a slow start. I didn't wait tables; I worked at a bakery and was a dog bather."

"Zoe is good to me. Between this, Big World, and freelancing, I do okay."

Sharon smiled. "Well, this has been an interesting day. I never thought I'd be doing this." She picked up the folder on Zoe's desk, paused for a moment, then said, "I think you should write your article with the whole story. Your story is about Lily. I want to run it in You & Me. I want it to be the cover story. A real story."

Tallulah was speechless.

"I'll talk to Sylvia. It won't be a scandal like her mother. Lily doesn't want anything but her life back. It's a good story, and it'll break. Why not do an exclusive?"

"You want to run my story in You & Me?"

"Yes, and I want it to be the cover," Sharon said.

"The cover?" Tallulah gasped