“I don’t expect anything. You don’t owe me a relationship. I just wanted you to know I exist, and that we’re connected. At the bottom is my number. If you ever want to talk, or meet, or even just text, I would really like that.”
She signed it: “Isabella.” Then one last line: “Thank you, big sister.”
I’d grown up as an only child. Or so I thought.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I grabbed my phone and typed in the number from the bottom of the page.
I hit call. It rang. Once. Twice. Three times.
“Hello?” a woman said, cautiously.
“Isabella?” I asked.
Small pause.
“Yes. This is Isabella.”
“It’s Amelia,” I said. “From the store.”
“You got my letter,” she said.
“I did. I’m sitting in the parking lot right now, actually.”
“I’m sorry if it was too much,” she rushed out. “I didn’t know if I should leave it, or if that was crossing a line, or—”
“I’m glad you did,” I cut in. “I’m… still processing. But I’m glad you wrote it.”
Silence, but not heavy.
“Do you… Want to meet?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said immediately. Then softer: “If you do.”
“Tomorrow works,” she said. I heard a baby fuss in the background. “Thank you. For calling.”
We picked a time and hung up.
The next day, I got to the café embarrassingly early.
Every time the door opened, my heart jumped.
I picked a table by the window and wrapped my hands around a mug of coffee I barely drank from.
Every time the door opened, my heart jumped. Then she walked in. Same hoodie. Same tired eyes. Same messy bun. Baby in a carrier this time, wide awake and staring around. Our eyes met.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi,” I echoed.
We stood there for a second, then stepped toward each other. She shifted the baby. We hugged. It was a little awkward, a little tight, and weirdly right. We sat.
“This is Elijah,” she said, bouncing the baby lightly. “Your nephew, I guess.”
“Hey, Elijah,” I said, letting him grab my finger. “I’m your aunt Amelia.”
Saying “aunt” felt strange. Strange, and good. We talked about Scarlett.
I told her how Mom always burned toast, cried at dog commercials, and sang off-key in the car. How she was stubborn and funny and flawed, but loving. Isabella listened as every detail mattered.
“I always wondered if she thought about me,” Isabella said quietly. “I didn’t want to believe she just moved on.”
“She didn’t,” I said. “She just didn’t know how to look back.”
We didn’t fix everything that day. We didn’t rewrite the past. But we agreed on one thing: we wanted to keep talking. We started texting. Sending pictures. Meeting up when we could.
A few weeks later, we did a DNA test. Mostly to shut up the tiny voice in both our heads that whispered, What if? The results came back: full sibling match. Not just a tired mom at my register.
Not just a letter. My sister.
Now, Isabella and Elijah come into the store sometimes. He reaches for me when he sees me, little hands grabbing my apron. I keep his picture in my locker, right above my schedule, and a stupid old coupon.
We’re still figuring it out—how to go from strangers to family. It’s messy and emotional and awkward and good. All because one night, a woman was six dollars short at my lane.
I went to work thinking I was just a cashier.
I walked out with a sister and a nephew I never knew I had.
We’re still figuring it out—how to go from strangers to family.
