He grabs his arm where I hit him like it hurt even though it wasn’t even that hard. “My idea was a bad one. Why don’t you come up with something now?”
“I’m trying!” I huff, growing frustrated. “It just doesn’t make sense. Nothing is labeled six.”
“Well, maybe this clue is supposed to be different,” Andy says.
“Maybe you’re a know-it-all,” I say.
“Why, thanks for admitting I know it all,” he teases, but I’m already walking away.
“Where are you going?” he asks.
I shrug. “I’m going to go all the way back out to the entrance and retrace our steps. Maybe we missed something. Why don’t you keep looking up here?”
“You want to split up?” he asks. He sounds hurt.
“Just really quickly,” I say. “I’ll meet you back up here.”
I turn and walk down the winding staircase toward the front, where the lampposts stand. Before I left home this morning, I stashed the Polaroid in my coat pocket. I pull it out now and look at it. In the picture, I’m leaning on a lamppost in front of a stone ledge, with trees in the background. Scanning the different lampposts around me, I find one that looks like it could be the one in the picture.
I make my way over. For some reason I have the urge to reach out and touch the lamppost, like I’m doing in the Polaroid. Maybe in the back of my mind I hope that touching it will zap my memory back like a lightning bolt. Maybe that’s the real reason I wanted to leave Andy.
But nothing happens when I finally touch the pole. All I can feel is the cold metal underneath my gloves.
I have the urge to kick the snow against the stone wall. I came all this way for nothing. I feel a sob about to escape, so I quickly start moving again toward the side tower. Then I look around the sixth wooden arch. Nothing.
What if there was supposed to be a paper heart here, though? What if my admirer put it here and someone found it before me or it blew away in the snow? Or maybe I’m just flat-out wrong again. Maybe this is all just a waste of time. What if I never get my memories back?
I shake my head. I can’t think about those possibilities yet. I make my way back to the castle’s entrance. There’s a couple in front of me walking slowly and holding hands, so there’s no way to pass them. I can tell from their first few steps that they’re in no hurry. By the time the stairwell starts to wind, I try to block out how many steps we have left to go.
And that’s when I have an idea.
I rush back to the bottom of the steps and begin to walk back up the stairs, counting as I go. One, two, three…
When I make it to the sixth step, I crouch down and feel underneath the metal stair. Then finally I feel it—paper.
I tug gently, and suddenly there’s a paper heart in my hand.
“Check Yes Juliet” We the Kings
“Unwritten” Natasha Bedingfield
“Head over Feet” Alanis Morissette
“Listen to Your Heart” Roxette
“Higher Love” Whitney Houston
“A Thousand Years” Christina Perri
“P.S. I Love You” The Beatles
“The Letter” Joe Cocker
“Paper Rings” Taylor Swift
“Strawberry Letter Number 23” The Brothers Johnson
“Kiss Me” Sixpence None the Richer
“Valentine Girl” New Kids on the Block
“Signed, Sealed, Delivered” Stevie Wonder
“Classic” The Knocks
“A Thousand Miles” Vanessa Carlton
“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” Carole King
“Paper Hearts” The Vamps
“Falling for You” Colbie Caillat
“Wonderwall” Oasis
“Love Letters” Aretha Franklin
“I’m Yours” Jason Mraz
“A World Alone” Lorde
“Love Song” Sara Bareilles
“God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You” *NSYNC
“Then” Brad Paisley
“Yellow Lights” Harry Hudson
“Love Me Like You Do” Ellie Goulding
“Red Roses” Laundry Day
“Love Letters” Elvis Presley
“Photograph” Ed Sheeran
“My Paper Heart” The All-American Rejects
“Ocean Eyes” Billie Eilish
Chapter 15
“We’re here anyway. I just want to see this one thing before we leave,” Andy says for the third time on the subway back to Grand Central to catch our train.
“I need to go home to listen to these songs,” I say, also for the third time.
Suddenly, Andy pulls AirPods out of his pocket. I raise an eyebrow at him.
“You’ve had those with you this whole time?”
He nods. “And I’ll download those songs for you too, so you can listen on the train ride back…under one condition.”
“What?” I ask impatiently.
“You’ll go to the Whispering Gallery with me. I’ve always wanted to check it out.”
I shake my head. “One, I have no idea what that is. And two, we’re practically at Grand Central. We’ll miss the train if we go anywhere.”
He grins. “The Whispering Gallery is inside Grand Central,” he says, shaking the AirPods in my face. “Do we have a deal?”
I pause. I really want to listen to these songs. I grab the earbuds out of his hand before responding. “Deal.”
“Good. Maybe I’ll forgive you for finding that last clue without me.”
“I said I was sorry,” I say. “I just needed to think on my own for a second.”
He nods. “Got it. For the record, I’m only teasing. Besides, I witnessed a proposal, which was pretty cool. Turns out it was a good thing I was alone.”
“A marriage proposal?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he says, whipping out his phone. “I took a couple pics that I sent to them afterward. They were so grateful someone was there to capture the moment.”