She had always assumed she was the only Cruz in that town — a name passed down in her family like an heirloom with a missing piece. Seeing it in that stranger’s scrawl made the world tilt. She wrote how she followed the handwriting back to its owner the way one follows crumbs, because sometimes curiosity is a kind of kindness. The owner turned out to be a woman ten years older than her, living above a bakery, whose regret had been a choice to leave and then return, leaving behind a child with a name Stacy had once whispered into pillows in a different life. They became awkward friends: sharing tea, borrowing books, trading recipes for survival.