chapter 6 #2
“I’m sorry,” he said and kissed the top of her head. “This has been such a nasty surprise. But I hope you know we’ve only ever wanted good things for you. We love you more than life itself.”
She did know that. It was what was going to pull her through.
Sloane was building a color scheme—holding fabric swatches to paint chips and imagining what furniture would work with them—when
she received a text from her brother.
You’re not going to believe this.
Curious, she took a break from work to message him back.
What is it?
Charlotte’s heading to Italy.
For vacation? I wish I could go with her. How long will she be gone?
Indefinitely.
To get away from Cliff and the fallout caused by the divorce? Staying out of sight for a while might be a good idea. People
on the internet can be ruthless.
Her going has nothing to do with Cliff. She’s flying over there to meet her younger sister.
Sloane frowned at his response. How could Charlotte be going to Italy to meet a younger sister? She was an only child.
Unless . . .
Shocked by the implication, she called her brother, who answered on the first ring. “Don’t tell me Don has a love child!” she said, keeping her voice low since Rory was working at his desk directly across from hers.
“Nope. Her sister is no relation to Don or Penny.”
“So . . . how could she have a sister?”
“Turns out Charlotte was adopted at birth. The sister is her biological mother’s.”
“What?” The outburst caused Rory to glance up, so she lowered her voice again. “Did she know she was adopted? Because I’ve never heard a word about it.”
“Just found out. Got a letter from an attorney telling her that her birth mother has died and left a twelve-year-old girl
who needs a guardian.”
Sloane shot to her feet.
“Everything okay?” Rory asked, sitting up taller.
She lifted a hand to let him know there was nothing to worry about and hurried out the back, into the alley, so she wouldn’t
continue to interrupt her partner while he was trying to work. She’d known Charlotte and Charlotte’s parents almost her entire
life. There was no way what Julian had just told her could be true. “There’s got to be some mistake,” she said as the metal
door clanged shut behind her.
“I might’ve thought that, too, except Charlotte’s already confronted her father about it.”
Sloane edged away from the reeking dumpster between her store and the Thai food place. “Oh, my gosh! She must be devastated!”
“She was already devastated. Cliff took care of that. But, yeah, she’s reeling from this second blow.”
“I’m shocked! Absolutely stunned. You could never have guessed the Williamses weren’t her biological parents. She even looks
like them.”
“Not really,” he said.
“She doesn’t look as though she’s from a different family!”
“True.”
What’d happened in the past and how would it inform—and transform—the present?
Sloane had so many questions. But she started with “Why’s Charlotte’s little sister in Italy?”
“She lives there, in Praiano, which is close to Positano on the Amalfi Coast.”
Someone came out into the alley from the restaurant and dumped two food crates in the garbage, prompting Sloane to step even
farther from the dumpster. “Was she born there?”
“I don’t remember if Charlotte told me that. She doesn’t know a whole lot, just what came in the letter. This morning, she
tried calling the attorney who sent it, but he wasn’t available. She should learn more when he calls back.”
“How’d her birth mother die?”
“We don’t have that information yet, either.”
She nudged a rock in the loose gravel with the toe of her high heel. She usually dressed up when she was in the studio. Looking
her best helped create credibility in an industry where people were relying on her to have good taste. “Will Charlotte’s parents
be going to Italy with her?”
“No. She said they wouldn’t be able to stay very long even if they did, and she doesn’t want to take the girl out of the environment
she’s accustomed to until she’s decided what would be best. Charlotte’s not even sure whether she should take custody. Depending
on how close the girl is to other relatives, maybe someone in her birth mother’s family would be a better option.”
“Those people would be Charlotte’s family, too,” Sloane pointed out. “Wouldn’t it blow your mind—to find out you have this
whole other family you never knew about?”
“I think it’s safe to say her mind is blown.”
“Meeting them would be so odd,” she added, imagining it.
“It would be. It could be a lot of other things, too, depending on how receptive they are, right?”
“Not meeting Charlotte would be a mistake. They’d be the ones missing out.”
“We might be a little biased. Anyway, there are so many things to consider, so many unanswered questions. All she told me
was that she’s going to move there for the next few months and try to write her book while getting to know her sister and
determining how she can help.”
Sloane kicked the rock she’d been playing with and watched as it skittered toward the tires of her car. “So where will she
stay?”
“She’s planning to rent a house.”
“On the Amalfi Coast.”
“Yep.”
“And she’s going there alone?”
“That’s what she’s telling me.”
“What’s the weather like this time of year?”
“The weather?” he echoed. “I’ve been there before in the spring. It’s gorgeous. Why?”
“How many bedrooms will she have?” she asked instead of answering.
There was a slight pause. She could tell he hadn’t expected this question. “As far as I know, she hasn’t found a place yet.
I repeat—why? What’s with the weird questions?”
The uncertainty Sloane was feeling in her marriage suddenly created the desire to escape. What she needed was time—time to
figure out who she was and what she wanted. Maybe, just maybe, if she went to Italy with Charlotte, she could get the separation
she needed from Ben to figure out if she wanted to stay with him for the rest of her life—or how to handle her marriage if
she didn’t. “I want to go with her,” she said.
“Without Ben?”
“I need a month—a month to find me again.”
This comment was met with silence. “Don’t tell me there’s trouble brewing in your marriage. You two aren’t considering breaking
up, are you?”
“As far as I know, he isn’t.”
“But you are?”
A lump rose in her throat, making it difficult to speak. “Something’s wrong, Jules.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. If I knew, maybe I could fix it. That’s the thing. I need . . . I need some time to myself. To make up my mind.
To regain clarity.”
“If Charlotte’s there, you’d hardly be alone.”
“Being with her would be different. It could be good for both of us. I can support her through the coming weeks, and she can
help me just by being who she is. She’s always grounded me. Maybe together we can fight our way through the dark.”
He didn’t respond.
“Jules?”
“You’re scaring me, Sloane. Ben’s a good man. You don’t want to lose him.”
She lifted a hand to block the sunlight stabbing through the huge canopy of the tree overhead. It was a sunny day in Seattle—after
weeks of rain—and the light seemed to warm her soul. The good weather felt like a sign, as if the universe was telling her
to take a month and figure out what to do with the rest of her life.
“That’s what I keep telling myself,” she said.
“But . . .”
“We don’t want the same things anymore,” she replied.
“What does that mean?”
“He wants kids.”
“And you don’t?”
“No. Not at all,” she admitted, and there it was—the truth.
“That’s hard to believe.”
“Because you’ve always wanted children?”
“Yes.”
“Kids aren’t for everyone.”
“But they are for Ben.”
“He can’t wait to start a family.”
“Shit.”
“Exactly.”
“If you go to Italy, what will you do about your business? How will you get away for an entire month?”
“I’ll have to check with Rory, see if he can manage without me. Leaving him on his own wouldn’t be ideal, of course. But I’m
desperate enough that . . . that I’d do it.”
“Do you have a passport?”
“Ben and I went to Aruba on our honeymoon, remember?”
“Oh, right. But even if Rory will cover the store, what’s Ben going to say?”
She stared down at the tough little weeds fighting their way through the gravel. “I don’t know. But this might be the only
way to save our marriage.” The eagerness and hope she felt at the prospect of breaking away from her current situation was
so overwhelming it nearly brought her to tears. “If Charlotte won’t mind me coming along, I think . . . I think I have to do it.”
“I bet she’ll welcome the company. What she’s facing wouldn’t be easy to handle on her own, especially while going through
a divorce and being so far from home.”
“That’s another reason I want to be there. I miss her, Jules. I miss the friendship we had before her arrogant ass of a husband
came between us.”
“Well, damn,” he said. “If you’re both going to Italy, so am I.”
She lifted her head. “What?”
“You heard me. I can take pictures of whatever I want. There are plenty of gorgeous landscapes to capture in Italy.”
“What about Mom and Dad and staying with them after their operations?” If she hadn’t been trying to land the biggest remodel
of her career a couple of weeks ago, which had subsequently fallen through anyway, she would’ve volunteered to look after
their parents herself. But she’d also known that being around them while trying to conceal how she was feeling about her marriage
would be difficult, so she’d been relieved when Julian said he’d do it. She certainly hadn’t expected him to step up; he was
usually globe-trotting all over the world.
“They’re fine,” he said. “Mom’s pretty much recovered. Dad might need the butt pillow Charlotte bought him for a few more
weeks, but he’s back at work.”
“Okay! If Charlotte will have us as companions and roommates, let’s do it!” she said, smiling freely for the first time in
ages.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. Let’s take a time-out, run away to Italy and use thirty sun-drenched days to refocus and reset—gain clarity
about what we want for the future.”
“I’d be happy just to have one,” he mumbled.
At least, that was what she thought she heard. His voice had been faint, and what he’d said didn’t make any sense, so she
figured she had to be wrong. “What was that?”
“I said I think that’s a great idea,” he replied, speaking more stridently. “Here’s to a month in Italy!”
“A month in Italy!” she repeated as if it was a toast and, closing her eyes, turned her face up to the sun. Going to Praiano
with Charlotte and Julian felt right.
Now she just had to make it happen.