Chapter 33
brOOKLYN
San Diego was eight hours behind London, so I landed bright and early in California the following day. I hadn’t been back since I moved, and the salty ocean air sent a wave of nostalgia crashing through me when I exited the airport.
My mom and stepfather knew when I’d be arriving, but Harry was at work and my mom was overseeing renovations at their house, so I shelled out the absurd fees for an airport taxi to my hotel.
They had plenty of guest rooms at their place, but I would rather tear my hair out than spend an entire weekend with them.
I stared out the window as the city whizzed by.
It was weird seeing the familiar spots from my childhood when I’d been gone for so long.
The smoothie shop I’d frequented, the movie theater where I’d had my first (horrible) kiss, the stretch of beach where I’d learned how to surf…
they all seemed so quaint, like they belonged to a different life.
The nostalgia was there, but that was it. Most of my old friends had moved away, and I wasn’t close to those who’d stayed anymore. Besides my mom and Charlie, I had nothing tethering me to the city.
The realization hit hard. I’d lived in the UK for eighteen months, but a small part of me had viewed it as a temporary thing. I’d assumed I would move back to California at some point, but the thought of leaving London felt like a knife in my gut.
Vincent was there. My dad and my friends were there. My life was there.
“Miss!” The cab driver glanced at me in the rearview mirror. Judging by his impatient tone, he’d been trying to get my attention for a while. “We’re here.”
“Right. Thank you,” I said, flustered.
I paid and dragged my luggage to the check-in desk, still reeling from a revelation that, in hindsight, should’ve been obvious. However, I didn’t have time to dwell on what it meant. Maybe it didn’t mean anything at all. It wasn’t like it changed my plans in any way.
Thankfully, my room was ready despite my early arrival. I had time for a quick shower and a change of clothes before I needed to be at my mother’s house. She’d scheduled our “arrival check-in” before her weekly salon appointment, and if there was one thing she hated, it was being late to the salon.
I called an Uber. Thirty minutes later, it dropped me off in front a Mediterranean-style mansion that was three times the size of my childhood home.
My stepfather Harry was a big corporate executive, and while his house wasn’t as decked-out as Vincent’s or Asher and Scarlett’s, it still occupied several thousand square feet of prime beachfront real estate.
My mom would’ve never settled for anything less.
I rang the doorbell, expecting their housekeeper to greet me. Instead, Harry answered it himself. “Brooklyn! So wonderful to see you. Come in. I hope you had a good flight.”
“Thanks. I slept for most of it, so I can’t complain.”
“Lie-down seat?”
I shook my head.
He grimaced. “I wish you would’ve let me pay for your flight. I told your mother to tell you I would’ve been happy to spring for first class.”
That was news to me.
“It’s fine. Like I said, I slept most of the way.” My smile felt tight and plastic. “Don’t you have work today?”
“I’m going in later. Your mother wanted me to speak with the contract—ah, there she is.” He beamed, and I had to give it him. He was either a great actor, or he was inexplicably still in love with my mother after four years of marriage.
It was an uncharitable thought, but I’d seen my mom love and leave enough men growing up to know that most of her relationships didn’t last beyond the six-month mark. Harry was one in a million.
She waltzed into the foyer. Even at nine months pregnant, she was impeccably turned out in designer maternity clothes, freshly blown-out hair, and perfectly manicured nails. She carried Charlie in her arms.
“Hello, darling.” My mom gave me a kiss on each cheek.
She’d picked up the habit after her honeymoon in France and hadn’t stopped using it since.
“Oh, it’s so good to see you, though you look a little pale.
Must be that dreadful London weather”—she clucked her tongue, her eyes scanning my bare legs and arms—“but at least you’re not bloated from all that pub food.
I do wish you’d get rid of those dirty sneakers though. ”
“Good to see you too, Mom,” I said dryly.
She was still stuck on my shoes. “What happened to those adorable Jimmy Choos I bought you for your birthday?”
“I can’t wear Jimmy Choos on a plane.”
“Why not? I do it all the time.”
“Because it’s uncomfortable and I don’t want to.”
She huffed out a sigh, but her annoyance visibly melted when Charlie reached his arms out toward me. “Yes, that’s Brooklyn,” she cooed. “That’s your half-sister. Say hi to your half-sister, sweetie.”
The repeated emphasis on half-sister felt a little pointed, but I shook it off and smiled at my favorite person in the household.
“Hi, Charlie. You’ve grown so much since the last time I saw you,” I cooed. “You’re the cutest kid on the planet, aren’t you? Yes, you are.”
He giggled, his eyes crinkling as he grabbed for my finger. I held out my pinky. He grasped it with both hands and a happy squeal, and my heart absolutely melted.
My mom reluctantly handed him to me when Charlie kept trying to squirm out of her arms. I held him close, my chest tightening.
I didn’t have baby fever, but I ached for the unconditional love that babies had for their parents. To them, their mom and dad were their whole world.
Sometimes, I secretly resented him for being the apple of our mother’s eye when she hadn’t cared much for me since the day I was born.
But when I saw him, all those resentments went away.
It wasn’t fair of me to wish the same type of childhood I’d had on him, and I truly hoped he got the best version of her because I hadn’t.
“You should stay with us,” Harry said, breaking me out of my thoughts. “There’s no reason to pay for a hotel when we have room here. Charlie’ll love having you around.”
“Harry, stop pressuring her,” my mother admonished. “She’s already settled into her hotel. Aren’t you, darling?”
“Sure.”
“See? She’ll enjoy the peace and quiet there more than this chaos.
” She waved her hand around the foyer. Other than our conversation and Charlie’s babbles, it was utterly silent.
“We’ll have people coming in and out all weekend—you know we’re installing new tiles in the guest bathrooms—and Charlie still cries through the night.
Brooklyn would sleep so much better at a hotel. ”
“Wow. That’s so thoughtful of you,” I deadpanned.
I caught a small smirk on Harry’s face before he covered it up with a cough.
The sarcasm passed over my mother’s head. “Something’s different.” She tilted her head, her blue eyes narrowing into slits. “You have a special glow to you. Are you dating someone?”
My mom was as self-centered as they came, but she had an unparalleled nose for detecting new relationships.
“I am,” I admitted. “It’s pretty new. Really new, actually, but you might’ve heard of—”
“No, not there!” she snapped. I followed her gaze to where the housekeeper had entered the foyer with a vase of lilies. “Lilies go in the living room. Hydrangeas go in the foyer. Swap them, please.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The other woman left as quickly as she’d entered.
My mom turned back to me, her smile back in place. “I’m so thrilled you’re dating someone! You have to tell me all about it at brunch tomorrow. It’ll be a girls’ day. So much fun!” She clapped her hands, nearly blinding me with her diamond ring.
“Do you have time for brunch? Don’t you have to prep for your operation?”
“It’ll be fine. My C-section isn’t until Monday afternoon.” She checked her watch. “I do have to leave for the salon soon. Today’s the only day Yvette can squeeze me in all month, and I can’t give birth with grown-out roots. Imagine how awful the pictures would be.”
“I can’t. It’s too terrible a thought,” I said. “I might have nightmares.”
This time, Harry full-on snickered. Lucky for him, my mom was too busy fretting about the time to notice.
“You get it. Anyway, Harry and I have dinner plans tonight, but I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?
I’ll text you the address of the restaurant later.
Come here, Charlie.” She took my brother back.
“How’s my sweet boy doing? Mommy has to leave you for a bit, but you’re going to spend some quality time with Daddy, okay?
Then on Monday, you’ll get a sister, and it’ll be so much fun… ”
I stood there awkwardly while she fussed over Charlie. Should I stay, or should I go? She seemed to have forgotten I was there.
Harry finally took pity on me. “I’ll have Roy drive you back to the hotel,” he said. Roy was his chauffeur. “It’s a beautiful day. You probably want to hit the beach or pool while the sun’s out.”
“That would be great,” I said, relieved. “Thanks.”
I said goodbye to Charlie and my mom, who gave me the barest of glances when I left. Fifteen minutes of face time and a dismissal summed up most of our interactions. I was used to it, but it stung every time.
When I returned to the hotel—earning myself a strange look from the front desk, probably because I’d been in and out three times in two hours—I sat on my bed and debated what to do.
I should trawl the job sites again, but staying in my room to sift through Indeed listings was way too depressing.
I peered out the window at the pool. It was packed with kids and what looked like a bachelorette party. Too chaotic.
I called the spa to see if they had any openings, but they were fully booked through Wednesday.
There was nothing good on TV, and I wasn’t hungry.
I could go shopping or hit up the beach like Harry suggested, but leaving the hotel premises required a level of energy that I didn’t have after an eleven-hour flight and a conversation with my mom.
I flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. A wave of loneliness crested through me. Bright sunshine painted the room in gorgeous yellows, but I wished I were back in cold, rainy London instead.
I was perfectly capable of traveling alone.
I’d backpacked through Europe solo and taken spontaneous trips to the countryside by myself.
I didn’t need company to have a good time, but this trip wasn’t a vacation.
It was an emotional vortex, and I desperately wished I had someone here to hold my hand before I got sucked into the undertow.
I checked my phone. It was dinnertime in London. Maybe I should—
Someone knocked on the door.
I groaned. I should’ve hung the Do Not Disturb sign on the handle.
I forced myself to my feet and walked over, feeling sluggish and restless at the same time. Hotels always did that to me.
I opened the door, expecting housekeeping, but the sight that greeted me was so unexpected that I had to blink twice to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.
Dark hair. High cheekbones. Devastating smile.
My jaw dropped. “Vincent?”
I blinked a third time, just to be sure. The solid outline of his frame didn’t waver.
It was really him, and he was really here.
The world tilted. Little bubbles fizzled in my blood, and if I weren’t caught in the gravity of him—of his presence, of that damn smile—I would’ve floated right off the ground.
“What are you doing here?” I asked faintly.
“I’m here to explore the great city of San Diego—which I’ve never visited, if you can believe it.” His gaze gentled, becoming more sincere. “And I’m here to be with you.”
“But…” My thoughts scattered like leaves in the wind. I reached for the nearest one, no matter how inane it was. “Today’s a training day.”
“Coach approved me taking today and Monday off.”
“But—”
“No more buts,” he said firmly. “You were dreading this trip. I couldn’t let you come without backup. You went to the Zenith dinner with me as moral support. It’s only fair I return the favor.”
“There’s a difference between going to dinner and flying to another continent.”
“A small one.” Vincent’s mouth tilted up in another smile. “But if you want to know a secret, the Zenith dinner was an excuse. I would’ve come either way.”
Just like that, all the loneliness and tension of the past few hours seeped away.
I fell into his arms, and for the first time since I landed, I could breathe again.