Chapter 49
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Sinclair
“Wait!” Arietta raises a hand in the air. “Are you saying that you’re in love with Jameson Sheppard?”
I round the corner from the hallway to see her sitting on the couch with Dudley in her lap.
She pets his head. “Spit it out, Sinclair. Do you love the guy or not?”
I let out a squeaky laugh. When she showed up unexpectedly ten minutes ago, I blurted out that I had not only kissed Jameson, but I had slept with him. As I shared that I was falling for him, my phone rang. I rushed off to answer it in private since it was related to my secret project.
“That’s a yes.” She smiles. “Does he know?”
I take a seat next to her. “I don’t think so, or maybe. I don’t know.”
“If you act this flustered around him, he knows.”
“I don’t act like this.” I pet Dudley’s head as he falls asleep on the skirt of her dress. “I act like me when I’m with him. I can be me, and I think he loves me for it.”
“So he loves you too?”
I laugh at the lilt in her voice. Since she fell for Dominick, Arietta is a true romantic.
“Will you keep living with him?” She looks around. “If I get a vote in it, I vote in the affirmative because this penthouse is beautiful, and there is a lot of room for all your kids to run around.”
“All my kids?” I question. “Who said I’m even thinking about kids?”
She reaches up to tap the center of my forehead. “You’re thinking about everything that comes with loving Jameson, including a marriage proposal, a wedding, and kids.”
“Do you think about kids?” I ask to deflect her.
Her eyes widen behind her glasses. “A lot. Can you imagine how cute my babies will be? They’ll look like Dominick and me.”
I smile. “They’ll be beautiful.”
“We’re going to get married, and then we’ll talk about timing.” She tilts her head. “We both want at least two kids.”
Butterflies flutter in my stomach when I think about talking kids with Jameson. I haven’t even told him that I love him yet.
“When you ask me to be your maid of honor, I’ll say yes.”
I kiss her cheek. “I think if that happens, you’ll be a matron of honor by then.”
“Maybe.” Her eyebrows dance. “We both found the other half of our hearts, Sin. How lucky are we?”
I rest my head on her shoulder. “Pretty lucky.”
“Very, very lucky,” she corrects me. “Are you ready to go for lunch now?”
I glance toward the penthouse door. Jameson is due back sometime later today. I have a special dinner planned for him, but I have more than enough time to squeeze in lunch with Arietta before heading to the grocery store. “I’m ready. Where should we go?”
She taps her chin. “You pick. I’m just happy that we found some time to hang out with each other.”
I reach to squeeze her hand. “Me too. Law school sucks up all your time.”
“Law school and my handsome fiancé,” she corrects me with a wink. “What about you? You must be working on a new project in addition to sleeping with your roommate.”
I laugh. “I’m working on something very special. If Berk’s on board with it, it’ll change my life and a lot of other people’s lives too.”
She pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “I’m curious. Did you sign an NDA, or can you give me the inside scoop?”
“No inside scoop just yet.” I smile. “When I can share more details, you’ll be the second person I tell.”
“Berk is the first?” she assumes.
“Technically, Berk will be second, so I guess that makes you third.”
Her bottom lip juts out in a fake pout. “Who is first? Your future husband?”
I nod because I am talking about Jameson, and the idea of sharing my life with him makes my heart swell in my chest. “I will ask you to stand next to me if I marry him, Arietta.”
“I want you there beside me when I marry Dominick.”
I jump to my feet. “What?”
She gently moves to cradle Dudley in her arms before she stands. “I should have asked sooner, but will you be my maid of honor, Sinclair?”
Tears well in my eyes as I take her and my dog in my arms. “I’d be honored.”
“Good.” She sighs. “And I’ll return the favor when you walk down the aisle to become Sinclair Morgan-Sheppard.”
Three hours later, I fumble with my keys as I try and balance a big bag of groceries with the phone in my hand.
Lunch with Arietta was great. After we said goodbye, I walked through Central Park. That quick trek turned into an hour-long people watching session while I sat on a bench.
One of the men I’ve been eager to talk with about my project called me unexpectedly. I spent more than sixty minutes listening to him reminisce about his past. As he told me stories about the lively parties he attended in this very city, I watched people wander past me.
I’ve traveled the world extensively, but there’s something about the energy of Manhattan that fuels my creativity.
Before I can get my key in the lock, the penthouse door flies open.
I look up and into the eyes of the man I love.
A smile doesn’t greet me, though. Jameson’s expression is stoic. I can’t say I’m surprised. His trip to East Hampton must have been tough.
“You’re home already,” I state the obvious.
He grabs the shopping bag from my grasp as he steps aside to grant me entry. “We got back about an hour ago.”
“I had lunch with Arietta,” I say as I tug the strap of my cross body bag over my head. “Then I sat in the park and talked to someone about a book I’m working on.”
“A book about my grandmother.”
My hands shake as I place the bag on the floor beside my feet. “What?”
“You’re writing a book about Denia.” He tosses his head back to let out a heavy exhale. “That’s what you’ve been busy working on, isn’t it?”
Unsure of why I feel a wave of guilt envelop me, I nod. “Yes.”
“You spent an entire weekend with her in East Hampton less than two months ago, Sin.” His voice quivers. “Mrs. Frye told me you were taking notes about Denia’s life. You listened to my grandmother tell you about her life so you could write a book about her.”
That weekend was a gift to me. Not only did I spend it with Jameson’s grandmother, but I walked along the beach and closed my eyes so I could remember the summer nights Jameson and I spent there together when we were teenagers.
I still remember how he looked as he sat across from me near the fire pit as the stars lit the sky and the flames showcased the sharp cut of his jaw and the way his hair skimmed over his forehead.
If I hadn’t been in love with him before that, I fell hard and fast that night.
“Do you know why she was alone in Vermont when she died?” I see the plea in his eyes. “Did she tell you why she took that trip?”
I’ve been waiting for someone to bring that up.
On the day we met in Mr. Wismer’s office to discuss Denia’s estate, I half-expected Jameson to demand to know why his grandmother was alone at a bed and breakfast in another state, but he never asked Holden.
He wouldn’t have received an answer from him because no one but me knew the significance of that trip or why Denia went there.
I scratch my neck. “Yes. I know.”
His hand bolts out toward me. “Tell me, Sin. Tell me because I keep thinking about her all alone there. She died alone.”
I go to him and cradle his hands in mine. Tears well in my eyes. “She wasn’t alone.”
“She was,” he insists. “The manager of the B&B found her in bed. She was gone.”
“She met your granddad there.” I smile through my falling tears. “When they were teenagers, they met there in Vermont. Her family was on vacation, so was his. Their first kiss was the day after they met behind that building.”
“What?” He shakes his head. “I didn’t know that.”
“It was their special place,” I whisper. “Carrick proposed to her there. They went there on their honeymoon. She wanted to be there when she died because she felt close to him.”
“You knew she was going to die?”
I shake my head. “No. The last time I saw her, she was fine. She was energetic and happy. I had no idea that she went to Vermont.”
“When Holden called to tell me she was gone, he said it was a massive stroke.”
I nod. “Maybe she knew, or maybe she just needed to be close to him that day.”
“Maybe.”
I go on because there’s more he should know. “They chose to have their ashes spread in the ocean because the home there was their sand castle. That’s what Denia told me. It was their castle in the sand, and they wanted to spend eternity together near it.”
He drops his head as a sob escapes him. “Their love story was something out of a book.”
“No.” I squeeze his hands to lure his gaze back to mine.
“It will be a book. She asked me to write it. She gave me a list of people who held a piece of the puzzle of your grandparents’ love story.
She made me promise to write the book after she was gone.
I told her I’d do my best to get it published. ”
He wipes a hand over his cheek. “You’ll do her proud, Sin.”
“I want to,” I tell him. “I still need to pitch it to Berk. If it gets published, Denia and I agreed that a portion of sales will go to lung cancer research because it took two of her favorite fellows from her.”
“My dad and granddad,” he says.
“Another portion will go to the charity Berk set up in memory of Layna.” I sigh when I think of my late sister-in-law and how she lost her battle with breast cancer. “It was important to your grandma that we honor the people we’ve lost.”
“That sounds like her.” He smiles softly. “She was something else.”
“Everyone has a memory of Denia and Carrick.” I smile.
“Burton went to a dinner party with them in Los Angeles forty years ago and watched them dance the night away. Marc has a home movie that Carrick shot at the beach house. I met up with Rosetta Ballew last night. Her dad had some pictures in an album from a conference they all attended. They are some breathtaking shots of your grandparents.”
“I want to see them.”
“I’ll show you.” I sigh. “I’ll show you everything I have so far.”
“You’ve been keeping this secret for a while now.” He rubs his jaw. “You could have told me, Sinclair.”
I step closer so I can plant a soft kiss on his chin. “If I told you about the book, I’d have to reveal that I know your secret too, and I wasn’t sure if you were ready for me to know.”
He closes his eyes. “How long have you known?”
“Burton told me when we had dinner together.”
“When was that?”
I smile. “Remember the true gentleman that sent me flowers?”
“You’re fucking kidding.” He lets out a deep-seated chuckle. “That was Burton? I should have known he’d be the one to tell all.”
“You should tell all,” I whisper as I lock eyes with him. “You should tell all to Holden. Tell him what you did.”