Chapter Three
G ia watched Jake gather her daughter into his arms and pressed the tips of her fingers to her lips, holding back a sob.
Her heart ached for Sage. Her powerful, self-reliant daughter who rarely showed her soft, vulnerable side had let her guard down to find comfort from a man who’d been her nemesis growing up.
Sage had shouted more angry words and shed more angry tears over Jake Walker than any boy or man Gia could remember.
At the time, she’d suspected that her teenage daughter had a crush on him.
She hadn’t shared her opinion with Sage.
Gia had had enough experience with volatile teen emotions by then to know when to keep her opinions to herself.
She’d gotten through her daughters’ teen years by fostering strong, trusting relationships with her girls—listening and comforting instead of punishing.
She’d also swallowed angry words, gritted her teeth to keep in hard truths, and spent many a sleepless night wondering if she was doing anything right.
She’d survived her daughters’ teen years with the support and wisdom of her mother and her sister Eva. Wine, yoga, and prayer had helped too.
A heavy hand gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. “How are you holding up?”
In reaction to that smooth, deep voice, butterflies danced in Gia’s stomach, and her face became embarrassingly warm.
It happened every time she was in the same room with Flynn Monroe.
He didn’t even have to touch her or speak to her.
A simple look from across the room, and she reacted like a starry-eyed teenager in the throes of her first crush.
She glanced up, her eyes meeting his. The man was as breathtakingly beautiful as their daughter.
She groaned inwardly. She had to stop thinking of Willow as their daughter.
Gia might have raised Willow as her own, but Flynn and Cami were her biological parents.
Cami was Gia’s younger sister, which meant the man was off limits.
Completely off limits, even in your dreams , she reminded herself while trying, and failing, to draw her gaze from his. After learning the other night that he was coming home for the summer to help out his father, she’d dreamed that Willow was her and Flynn’s daughter, instead of his and Cami’s.
“Gia?” he said, his brow furrowed.
Luckily for her, her deeply tanned olive skin ensured her now-burning cheeks would be barely noticeable. “Sorry.” She forced her gaze from his, nodding in her oldest daughter’s direction. “I’m worried about Sage. She was close to Alice.”
“Willow mentioned that when she called about the search. I was with a team near the beach when we got word they’d found Alice. I thought I’d check on all of you before heading to the hospital.”
It wasn’t fair that the man was as caring and thoughtful as he was gorgeous. “How is Amos? Willow said the surgery went well.” Flynn’s father had broken his hip in a fall earlier in the week.
“His surgery did go well. It’s keeping him in the hospital, that’s the problem. They want him to stay another two days, and he’s threatening to sue if they don’t release him.”
“Are you going to give in and bring him home?” It’s what she would do if it were her mother. Over the years, they’d discovered it was easier to give in to Carmen than to fight with her.
“No way. I’m going to enjoy the next couple of days without him.” He grinned. “I’ve shocked you, haven’t I?”
“No. I’m impressed. If Carmen ever breaks her hip, we’ll call you when she tries to sign herself out, which would probably be five minutes after surgery.”
“I think your mother might be a harder case than Amos.”
Gia could almost guarantee that her mother would be putty in Flynn Monroe’s hands. Carmen thought the man could do no wrong, which was high praise coming from a woman who had a low opinion of most men.
“You’re probably right,” Gia said. “Willow mentioned you were doing some work at Amos’s to get the house ready to bring him home?” It was embarrassing how Gia’s ears perked up at the mere mention of Flynn.
“She’s ruining my reputation as the coldhearted son leaving his father to languish in the hospital while he’s having a good time with the ladies in Sunshine Bay.”
Gia laughed. “Is that what he’s telling everyone at the hospital?”
“He is, and he’s obviously convincing because I’ve been pulled aside by his—”
“Hey, Dad,” Willow said, interrupting Flynn. “Thanks for coming.”
It still surprised Gia to hear Willow call Flynn Dad .
He hadn’t pressured or cared what she’d called him.
He’d been happy to play whatever role in her life Willow wanted him to.
But it became apparent early on in their relationship that Flynn, who had two other daughters and a son, took his newly discovered responsibility to Willow seriously.
“No problem. I’m just sorry it didn’t have a happy outcome.”
Willow glanced in the direction of her sister, who’d stepped back from Jake, nodding at whatever he was saying to her. “Me too. Losing Alice, especially like this, will be really hard on Sage.”
“Losing someone you love is never easy,” Flynn said. He spoke from experience. He’d lost his wife five years ago.
Willow gave him a side hug. “I’m sure it’s not, but Sage knows we’re here for her, so hopefully that helps.”
“I’m sure it will,” Flynn said.
Gia hoped they were right. “I’m going to ask Sage to spend the night, honey. I thought we could have a family dinner at the restaurant, just us girls.”
Her daughter wrinkled her nose. “I wish I could come, but I have a meeting with Cami and Hugh about the movie.”
Gia’s sister had sold her memoir for a substantial advance last fall and had completed the manuscript in early April. Cami’s boyfriend Hugh, an Oscar-winning director, had optioned the movie rights.
“Surely they can move the meeting to a more convenient time given the circumstances.” Her tone was sharper than she’d intended. From her daughter’s sigh, she’d picked up on it.
While everyone else had forgiven Cami and welcomed her back into the family fold, Gia hadn’t been able to bring herself to forget the pain her sister had caused, especially to Willow and her.
But her daughter was too young to remember.
Willow was also kind and forgiving, never held a grudge, and found something good in everyone she met.
Since those weren’t typical Rosetti traits, Gia figured Willow must have inherited them from her father, who at that moment was glancing from Gia to his daughter with a frown on his handsome face.
“Your mother is right, Will. I’m sure Hugh and Cami would understand. It’s a little early for promotional talks anyway, isn’t it?”
Gia appreciated Flynn coming to her defense. She wondered if it had anything to do with his personal feelings about the book. He’d obviously play a starring role in her sister’s memoir.
“It’s not about Cami appearing on Good Morning, Sunshine! to promote the book. It’s about me playing her in the movie.” Willow’s voice dropped to almost a whisper on the last five words, so Gia had to strain to hear them.
She wished she hadn’t. She couldn’t believe Cami would ask this of Willow or that Willow would agree without a word to her.
Maybe she was overreacting, but Gia felt betrayed at the idea of the daughter she’d loved and raised since the day she was born portraying Cami, the mother who’d abandoned her.
They hadn’t announced that Flynn and Cami were Willow’s biological parents, but word had gotten around Sunshine Bay, and it hadn’t been easy for Gia.
The release of the book and movie would make it so much worse.
“Why? Why didn’t you mention this to me? ”
“Seriously? Do you even have to ask, Mom? It’s not like you hide your feelings about Cami. I knew how you’d—”
Gia cut her off. “This isn’t the time or the place.”
She didn’t need Willow talking about this with Cami standing only a few yards away.
She didn’t relish her daughter airing their dirty laundry in front of Flynn either.
Then again, Cami intended to put it out there for all the world to see, so it was only a matter of time.
It wasn’t as if anyone asked how Gia felt about the unhappiest times of her life being shown on the big screen.
“You’re right, it’s not,” Willow agreed. “And I wish I could cancel but I can’t. Hugh has only a small window. I have to make a decision today, and he wants me to read for him.”
Gia bit back a snarky comment about how many people were doing their meetings via Zoom these days when a puffy-eyed Sage approached with Jake at her side.
Gia immediately forgot her anger and walked to Jake. She hugged him. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“Thanks, Ms. Rosetti.”
“Gia, please,” she said as she stepped back, reaching for Sage’s hand. She gave it a comforting squeeze before reluctantly releasing it.
Willow introduced Flynn to Jake, and father and daughter offered him their condolences. “I’m sorry for your loss, Sage,” Flynn added with a gentle smile.
“Thanks.” Sage returned his smile with a small one of her own. She’d given her sister’s father her stamp of approval when she’d met him last summer. It was a bigger deal than Carmen giving Flynn hers. These days, Sage’s opinion of most men was even lower than her grandmother’s.
“Why don’t you come to the restaurant? I’ll feed you. Both of you,” Gia said. “You should stay the night, honey. I don’t want you to be alone.”
“Thanks, Mom, but Jake and I are going to stay at the farm tonight and go through the boxes Alice…” Sage shook her head, looking away as she sniffed back tears. Her daughter hated showing her emotions. Though she hadn’t always been as closed off as she was now.
Gia thought it had something to do with her job. Sage had to listen without reacting when some of the women she represented recounted horrific stories of abuse. Her daughter didn’t only represent the wives of Boston’s rich and famous; she also did pro bono work for a women’s shelter.