Chapter 1 Antonia
Antonia
My footsteps were heavy, clunky, as I speed-walked toward the conference room, my business phone pressed against my ear and my personal phone vibrating wildly in my pocket.
At the first cubicle I saw, I set down the dozen or so manila file folders I was carrying and reached into my pocket for my phone.
The caller ID told me it was my best friend, Miriam.
“Not a good time, Miri. I’m about to head into a huge meeting. Can I call you back?” I scooped the folders up again, sent a silent apology to the man sitting at the desk I’d dumped them on, and continued down the hall.
Miriam and I had been best friends our entire lives.
Our relationship wasn’t one of those where you lost track of each other and found one another again on social media.
We had the spend-your-birthdays-and-holidays-together type of relationship.
For all intents and purposes, Miriam was my soul sister, or whatever you’d consider to be more than a sister.
And even though I had a real-life sister who shared the same parents, my relationship with Isabella didn’t hold a candle to the one I had with Miri.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“You’re gonna have to listen to me huff and puff. I’m late for this meeting, and my shoes are killing me.” I hung up my business line when the client put me on hold. I didn’t have time to wait for them to figure out what they needed from me. They should’ve been ready when they called. “Miri?”
She cleared her throat. “Can you come to Grove Hill?”
Grove Hill was a smallish town a little over two hours north of Boston, in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
Miriam and her kids, Cutter and Nova, lived on the outskirts of town, in an old farmhouse on a dirt road.
The house was a money pit, but she was determined to restore it to all its glory.
Mostly because it had been her dream when we were seventeen.
“I don’t have my calendar in front of me, but as far as I know, I’m not doing anything this weekend. I’ll come after work on Friday.”
Miriam and I grew up in a tight community in Boston, went to private school, and lived together while I went to college. It was because of her that I stayed behind and went to Boston University instead of the University of Arizona, our original dream school before she got pregnant.
She needed me more than I needed to be a Wildcat.
After I graduated, I thought we’d continue to be roomies, but she wanted to raise her son where he could have a yard to play in, while I wanted to live in a high-rise, which wouldn’t exactly have been ideal for a toddler.
Miriam worked as an accountant in Grove Hill and did the mom thing, while I stayed in Boston and landed a job as a senior consultant with a focus on corporate restructuring at Caldwell & Crest, a corporate consulting firm specializing in mergers, acquisitions, and strategic business planning.
Miriam teased that I was like Richard Gere’s character in Pretty Woman, buying, dismantling, and selling off struggling companies.
Only, unlike Edward Lewis, it wasn’t my money that was being spent, and I had bosses to report to.
Bosses who’d expected me in a meeting five minutes ago.
“Toni, I need you to come today.” Miri’s voice was quiet, almost hard to hear.
“Why? What’s wrong? Are the kids okay?”
“They’re fine, at school. I-I need you.”
I stopped in front of the all-glass conference room and raised my finger when my boss, Brendan Caldwell, stood and gave me a “What the fuck are you doing?” look and tapped his watch.
If he hadn’t also been my boyfriend of four years, I would’ve been worried about my job after telling the boss to wait.
“Miri, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”
“I’m sick, Toni. I need you to come.”
My heart fell to the floor and my mouth went dry. I stared through the glass, knowing Brendan and our clients were sitting around the large, ornate conference table, but I couldn’t see them. My vision blurred, and everything around me seemed to move in slow motion.
“Miri?”
“Please.” Her voice broke and I nodded, despite her not being able to see me.
“I’m on my way.”
It took me a moment to regain my composure. Once I had, I opened the door and asked to speak to Brendan outside.
“We’re in the middle of something, Toni, and we’re waiting on you.” Brendan’s lips were stretched tightly across his mouth.
I forced a smile as all the others looked at me. “Yes, but this is important.” I didn’t leave him a choice. I stepped out, let the door shut behind me, and walked down the hall toward the break room. Thankfully, it was empty, so I wouldn’t have to ask anyone to leave.
“What on earth could be so important that it can’t wait until after this meeting?” Brendan huffed as he came in and shut the door behind him.
“Miriam is sick, and I need to go to her.”
“Now?” His eyes widened.
“Yes, now. She called. She needs me.”
Brendan rolled his eyes. If he wasn’t so damn gorgeous, his dismissiveness would’ve pissed me off.
He didn’t have the type of relationship that I had with Miri with any of his friends.
Sure, he’d meet his buddies for golf or to play squash at the courts, and he played in charity games with them, but he wasn’t close enough with any of his friends to drop everything.
I was.
Brendan was senior partner at Caldwell & Crest—a company his grandfather had founded—and he also worked in mergers and acquisitions. He was one of the best negotiators in the business and could sweet-talk candy from a baby.
Brendan was tall, lean, and athletic, with neatly trimmed sandy blond hair that he parted on the side and a clean-shaven face.
He was the picture-perfect preppy boy, always model-ready, and exactly the type of guy you’d find in a Black Dog or Vineyard Vines catalog.
He used to row at Harvard, and he often reminded me how his team had beaten BU one year in some regatta.
He leaned against the wall and stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking dashing and pissed off at the same time, but he was definitely unimpressed with me, and I was wasting his time.
We were both headstrong and determined, and neither of us were willing to back down if we strongly believed we were right.
“When doesn’t she need you?”
I knew the question was rhetorical. He would never tell me, but I suspected he wasn’t a fan of Miriam’s, which didn’t bode well for my relationship with Brendan.
Miri wasn’t going anywhere. Not only was she my soul sister, but I was also “Auntie Toni” to her two kids.
There wasn’t a thing in this world I wouldn’t do for her or them.
“I don’t know, Brendan. I’m not in the business of keeping track of when Miriam needs me. But she said she’s sick, and I need to go. I’m sorry, but I’m confident you can handle the meeting.”
“What is it?”
“What do you mean?” I looked at him with confusion.
“A sniffle? A cough?”
Now, I rolled my eyes. “Oh, please.”
“What?” He shrugged. “This isn’t the first time she’s interrupted our plans.”
“A meeting isn’t a plan.” I kept my voice low and pointed to the door.
Brendan smirked and pushed away from the wall. With his hand on the doorknob, he looked over his shoulder. “When will you be back?”
“I don’t know, maybe tonight. Probably tomorrow morning. I won’t know until I’m there and can see Miri.”
He nodded, but the gesture felt dismissive. “Don’t forget we have dinner with my parents Saturday night.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“I won’t.”
Brendan shook his head and walked out of the room. His voice boomed as he greeted our clients but dimmed quickly as the door shut. I gave myself a minute to center myself before leaving the break room and heading toward my office.
On my way, I kept my head down and my phone pressed to my ear as I called the garage attendant and asked him to bring my car around.
Most of the time, I left it parked in the garage at the office.
It was easier than driving the car to my apartment every night and paying for parking elsewhere.
I could park at the office for free and not worry about it.
Honestly, Miriam and the kids were the only reason I even had a car.
If I had to go see a client, we used a car service.
While I waited for my car, I packed my laptop into the bag the kids had bought me for Christmas last year.
Seven-year-old Nova had picked it out, while her teenage brother had wanted to give me the newest electronic gaming something or other.
I suspected his gift would’ve been for his own benefit and not so much mine.
With my calls being forwarded to my cell phone, I shut off the lights and headed toward the bank of elevators after letting my assistant, Amaya, know I would be out for the rest of the day but available via phone and email.
I didn’t have to worry about her doing her job while I was gone.
She’d been with me for three years now and was a complete asset, taking on more responsibility than she needed, and, in doing so, she took a little bit off my plate.
By the time I’d made it to the lobby, my car was idling out front. The valet saw me walking toward him and ran to open my door for me. He took my bags and set them in the back and told me to have a good day.
Working for Caldwell & Crest was my dream job. I had interned for them during my senior year of college and gladly accepted an entry-level position while I finished grad school. Upon graduation, I was given a raise and had steadily worked my way up the ladder since then.
Brendan and I were able to date for a year before anyone figured it out.
We got a little too handsy at one of the company’s Christmas parties, and the cat was out of the bag.
No one seemed to care, and we promised to always keep things professional at work.
And while I would’ve loved a little office hanky-panky, Brendan would never consider it.
He was afraid his father or grandfather would find out and shame him.
I told him this was why there were locks on the door and couches in the offices, but what did I know.
I stopped quickly at my apartment, leaving my car double-parked with its flashers on while I ran in to grab an overnight bag, just in case.
This wasn’t the first emergency trip I’d made north to Miriam’s, and it wouldn’t be the last, but I knew well enough to bring a change of clothes.
Once Nova found out I was in town, she would want a sleepover and breakfast, and denying her anything was near impossible.
Nova was my mini me, despite having zero blood relation.
She was inquisitive and had a vivid imagination, creating the most elaborate stories for us to act out.
I used to do the same thing and had an imaginary friend when I was younger.
A friend Miri hated because they never got along—according to me.
Nova was my hugger, attached to my side like glue, and I wouldn’t have changed our relationship for anything.
Except when she grilled Brendan and me on when we were going to have a baby.
She wanted a baby cousin and wanted one now.
At times, I wondered the same thing and often brought it up with Brendan when we were sitting around on a lazy Sunday morning. His answer was always, “Soon.”
What did “soon” actually mean? Did it have a timeline? I wasn’t getting any younger, and I’d always thought I’d be married for a year before we had children. My clock was still ticking, but not as loudly as it once had.
Two hours later, I arrived in Grove Hill.
I asked the AI system in my car to call Miriam.
When she answered, I said, “I’ll be there in fifteen.
I just pulled onto Main Street, and there’s a tractor in front of me.
Slow mooooving.” I said “moving” so it sounded like a cow mooing—something Nova would’ve appreciated.
“I’m in the hospital, Toni.”
I slammed on the brakes and signaled to pull over. In a small town like Grove Hill, there always seemed to be a parking spot along the curb.
“What did you say?”
Miri coughed. “You heard me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this when you called earlier?”
“Because I didn’t want you to worry. I know how you get when your mind is elsewhere, and I needed you to get here in one piece.”
Miri wasn’t wrong. I hated driving because my mind was often preoccupied with work.
“I’ll be there in a minute.” We hung up, and I turned around and headed toward the other end of Main Street, where the hospital was.
I had no idea what I was about to walk into, but my gut told me it wouldn’t be good.