Eyebrows crunched as she swallowed the bite,she shook her head sadly. “I’m so sorry about Ronan… I’m stayinghere, but you’re not.”
Confused, Payson frowned at her sister. “Andwhere am I going?”
“You’ve been talking about taking Alain up onhis offer to visit him in France for forever now. Give him a call,get out of town. Natalie is on her way over to open up the shop soshe can show me the ropes, and I’m going to stay here and run theshop while you’re away.”
“You can’t be away from school.”
“I’m actually done collecting data and need aquiet space to work on my dissertation. I have nearly two weeksuntil I need to get back and I brought my laptop. Besides, I’ll geta lot more done here than if I stayed home with my chattyroommate.”
Payson shook her head, fighting thethreatening tears, “Thanks, but I think it’s better if I stay here.What if he-”
Cara walked around the kitchen island andpulled her in for a hug. “What’s better…” she applied her bossyvoice that rivaled Jen’s, but the loving smile was much better, “isthat you distract yourself so you don’t wear down to nothing,wondering when or if he’ll return. Remember when Mom and Dad died,you dove into adventure in Ireland and somehow came back strongerthan before? Go get dressed, and I’ll start searching for a flightfor you. You may not have realized, but you and I are a lot alike.Trust me, you’ll be glad you went.”
She shoved the untouched coffee at Payson andturned her toward the bedroom. Relenting with a guarded nod ofassent, she complied. Or she tried to. She took one gulp of thelukewarm mocha, letting the chocolatey bitterness coat her throatand fill her belly.
And her belly rebelled. Shouldn’t have bingedon the last of the contents of her refrigerator last night… she ranfor the nearest toilet and upchucked her guts.Ewe. Pale,clammy, she flushed the toilet and splashed cold water on herface.
From the kitchen, she heard Cara’s concernedvoice, “Pace? You ok?”
She ducked out of the guest bathroom and gaveher a small wave, “Yeah, I, uh… as you must have gathered by thestate of my kitchen, I had a bit of a pity party with food lastnight.”
“I noticed. Go get yourself freshened upwhile I hop on your tablet and search for flights.” Withoutargument, Payson suddenly felt much more motivated to get dressed,brush her hair, maybe slap on a little make-up. Clean up. Stopmourning so heavily that she neglected herself.
She’d survived the death of her parents whenshe was still a teenager, learning to cope with the worst sort ofgrief. Despite what was likely some raging ADHD, she trudged herway through college and graduated with not-terrible grades. Whenshe discovered she’d hit a brick wall in her lackluster life inBoston, she left what others would have considered a charmed lifeto start her amazing career with her thriving business inSeaview.
Amazingly, her little sister had turned outok after all. Maybe she ought to be a better example. Maybe sheshould have paid more attention to the confident woman Cara hadbecome. Head held high, she stepped into the shower and washed awayher self-pity.
Pasting a pleasant smile on her face, dressedin her favorite black maxi dress and light sweater, she strode outto the living room. Cara sat curled up on her sofa with her tablet.She had several flights to Paris up on the screen.
Looking up from the screen as she reachedher, Cara smiled, almost cheerfully. “Ok. Pace, there’s a directflight that leaves day after tomorrow. I’ll run the shop and letMaddy drive you to the airport. You already have your passport,right?”
“Yes, I’m all set to go, just need to pack.It’s actually right around when I told Alain that I would leaveanyway.” Maybe she was right. A few days relaxing in a Frenchvineyard, perusing marvelous antiques, spending time with a friendthat didn’t know Ronan… this sounded like a much-needed change ofscenery. She grabbed her credit card and passport from her purseand handed them to Cara to book her flight, trusting her sister totake care of her, as promised.
“Alright. You’d better start packing. Youonly have 48 hours until your flight leaves.”
Feeling a touch of good humor, she rustledher baby sister’s strawberry blond locks. “It shouldn’t take memore than 24; I had already planned what I’m bringing.”
Cara stood up from the couch and hugged hersister. “I’ve got to run to downstairs to meet Natalie. Come ondown if you feel up to it, and I’ll bring up my suitcase thisevening after closing.”
Payson called Alain to update him with heritinerary. He recommended trains she should take, rental carinformation, sights to see along the way to his vineyard inProvence. She booked everything she would need, made all of hertravel arrangements and got herself completely packed. Cara wasright, the preparations took her most of the day and were a perfectdiversion from her desolate thoughts.
Once finished, she headed down to the shop tocheck in with her sister. Natalie had already returned to thegallery, and now Laura was sitting next to Cara on matching stoolsbehind the register. She watched as Cara checked out the sweetestcouple that were apparently shopping for an engagement ring.
Staying strong, she didn’t let the happycouple remind her of what she was missing. Trying to convinceherself that he would be back. That a few weeks on a missionwouldn’t tempt him away from her, from his family.
Seeing Payson entering through the frontdoor, Laura hopped off her stool and bee-lined straight for her.Laura dragged her in for a very needed hug. Pulling back but stillholding her by the shoulders, Laura looked her over. With a shakeof her head, she tsked, “Honey, you look pale. Let’s get you sometea.”
Payson managed to nod. “Thanks, I’d likethat.”
Payson followed her friend back to thestorage room. Big mistake. She saw the beautifully finishedshelves. Neatly organized now, perfectly stocked.
She’d had to finish without him. The tearsstart streaming again. Dammit, once you let them out, they justdidn’t stop. Quickly wiping her face before Laura saw, she forced astrengthening deep breath and pasted a smile on her face.
Laura had stationed herself at the tinykitchenette Ronan had thoughtfully added in when he’d seen herrunning up and down the stairs for coffee, lunch, tea. Turning toPayson with a steaming cup of chamomile, Laura frowned. “He’scoming back.”
Again, not sure who she was reassuring,Payson pretended to agree. “Why hasn’t he called? Texted?Emailed?”
Laura shook her head sadly. “He would if hecould. He mentioned in his note he wouldn’t be able to. He’s nevermade a promise he didn’t keep; he promised to try to return, so hewill.”
