Helia and Dulcie navigated down the Bacco drive in silence. Outward silence, anyway. In Helia’s head, her thoughts bounced from what she and Collin had done in his bedroom, to Kelly’s weird comments, to picturing Collin changing out of his pants, to the dead body—bodies—hovering on the periphery of her life, to sleeping beside Collin, to wondering why Dulcie hadn’t mentioned anything about it. There might have been one or two more thoughts about Kendall, her mom, and what killed Roger Wilde, too.
But mostly she wondered why Dulcie hadn’t said anything about finding her in Collin’s room. It was possible he was being polite, but when had a group of brotherseverbeen so polite as to not want the deets on their sibling, if for no other reason than to torment them at some later time?
With each quarter mile that ticked by, the tension in her body ratcheted up, waiting for Dulcie to ask something. When the entrance to Sundaram came into view, she couldn’t take it anymore.
“I don’t think I ever fell out of love with him,” she said. “I had to let him go, to move on, when we were kids, but he was always there. Like this foundational thing inside me, groundingme. Not like a cement block tied to my ankle or anything like that. Whatever it is between us hasn’t ever held me back from living my life. More like it’s been a security blanket. No, that’s not right either. It was like he taught me what it meant to be good and what I should expect from myself and the people in my life. He gave me a confidence that burrowed its way into my soul and let me try new things, have adventures, get my heart broken and know that I’d be okay. I don’t regret the seventeen years we both went off and lived our lives—he has you all and I have a life I love, too—but coming together now feels right. As if we couldn’t have done it before. I don’t know if you believe in fate or soulmates or any of those things—hell, I don’t know ifIbelievein them, but it feels like this is when we were supposed to come back into each other’s lives.”
Adrenaline from her rushed explanation tripped through her body, and she forced a deep breath as she waited for Dulcie to respond. Or at least acknowledge what she’d said. They reached the entrance before he obliged her.
“Have you told him any of this?”
She passed through the gate, then stopped. She wasn’t quite ready to have her work life intrude on this conversation. “In a way, yes, we’ve talked about it.”
Dulcie’s gaze stayed fixed on Sundaram. “Good.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Good? That’s all you’re going to say?”
His lips twitched. “Is there something else I should say? I sure as hell don’t want any details about what happened in your room last night.”
She blinked. Fair, she wasn’t about to give him any, either. “You don’t have an opinion on this? He’s your brother.”
“My opinion doesn’t matter. Not at the end of the day. But if you’re asking whether I have reservations, there’s only one, and it has nothing to do with you as a person.”
“Do I want to know? Wait, yes, I do.”
He chuckled, then nodded toward Sundaram. “Your life is here and his isn’t. It’s not good for him to be here, not in my opinion. But I know Monk, and I don’t doubt his strength. If he decides to stay, he’ll figure it out.” He paused. “He’s been through enough pain and trauma—we all have—but if that journey has taught us anything, it’s that life changes. If we’re lucky and work for it, it can change for the good. I think you’re good for him.”
She studied him, her eyes unexpectedly tearing up. She wouldn’t cry; well, maybe she would. Dulcie’s words were everything she’d always wanted for Collin. Safety, respect, love, loyalty. His brothers gave him that, and it was all she’d hoped for him.
Throwing her arms around Dulcie, she squeezed. He startled, then wrapped his around her.
“Thank you,” she said.
He patted her back much as she supposed he did for his sisters. “For?”
“For being the family he deserved all along.”
Dulcie’s arms tightened before giving her another pat and shifting back in his seat. “Now that that’s out of the way, what’s on your agenda for the day? Are you coming back tonight?”
She flashed him a slightly watery smile before continuing toward Sundaram. “I’ll be back. We have a dinner event tonight, then a brunch and dinner tomorrow. After that, we’re done for the season.” The tires crunched on the packed gravel as she crossed the courtyard toward her house. She was about to tell Dulcie what time she’d be back when two figures emerged from the kitchen. She slowed and frowned.
“What?” Dulcie demanded.
“Nothing bad,” she assured him. “Just weird,” she added, rolling down her window. “Trish,” she called out.
The woman jerked her head around, then approached with a smile. “Helia, it’s good to see you.” Her attention shifted to Dulcie. “And you, too.”
Helia’s hackles rose at the purr in Trish’s tone. She didn’t begrudge Dulcie the admiration, but honestly, between Trish and Kelly, didn’t these people know the difference between personal and professional?
“What are you doing here?” she asked, her gaze shifting between Trish and Greg, who’d followed.
Trish waved a hand. “You mentioned that Sundaram sometimes imports food for events. I’m considering a potential business model to serve smaller, independent places.”
“New business model?” she asked.
Trish nodded. “We all know the major importers in the area, but I’m exploring whether there’s a market for smaller shipments of more unusual foods or from smaller farmers who don’t have the inventory to do business with the big dogs. Kind of building on the idea of farm to fork, but cross-border.”
That idea actually sounded interesting. A lot of restaurants would get on board with that kind of model, if for no other reason than to expand their own reputation for supporting small businesses.
