She cradled me. Unlike my mother, who’d told me to get out of her sight. Maybe the difference was because I wasn’t Carmela’s daughter. I probably wouldn’t ever know.
It felt like an eternity before she let me go. When I sat down again and looked at Antonia, I saw that she’d been crying as well, but she managed to give me a smile.
“Do your parents know?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I imagine they aren’t happy.”
“No, ma’am.”
Carmela nodded.
“Do you need a place to stay?”
I nodded, unable to find the words.
“Do you need to see a doctor?”
Again, another nod.
“Very well. I’m going to go see your mom and let her know you’re here. And then we’ll figure everything else out.” She placed her hand on mine and squeezed it reassuringly. “No matter which road you choose, it’s going to be hard.”
“I know.”
We sat for another moment until she cleared her throat. “Let’s eat these cookies before the guys come in. We need the pick-me-up more than they do.”
For the first time since I’d taken and failed the only test that would ever matter, I felt like things would be okay.
Chapter 1
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 inPretty 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.
