Charlotte plopped down again. At first, there’d been no oneto take Lilly. Now everyone wanted her. Which option would be best? And if she gave her up, would she be able to live with that decision? “I need time to grow accustomed to the idea,” she said.
“I understand. That’s why I brought it up now.”
“And Lilly’s old enough that I... I think we should let her decide.”
Sloane said nothing, just came over and sat beside her.
“I know you’d be a good mother to her,” Charlotte said softly.
“And I know it would be hard for you to give her up,” Sloane responded, just as softly. She reached for Charlotte’s hand. “But having all of us to love her can only be a good thing.”
Provided they could always keep what was best for her in mind.
That was what she needed to do now, Charlotte realized. But this decision wasn’t going to be any easier than the other decisions she’d had to make lately.
It was her anniversary. Or it would’ve been. Considering everything that’d happened recently, it felt weird to think that this day would’ve marked the fourth year of her marriage.
Charlotte rolled over in bed and reached for her phone, wondering if Cliff had remembered the significance of this day. It was extremely late where he was, but he was a night owl, so she wasn’t surprised to find a fresh spate of calls and texts from him. Hehadremembered and was saying how much he still loved her and that he couldn’t wait until they could celebrate together.
Why he wouldn’t give up, she didn’t know. They didn’t have any chance of resurrecting their marriage; she’d decided that before she’d started sleeping with Julian.
She wasn’t going to respond, she decided. Not now, anyway. She needed to work on her manuscript—like every other day.But she was so nervous about how her editor might react to what she’d already turned in that she couldn’t keep writing, not without some word from Megan to signal she was on the right track. She knew her editor would read what she’d submitted right away; she’d been too desperate to get hold of it to put it off. But that would still take a day or two.
Until she heard, she was going to turn her attention to other things—like going through her birth mother’s belongings and finally clearingthathurdle.
She was just climbing out of bed to see if Lilly wanted to join her after all when a text came in from Julian.
How long until you’re available?
She’d spent most of the night with him again. They weren’t getting much sleep, but they were having one hell of a good time.
She smiled at the memories they’d made as she wrote him back.
No clue. Why?
I’d like to take you to Salerno.
With or without the others?
We can all go, I guess. It would be too hard to get away on our own. But I’m already struggling to hide my interest in you, so it’s risky.
They’d gone back to the Church of St. Gennaro and watched the sunset last night. They hadn’t had time for the beach. But the more they did together, the more they wanted to do.
Maybe we should tell Sloane, get it out in the open. I hate feeling as if I’m doing something behind her back.
Julian wasn’t the only one who was nervous that Sloane would pick up on the change in their relationship—and not be happy about it.
We’re not making any hard decisions like that in Italy, remember?
She didn’t remember agreeing to take the “no hard decisions” edict that far. But she was fine with waiting. Shehadmade it clear that this was a safe zone where he could take all the time he needed to work through whatever he was dealing with.
Then don’t look at me the way you look at me.??
That’s impossible.
She chuckled and was about to put down her phone when she received another text—only this one was from Cliff.
That dude you were with right after we split up is in Italy with you?
