“What about you?” she asked Lilly, to take the focus off herself.
“I’m excited, too.” Her sister looked more nervous thanexcited, and Charlotte could understand why. Her life was entirely different than it’d been just a month ago. She had yet to meet Charlotte’s parents in person, had no idea what living with them would be like. She’d also be in yet another new area.
Charlotte gave her a nudge. “Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay.”
“I know.” She was probably exuding more confidence than she felt. But they were both pretending. Every time Lilly asked about Julian, Charlotte acted as if whatever happened was going to be fine. That she was resilient and happy. She knew Lilly had been subjected to the ups and downs of her mother’s many romantic relationships and didn’t want to put her through the same angst and uncertainty. She was determined to remain solid as a rock no matter what she went through personally so that Lilly could finally feel confident and secure. That was the promise Charlotte had made when she’d decided to finish raising Lilly. Although she still wanted to find a mate and have children herself, she wasn’t going to burden Lilly with her own heartbreaks.
Rubber thundered under them and the wings hummed as the plane touched down and bounced slightly before settling securely on the tarmac. Lilly’s eyes flew open wide.
“The landing can be a bit disconcerting,” Charlotte explained.
Lilly relaxed as they taxied more comfortably down the runway. “Do you think Jules will be waiting for us?” she asked as the flight attendant opened the door and everyone started to get into the overhead bins.
For a moment, Charlotte was tempted to believe it was possible. Surely he’d change his mind. Why would he relegate himself to a life of loneliness when she was right there, ready to love him? She’d texted him the date and time they’d arrive in LA and asked him to pick them up from the airport. If he wasgoing to respond to anything, it’d be a request for a favor. Jules was like that; he loved to step up for people.
He hadn’t responded, so she had no commitment. Still, she hoped he’d surprise them. “You never know,” she said hopefully.
But after they got off and gathered their baggage, it was only her parents who were waiting.
Lilly was going back to a whole new life. She wouldn’t recognize a thing.
She knew she should probably be terrified, but she wasn’t. As different as this new world would be, she felt safer than ever before. She hoped her mother was happier in heaven than she’d been on earth—that she finally had the love she needed—because Lilly knewshewas going to be fine. Charlotte wouldn’t let her down. As long as she had someone to love her, someone she could love in return, Lilly felt she could handle almost anything. It was trying to take care of her mother when she couldn’t seem to make much of a difference that’d been so hard.
She wasn’t even scared to meet Charlotte’s parents. She’d sort of met them already via FaceTime, so she knew what they looked like, how they acted and how they treated her.
When she saw them standing at baggage claim with a bouquet of welcome balloons and a huge stuffed bear, she was slightly embarrassed—they were drawing a lot of attention from other travelers—but knowing they were excited to have her come home with Charlotte felt wonderful.
“Thank you,” she’d mumbled when they handed her the balloons. She didn’t tell them that she was getting too old for stuffed animals. What did that matter? She felt so light inside she thought the balloons might carry her away.
Once they got their luggage, she sat in the back seat of their giant black Mercedes with her new bear and the helium-filledballoons taking up all the space between her and Charlotte, listening to Penny describe the bedroom she’d decorated for Lilly as they started home. Although Charlotte had made it clear that they probably wouldn’t be living in the house for all that long, Penny said she’d wanted to have a special place for Lilly, because even after they moved out, she wanted Lilly to come and stay on weekends or over summer break.
Lilly got the feeling that Don and Penny viewed her as sort of a grandchild, and since she’d never really had grandparents, she didn’t mind.
The bear’s fur tickled her cheek as she told Penny she couldn’t wait to see her new room. Then Don looked at her in the rearview mirror and winked as if to say he knew she was too mature for the way Penny was treating her, but appreciated her playing along.
That made Lilly smile even wider.
Charlotte reached over and held her hand as if she thought her mother might be a bit much, and Lilly squeezed to let her know Penny was just fine. “This feels sort of like Christmas,” she whispered to Charlotte while Penny was telling Don that he was going to take them all out for a special welcome dinner once they’d had a day or so to recover from the jet lag.
“Do you know if Sloane made it home safely?” Penny asked.
“She hasn’t landed quite yet,” Charlotte told her.
“Have you heard from Jules?” Penny kept her tone light. Lilly could tell she was trying not to upset Charlotte and felt bad for her sister that Julian wasn’t being her friend anymore.
“No.” Charlotte turned to the window, probably so no one could see how sad that made her. “But it’s fine.”
She always added that at the end because she didn’t want Lilly to worry that she might break down or spin out. Lilly appreciated how hard she was trying, but she knew Charlotte was hurt, and she couldn’t understand why things had to be thisway. Okay, so Julian had a disease. Anyone could get sick. You didn’t stop loving someone because of that.Jeez.She’d thought he’d figure that out. He was so smart.
But it would be hard to feel you’re no longer lovable because of something outside your control... She’d experienced a bit of that, thanks to her mother.
After peppering Lilly with questions about Italy and what she might like to see or do in the next few weeks—and promising to take her to Disneyland for the first time—Penny struck up a conversation with Charlotte, asking about her book and how much she’d written. Charlotte told her that once she’d gotten her publisher’s approval, she’d made good progress but still had a lot of pages to write. And Penny said she knew she’d be able to finish them. Then they started talking about Cliff.
Lilly had heard all she wanted about Charlotte’s ex. He was being so mean about the divorce that Lilly couldn’t think of him without getting mad.
Her phone buzzed. She glanced down to see that she’d received a text from Sloane.
You home, girl? How was the flight?
