“That’s what I keep telling myself,” she said.
“But...”
“We don’t want the same things anymore,” she replied.
“What does that mean?”
“He wants kids.”
“And you don’t?”
“No. Not at all,” she admitted, and there it was—the truth.
“That’s hard to believe.”
“Becauseyou’vealways wanted children?”
“Yes.”
“Kids aren’t for everyone.”
“But they are for Ben.”
“He can’t wait to start a family.”
“Shit.”
“Exactly.”
“If you go to Italy, what will you do about your business? How will you get away for an entire month?”
“I’ll have to check with Rory, see if he can manage without me. Leaving him on his own wouldn’t be ideal, of course. But I’m desperate enough that... that I’d do it.”
“Do you have a passport?”
“Ben and I went to Aruba on our honeymoon, remember?”
“Oh, right. But even if Rory will cover the store, what’s Ben going to say?”
She stared down at the tough little weeds fighting their way through the gravel. “I don’t know. But this might be the only way to save our marriage.” The eagerness and hope she felt at the prospect of breaking away from her current situation was so overwhelming it nearly brought her to tears. “If Charlotte won’t mind me coming along, I think... I think Ihaveto do it.”
“I bet she’ll welcome the company. What she’s facing wouldn’t be easy to handle on her own, especially while going through a divorce and being so far from home.”
“That’s another reason I want to be there. I miss her, Jules. I miss the friendship we had before her arrogant ass of a husband came between us.”
“Well, damn,” he said. “If you’re both going to Italy, so am I.”
She lifted her head. “What?”
“You heard me. I can take pictures of whatever I want. There are plenty of gorgeous landscapes to capture in Italy.”
“What about Mom and Dad and staying with them after their operations?” If she hadn’t been trying to land the biggest remodel of her career a couple of weeks ago, which had subsequently fallen through anyway, she would’ve volunteered to look after their parents herself. But she’d also known that being around them while trying to conceal how she was feeling about her marriage would be difficult, so she’d been relieved when Julian said he’d do it. She certainly hadn’t expected him to step up; he was usually globe-trotting all over the world.
“They’re fine,” he said. “Mom’s pretty much recovered. Dad might need the butt pillow Charlotte bought him for a few more weeks, but he’s back at work.”
“Okay! If Charlotte will have us as companions and roommates, let’s do it!” she said, smiling freely for the first time in ages.
“Are you sure?”
