She closed the door. “Not really. Not all of it, anyway. I was just wondering about her phone. Unless someone pays the bill, it won’t work very long, so I was thinking that maybe... maybe I should write down some numbers before they’re gone.”
“That’s a really good idea,” he said. “Hopefully, it hasn’t been turned off already.”
The fact that it might be added a jolt of alarm to her other emotions. She had to dig into those boxes—and the sooner the better. Her mother was always behind on the bills. They’d shut off her phone service before, and she’d had to pay a penalty and reconnection fee. Lilly remembered her cursing about it. It’d also caused a fight with Luca because she’d wanted him to pay it for her, and he wouldn’t. He’d said she hadn’t even tried to pick up any extra shifts at her bartending job, and she’d said that was because she’d wanted to spend time with him and thought he’d wanted to spend time with her. It had been their first fight.
“Do you know if Luca even brought it?” Lilly asked hesitantly.
“I’m assuming he did. Why wouldn’t he?”
Because Sabrina owed Luca a lot of money and that phone was the only thing he could sell to get some of that money back. He’d said as much when Lilly had asked if she could have it—a request he’d shot down right away, saying she was too young and wouldn’t be able to pay the monthly bill.
“No reason,” she mumbled. “I just... I thought maybe he gave it to Charlotte and didn’t put it in with her other things.”
“Charlotte hasn’t said anything. But you could ask her.”
“Yeah, I’ll check with her when she wakes up.”
“That could be a while. I got a text from her in the middle of the night telling me she’d finished the first five pages of her new book.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?”
“It’s fantastic, but it also means she needs to get some sleep. Sloane’s already rumbling around. She’s about to take a shower and begin her day. Is there any chance you’d like to go for a walk with me?”
“Where are you going?”
“Don’t know yet. Sometimes I just go out to see what I can see—and if I’m feeling it, I take some pictures. Are you hungry? We could grab some breakfast while we’re roaming around.”
She wanted to find her mother’s phone before it got shut off so she could save Steve’s number and check on Old Blue. But she wasn’t even sure the phone was in the boxes, which she didn’t want to touch in the first place.
Besides, there was something about Julian that reminded her of Steve—he wasn’t only nice; he was steady and reliable. Just the sound of his voice made her feel better. She craved more of that steadiness, and now that she knew Charlotte had started her book, she’d probably have to continue working on it, and Lilly would be left alone with Sloane, whom she didn’t trust as much, so she decided to go with him. She didn’t know him that well, but he typically didn’t ask her a lot of dumb questions, didn’t try to get her to talk about things she didn’t want to and seemed fine just taking things as they came.
“I don’t have any money,” she said. “So I don’t want to eat. Going out costs more.” Luca always complained about that when Sabrina wanted to eat out. “But I’ll walk with you.”
“Lilly, you’re only twelve,” he said. “Quit trying to carry the world on your shoulders. I don’t expect you to have money. If I offer something, you’re welcome to take it. If I don’t want to pay, I won’t suggest it in the first place, okay?”
She felt her body sag as some of the worst of her emotions eased. She hated being so needy, hated that she was too young to take care of herself. So many of the men her mother had been with resented the money she cost them. But at least Julian wasn’t making her feel terrible about it. “Thank you.”
He grinned at her. “Let’s get out of here and see what we can find.”
“Shouldn’t I leave a note for Charlotte?” she asked hesitantly.
“I’ll text her.”
chapter 18
Charlotte woke up relieved because of the progress she’d made on her new book. Not only had she written five pages last night—she liked them. That was huge. She could already tell that Josie, her heroine, would be forced to rethink her marriage. The conflict wasn’t villain vs. angel; it was a partner who wouldn’t change when thriving—for Josie—meant moving in a different direction.
When was it ever right to walk away? That was the big question. And there was no perfect answer—no answer that would fit everyone. Josie might decide that living her best life required a different partner, which would be painful.
Exploring that idea was giving Charlotte a fresh take on marriage—making her more willing to remain vulnerable, more honest about growth and change, and more open to splitting when commitment became a cage. It might draw pushback from some readers, but since it was helping her through her own divorce, she believed there would be others like her who needed to hear the same message.
So... if she could just maintain her level of enthusiasm for the story, really get her heart and imagination into it instead offearing and dreading it, she might enjoy the process the way she had with her first book.
She had a long way to go before “The End,” and the pain in her personal life would intrude when she least expected it. But having started the manuscript and having a sense of direction with it took some of the pressure off. At least she could give her editor a paragraph or two about the story so the art department could get going on the cover. Then she’d do exactly as Julian had said and focus on the five pages she needed to write each day. The rest would take care of itself.
Last night, she’d counted the days until her deadline. Five pages wasn’t a quick enough pace to finish in time, but it was doable, even in her current situation, and would put her within reach of the finish line before she wascatastrophicallylate. She hoped her publisher would be able to live with that since it was the best she could do at the moment—unless she miraculously got so swept up she somehow managed to produce more.
She yawned, stretched and pulled her phone into bed with her. She’d heard from Cliff, she realized. His name was bolded to signal the fact that he’d sent a message she hadn’t yet seen, making her grimace. He’d hurt her so badly she didn’t even want to read it. If he was asking for her address in Italy so he could mail her the divorce papers, it would just prove how tone-deaf and insensitive he really was. What was the rush? Why force her to deal with the logistics of their split on top of everything else she was going through right now?
