“I wish it was simply because of my compassion for living things.” She laughed quietly. “But we both know there’s more to it.”
I nodded somberly, understanding her now more than ever.
“Sometimes I really wish someone would have beaten some sense into your parents.” I bit my cheek, unsure how to approach the topic. I decided to just come out with it. “To blame you for your sister’s kidnapping…?”
She shrugged.
“Their blame is nothing next to my own self-guilt,” she said. “They didn’t know how to deal with it either.”
The air smelled faintly of snow and somewhere in the distance, a siren wound down, then vanished.
I lifted my head up to the sky, unsure—as I’d been many times before—how to make Violet see that she couldn’t have prevented her sister’s kidnapping even if she’d spent every night of her life sleeping next to her in the bed. But that wasn’t how these things went.
Someone snatched her younger sister directly out of her parents’ home, leaving no trace. Violet’s parents were out to dinner that night,and Violet wasn’t home. It was arguably the only reason she wasn’t also taken.
“So, Croatia, huh?” she said after a long stretch of silence. “Are you sure this is the best thing?”
“You could come with me?” I suggested.
“I might meet you there.”
“Really?” I asked in surprise.
“I got a…” She seemed to struggle to find the word while I waited patiently. “A job, I guess.”
My eyebrows shot up. “In Croatia?”
She shook her head. “No, in Greece.”
I stiffened. “Greece?”
Her eyes met mine. “Yes.”
“And you’re going to take it?” I asked incredulously, although a part of me wasn’t surprised at this turn of events. I always believed that one day Violet’s path would lead her back to her Greek god. I just couldn’t figure out if it was smart or not.
“I am.” Then she continued quickly. “Before you point out that I’m playing with fire, I’m well aware, but I just can’t resist. I made so many mistakes, and I need to confirm that my decision—that he—wasn’t one of them.”
Her voice cracked and she blinked, looking away at the city lights in the distance.
“You were twenty-one,” I pointed out. “What the hell did we know at that age?”
She waved her hand. “Back to the original point. We can meet up in Croatia. Or you can come to Greece.”
“Sounds like a plan, but only if you promise me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t look to the past to find a way to move on. The answers are in the future.” I let out a bitter laugh. “Trust me, I know.”
“Sophie Baldwin, are you turning into a therapist?”
I huffed a laugh. “No, that’s your area of expertise. I just don’t want you to repeat my mistake.”
“It’s a lesson learned, not a mistake.”
I let out an exasperated breath. “Whatever you say.”
She leaned back on the rail and looked out into the city. “Gosh, if we only knew what life had in store for us then.”
