Page 20

“No.” He handed the photograph back to me. “I think you wanted to give her something she never got to have. And maybe give yourself the chance to be there with her.”

For a moment, I couldn’t say anything. I looked down at the photograph in my hands. My mother remained beside the river exactly where I’d painted her, surrounded by a city neither of us had ever seen.

“I’ve always wanted to go,” I said quietly. “My dad told me she used to talk about Italy all the time. She wanted to see Florence more than anywhere else.”

“So why haven’t you gone?”

I gave a small laugh. “College. Life. Excuses, probably.”

Richard nodded toward the painting. “You should go.”

“I will someday.”

“Someday is how people end up never going.”

I looked at him.

There was no teasing in his expression.

“You’ve already spent enough time seeing the world through photographs,” he continued. “You should see some of it for yourself.”

I looked back down at my mother standing beside the Arno.

“That’s the plan.”

Richard smiled. “Good.”

I slid the photograph carefully back into my portfolio, but his words stayed with me. Richard had looked at it for less than two minutes and somehow understood that the city wasn’t really the point.

My mother was.

Richard glanced at his watch. “I should probably get you back before you miss your next class, but I’d like to see you again.”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to check my very busy schedule.”

Richard smiled. “Then I hope you can make room for me on Saturday. There’s a private showing at a new gallery I think you’d like.”

“A private showing?”

“I thought that might improve my chances.”

I smiled. “Maybe it will.”

“I hope to hear from you soon, Samantha.”

I kept thinking about what I’d told Dad that morning. If I ever made room for someone, I couldn’t choose a man who expected me to abandon my plans and build my life around him. I needed someone who encouraged me to pursue them. I wasn’t stupid enough to believe Richard Kincaid was that person after one lunch date.

But I was interested enough to find out.

Chapter 4

Richard

Jerry called me three days after I saw him at Preston.

I was halfway through reviewing contracts when my secretary told me who was on the line. For a second, I considered having her take a message. Then I remembered the way he smiled while he told me he’d been trying to take Samantha out for months.

I told her to put him through.