It sounds amazing, doesn’t it?“Life in America?” Frankie gives a dry shrug. “Cornfields. Trailer parks. You know, a lot of…meth…”I start to laugh as Frankie lists more horrors, shaking my head at him. “You’re so biased.”“I am not!” he protests, laughing too as he presses a hand to his chest. “I a
We take a bus to the airport, disembarking not at the departures terminal but instead at the cargo terminal. I hoist the backpack higher on my shoulder and glance up at Frankie as the bus drives away without us.“So, I take it we’re not flying first class?”He smirks at me, slipping his arm around m
“Yeah, well, you’re just lucky I owed Betty a favor and needed the cash. You have five minutes before I close the door.”Frankie nods, reaching out and taking my hand even as he continues to look up into the man’s face.The man starts to move away and then looks between us again as he sighs, looking
Frankie tightens his arm around me. “Iris, please.”“Frank,” I snap, casting a hand out towards Giana’s private plane. “This is…this is not by chance.”“Did you arrange this!?” he gasps, staring down at me.“No!” I shout, giving him a little shove. “Frankie, this is like…fate! Intervening! The…unive
I look up into her face with a frown now, not understanding.“Well,” Giana says with a little shrug. “You were…kind of Violetta’s Lucy, weren’t you?” Giana says, as gently as she can. “The…girl down the hall who was kind of…there if he wanted her. I mean, it was different – he was in love with you i
Things move fast as Frankie and I climb into the cargo plane, the door slamming shut behind us not a minute after we start making our way to the front.I pause for a second after the door is closed, looking backwards towards the pallets stacked with goods. “But the shoes,” I murmur, my feet already
“Like eight hours,” he says, giving me a chagrined little shrug.“Eight hours without a bathroom!?” I gasp and he just grins at me.“It’s an adventure, Bambs,” he says, tugging me closer to him. “It’s not an adventure if it’s comfortable the whole time.”I grumble my discontent, saying I’d quite lik
I just stare at Frankie, completely shocked. Because, I mean, I knew that he knew about the emails that I wrote to Christian all the time – and I knew that he knew about “Daisy” - but really? The whole time he knew about…me?All about me?“What – what are you talking about?” I ask under my breath, n
A small smile creeps on Leo’s lips. “Yeah, okay,” he says, relaxing back against our chair. “Our secret.” I grin at my baby, leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek, because my boy can’t resist a secret.“What’s all this?”I turn to see Christian standing at the open door, peering into the dining
The danger. It’s…it’s far too poignant.My heart breaking, I open a private browsing tab on the web browser and quickly search for Craigslist in both this city and Athens, Greece. As I do my memory goes back to a conversation I had with Frankie, when he told me that this is the best way he knows for
I stand frozen, staring down at the letter as it sits on the little hall desk, my breath coming in fluttery little gasps.The words are very simple.There are vineyards in Greece as well. I’ll take you there.I read it again and again as my heart pounds in my chest, each beat echoing with a mix of h
“You don’t know anything about my life,” I whisper, my voice barely audible, turning my eyes back down to the dishes. “I had no choice.”“You think you’re the only one who suffered?” Lucy whispers. “You think I wanted to be in this position? We were friends once, Iris. We were good to each other. Bu
“Mommyyyy,” Leo says, looking anxiously towards the kitchen door, shifting from foot to floor. “Hurry up! Aunt Bianca says we have to go!”I laugh, glancing down at my little boy, who looks so adorable in the private school uniform he wears to Kindergarten – crisp white shirt, navy blazer, his dark
But…was it? Was it me, missing Chris? Wanting to have yet another piece of him, even if I long denied wanting any ties to my past life?I look down, my heart heavy, not truly understanding what I think or what I feel.“I mean it, Iris,” Chris says, his voice steady and cool. “I’ll be a father to her
My heart sinks as I look Christian in the eyes – because beyond all hope, I had been praying that he hadn’t noticed that Leo is his son. But how could I have been so naïve? Leo looks just like him - dark hair, striking grey-blue eyes. The resemblance is unmistakable. I feel a wave of guilt crashing
“Yes,” he answers, a growl in his voice. “That should suit just fine.”I laugh at the irony in this and shake my head, looking away. “So now you want me to come back, to pretend as if nothing ever happened? You expect me to just accept this, the way things are now?”Christian opens his mouth to resp
Disappointment floods my chest, a sense of disbelief washing over me. “You think I would trust you again after everything? After how you treated me? You expect me to just come back and forget?”His eyes narrow, disappointment etched into his features. “You were faithless. I thought you’d be loyal. I