Leo runs his palm up and down my arm. “The Hughes have always had money. They didn’t have you.”
“I’m not a miracle worker.”
“That’s not true, and you know it. You’re the one who found my shirts.”
All of Leo’s undershirts and sheets and even his rash guards for swimming are made with the softest pima cotton available in the world.
“All I found was the farmer.”
“In the middle of nowhere. In Peru.”
True. A tiny farm that’s contracted with me from now until forever. We pay them three times their operating costs for their exclusivity.
“The shirts were simple. Not easy, but simple.”
“It took you a year, Eva. You could have given up after the first ten options didn’t work. Or even the first twenty.”
I tried thirty other suppliers across the United States, Australia, and South America before I found the farmer in Peru. A fourth-generation tailor in New York City produces all the finished items in addition to fitting Leo’s suits.
“It wasn’t an option to stop looking. You needed them.”
“Yes.” Leo can’t deny it. He put his hands over his face and cried when the first good sample shirt came in. That’s how relieved he was, and how much pain he’d been in. “And my point is, you could have let me go without and taken the loss.”
“And let you keep suffering? No.” If the solution existed on the planet, I was going to find it. Or invent it. A long line of doctors hadn’t been able to help. In the end, it was a matter of hunting down the correct raw materials. “I couldn’t ever give up on you.”
Not even in his pain and despair. That year was awful. Every other fabric blend I tried was unbearable on his skin.
It must be equally unbearable to live in Finn’s head. The curse causes him pain, and if our child is a boy, it’ll hurt him, too.
Fixing their suffering won’t be as simple as finding the right fibers. Not this time.
“I’ve never known you to give up on anyone you love, sister mine.”
“This might be beyond me. It’s medical science, not fabric.” My stomach is an empty pit. “And it’s so hopeless. It’s how he’s lived for so long. I’m afraid to disappoint him.”
“You won’t. You couldn’t. We’ll solve it together. I’ll help you.” The first hot tears slide down my cheeks. I wipe them away before they can land on Abby. Leo pulls me close, and I let my head rest on his side. “Don’t keep it in. Tears don’t mean you’re giving up. They mean you’re gathering the strength to begin.”
20
FINN
I don’t just owe Eva Morelli for giving me a family and showing me that life doesn’t have to be bleak and empty.
I’m also hopelessly in love with her.
I walked out of that meeting and went to meet with the family for dinner.
Admitting it to myself had the same shocking quality as admitting it’s time to become the CEO of Hughes Industries. A few moments will pass, and then—oh my God. I’m in love with her.
I’m in love with her.
And every second I don’t tell her is wasted time. I’ll never get it back.
The ring arrives at the Hughes estate. It’s exactly what I chose for her.
It’s not enough.
Eva would say that wasn’t true, but I know better. She wants to be together. She wants to be loved. I can give that to her. I’m going to give that to her.
I text her from the Hughes Industries headquarters as soon as I’ve sent my secretary home for the day.
Finn: Do you have plans for the evening?
Eva: Why? Did you have something in mind?
Finn: If you’re free to meet with me, I do.
Eva: I could be free.
I pull up in front of her apartment building a short while later.
Finn: I’m here.
No reply. Then she steps into view on the sidewalk. It doesn’t look like she came from inside.
I climb out and offer her my hand. “I hope you didn’t rush home for me.”
Eva tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. “Leo swore they’d be okay.”
She’s been at her brother’s house, helping to take care of the new baby and her parents. It kept Eva busy. It gave me time to come to my goddamn senses about how much I want her in my life.
About how much I want her, period.
“So.” She’s so beautiful like this. Always. I barely have any sense of her dress because her face is so striking. “What did you have in mind?”
I stick my hand in my pocket and take out the quarter. It’s a perfect flip. The coin turns over in the air on its way to Eva’s palms.
“How about a bet?”
Her smile lights up her face. The sun’s already setting, and its embers reflect in her dark eyes. “What do I get if I win? Foam on my Starbucks order?”
“Come with me and find out.”
She sits in the passenger seat and talks to me on the way out of the city. I’m about to leap out of my skin from nerves and anticipation, but her voice soothes me. You wouldn’t believe how good a newborn baby smells, Finn. She’s just this little squishy bundle. Yesterday, she tried to lift up her head. I was so proud. It was incredible.
Eva gets quieter at the city limits of Bishop’s Landing. She’s silent when I pull the car into a spot near the docks.
I can’t read her expression. She looks out at the bluewater sailing yacht. If she’s anything like me, a montage of that first night is playing in her head. I feel just like I do now. Desperately glad to be near her. Overwhelmed with hope.
I go around to her door and offer her my hand.
Eva takes it.
She sticks close as we approach the yacht and lets me steady her during the transition from dock to boat.
Then we’re standing on the deck, right where we started.
I had a proposal for her then, too. A fake relationship. I offered her a fling. A distraction. And she became the only reality I want.
We’ve already made a new future together. I want to be part of it. I want her to be everything.
The first stars of the evening are appearing over the last of the sunset. I breathe in the moment. I want to remember this for as long as I can. The fading summer air. Eva’s hand in mine. The stars, coming back again, just like they promised.
The two of us, together, facing the future.
Then I turn her to face me. Drink her in with as much attention as I gave the sunset. I want to remember this, too. The flush in her cheeks. Her black hair stirring in the breeze. The soft set of her lips. I run my thumb over the corner of her mouth.
“Since the moment I saw you in your parents’ house, I’ve been trying to convince myself not to love you.” Eva’s lips part as if to interrupt. “No, this is important. I really tried. I fed myself every justification for why I couldn’t be with you. I explained it to myself a hundred different ways. At least ten times a day, I convinced myself that you’d be better off taking your chances with anybody else.”
Memorize her. Don’t forget.
“But in the end, none of those reasons changed the fact that I love you. That I’m in love with you. I can’t stop loving you. It’s hopeless. For a long time, everything seemed that way. I told myself there was no point in getting attached. I told myself that it was wrong, in fact, to let anyone get close to me. I wouldn’t be able to give them the time they needed.”