Chapter 21

When I returned to the hotel after a long day with Hunter, dizzy with happiness, Alexis was alone in our room.

“Where’s Jillie?” I asked.

“At the neighborhood shop around the corner, getting snacks for the flight tomorrow. Too expensive at the airport.” My sister’s voice was clipped as she lay on the bed, staring at her phone.

Nearly a week in Paris, and she seemed just as warm and cuddly as ever. My happiness fizzled into clarity once again.

I sat on the bed, cross-legged, as if we were kids again. Then I put my chin in my hands, grinning.

She looked up. “What’s up with you?”

I’d spent most of the trip so concerned about Claude and Hunter that I hadn’t had a real conversation with my sister. Time to change that. “You didn’t want to come, did you?”

She looked taken aback but recovered quickly. “Of course not. But if I didn’t, neither of you would get the inheritance.”

Interesting. “Are you saying you don’t need the money?”

“I mean, I won’t turn it down. But do I need it to survive? Not really.”

Because of Dad. The realization made me grit my teeth. He’d dodged his child-support payments for years to dump his money onto the only daughter who’d chosen him. Senior trip to Europe, huh? Meanwhile, Jillian and I survived on beans and broth more times than I could count. How much different would Mom’s cancer fight have been with funds like that? Could we have saved her in the end?

I swallowed a sharp retort, reminding myself that none of it was Alexis’s fault. Except choosing Dad, but that couldn’t be taken back. “Dad remarried, didn’t he?”

She looked away. “Remarried with two kids. Both boys.”

It shouldn’t have stung, but it did. I didn’t have the greatest relationship with him ever, but I still harbored a sliver of childlike love for my father simply because of who he was.

“How did it go, with his new family?” I asked, noting the pain on my sister’s face.

She scowled. “I left when I turned seventeen.”

I hadn’t heard this. “Really?”

She nodded. “Spent my senior year living with a friend. Dad didn’t come to my graduation, but I got a check in the mail a week later.” She chuckled bitterly. “I almost threw it in the trash.”

I stared at her. “Wow.”

She shoved her phone back into her pocket. “Yeah, well, he never was the epitome of fatherhood, was he?”

“No, he wasn’t.” I cocked my head, not quite understanding. “If you knew that all along, why did you go to live with him?”

“There’s a lot you don’t know,” she said. “About what happened between him and Mom. Not that it matters now.”

“Lexi, you didn’t deserve to be treated like that. Why didn’t you come home? We missed you so much. Mom missed you too. ”

The misery in her eyes made me regret this line of questioning, but not enough to change the subject. I had to know the truth.

Her gaze rose to meet mine. “I called Mom once to feel her out, see if she’d welcome me home. I didn’t get around to asking. Her voice was so clipped, and she seemed impatient to get off the phone. I could tell she had something else to get to that was more important than talking to me. That was my answer.” She swallowed hard. “It wasn’t till the funeral that I realized she was probably in pain and didn’t want me to know it. Mom always was too proud to show weakness.”

“Sounds familiar,” I said with a pointed grin.

She rolled her eyes. “A family trait, sis.”

I had so many questions. It took everything I had not to overwhelm her. “So you’ve been on your own ever since. That sounds hard.”

“Not really. Dad always wanted boys, so now he has them. Meanwhile, I’ve seen the world and done things he only dreamed of.”

“Like what?” I truly wanted to know.

She leaned forward with a shy grin. “Hiking in Iceland, the narrow Thrill Walk in Switzerland, river rafting in Norway, and the zip line in Wales. I’ve even been to Everest Base Camp in Nepal.”

I felt my eyes widen. “That’s incredible.” Yet she’d been following us around Paris, enduring museum after museum. No wonder she seemed so bored all the time.

“Yep. Backpacking across Europe isn’t as scary as some people think.”

Suddenly, I saw my brave younger sister in a new light. Maybe brooding, resentful Alexis felt as rejected by Dad as I did. Maybe she felt just as lonely too. Except more so because I at least had Jillian. And now Hunter.

I looked around the room, where she’d spent the past week with two sisters she probably felt she had little in common with. “I want to hear about your adventures and the boyfriend in Maine. All of it. We have a lot to catch up on.”

Her expression was guarded but less so than a moment before. “We have three weeks left here. There will be plenty of time. But enough about me. You’re in love with Hunter, aren’t you? It’s super obvious.”

A day ago, I would have balked at the question. Now I had to stop and really think about it. “Honestly, yeah. I think so.”

She nodded. “Is he why you want to move here after the tour? Nice of you to give us a heads-up, by the way. Jillian was pretty hurt.”

That one stung. If she’d been hurt, she hid it well. I resolved to talk to her soon. “No, I thought about moving here before we came. Hunter being our tour guide was Jillie’s doing.” Bless you, Jillian. “ I intended to avoid him altogether.”

“Falling for the boy next door. So charming.” I heard an unmistakable bitterness in her voice. “Just be careful. The whole fiancée thing just feels off to me. Guys can be exceptional liars sometimes.”

I could sense a world of hurt beneath her too-casual demeanor. I filed away her words for another day. “Thanks for the warning, but we’ll be fine. Everything is as it should be when it comes to Hunter.”

Finally.

The next morning at brunch, I sat with my sisters and watched the door. Hunter insisted on being here at 9:00 a.m. to pick us up and take us to his apartment, where we could store our luggage until the time arrived to leave for the train that would take us to the cruise ship port in Marseille. But when 9:30 came and went, I started to worry.

At 9:45, my sisters went upstairs to finish packing for checkout at ten. I just sat at our table and, with an ornate fork, picked at the pastries and rolled meat on my plate.

The scared child in me wanted to believe Hunter was having second thoughts. Rather than saying goodbye, he would ditch us and say nothing at all. But the adult remembered we were twenty-six years old, not three, and there had to be a reason for his tardiness.

I’d sent four texts with no response. He wouldn’t ghost me now, after yesterday. Would he?

Concerned, I stacked our plates to make the hotel staff’s job a little easier before heading for the stairs. Just then, my phone buzzed.

I whipped it out and frowned. A message from Claude, not Hunter.

A townhome owner in my neighborhood is about to list his property for rent. I’ve convinced him to allow you to see it first. A furnished townhome in your budget is an extremely rare find and will be gone in minutes. Take a taxi and meet me at the following address in thirty minutes.

The next text listed the address .

Hello to you, too, Claude, I thought wryly.

Then his words sank in, and a swell of excitement filled my chest. Regardless of what I thought of the man, he’d done exactly what I’d hired him to do—find me the perfect home for when I returned. And I would be returning without question now that Hunter and I had an understanding.

Another quick check confirmed no text from Hunter yet. Surely he’d reach out soon, full of apology and with a good explanation. In the meantime, maybe I’d have an exciting surprise for him. Although he wouldn’t be thrilled about my seeing Claude again, professional relationship or not.

“Is that Hunter?” Jillian asked, returning to look over my shoulder.

“No. I’m not sure what to do. Claude found a house, and it might be perfect. But I know Hunter will object to my meeting up with the guy.”

“Then we’ll make sure you don’t go alone,” Alexis said firmly, stopping next to Jillian with a trail of suitcases behind her.

My heart felt warm and happy. “You want to look at the house with me?”

“Of course. We’re family. We have to sign off on it before you live there. I’m pretty sure it’s in the rules.” Alexis’s tone left no room for argument.

“I agree,” Jillian said. “You aren’t making any decisions without us. Besides, I need to approve my bedroom for when I come to visit.”

I wrapped my arms around my sisters, feeling suddenly emotional. This was one of the biggest decisions of my life, and I couldn’t do it without their support. “I’m sorry about the way you found out, Jillie. I would never take that leap without talking to you first. I promised to never leave you alone, so if you’re planning to live at home, I’m not doing this.”

“Don’t be silly,” Jillian said, looking me straight in the eye. “I was only staying home for you.”

I blinked. “You were?”

“Of course. My twenty-six-year-old sister still living at home and working in a dead-end job she hated? I wasn’t about to abandon you there alone.”

This couldn’t be real. Jillian had to be making this up. “Then where do you plan to end up after all this?”

“I was thinking of moving to a big city. The farmhouse is too quiet and lonely. Gimme the bustle of traffic and crowds and an overpriced apartment full of plants, and I’ll be happy.”

I saw my sister with new eyes. “Really?”

Jillian nodded. “Really. But we can talk about that later. Today is about you. Now are you coming to see your new house, or what?”