Chapter 5

Paris. City of love, light, and tiny hotel rooms.

My sisters and I stood in the doorway, staring at a bed barely large enough for two, let alone three. A couple of feet of floor space surrounded the bed, just enough for a person to skirt around the edges. A door on the far side led to an even smaller bathroom. There wasn’t room for luggage, let alone three women to walk around comfortably.

“Looks like one of us is sleeping standing up,” Alexis said.

Jillian and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows. This wasn’t exactly the wide, sweeping bedroom I’d found online. More like a hotel closet. I’d seen larger accommodations on cruise ships.

“Grandpa did want us to get closer.” I chuckled. The laugh died in my throat.

Jillian sighed. “In the 1800s, you’d have four to five siblings sharing a bed. We’ll figure it out. Sleep on our sides, maybe?”

Alexis grimaced. “Not a chance. I’m getting my own room.” She turned to leave.

“They’re full,” I told her, although part of me wished she would do exactly that. “I snagged their last room. They’re booked for weeks.” A miracle that we even had this place, to be honest. It wasn’t easy to throw together a monthlong European tour with only two weeks’ notice. Eleanor had booked our plane tickets, but I’d insisted on booking everything else through work. It didn’t hurt to have the right connections.

Alexis groaned and sank onto the bed. “Are the three of us sharing a room on the cruise ship too? Because I’m going to lose my mind if I don’t get some sleep.”

That I could agree with. I didn’t sleep much on the plane, and by the looks of my bleary-eyed sisters, they didn’t either. “I think our room on the ship has two beds.” At least, the website said it did. I’d have to double check that.

She murmured an acknowledgment of some kind, looking as if she’d collapse into unconsciousness before this conversation ended.

It’s a free trip to Europe , I reminded myself. At least we weren’t sleeping on the street.

Jillian accepted our fate and now examined the room. Despite her exhaustion, my youngest sister’s eyes glowed with excitement. “This room is so charming! I can’t believe I’m here. My subscribers will love this. I wonder how old the building is.”

Then she opened the curtains, and we all went still.

“Oh,” I found myself saying, completely forgetting the tiny room. Because on the other side of the window lay a charming courtyard filled with flowers and vines extending three stories high. On the ground level, a stone path wound through what looked like a tiny park with tables.

Jillian squealed. “It’s like a movie!”

That I couldn’t disagree with. I felt as if we’d stepped into an adorable travel rom-com and were about to find our true loves the instant we stepped outside. The entire city screamed romance . Which made sense, considering the whole City of Love thing.

No wonder Hunter never came home.

I chided myself for even thinking about him. Hunter had been forced to choose between me and Paris, and he’d chosen Paris. In the meantime, Grandpa wanted the Travell sisters to reconcile or at least attempt to mend the rift between us. With only a few days in each city, there wouldn’t be much opportunity for romance, and I preferred it that way. Hunter could live his life how he wanted without ever knowing I was here.

Alexis rolled over onto the pillows and closed her eyes. “I’ll see you in about twelve hours.”

Time to pull the big sister card. “Make that two. One of the most important lessons of traveling—adjust to the local time as quickly as possible. We have tickets for the Eiffel Tower this afternoon, and then there’s this famous restaurant I wanted us to hit on the way home.”

“The Eiffel Tower?” Jillian said, frowning. “That’s the biggest part of the entire trip. I hoped we’d see that when we were more rested.”

I shrugged. “It’s busier on weekends, so I thought today would be better.”

“ You thought,” Alexis muttered and settled into the bed, pulling a pillow over her head. At least the bed looked soft and comfortable.

“It’s okay. Two hours it is.” Jillian closed the curtains on the view and slipped her shoes off. But before she climbed into bed, she paused, her hesitant expression instantly worrying me. “I have to tell you something. I got a text from Hunter. ”

“What?” I hissed. Since when did she and Hunter talk like old buddies? “When?”

“I saw it after we landed. He must have texted while we were in the air.”

“What did it say?”

She pursed her lips. “He wants to meet up.”

I wanted to curse. “How did he know we were coming?”

“We live in a small town, remember? Word travels fast.”

My heart did a little flip, and I scolded it before calming myself. This news most definitely did not make me happy. “I didn’t tell anyone. Did you?”

Jillian flushed. “I may have mentioned Paris in the video I made at the airport. If he follows me, he would have seen it.”

Did Hunter follow my younger sister’s social media accounts? It wouldn’t be all that weird considering he’d grown up next door. We were all in our twenties now, adults in every sense of the word. But considering his situation, I would have thought he’d moved on by now.

Time to accept it. Hunter knew we were here, and there would be no getting around that.

“I know things are weird between you two,” Jillian said. “But even if you don’t want to see him, I do. It’s been four years since he left.”

Three years and 251 days. Not that I was counting. It wasn’t like I’d spent nearly four years thinking about his last words to me, which still reverberated through my mind.

When you change your mind, meet me in Paris.

Well, besides our text conversation when Mom died a year later, but I refused to think about that at all.

“Did he say when he wanted to meet?” My voice felt tight, and my brain struggled to form thoughts, but I had to figure this out. Hunter didn’t reach out to me first. Why?

It didn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure that out. Our last exchange didn’t go well. But he still had Jillian’s phone number. Why? And what about Collette? So many questions.

I swallowed hard and wished I’d bought a water bottle from the desk downstairs. It felt stifling in here.

“Don’t answer,” I told Jillian. “If we run into him, then fine. But let’s not encourage him. Hunter will only complicate things.”

Jillian rolled her eyes. “You were best friends most of your lives. He grew up right next door. You’re being a little dramatic, wouldn’t you say?”

“No. He left to get a fresh start, and I think we should let him have it.” If he wanted anything to do with us, he would have come home when I begged him to.

My sister sighed. “Look, it’s been years since whatever happened that you won’t talk about. Surely you can be friends now.” She took a deep breath. “And if you can’t, at least remember that he’s my neighbor too.”

I stared at my sister, trying to figure out what she meant by that. But she didn’t meet my gaze as she climbed into bed next to Alexis, leaving the edge for me. My kindhearted sister would know I wanted to stay as far from Alexis as possible, even in sleep. She was sweet like that.

But when it came to Hunter . . . I felt sick to my stomach. Could I see him again? Why was he texting my sister? Could I pretend he hadn’t shredded my heart into tiny ribbons resembling uncooked hash browns?

My mouth suddenly felt dry. Maybe I should buy that water bottle after all.