I didn’t fall in love with a murderer.
Google has been my best friend since I got home. I’ve read every article I could find on his family, from business ones to the obituaries for his grandparents. There’s not a lot of personal information to go on, but the things I was able to find—after Mel helped me stalk out his old social media—do not point to a killer.
He was an insanely attractive young man with a penchant for extreme sports and a love for his family and friends.
A man who smiled a hell of a lot.
Before.
Reading the comments from his friends on his socials was the strangest. All those words written to someone beyond the grave, when I know he’s alive.
I wonder where he went. If he’s by the coast, living on another boat. If he’s still making his carvings.If he’s found someone else.A woman who this time he won’t forget if she were to leave.
I scowl at the thought, but my timing’s terrible, and my father hones in on it like a tracker hound.
“I expect you to be there, Jude,” he instructs.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” I reply with a forced smile.
My mother looks at me in concern as he leaves the room. “He only wants what’s best for you.”
“Yeah, if what’s best includes Callum and a lifetime of being a surgeon’s wife, second best to being a surgeon myself, of course,” I mutter with a hint of bitterness.
“He doesn’t show his feelings well. But he loves you and wants you to be happy, Jude.”
I blow out a breath. “I always feel like a huge disappointment to him.”
Mom squeezes my hand. “You’re not. He’s proud of you, even if he struggles to show it.”
“Mm,” I murmur, unconvinced.
“Are you okay? You haven’t been yourself since you got home. Is it Callum?”
I meet her worried eyes, unable to lie to her, but also unable to tell her the complete truth.
“No, I’ve barely thought about him, apart from the logistics of what to do with the apartment.”Truth.“I think it’s post vacation blues.”Understatement of the year.
“I understand. That place was beautiful. Magical.”
“You’ve been there?”
“A few years ago. Remember I took a trip at the time your father was on a conference in Chicago?”
I nod, remembering Mom traveling alone like she does every year around the same date. But I thought she’d gone to visit her sister in San Francisco.
“It was a tough time…” She exhales. “While I was away I did a lot of thinking. I was contemplating asking your father for a divorce.”
“What?”
I was not expecting that to come out of her mouth. My mother’s always played the dutiful surgeon’s wife role perfectly.
“He spent all his time working, and I… felt invisible, I suppose. It scared your father to know it had come to that. He had no idea how unhappy I was, and things have been much better since. You know he works hard, but we make time for one another now too. Marriage is hard, Jude. And it needs work from both sides. Your father might not be perfect, but he’s never looked at another woman since the day we met. It’s medical research papers I have to compete with for his attention.”
“I had no idea.”
She smiles softly. “Because you’re our daughter, and we didn’t want you to have any idea. It was for us to sort out. Now… leave your father to me. You deal with Callum. Whatever you decide to do, I’ll be here.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
