Page 10 of Lost Dreams

The island seemed endlessly fascinating and foreign to her.

Aurora’s older brother, Pino, and younger sister, Nadia, were sitting to Aurora’s left, both sipping wine and watching the fireworks reflect over the waves. Just as had been planned, on the appropriate day, Pino and Nadia had met at the airport in Rome, where they’d promptly blown up Aurora’s phone, looking for her. Aurora had written back simply: I’m already here.

Now, Nadia turned to look at Aurora. “Papa won’t stop asking me if you dropped out of business school or something,” she said.

Aurora’s breathing stalled. “Why would I drop out of business school?”

Nadia shrugged. “That’s what I told him. You’ve already put so many years into it. And you have, what, one semester left before you graduate?”

Aurora nodded and smiled a fake smile. “One more semester till I’m a fully-formed business-minded soulless cog in the machine.”

Pino rolled his eyes. “I don’t know how anyone half as dramatic as you gets through business school.”

At this, Gwen and Xander turned and looked at Aurora.

“You’re in business school?” Gwen asked, surprised.

Aurora rolled her eyes. “It’s just something to do with my time. It’s like, an experiment.”

Pino snorted. Aurora knew he didn’t always take kindly to Aurora’s lies. Then again, her siblings knew what had happened to her when she was nineteen. They knew why she’d had to come back to Rome and “make something of herself” so that she didn’t go insane.

She was grateful that Oren and Kenny seemed too immersed in their artistic conversations to hear about Aurora’s work in the business world. She didn’t want to destroy her cred.

Suddenly tired of her siblings’ probing questions, Aurora got up and went back to the main house, where she spotted her mother and Aunt Allegra off to the side, talking in low tones, gripping glasses of wine. Her grandma and grandpa were nowhere to be found, and Aurora wondered if they’d snuck off to bed, exhausted after a long day. The fireworks had begun to peter out, and several members of the catering staff were off to the side, grabbing cigarettes or sipping wine of their own. The most beautiful and wealthiest of the guests had already returned home or gone to their White Oak Lodge suites.

It had been a successful party. Aurora could feel the hum in the air that suggested it. All of the Whitmores were pleased. After all, it had been a very long road to get them here.

Just before Aurora disappeared into the Lodge, into the old family apartment portion of the hotel, where her mother and her siblings had been raised before the fire, Lorelei turned to look at her. Her eyes burned, as though she could see all the way through to Aurora’s soul. Aurora raised a hand and mouthed, “Good night,” before ducking into the house and shutting the door behind her.

She knew she needed to keep her distance from her mother and father. She couldn’t admit to them what she’d done. She couldn’t disappoint them, not again.

The following afternoon, Aurora, Pino, and Nadia rode with Uncle Jack to downtown Nantucket, the old historic district. Jack was meeting an old friend from high school, and Aurora and her siblings wanted to get out of the White Oak Lodge, where their parents seemed incapable of doing anything but bicker in Italian.

None of them wanted to talk about how terrible their parents’ relationship had been lately. None of them wanted to admit what they all felt coming.

Once in the historic district, the three of them walked slowly, taking in as much of the scenery as they could. It was truly extraordinary, like an American movie set, with a massive pier lined with gorgeous sailboats, American flags flapping in all directions, and ornate sports cars parked in front of cute coffee shops and wine bars. It was nothing like Italy.

After five minutes, though, Pino dropped the news that he hated it here. “It’s so, ugh, American,” he said snootily, in Italian, avoiding talking badly about the place in its own language.

Nadia, who always agreed with their older brother, nodded. “I know what you mean.”

Aurora switched back to English, if only to prove something. “Are you kidding? It’s glorious. Do you feel that breeze off the ocean? Do you see how beautiful these houses are?”

Pino and Nadia rolled their eyes.

“What?” Aurora asked.

“You’ve always been obsessed with America,” Pino said. “We know that.”

“I have not been,” Aurora said. “I mean, everyone was. Back in school?”

“I don’t know,” Nadia said.

“Mom’s American,” Aurora reminded them. “We’re American.”

Pino raised his shoulders. “Don’t you think it’s weird? The Whitmores didn’t talk to each other for almost thirty years, and now, they’re just going to forgive each other and move on?”

“It’s weird, yeah,” Aurora agreed. “But it’s weird in an interesting way. It’s a great story! And you’ve seen the way Grandma and Grandpa look at each other…”