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“He stormed out of the meeting,” I say, my voice low.
“He’s hurt.”
“It’s been four years, Charlotte.”
“Lex,” Charlotte breathes, but much like me, we’re both lost for words. “You can’t forget those years without me. I’m sure you remember them.”
I remain quiet. Of course, I remember them. Impossible to forget no matter how happy our lives are. Living without Charlotte had been pure hell.
“Feelings so strong, don’t just disappear,” Charlotte maintains, always an advocate for love. “Everyone grieves the end of a relationship differently.”
“Amelia has moved on?” I quiz, failing to see her point. “So why hasn’t he?”
“Once upon a time, I thought I had moved on. And maybe, if it weren’t for that day at the restaurant, things would have ended differently. If we had never crossed paths again, Lex, who knows where either one of us would have ended up.” Her cautious tone is no doubt because of my displeasure of discussing anything Charlotte and Julian related. I may have accepted him into our family as Adriana’s husband, but I never forget the past. “I don’t doubt Amelia’s love for Austin, but I also remember what it’s like to force the pain away. If that meant saying yes to another man too, then that’s what I did.”
“What are you trying to say?” I ask in confusion. “She’s only doing this to forget Romano exists?”
“No, I’m saying that’s what I did,” Charlotte concurs. “In the end, Amelia will follow her heart. If she said yes to Austin, she must see a future with him.”
I finish the drink in my hand, letting the ice knock against the glass.
“And if Romano is anything like me, since you like to point that out, he will come back to the States and fight for what he believes is his,” I argue back.
“Lex, you have to let her choose who she loves. You cannot make that decision for her,” Charlotte reminds me sternly. “The last time you stepped in, we almost lost her. I will not lose my daughter because you think she deserves better.”
I know that. Amelia is headstrong and will fight for what she wants. She stood up against me when she wanted to attend Yale. She’s got the argumentative gene just like her mother.
Four years is a long time. But out of sight, out of mind. Amelia appears happy, her life back together. I don’t believe she would say yes if she didn’t want a future with Austin. That is not how she is.
My phone pings with a text message.
“Hold on, Charlotte, let me just read this text.”
Richard: Romano has scheduled his return to the States. What do you want me to tell him?
I pull the phone back to my ear as my lips press together in a slight grimace. My eyes shut to allow myself to reflect on our conversation with Amelia, but just when I attempt rationality, my anger comes roaring back to life.
“Is everything okay?” Charlotte asks, worried.
“He wants to come home.”
“Lex, let him come home,” she almost pleads. “Let the chips fall where they may.”
“He will not touch our daughter again,” I demand, clenching my fist against my knee.
“My dad said that about you. He hated you for leaving me. But look at you now? He loves you.”
“I will not change my mind on this.”
“You’re stubborn,” Charlotte concedes. “Lex, we can’t lose her. She’s going to have to make these choices for herself. Just like I made them.”
I let out an annoyed huff; Charlotte is always the sensible decision-maker between us. More than I care to admit, I let my temper and feelings get
in the way, especially when my daughters are involved.
“Why do you have to be so god damn right all the time?”
“Because I’m your wife,” she admonishes light-heartedly. “And you love me.”
