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“Well, they’re both equally irritating, so I didn’t see the difference, personally.” She took the basket over to the egg holder and started distributing the eggs. “What does she want this time?”
“Your daughter is channelling your best trait and refusing to open it.” Dad winked at me.
“Are you saying I’m stubborn, Steve?” Mum gave him a pointed look.
“Oh, fine.” I snatched the envelope up and untucked the flap. The letter was perfectly folded inside, and I slid it out.
Sophie,
I understand that you don’t owe me anything. If I were you, I’d be ignoring me, too. But please—I need to speak with you.
I’ll be at The Pelican Bay restaurant tomorrow at two-thirty.
I’d like if you’d join me.
Yours,
Anna
The audacity of that woman.
How could she think I would accept that offer?
Actually, I was going to. I was going to go.
“What does it say?” Mum asked, looking over expectantly.
“She wants me to meet her tomorrow afternoon to talk.” I put the piece of paper down.
“Are you going?”
“Oh, yes. I’m going.” I got up from the table. “I’m going to tell her to leave us all alone. She can’t keep harassing us like this. Enough is enough.”
***
I paused in the restaurant doorway.
Anna was there on the terrace, peering down at her phone. Nobody else was out there which meant we’d have complete privacy, but my stomach rolled all the same.
Why was I here?
I had nothing to say to her. Whether she served me coffee or was a duchess, it didn’t change the way she’d treated me.
How she hadn’t listened me.
How she’d strong-armed me.
How she’d kicked me out of her house for a deception I’d never wanted to be a part of before I’d left.
How she’d been a part of how irrevocably my heart had been broken.
Looking at her hurt. I saw so much of Hugo in her—they had the same, lush green eyes that were so emotive, and where Henry leaned to their father’s sandier blond hair, there was no doubt that Hugo took after Anna with their dark locks.
I didn’t want to walk out there and sit down opposite her. I was afraid of my heart breaking all over again. That I’d be reminded of what I’d left behind, of what and who was a part of my past now.
But I couldn’t take this anymore. She had to leave my parents alone. She had to stop calling and sending letters and knocking on the door.
They wanted peace.
