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“It is. A beautiful movie. One I’d watch over and over again.” Tears fill my eyes again, but not out of sorrow.
Gigi lifts her shoulder. “She didn’t like it and believed I left out the bad parts to make it sound more magical. What she never realized is that to me it was magical. But people see what they want. I can’t pretend to know how she suffered before me or even after me. I did my best, and I’m not one to sugarcoat that story. My best wasn’t great.”
I reach over and grab her hand, squeezing her fingers. “If it helps, you’ve been an amazing grandmother.”
The endearing smile she gives me has me choking back more tears. “I’d learned a great deal by then and promised myself not to repeat the mistakes I made with your mother. I was in a different place in my life and career by then, too, and was able to give you everything I didn’t get to give her.”
“She didn’t turn out bad,” I assure Gigi. “I think she’s happy, too.” As happy as she can be.
Gigi nods but her smile no longer reaches her eyes. “The world is a mysterious place. Had I not got stuck in a flood, I wouldn’t have adopted your mother, and you wouldn’t be sitting here with me today. We can’t foresee where life will take us, but we can make sure not to miss opportunities that sing to our hearts.”
“Sing?”
“Some people believe our hearts share a song with those who are meant to be in our lives—a melody that can’t be heard with human ears, but that can be felt if we pay attention.”
“Like intuition?”
“Exactly.” She gets her green juice from the table and takes a sip. “There is so much we don’t know about our bodies, the mind, our spirits and how we connect to people and nature. Some simply don’t believe in any of it. I feel sorry for those people because they’re missing out. Hope, faith, destiny—they’re all the same.”
“I think my heart and Riley’s share a song. I don’t know why or how—I just believe it in here.” I touch my chest. “Even if it’s far-fetched, it’s there, undeniable, and I can’t ignore it. I don’t want to.”
Gigi’s phone chimes with a text.
She reads the screen, and her brows squeeze together with obvious confusion.
“What is it?” I turn to her.
She raises a finger and responds to the text.
“Gigi? Tell me?” I plant my feet on the ground, about to snatch the phone from her hand. My heart hammers my ribs. “Is it Riley?” He’s always my first concern.
Her phone chimes again. “I don’t believe it.” Her mouth hangs open now with shock or that same confusion, only worse.
“What?” I beg.
“He’s here.” She stands and stares at the main house in the distance.
I mimic her. “Who?”
“Riley.”
I must have heard her wrong. Or she said the wrong name. He can’t be here. I take the phone from Gigi’s hand, as she continues to gape at the estate as if frozen with disbelief.
The text is from Mr. Glenn. He’s been staying here ever since the Marina letter. It also says Riley is at the gate.
“He’s here,” I murmur, certain my expression mirrors Gigi’s…because why? How?
Gigi snaps out of it first. She takes back her phone and grabs my hand, dragging me forward. “Well, let’s greet him.”
I stumble behind, still unsure whether I believe he’s here. He said he’d never return. He’s in hiding. Here is dangerous. We’re halfway to the house when my voice returns. “Do you really think it’s him?”
“Who else could it be?”
“But here isn’t safe. Why would he come here?” We follow the winding stone path toward the house, getting closer.
“I suspect you are the reason.”
My heart continues to race, and my stomach joins in, filled with a mix of trepidation, anger, and elation. I’ve dreamed of seeing him again, wished it with all my heart…
We enter through the open doors at the back of the estate. The house is quiet until shoes sound from the hallway that leads toward the kitchen. A big man appears first.
Gigi nods at Mr. Glenn. I hold my breath.
Mr. Glenn steps to the side and there Riley stands, in the flesh, looking more beautiful than I remember—minus the stress straining from his gaze as he takes in Gigi and me.
My breathing echoes in my ears, or maybe it’s echoing off the floor in the massive room. Riley’s eyes lock with mine, and I can’t stop my feet from racing toward him. A second later, I’m throwing my arms around his neck and kissing him on the lips. Lips I wondered if I’d ever feel again.
