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“We are,” Julia affirmed, suppressing her giggles.
“I figured. You’re always laughing and gossiping about something. I always wanted a sister like that,” Jane finished.
Alana’s heart cracked at the edges.
“It took us a long time to appreciate each other, I think,” Julia said thoughtfully, her eyes on Alana’s. “But we’re getting the hang of it, now.”
“That’s just so sweet—” Jane began, as the door off to the right of the front desk bucked open. Jane’s face was illuminated, as though Brad Pitt himself had just entered the foyer. “Jeremy! I was worried you wouldn’t make it.”
Alana’s heart pounded so violently that she nearly dropped her cappuccino.
Could it really be him?
After all this time?
It couldn’t be.
Before them stood a man in his mid-forties, strong and handsome, towering over them at six-foot-three. He wore a collared shirt and a pair of jeans, and his eyes looked strangely far away, as though he’d spent the better part of the day hunched over multiple documents, reading small print.
Jane hopped up from her desk and rustled around to greet him. There was a clear infatuation from Jane’s side, proof that calling him up for Alana and Julia’s sake had been Jane’s greatest pleasure of the day.
“Jeremy, may I introduce you to…” But Jane hadn’t bothered to ask their names. She waffled and cast her hand toward them.
Jeremy didn’t seem equally pleased to see Jane. His body language was closed off, and he shoved his hands into his pockets and turned his eyes toward the women across the foyer— the women who needed him. But when his eyes fell upon Julia’s, a look of shock came over his face. A split-second later, those same dark eyes found Alana’s.
He looked on the brink of murder.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Julia muttered under her breath.
“What was that?” Jane asked brightly. “Your names?”
Julia laced her fingers through Alana’s and tugged her up. Wearing a false smile, she strode the rest of the way across the foyer, bringing Alana with her, like a dog on a leash. As Alana approached Jeremy Farley, her eyes welled with tears.
The last time she’d seen him had been minutes before the accident that had ruined his life.
“Don’t worry, Jane. I know them,” Jeremy said, anger lacing every word. “Julia and Alana Copperfield.”
Julia nodded and tried a smile. “It’s true that we’re both getting divorced. Back to the classic Copperfield name.”
Jeremy coughed. “I have to admit that I didn’t know either of you were on the island.”
“I got back in April,” Julia explained.
Alana shrugged. She didn’t want to explain herself to Jeremy. She copied him, shoving her hands deep in the pockets of her linen pants. A thought struck her, one that nearly made her gasp with laughter.This man took my virginity.
Jeremy’s cold eyes focused on Alana as he waited for her to say something, anything. Jane’s eyes wavered from Alana to Julia to Jeremy and back again in a manic circle. There was no way she could possibly understand what was happening.
“Well,” Julia began, “I suppose we should cut to the chase. You probably have a lot of work to do down there.”
“Why don’t I get everyone cappuccinos from the new machine?” Jane offered, her voice bright.
Jeremy shook his head. “No thanks, Jane.”
Jane looked like a wilted flower. “What about—”
“I thought you were in Paris,” Jeremy finally said, interrupting Jane.
“Amazing how easy it is to travel these days, isn’t it?” Alana’s sarcasm would have made her teenage self proud.
