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“Hey, honey.”
“Violet!” Anna stepped back to usher Violet inside. She didn’t want to wake up anyone else down the hall.
Inside Anna’s room, Violet gazed down at a sleeping Adam and touched his arm tenderly with the tip of her finger. Anna took this opportunity to check for a text from Smith. Nothing.
“I want to apologize for yesterday,” Violet said softly, without taking her eyes off Adam. “I was under tremendous stress, and I lost myself. I don’t want you to worry. I called my psychiatrist back in Ohio and asked about medication and future care. And he’s going to welcome me back with open arms tomorrow afternoon.”
Anna’s jaw dropped. She’d once dreamed of Violet’s departure. Very suddenly, it terrified her. “Violet, you can get a doctor here,” she reminded her. “Whatever’s going on, we can help you through.” She gestured vaguely toward Adam. “Your grandson is here. And he already loves you.”
Violet’s eyes sparkled with tears. “I appreciate you saying that, honey. I do.”
“It’s true.”
Violet tilted her head as though trying to process what Anna said. Her shoulders drooped. “Other things are waiting for me in Ohio. Things I have to do. People I have to speak with.” She swallowed. “Larry dumped me last year after Dean died. I’ve been too embarrassed to say it. But he married over the weekend, forcing me to acknowledge the truth.
“Larry and I haven’t spoken at all since last spring,” Violet said. “I still have a few things at the house. And more than that, I want to forgive him. I don’t want to carry around this hatred for the rest of my life. It’s a baggage too heavy for one woman on her own.”
Anna’s voice wavered. “You’re not alone, Violet.” She then closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around her. As Violet shook with sorrow, Anna planted her chin on her shoulder and said, “You always have a place here. Call me as soon as you get to Ohio. We can figure this out together.”
Violet’s muscles loosened against Anna’s fingers. Their hug parted, and Violet wiped her cheeks with the sleeve of her coat. “I have a big drive ahead of me,” she said, gazing back at Adam. “Wish me luck.”
Anna stood at her bedroom window and watched Violet drive away from The Copperfield House. She felt like she was coming undone.
After Adam woke up, Anna fed him with tears streaking her cheeks. She then cleaned herself up, put Adam in his carrier, and headed for the door that separated the two halves of the house. Up the stairs, she found herself before Smith’s door, listening for the familiar panting of Luka. The sound of emptiness within was like a roar.
“Smith?” Anna rapped her knuckles on his door as her blood pressure spiked. “Smith, are you there?”
A feeling of dread crawled up her stomach and back. She couldn’t wait a moment more and tore open the door to discover his room empty. His laptop and books no longer filled the desk in a wild array that, she’d thought, indicated his genius. His suitcase and backpack weren’t in the closet. And most importantly, Luka no longer lay at the foot of Smith’s bed, waiting for him to wake up.
Anna collapsed at the edge of Smith’s bed and cried into her palms. None of it made any sense. Why had Smith and Violet decided to skip town on the very same day? What had they said to each other after Smith had led her away from the harbor?
Anna suspected that it was all tied up in Smith’s memories of his mother. Violet’s difficulties drudged up the past. And maybe, being at The Copperfield House had become too painful for Smith—reopening old wounds.
That or Smith had decided he just wasn’t ready for whatever “love” existed between them. Maybe the minute he’d said “love” to Anna, he’d regretted it and known to get away. That was what men did, right? They avoided commitment.
Before she left his bedroom, Anna got up the nerve to call Smith. She imagined him on the ferry, the wind making his black hair flip and rush past his ears. There was no answer. When she called again, it went straight to voicemail as though he’d blocked her.
Somehow, Anna got herself to Scarlet’s bedroom door. Her arms were strained from holding Adam’s carrier, and her stomach was empty and gurgling. When Scarlet opened it, her face immediately transformed from one of recent slumber to one of concern.
“Are you okay?” Scarlet ushered Anna inside and closed the door behind her.
Immediately, Anna burst into tears. In the mirror, she saw herself as a mottled tomato, weeping into Scarlet’s shoulder. Mercifully, Adam remained asleep in his carrier. Anna didn’t want him to see her like this, even if he couldn’t make sense of it.
Scarlet ordered Anna to sit down on her bed. From beneath the bedframe, she procured several varieties of chocolate, a bottle of wine, and crackers. “Pick your poison,” she said.
Anna checked her phone. “It’s only nine!”
“And? Life is hard any time of the day!” Scarlet raised her eyebrows, then filled two clean coffee mugs with red wine. Anna remembered there were plenty of baby bottles in the fridge for Adam to drink from later. She also remembered she was only twenty-four years old. Maybe, in another reality, she would have met her friends for a mimosa-filled brunch in Seattle. Maybe she would have been carefree.
“He’s gone,” Anna admitted after a sip.
“What?” Scarlet demanded. Her voice was etched with anger.
“Smith. I just went to his room. He took everything.”
Scarlet looked flabbergasted. “What? Are you serious?” She shot to her feet and glared out the window as though that would reveal Smith’s secrets. “Tell me everything.”
Anna tried her best to articulate every beat of yesterday’s nearly perfect date. She spoke of the conversations they’d had, of Smith telling her he was falling in love with her, of the people who’d approached and called them a gorgeous family. She finished with Violet panicking in the harbor and Smith taking her home.
