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“Oh, I’ve started doing book reviews alongside music reviews,” Bunny explained. “And your father’s story has made this book a real hot commodity this season.” She then turned toward Julia and said, “Congratulations, by the way.”
Julia’s cheeks burned crimson. “Thank you. It means a lot that people like you came for the release party.”
Bunny continued to smile like a shark. She then turned her attention back toward Ella and said, “You won’t believe this, but I’m off to Texas tomorrow to cover Will’s tour. It broke my heart that you two broke things off.”
It was as though Bunny had run through Ella with a knife. Her jaw dropped with surprise.
“I mean, your music was always spectacular. My favorite of the two-thousands,” Bunny continued. “You and Will were a match made in musical heaven. But I guess not everything can last forever. I imagine that you’ll start your own musical project here soon. It’s an exciting chapter, really.” Bunny hunted through her pocket and then handed Ella a business card. “You’d better call me when you get that new musical project up and running. I want to do a piece about you. It seems overly easy for a man to start over again after a band and relationship breakup. But a woman? I mean, you’re like the modern Stevie Nicks. Our readers would be eager to hear all about it.”
Soon after, Bunny ran off to chat with another journalist. This left Ella staring down at the business card, with both Alana and Ella slack-jawed beside her. Softly, Julia cupped Ella’s elbow and prepared to say something.
“Don’t,” Ella hissed, her eyes filling with tears. “Please.”
With that, she hustled through the crowd to return to the front table with Laura. There, Laura handed her a pen and said, “There’s a line around the porch. I couldn’t keep up!”
Ella swept a finger beneath her eye to catch the lone tear. “Sorry, hon.”
Laura paused, her pen hovering above the check-in sheet. “Are you okay?”
“Just fine.” Ella lifted her chin to greet yet another literary figure, then said, “Welcome to The Copperfield House. We’re so glad to have you here with us tonight.”
ChapterSix
At eleven that night, The Copperfield House’s very first party in twenty-five years came to a close. Bloggers, photographers, literary critics, and other writers who’d come to ogle Bernard Copperfield stepped out beneath the light of the moon and headed back to town, where inevitably, they’d join the throngs of tourists, drink expensive glasses of wine, and gossip about the party they’d just attended.
Julia was out on the porch having a last-minute meeting with her publishing house staff. Laura, Henry, and Rachel had all run off to find Anna and Danny back in the main house. Alana was in the corner chatting with her new sort-of boyfriend, Jeremy, and Julia’s new boyfriend, Charlie. This left Ella weak in the knees and exhausted. She collapsed in a cushioned chair near the snack table, selected a cupcake, and dug her teeth into the cream cheese frosting. Her thoughts turned into a strange, inarticulate buzz.
The worst had happened. Ella’s secret about her relationship with Will had been revealed. She hated that her sisters would want to talk about it. Ella had simply wanted to come home for a few days, support Julia’s publishing house and her father’s book, and then return to Brooklyn to prepare for the next era of her life. Very soon, Laura was off to college at Columbia University. Very soon, it would just be Danny and Ella, alone in that expensive apartment, as Ella struggled to pay the bills, and Danny fought his clear desire to drink himself into nothingness. She didn’t need judgment from her sisters on top of all that.
Ella continued to nibble at the edge of her cupcake and slowly fell deeper into the chair. Somewhere in her mind, she caught Alana’s voice, saying goodbye to several people. Then, Julia called a final,“Be safe out there!”into the night.
A split-second later, Ella was aware of the formidable presence of her two sisters, who stood on the other side of the snack table and peered down at her curiously. Ella forced herself back upright in the chair, careful not to get any frosting on her clothing. Both Julia and Alana looked on the verge of sobbing.
“Ella…” Alana began, her voice breaking. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
Ella rolled her eyes back into her head.
“Seriously, Ella. You know about the year that Alana and I had. We’re both going through divorces. My publishing house almost went under. My children hated me for not telling them that Jackson left me,” Julia began.
“Come on. They didn’t hate you. They were worried about you,” Alana interjected.
Julia bristled. “Tensions were high. And it’s not like I’m anywhere close to where I need to be. But I’m getting there! Bit by bit, I’m healing. And Alana is, too. Right, Alana?”
“Most days,” Alana offered, her voice low.
Ella set her half-eaten cupcake on the edge of the snack table. Alana and Julia grabbed chairs and scooted around the table. In the silence, Alana poured them each a small glass of wine, and the three of them watched as the liquid rained down and darkened into a pool of dark red.
Ella held her glass and peered at her reflection in the liquid. Both Alana and Julia seemed heavy with disappointment. But how could Ella possibly explain to them why she didn’t feel comfortable telling them about her private life?
Ella took a sip of wine. The cabernet trickled along her tongue in dark, woody tones with a hint of berries. Finally, she lifted her eyes toward her sisters and said, “I can’t tell you how hard it was when everyone left.”
Julia’s cheeks tightened. They knew that Ella spoke of the time “after” Bernard’s sentencing when Ella and Greta were left alone in that house.
“Ella, I’m so, so…” Julia began.
“Don’t apologize. It doesn’t change anything,” Ella interjected. “I just need to explain. During that time, I felt like I had nobody. Mom never got out of bed. Like, never. I made almost every meal for her. I had to do the chores. I had to keep myself alive, even when everything felt so pointless. Back then, the only thing that didn’t feel pointless was music. And one night, I snuck off to Manhattan with my high school band and played in a dingy nightclub for bad punk bands. That was the night I met Will.”
Alana and Julia were captivated. Clearly, this was the sort of story you were supposed to share with your sisters.
