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“Does she?” Ella tried to laugh, but it sounded all wrong.
They reached Manhattan directly at rush hour. With enhanced concentration, Ella braked quickly, surged forward when she could, and finally discovered a near-perfect parking spot only three blocks from Columbia University’s student housing. About an hour before, Danny had checked the class schedule that Laura had shared with both Danny and Ella, which showed that she would be leaving Havemeyer Hall at approximately seven-fifteen. Ella’s stomach simmered with excitement. She was reminded of the days when she and Will had been on tour when they’d played a gig and immediately gotten into the van to take off for someplace else. Things had gotten rough in Nantucket— but they’d escaped. Maybe they wouldn’t ever go back.
A stream of hundreds of students escaped Havemeyer Hall from seven to seven-fifteen. Ella and Danny waited expectantly off to the side, both feeling silly for separate reasons. Ella felt too old to be on a campus like this, surrounded by young people on the brink of the rest of their lives. Danny probably felt too young to be there, a foolish high school senior who couldn’t measure up.
But then, like a ray of sunshine, Laura stepped out from Havemeyer Hall. Her hair whipped around in the September evening wind, and she was bundled up in a coat Ella had gotten on clearance and a scarf that Ella didn’t recognize. She was in conversation with another young woman about her age, both with book bags across their shoulders. Danny lifted his arm and waved like an airplane operator, and suddenly, Laura’s eyes widened with shock.
“What are you doing here?” she cried as she rushed toward them.
The view of her daughter running toward her was perfect. Ella’s heart shattered with a mix of sorrow and joy as Laura wrapped her arms around her and held her close. She then hugged her brother with tears running down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m crying,” Laura rasped.
But Ella was crying too, of course. She hugged Laura another time, linked her arm with hers, and said, “We just couldn’t wait to see you again.”
“It’s true,” Danny chimed in, clearly pleased to be back in the city and back with his sister. “I had no idea that life without you would be so boring.”
“Ha. And that’s coming from the football star of Nantucket High,” Laura teased him.
“Your brother is something else on the field,” Ella explained.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Laura said conspiratorially.
Laura had to drop off her backpack at her dorm. After that, the three of them would head out for a dinner that Ella probably couldn’t totally afford. When night fell, she wasn’t sure what she would say. Where would she and Danny sleep? Hotels in Manhattan were exorbitant. Airbnbs were probably out of the question.
For now, she decided to shove the question out of her mind. She wanted to enjoy the next several hours with her babies. She wanted to remember what it felt like to stand on solid ground.
“Oh, there’s this insane new Vietnamese place we could check out,” Laura explained as they stepped into the elevator of her university dorm. “Or a taco place that I really love. Their guacamole is to die for.”
“It all sounds great.” Ella’s smile had begun to hurt her face.
“Nantucket has great restaurants, though,” Danny began to say. “I was surprised.”
“You’re becoming an islander,” Laura teased.
“I don’t know about that,” Danny returned.
The elevator door burst open to reveal the long hallway that led to Laura’s dorm room. There, beside the very door that led into Laura’s dorm room, stood a very familiar man. Ella’s heart stopped beating. As her children tore down the hallway, calling out, “Dad! Oh my gosh. Dad!” Ella remained in the elevator. Everything about this day felt like a nightmare.
Will turned and smiled that ridiculously handsome smile at his children. He extended his arms out and hugged them with his eyes closed. Just as the elevator doors began to close, Ella forced herself to step into the hallway, where she walked toward her family with her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
“Mom, why didn’t you tell us that Dad was coming?” Danny demanded. He looked just as happy as he had on his birthday as a child.
Ella lifted her left shoulder. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Oh. I can’t even…” Laura blinked back tears as she removed her key from her pocket and let her family into her dorm room. “Just let me put my stuff away, and then we can head out to dinner.”
Once inside the dorm room, Ella felt stifled by the smell of girls’ cologne and girls’ lotion and girls’ semi-dirty clothing. Danny and Laura chatted amicably as Will and Ella remained near the door. Ella burned with desire to ask Will what the heck he was doing there. But when she turned to face him, the look in his eyes stopped her in her tracks.
There was something clearly wrong.
Finally, Will whispered, “It’s nice to be all together again. Isn’t it?”
“All right. Let’s go!” Laura cried before Ella could answer, turning back from her desk.
“Whoop!” Danny’s voice echoed down the hall.
ChapterFifteen
