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“Professor Heskew just adores her,” Julia said. “She can get away with doing anything.”
“She could draw a blueprint for a shoebox, and he’d be like, ‘Wow. That is so inventive, Aria,’” Nate said sarcastically.
“It’s pathetic. She’ll never make it in the real world,” Julia continued.
Aria’s throat felt thick, almost ready to completely close. Quickly, she turned on her heel and raced through the heat of the afternoon and down the steps. When she burst out of the architecture building, she hurried for her tree, where she wanted to find solace and think. But when she reached it, there was a couple beneath it, wrapped in one another’s arms, uninterested in Aria or her sorrows.
As Aria returned to her apartment, overwhelmed with heat and over-sugared from the ice cream, she considered what Julia and Nate had said, along with Professor Judah Heskew's advice. The truth of it was she only had one love— and that was architecture.But what if she was terrible at it? What if her parents hadn’t wanted her to attend architecture school because she had no talent? What if she didn’t belong there at all?
One thing she knew for sure was that she had no love for Ben. Beyond anything, she had to remain true to heart, otherwise, everything would be lost.
ChapterTwo
It was October in Grenada, an island in the Caribbean, and the sailboat that Aria’s entire family had been sailing had just been destroyed and nearly sunk into the ocean.
Aria stood in stunned silence behind the rest of her family as her father, Kenny Baldwin, ripped a hotel concierge to shreds, demanding five of their best rooms, even this late into the night. “It isn’t my problem that it’s three in the morning. We’ve been through hell and back. We almost drowned.”
Beside her father, Aria’s mother, Bethany, glanced back and locked her gaze with Aria’s. Aria wanted to plead with her mother to make her father stop, to tell him that ridiculing those in the service industry wouldn’t get them to their rooms any faster. But after what had just happened out on the black water, as their sailboat had careened into an enormous rock, Aria just didn’t have the energy.
“This is ridiculous,” Natalie, Aria’s older sister, muttered to her husband, Malcolm. Malcolm placed his hand on Natalie’s lower back and kissed her gently on the ear.
Gregory, Aria’s older brother, carried five-year-old Roger in his arms as Roger slept soundly, his cheek a bulge against his father’s shoulder. Aria’s heart lifted at the sight. Because Roger was still so young and still willing to be silly and curious, Roger was perhaps Aria’s favorite of all the Baldwins. Someday, Aria knew, Roger would become like his father and grandfather— stern, money-driven, and sure of himself.
As Kenny continued to bark at the hotel concierge to work faster, Natalie turned and touched Aria’s arm. “Are you feeling all right?”
Aria stuttered, surprised at the question. For a moment, she’d forgotten that she was amongst her family at all, as though she sat in front of a television and watched them. “Yes, I’m okay.”
“Whitney looked insane,” Natalie muttered under her breath. “Dad sounds like he’s going to sue the pants off her. Do you think maybe we shouldn’t have gone with a female sailor?”
Aria’s eyes widened in shock. “How is that your first thought?”
Natalie shrugged. “Aria, I’m just asking questions.”
“Here’s a hint. Maybe your questions shouldn’t be overtly sexist?” Aria shot back.
At this, Natalie’s face became frigid with anger. Under her breath, she said, “Why did you have to flirt with that sailor boy? You knew you were going to make Dad angry. Why do you always have to stir the pot?”
Aria gritted her teeth and muttered, “I never should have come on this stupid sailing trip. This was the biggest mistake of my life.”
Still, Natalie was partially right. When Aria had first spotted that handsome skipper, Cole, onboard the sailboat they’d planned to take for their twenty-eight-day adventures, she’d felt her soul catch on fire. There was something about him, about the honesty of his eyes, his sculpted muscles, his gorgeous tan. He’d made her laugh more in the past few days than Ben had throughout their relationship. Her parents were saddened that she’d ended her engagement with Ben, so much so that her mother had taken her aside to ask if there was any way Aria could consider getting back together with him. She knew Cole wasn’t exactly the type of man Kenny Baldwin would have paired with his daughter. Cole had no plans to become a lawyer, to spend his days on the golf course, or to schmooze at parties for governor candidates. Cole’s world was the open water. And Aria found herself doubled over with jealousy about it.
Aria was given a single room with a view of the water, which she awoke to the next morning. Sullen, she stood out on the balcony and watched the sunlight glitter across the waves and the tourists take their stance on the sands, ready to bask the day away.Where was Whitney? Where was Cole? How bad had the damage to the boat been?
Over the next several days, Aria’s family carved out a small “family vacation” for themselves on the island of Grenada, most of which Kenny Baldwin spent in a state of perpetual complaining. “I can’t believe what that incompetent sailor did to us,” he said, usually speaking of Whitney. “Both of them were probably inexperienced in this type of trip or boat,” he added, speaking, now, of both Cole and Whitney.
Aria spent most of her time away from her family, wandering the beaches with her sketchbook and thinking again about architecture school. Ever since she’d heard the other students ridiculing her work in the architecture building, she’d felt completely at a loss, as though every bit of her creativity had officially dried up. The first few weeks of school, prior to her departure for the sailing trip, had left her moody and inarticulate. She’d even avoided Professor Heskew, frightened that he was wrong about her talent. Besides, she didn’t want the other students to think he gave her preferential treatment just because they ate ice cream together and talked about whatever was on their minds.
To Aria, Professor Heskew was one of the first real friends she’d had in Savannah, and not being able to see him during that time had nearly destroyed her.
A few days after the sailboat accident, Aria ran into Cole on the boardwalk in front of their hotel. He looked upset and lost and told her that he planned to return to Martha’s Vineyard, his home. He insinuated that he never should have left. Aria’s heart cracked at the edges, imagining this handsome man at home with his family, with his mother who loved him. The way Cole spoke about Martha’s Vineyard was poetic, filled with nostalgia. She’d never felt so romantic about where she’d come from.It made her ache to see it for herself, if only to see the world through Cole’s eyes. She’d begun to think that her own life fell short.
Aria sat on the beach, her pencil poised over her sketchbook and her mind awash with frantic thoughts. Suddenly, the sand shifted to her left, and she turned to find her mother, Bethany, coming toward her in a cream-colored dress, her hair shifting lightly in the breeze. Last Aria had heard, her mother and father had gone for massages that morning and hadn’t planned to meet with their children until evening.
“Can I sit down?” Bethany asked Aria, tilting her head.
Aria swallowed and closed her sketchpad. “Okay.”
Bethany sat and eyed the sketchbook. She looked as though she wanted to see what Aria had drawn, and Aria prayed she wouldn’t ask, as it was little more than a few random lines.
