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Judah raised his shoulders. “We’ve been in the middle of a messy divorce for over a year.”
“You never said anything.” Aria remembered last September, asking Judah about marriage, about if it was worth it. At the time, she’d needed to break up with Ben, but she hadn’t known how.
“I didn’t want to complain about my divorce to the daughter who didn’t even know I was her father. All I wanted to do was help you hone your architectural talents. And maybe remind you that someone on this campus cared for you, even when you were convinced you were alone.”
The sentiment was one of the kindest Aria had ever heard.
“I just can’t figure out one thing,” Aria said, her eyes to the hallway, watching for her mother. “Who sent me the newspaper clipping?”
Judah’s cheeks were red with embarrassment. “That would be my ex-wife.”
Aria’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding.”
“I wish I was. She knew about you, about how I felt about being able to get to know you here on campus, and I think she was overwhelmed with jealousy. She wanted to destroy my reputation by sending the newspaper clipping to you, but I guess it backfired.”
“How did you figure out she’d mailed the clipping to me?”
“I got a bill for a private detective who’d hunted down your exact address.” Judah sighed.
Aria’s laughter sounded strange. “Itwasa messy divorce.”
“Yes.”
“But it’s sort of ironic, isn’t it? Without that newspaper clipping, maybe my mother would never have left Kenny, and maybe I never would have returned to school.”
Judah’s smile widened. “You’re coming back. You’re going to graduate.”
“I have to,” Aria said. “Architecture is the only thing that ever made sense to me.”
“I remember saying the exact same thing when I was your age,” Judah said softly. “Around the time that your mother and I broke up, and I felt that nothing in life would ever make sense— I knew that I would always have architecture.”
ChapterTwenty-Two
That night with Aria’s mother and father was one she would remember for the rest of her life. Together, they ate decadently, shared stories, and found new ways to laugh. It felt like medicine against the horrors of the past. Although Aria had no idea what would happen next or whether Judah and Bethany would ever find love with one another again, she knew they’d all taken tremendous steps forward as people. Maybe that was all that mattered.
Upstairs in the hotel room, Aria washed her face, got into bed, and called Cole on the phone to tell him what had happened.
“My mom looks totally smitten,” she said. “Like a teenage girl or something.”
“This is such a wild story,” Cole said.
“Where are you tonight?” Aria asked.
“I’m at the cottage, actually,” Cole explained with a laugh. “Since the bedroom is ready to go, I thought I’d move my bed and mattress in. The place is a million times better than either of our apartments. I figure we had better just move in when you get back.”
Aria pictured Cole seated at the edge of the bed they would share in their first home together; she pictured him year after year in that cottage, out on the back porch, watching the waves lap up against the dock, and the sunlight play across the water. She pictured herself at the kitchen table, drawing up blueprints for whatever architecture project she was in the midst of. She imagined the kind of life she could be proud of.
Nearly three hours later, Bethany returned to the bedroom, her eyes shining from too many glasses of wine. She collapsed in bed next to Aria and stared at the ceiling, her hands stretched across her stomach.
“You look smitten,” Aria teased.
Bethany rolled over and propped up her head with her elbow. “I felt like I was twenty-one again,” she said quietly.
“That sounds like magic.”
“It really was,” Bethany breathed.
“What are you going to do?” Aria asked.
