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Taylor’s hand flew up to her chest. “Are you blaming me for this?”
“Well, it was you who insisted on coming here,” Alina dared Taylor with her eyes.
“I didn’t drag you here, and I certainly didn’t force you to flirt with Logan.” She pointed her finger at Alina. “That is all on you. It was your choice to write that letter discrediting Dereck and your choice to send it in.” Taylor’s face was reddening. “You chose to keep the information from him, even though he confided in you several times about how the anonymous complaint was affecting his working life. All those things that wedged you two apart were decided by you and you alone.” Taylor’s laugh was edged. “The only thing I did was foolishly follow my so-called best friend across states to find a man who obviously deserves better.” Then Taylor walked away, leaving Alina with unpleasant tingles at the back of her neck. Her chest felt like it caved slightly as she stared at the ground with hunched shoulders.
Eventually, Alina made her way back to her hotel room, which had an eerie, defeated aura to it. Possibly it just materialized her feelings. Alina had lost not only Dereck, but also had a big fight with Taylor. Slumping on the bed, she blew out hard and took out her phone from her bag. Even though she knew the outcome, Alina still dialed Dereck’s number, over and over again, to no avail. He didn’t want to speak to her and she couldn’t blame him, yet the longing she felt for him kept her calling.
As Alina went into the glamorous bathroom to remove her makeup, her phone rang. Hoping it was Dereck returning her call, she jumped on the bed and sprang towards the phone.
“Hi sis,” her sister Casey said from the other end.
“Oh, it’s you,” Alina said in a low tone.
“Well, it’s nice to hear you too,” her sister said sarcastically.
“It’s not that,” Alina breathed heavily. “I was hoping it was Dereck.”
“He’s still ignoring you?” Casey’s voice was soothing.
“If only it was just that.” Alina passed her fingers through her hair.
She could hear the curiosity in her sister’s voice. “Did something else happen?”
Alina flung her head backward on the bed and passed her hand across her face. “I followed him all the way to Connecticut to reason things out with him and I’m afraid I only made things worse.” She squeezed her eyes together, then opened them again. “I doubt Dereck would ever speak to me again.”
“I know it may seem like this now, but I’m sure you will find a way to get through to him, sis,” Casey told her.
“And what if I can’t? What if this is really the end of us?” Alina rubbed her forehead, trying to relieve the tension there.
“Then you move on,” Casey declared. “It may seem impossible now, but time will heal your wounds.”
A smile curved at the sides of Alina’s lips. “You sound as if you’ve been in love before.”
“It’s hard not to fall in love when you’re cruising along the canals in Venice,” Casey chuckled. “But that is a story for another time. How is your painting going?”
“Bailey wants me to do one more, but I can’t even think about that right now.” She allows her body to sink into the bed.
“Maybe focusing on your painting is what you need to get through this,” Casey suggested. “Redirect your focus.”
Alina was about to respond to her sister when she heard a commotion on the other end. Then a harsher voice took over.
“Alina darling. When are you coming home?” Her mother demanded. “It’s been such a long time since you visited that I’m beginning to forget what you look like.”
Alina breathed out hard. Her mother had a flair for the dramatic, especially when it entails getting what she wanted.
“I’ll come as soon as I can, mom,” Alina pushed through the aggression. “But right now, I’m preparing for an exhibition.”
Alina could just imagine her mother pouting her lips. “You know you wouldn’t have had to move so far from home if you had gone to med school like your father and I wanted. You could have gotten a job down here instead of having to move to New York.” Her mother said the name of the city as if it left a bitter taste in her mouth.
“I’ll come to Maryland as soon as I can, Mom,” she said with no intention of doing so. In her family, Alina and Casey were the black sheep while their youngest sister, Jean, could do no wrong.
“Mom, I really have to go now,” Alina lied. “I’ll talk to you the next time, Okay?”
Alina didn’t even wait to end the call. She cut her mother midway in reminding her to come home. Then she pushed the phone away from her body and placed her hands on her face as the tears that she had been holding back flowed uncontrollably.
16
Alina awoke the following morning in her outfit from the previous night, makeup smudged across her face. Most of the night was a blur, but she clearly remembered Dereck, the crushing look on his face when he saw her on what she imagined looked like a double date. And to escalate the night, she got into an argument with her best friend. An unnecessary argument that pained her heart every time she thought about it.
