by Sophie Love
“I completely forgot,” Keira gasped. “I invited them over for drinks ages ago. It was supposed to be for a catch up before Shane arrived and took all of my time. Is that okay?”
“I clearly don’t have a choice,” Bryn replied, looking put out. “Shame, though. We could have had a really fun evening just the two of us since you’ll be gone for so long…”
“Sorry,” Keira replied, shrugging. “I didn’t know it was my last night at the time I made the plans. I’d assumed you’d be out on a date with some guy like most nights.”
There was a knock on the door, and Bryn stood with a huff to answer it. As the door swung open, Keira heard the happy exclamations of Maxine and Shelby. She hurried over and took in the sight of her two friends—petite Shelby with her long, white-blond hair, and super-fit Maxine with her short black curls and dark skin.
“Keira!” they cried, throwing their arms around her.
“It’s been too long,” Maxine said into her ear.
“I was certain you were never coming back to New York City,” Shelby added in the other.
Keira drew back. “I know, I’m sorry. Everything happened so quickly—getting sent to Ireland, breaking up with Zach, moving out the apartment. I just haven’t found time to get my thoughts in line.”
Bryn, who was still standing holding the door open, added, pithily, “It was a family only time, you know?”
“Sure,” Maxine said with a stiff smile.
Keira tugged her friends further into the apartment. “Come on, let’s drink. And talk.”
“And pack,” Bryn added in a parental way.
They all tumbled inside, chatting with giddiness. Bryn reluctantly opened a bottle of wine for them to share, then sat at the kitchen island with a huff, handing a glass to each of Keira’s friends with a dark expression.
“So, you’re off to Italy?” Shelby asked, grinning with excitement. “How long for this time?”
“Three weeks,” Keira replied, folding clothes and placing them in her case. “It’s sort of my niche at the magazine at the moment. I go abroad and write an article on love. They’re calling me the Romance Guru.”
Shelby and Maxine exchanged a glance, one that Keira could immediately read into.
“I know, I’m hopeless with relationships. Two breakups in as many months, right? But I can just play a character.”
“You mean lie?” Maxine asked with a laugh.
“If I have to,” Keira replied, recalling how much she’d struggled writing the last piece. Then she’d been a cynic trying to deny the fact she was falling in love with Ireland, and, more specifically, Shane. Now she was supposed to be taking the other view, of being a hopeless romantic, a convert who would easily and willingly lose herself in love and passion. She felt anything but.
“You’ll just have to fall for a hot Italian guy,” Shelby added.
Keira smirked. “Wouldn’t that be nice?” she mused, though she felt as though a nun in a monastery had a better chance of a passionate love affair than she did at this moment in time.
“You’re going to miss Halloween,” Maxine added, glumly.
“I know, it’s a shame,” Keira replied. “It’s my favorite holiday. But they go all out in Italy too. It’s actually like a four-day public holiday, I think. The day of the dead, All Souls’ Day, All Saints’ Day, it’s a massive deal. A huge party.”
Shelby folded her arms in mock affront. “Basically you’re saying that your Halloween experience will be tons better than ours.”
“No!” Keira laughed, protesting. “Well, maybe.”
Everyone laughed. Except Bryn, of course. She was staring into her wine glass, pouting.
“Anyway,” Keira said, “we can have a great Thanksgiving together. I’ll be back by then.”
Bryn’s head snapped up. “We’re having Thanksgiving at Mom’s this year, remember. Just the three of us.”
“That’s the meal,” Keira contested, growing impatient with her difficult sister. “I can spend the rest of the day with my friends, can’t I?”
“Of course you can,” Bryn huffed. She went back to staring into her glass.
Maxine raised her eyebrows. She and Shelby were used to Bryn’s attitude but Keira just couldn’t understand why Bryn had to be so possessive over her. She was allowed other people in her life! Bryn was super independent herself and always had loads of friends and boyfriends, was always on the go rushing around to events. Yet as soon as Keira wanted to spend time with someone other than her she got in a mood. Honestly, sometimes Keira felt like she was the elder of the two. Bryn could be a spoiled brat sometimes.
“Thanksgiving sounds so far away,” Shelby mused.
“I know,” Keira replied. “I feel like I’ve barely had a chance to be in New York. It’s like I’ve been on vacation here! I thought I’d have more time to catch up. I haven’t even found a new apartment.”
“Speaking of new apartments…” Bryn said.
She was looking at Keira’s cell phone on the counter. The screen was alight from having just delivered a text message. And Zach’s name was clearly visible on her screen.
“This had better be about the deposit being returned,” Keira said.
Just then, Maxine and Shelby exchanged a guilty glance and Keira got the distinct impression that they were hiding something.
“What is it?” she demanded.
She’d had just about enough she could take of surprises.
It was Shelby who finally confessed. “I think it might be about Julia. They broke up.”
Keira raised an eyebrow, surprised. “They did?” The affair that had cost them their relationship had lasted only a few weeks?
She picked up her phone and read Zach’s message. It confirmed Shelby’s news.
Hey Keira. Long time no speak. I wanted to let you know before you hear it on the grapevine that I broke up with Julia. It just wasn’t working. I was wondering if you might be around for a drink? Tonight? Tomorrow? Let me know. X
“Ugh, he’s such an arrogant jerk,” Keira muttered.
“What did he say?” Maxine asked.
“Nothing about the fact he’s keeping my deposit for ransom,” Keira told her with a disgusted voice. “He wants to go for a drink.”
Bryn’s mouth dropped open with surprise. “You’re not going to go, are you?” she asked.
Keira looked at her, shocked. “Of course not,” she said. “Unless it’s the only way to get that money back.”
Bryn tutted loudly. “If he’s bribing you to date him I swear to God I will give him a piece of my mind…”
Shelby frowned at her. “He’s not bribing her. Don’t be so dramatic.”
Bryn looked affronted. “I’m sorry, whose friend are you? His or Keira’s?”
“Both,” Shelby replied, folding her arms.
Bryn did not look impressed. “Even though he cheated?”
“Guys!” Keira interrupted. She was not in the mood for bickering. Her eyes were still glued to her cell phone screen.
Suddenly, Bryn snatched her phone away.
“Stop considering it!” she ordered Keira.
“I’m not!” Keira cried, trying to defend herself.
But Bryn was right, there was a small part of her that was considering it. Zach, for all his flaws, had cared about her. They’d spent two years together, had lived in an apartment together. He’d been committed, reliable. And he was definitely familiar. It was just the fact that she was putting work above him that had ruined things between them, driven the wedge that drove him into Julia’s inviting arms.
Bryn’s expression was like thunder. She dangled Keira’s phone over her wine glass.
“Don’t make me dunk it,” she said.
In her peripheral vision, Keira could see Maxine and Shelby shaking their heads in disbelief at Bryn’s drama queen behavior.
She sighed loudly. “Okay, okay. I will not meet up with him. Is that what you want to hear?”
Bryn nodded, satisfied, and ret
urned her phone to her sister.
“Now delete the message and take him out of your contacts.”
Keira exhaled loudly.
“This is ridiculous,” Shelby muttered under her breath.
Keira looked at her phone, at Zachary’s contact details. They’d been there for years. She couldn’t just delete him like he’d never existed.
But she had to accept that Bryn was right on this, again, despite her heavy-handed tactics. Because rekindling contact with Zach would be like taking a step backward. Keira’s life had changed so much in such a short amount of time, having him back in it in any capacity would be like a regression. She had to move on, step forward. Not just from Zach, but from Shane too. Now it was her time to shine, to stand on her own two feet and become independent.
Resolved, she deleted his details, watching as his name disappeared from her phone. It felt good, empowering. If she could just get the guts up to delete Shane too, then she’d really have made it. But no, not yet, the pain from their breakup was still too real.
Keira looked up at her sister.
“Happy now?”
Bryn grinned. “Of course. I’m always happy when I win.” Then she added, slyly, “And I always make sure I win.”
Shelby groaned. Maxine sunk her head into her hands, shaking it theatrically. Keira just laughed, happy and relieved that she’d taken the first small step toward moving forward with her life.
CHAPTER FIVE
Keira soon discovered that putting the past behind her was much easier said than done, and would involve a whole lot more than symbolically deleting contacts from her cell phone. Because the moment she made it to Newark airport the next morning, she was bombarded with memories of Shane, of Ireland.
Feelings of nostalgia whirled inside her as she walked through the concourse. As she handed over her boarding pass at the gate, she remembered with vivid clarity the emotions she’d had last time—the anxiety mixed with excitement and hope. It hadn’t been that long ago but already she felt like a different person entirely, a sadder, more bitter person.
She boarded the plane and took her seat. Luckily, she was by the window, which gave her an excuse not to interact with the passenger beside her. She wasn’t in the mood for chatting. Unfortunately for Keira, the man beside her seemed intent on it. As they took to the air, he leaned over and spoke.
“Name’s Garrett. Ever been to Naples before?” he asked her, grinning jovially.
He was a middle-aged man, balding slightly. He appeared to be traveling alone. Keira noticed he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring but that the skin was paler where a band had once been. A recent divorcee, she hypothesized, and groaned internally. It was going to be a long eight hours.
“No,” she replied, monosyllabically.
“So why are you traveling today?” he added. “Business or pleasure?”
Keira hunkered down in her seat. “Business,” she explained. “I’m—”
She stopped herself then, recalling what Bryn and Nina had told her in the coffee shop about playing with fake identities for fun. She could do with a bit of fun. “I’m a wine connoisseur,” she said. “Top of my game. Heading to Italy to find some hidden gems for importing.”
Garrett raised his eyebrows in surprise. “That sounds like fun. A darn sight more exciting than my job, anyway.”
“Oh?” Keira asked. “What’s your job?”
“I’m in accounting,” he said. “Well, not completely. It’s a bit hard to explain. It’s easier just to say I’m an accountant for accountants. Does that make sense?”
Painfully so, Keira thought.
“Yes,” she said aloud.
How typical that she’d be sitting beside an accountant. It was like fate was trying to tell her to give up the search for Mr. Right and settle down with Mr. Math!
“I’m sure you don’t want to hear me drone on about my job though,” the man added. “Yours sounds fascinating. How did you get into it?”
“It is fascinating,” Keira continued, surprising herself with how easily she was lying and how much enjoyment she was getting from it. “My father was a wine importer,” she added. “He loved his job so passionately I was even conceived in a vineyard.”
She felt a little spark of excitement as the lie rolled easily off her tongue. She was really getting into the spirit of it. Her own father had left when she was very young and hadn’t been involved in her life much at all, so inventing a persona for him was easy. Plus, all this embellishment was going to come in handy over the course of her assignment, she figured, since she was going to have to pretend she still believed in love.
“Oh my,” the man beside her said.
“I know. He married there as well. But, sadly, he also died in that very same vineyard.” She sighed theatrically. “It only made sense to have him buried there too.”
Keira noticed the way the man moved to increase the distance between them. He was losing the will to speak to her, probably because of the way she’d steered the conversation toward the morbid. She laughed to herself as he tried to switch his attention to the in-flight movie.
The plane soared higher into the air. Soon the clouds were far below them.
Finally getting some peace and quiet, Keira took the opportunity to look through the itinerary that Heather had prepared for her. Immediately, it brought memories flooding back to her of her last assignment. Heather had used the same font, the same clinically organized layout with bullet points and headings. During the month in Ireland, Keira had defiled it, getting it covered in Guinness and bits of oil from the hearty Irish breakfasts she’d eat with Shane. There was no chance of that happening this time. She could already feel how different things would be with this second assignment. She felt older. More jaded.
Then, on the itinerary in her lap, Keira caught sight of a word that made her stomach drop. Tour guide.
Of course there’d be one, she realized now. Just because she’d fallen head over heels in love with the last tour guide, who’d then gone on to shatter her heart into a thousand pieces, that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be one for this assignment! Something about the thought felt dangerous to her. Was it just because of what happened last time? Keira wondered. Or because she had a spark of hope that it might happen again?
She shook the thoughts away and focused instead on the destinations. Touch down in Naples, and a night there before taking a train to the Amalfi Coast. A ferry to Capri. A gondola ride to a place called the Blue Grotto. Rome. The Vatican.
If she’d been going on vacation, Keira would have been thrilled with the itinerary. She looked at pictures of the places she’d be visiting on her iPad and they were all stunning. It was like the perfect romantic getaway. But that was just the problem. She’d be visiting some of the most awe-inspiring locations in the most romantic country on earth and she’d be doing it without Shane.
And to add insult to injury, she’d have to write about something she no longer felt. It would be like hitting herself over the head with romance day after day, rubbing salt into the wound of her heart, knowing that her own great love had been lost. It didn’t seem fair. Poetic injustice, Keira thought to herself. She just couldn’t get excited about the trip.
Feeling herself sliding into a depression, Keira called over the air steward and ordered herself a drink. Then she put her work things away and checked her social media accounts, which was always a great way to distract herself.
The drink arrived and Keira sipped it as she scrolled through Instagram, looking through a million pictures of cats, Bryn’s photos from the disastrous double date night at Gino’s, and Maxine’s most recent sponsored charity marathon. Then she noticed that Shelby had posted something that had received thousands of likes. It was a simple photo of her hand, and there was a ring on her wedding finger.
“No way!” Keira cried aloud, almost spilling her drink.
Garrett, the man in the seat beside her, looked over, frowning. “Is everything okay?”
Keira waved his
concerns away. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Shelby hadn’t said a thing about marriage being on the cards. In fact, she spoke so rarely about her partner, David, that Keira sometimes suspected they’d secretly called it quits. How wrong she’d been! The two had been together since college, after all, so had a good seven years under their belt already. Marriage was the logical step for them. And yet it still stung for Keira to see it.
She called over the air steward again. “I’ll have another,” she said.
She needed something to calm her nerves. The man beside her looked over suspiciously. Keira just gave him a cold look, and he returned his focus to the movie, pretending he hadn’t been snooping in the first place.
She quickly fired off a congratulatory message to Shelby and David, though she was feeling closer to bitter than celebratory. It wasn’t something she wanted to feel. She’d much prefer to be happy for her old college friend. But she was too miserable right now, her heart too bruised.
She checked her phone, wondering whether Shane would get in touch with her at all. It had been a couple of days since they’d last spoken and she’d had no contact with him at all. He’d promised they could remain friends but clearly that was just something he’d said at the time. She doubted he had any intention of fulfilling that promise. Not even a message to let her know how Calum was doing, or any of the sisters. So much for friends…
She downed the second drink and soon the effects of the alcohol started to work on her. Feeling drowsy, Keira settled down into her seat and allowed sleep to overcome her.
May as well sleep through the unhappiness, she reasoned.
Keira slipped into unconsciousness and began to dream. Her mind conjured up the images of Italy she’d been looking at on her iPad. In the dream she was dressed in marathon gear and covered in mud. She’d had to run all the way to the Amalfi Coast in order to attend Shelby and David’s wedding. But when she finally got there, panting and covered in mud, she found that everyone was wearing a masquerade mask. And when David removed his, she saw that it was Shane standing there. The woman he was marrying? That was Bryn.
