Page 47 of The Island Villa

“Was?”

“We didn’t part on the best of terms. I broke up with him recently.”

Cassie finished her drink. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“Why not? I asked you about Oliver.”

“But Oliver is just a friend, it’s different. Were you in love with Mark?”

“I don’t know,” Adeline said. “I don’t think so. He hasn’t been in contact since that night, and I don’t care. That can’t be a good sign, can it?”

Cassie tried to imagine her sister madly in love. Giggling. Passionate. “Were you together a long time?”

“A year.”

“That’s ages. So he can’t have been the one. I mean, if someone is right, then you know, don’t you think?”

Adeline frowned. “I don’t believe in the one.”

Cassie didn’t know what to say to that. If they’d been having this conversation the week before, she would have said she absolutely believed in “the one” because look at her parents, but now she didn’t know what to think. If her father had been the love of her mother’s life, where did Adeline’s father fit into that? How could he have been the wrong person, if he was back on the scene? It was so confusing.

Her brain couldn’t decipher it, so she focused on her sister instead. “You said you and Mark didn’t part on good terms. You had a fight?”

“Not exactly a fight. More a disagreement.” Adeline finished her champagne and put the glass down on the sand next to the bottle. “He said he was seriously concerned about my judgment.”

“He actually said that?” In her mind, Cassie tried putting those words into the mouth of the hero she was writing, but they didn’t work. No matter which way you looked at it, that wasn’t a heroic thing to say.

“It was about me coming here, to my mother’s fourth wedding. He had a point. And if it hadn’t been for Dad, I probably wouldn’t have done.” Adeline’s laugh was devoid of humor. “Dad wanted me here. And I admired him for behaving in such a civilized way toward someone who broke his heart all those years ago. It didn’t occur to me that there was anything else going on.”

“Why would it? Why would either of us have thought that?” Cassie realized that Adeline felt as betrayed as she did.

“It’s always a shock to discover you don’t know someone as well as you thought you did.”

Cassie scrunched the napkin in her lap. “I don’t know what to do now. I don’t know what to say to our mother.”

“I don’t know either.”

“But you’re the psychologist. You’re trained for things like this.”

“It doesn’t make it any easier when you’re the one in the middle of it.”

Cassie didn’t know if that was comforting or alarming. “Are you going to leave?”

“Leave the island? I don’t know.”

Cassie thought about how it would feel if Adeline left and her heart flipped. “Please don’t.” She felt suddenly awkward and wished she could snatch those words back. She had no right to say them. They didn’t make sense, even to her. Up until today, she’d been hoping Adeline wouldn’t come. And now she was hoping she wouldn’t leave. “You must do whatever is right for you, of course. Ignore me.”

“Why would I ignore you? We’re in this together. We’ll figure it out together.” Adeline shifted closer to Cassie.

Their arms brushed and Cassie felt the first flickers of warmth. They’d never been in anything together before.

It felt good.

12

Catherine

Catherine sat on the lounger in the darkness. In front of her the pool lay empty and still, a slash of bright turquoise, illuminated from beneath by tiny lights. It was three in the morning and she’d given up on sleep.

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