Page 10 of The Unraveling of Julia

“There’s plenty,” Julia said, meaning it. “I’ll pay off your student loans, too.”

“I’m talking aboutyou, honey. Buy something! Don’t you want anything?”

I want Mike back, Julia thought but didn’t say. “You know, my horoscope predicted this, too.”

“You mean yourhorrorscope?”

“Joke all you want. I did a deep dive, and it even said I was expecting a windfall this month. The whole thing was all there. Plus Mercury’s in retrograde in Aries, so don’t make any contracts.”

“I make contracts every day.”

“Well, read the fine print.”

“Nobody reads the fine print.”

“Court, be that way, but we just had the solar eclipse, did you see it? It’s a time of new beginnings, new directions, new starts. My horoscope predicted my luck would change.”

“What about the billion other times it didn’t predict anything? Since when do you need a horoscope to learn about yourself, Jules? You know yourself. You’re not one of those people.”

Maybe I am, now.

“What’s with the astrology, really?”

“I just like it,” Julia answered, hoping it would suffice. Astrology gave her a sneak peek at fate, a fighting chance against the stars, and until this inheritance, her luck hadn’t exactly been stellar.

“Whatever. Go to Tuscany. Go see yourvilla. Count youreuros.”

“What if the police get a lead on Mike?”

“Tell them you’re going on vacation. They have your cell and email.”

“What if they get a suspect and I have to identify him?”

Courtney waved her off. “You can fly back. They’ll schedule around you.”

“What if they won’t? I have to remind them of the facts wheneverI call. They act like he’s a cold case. If I don’t bug them, they’ll forget about him. They’re never going to catch the guy, are they?” Julia blurted out, realizing she’d never said it aloud. But she thought it every day.

“Yes, they will.” Courtney looked pained. “We have to have hope.”

Julia reached for her wine, but the glass was empty. She’d been drinking too much lately, she knew that, too.

Courtney’s bright eyes lit up. “Hey, I just figured out why youhaveto go to Tuscany. You inherited everything in Rossi’s house, right? Her personal belongings?”

“I assume so.”

“So, anything she touched will have her DNA. Her clothes, her shoes, her towels, even her furniture. You should collect her DNA and get it sent to a lab. Thenyoushould take a DNA test.”

Whoa.Julia felt the realization dawn on her. “Then I’d know if we’re related.”

“Right, it’s proof. You need to oversee the collection of her DNA and you need to get yourself tested.” Courtney leaned over, newly urgent. “Not only that, imagine what you can find out about her, going through her stuff. Computers, files, bills. You can’t dothatover Zoom.”

Julia swallowed hard.

“So, are you going?” Courtney asked, triumphant.

7

Can I have some wine, please?” Julia asked the male flight attendant, who nodded and left. She began to relax now that she was in the cool, quiet cabin. She’d never flown first class before, and it was predictably plush. Passengers around her stowed shiny Rimowa carry-ons and slipped into Bose headphones. She was ensconced in her own walled pod, like a bougie cocoon.

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