Page 116 of This Memory
“Any news on how Liam’s doing? Have you seen him and Winnie?” I asked.
Aurora let out a long sigh. “Not in the last few weeks. Nathan said Liam’s doing the best he can. He said he sometimes feels like Liam’s living in a bubble, not accepting that Hope is gone.”
I shook my head. “Oh my gosh. That’s terrible.”
She nodded. “I know. Nathan says he’s been staying at the house to help Liam and also taking care of things at The Muddled Moose.”
“Is there anything we can do?” I asked.
Aurora shrugged. “Pray for them. Liam stopped the meal train. Nathan said he was hardly eating any of the food.”
“I’m so sorry. We should probably stop by. I just don’t know if it’s a good time or not.”
She gave me a sad smile.
“What about Aunt Judith? Is she doing anything to help?”
A look of fury transformed Aurora’s face. “She’s inItaly.”
Shocked, I asked, “What do you mean, she’s in Italy?”
“According to Nathan, Liam totally lost it with his mother. Said he no longer wanted to see her—ever. That was right before Christmas, I believe. Around the time they got the news about Hope’s prognosis. I guess she only just recently moved to Italy.”
“I can’t believe Mom didn’t tell me her sistermovedto freakin’ Italy!”
Aurora shrugged. “Maybe with everything you’ve had going on…or who knows? Maybe she doesn’t even know yet. I don’t think it’s even been two weeks since she left.”
“Maybe, but you would think she’d have told my mother she was leaving the country.”
Gavin and James came walking into the living room, laughing.
“Did you both fit?” I asked.
“Not even close,” Gavin said with a laugh.
Aurora glanced at her watch, then snapped her head up. “Um, we need to leave.”
“We?” I asked.
“Yes, James and I need to leave.”
“We do?” James squinted at her, clearly confused.
“Yes,” she hissed back. “We have things to do, James.”
As if a light bulb went off in his head, he said, “Shit. Yeah. We have things to do. Gotta go!”
He quickly made his way over, kissed me, then bent down and said, “Bye, Lily! Be a good girl for Mommy!”
Aurora grabbed her jacket and purse. “Glad you like the nursery!”
“Wait, you’re both just leaving?” I asked.
James put his coat on and opened the door. “Got things to do, Brystol. Things to do!”
And just like that, they were gone.
Frowning at Gavin, I asked, “What in the world wasthatabout?”
