Page 7 of The Moment of Letting Go

“It’s beautiful,” I say. “Well, what I’ve seen of it anyway.”

“I’m sure you’ll get some free time to explore,” she says. “You took your camera, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, you know I always do.”

“I’m so proud of you, Sienna.”

I pick the phone back up and hold it near my face, balanced within my fingertips.

“So is your father,” she goes on. “You landed a great job with perks most people who’ve been working for twenty years never see. We’re just really proud of you.”

I smile. Nothing makes me happier than to know that my parents, who had such a hard life before they had me and an even harder one after I was born, are proud of what I’ve done so far and continue to do.

“Thanks, Mom.” I pause, looking out at the endless blue ocean. “I wish you were here. Y’know, I’ve thought a lot about it and I know you’ve got work and all, but I really want to take you and Dad on vacation in the fall. I thought maybe we could go on that Alaskan cruise you’ve always talked about and—”

“Oh, honey,” she cuts in, “you know I can’t take the time off work, and neither can your dad. We’ve got two mortgages, not to mention the hospital bills and the car payment—we just can’t afford the time off.”

A heavy sigh deflates my chest. “I told you I’d help you pay off the mortgages. I lived in that house most of my life; the least I can do is help pay for it now that I can. I’ll even help pay Dad’s hospital bills—”

“Absolutely not.” I can picture her auburn head shaking in refusal. “We wanted so much more for you than what we were able to give you growing up, Sienna, and I’ll be damned if we start taking from you the things you’ve worked so hard to earn for yourself.” I swear I can sense Mom slashing her hand in the air. “Honey, I really appreciate you wanting to help us out, but we’re doing just fine, and as much as I’d love to go on that cruise, I just can’t give Mr. Towers any reason to lay me off.”

I know there’s no arguing with her about any of this. We’ve had this discussion many times since I started drawing a good income. I just wish they were more open to my help than they are.

I sigh again and run my free hand through the top of my hair.

Another call beeps through.

“Mom, I have to go. It’s the client.”

“OK,” she says, already her cheery, smiling self again so quickly. “But call me when you get a chance and let me know how everything’s going. I just know you’re going to have a wonderful time.”

“Thanks, Mom. I’ll call you soon.”

I rush through the day in a nerve-racking haze, barely stopping long enough to take a bathroom break.

Working long after the sun is swallowed up by the Pacific, we finally call it quits minutes after eleven o’clock, and I take immediate advantage of it. Instead of hanging around long after everyone else has turned in for the night so I can triple-check everything, I call it a day and go straight up to my suite.

I take a long hot shower, and I’m asleep moments after my head hits the pillow. Before I fall asleep, I find myself thinking about that guy in the red and black wetsuit. He was gorgeous from where I was standing—but I’m not here for that! Maybe Paige is rubbing off on me.

I wipe the guy from my mind and eventually fall fast asleep. I dream about that dreaded wrench all event coordinators fear will be thrown into the gears and ruin everything. It’s always there, looming in the back of my mind.

And then it happens.

THREE

Sienna

After putting on my makeup, I glance at the clock beside the bed just to make sure that I’m not running late, and am relieved to see that it’s not even eight in the morning. I’m not expected downstairs for another thirty minutes. But when my cell phone starts vibrating in my hand and I see that it’s my boss, Cassandra, I get a panicked feeling in my gut.

“Hello?”

“Sienna,” Cassandra says into the phone with a frantic tenor in her voice, “what on earth is going on?”

“I-I don’t know. What do you mean?”

My heart is beating a hundred miles a minute all of a sudden.

“Mrs. Dennings called me,” Cassandra says, “saying something about the caterer thinking he was supposed to be on Oahu a day later”—my palms are sweating—“and that the band received a cancellation notice? Sienna, I don’t know what this is all about, but you need to call me back as soon as you find out.”

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