He opened the refrigerator door, pulled out a bag of carrots, and slammed it again.
“Come on, Matt. Go with me on this one, please. You have the best family and you can’t argue that, regardless of what happened. Look at this place.” April held her arms wide to encompass the beautiful guest house. “If it wasn’t for your family, your dad in particular lending you the money, would you have this?”
“No.” He peeled the carrots and cut them in half before throwing them in the pot.
“And you love him, won’t hear a word against him or anyone else in the family. Right?”
“My family didn’t—”
April held up her hand. “Do not say it!”
“You know what I mean. I don’t understand why you let him get away with it.” He glared at her. “My family would never to anything like that to me.”
“And would you believe anyone if they said different? No, and that’s the point I’m trying to make. My kids need to feel that loved and treasured. The last think I want to do is tell them their world sucks, everything they believed in is a fairy tale. I’m trying to build them a safe place, one where they won’t have to look over their shoulders all the time waiting for the axe to fall like I did.”
“It’s a lie, April. They think you left their father because you didn’t love each other anymore. They should learn the truth, especially now.” He peeled potatoes, and diced them into small cubes before tossing them in the pot. “I don’t believe in shielding children from pain, giving them rose tinted glasses. The world is a cruel place. They need to understand that. Don’t you think it might be the perfect time now with all that’s happened?”
He knew all about pain. His whole family did. April leaned over the island counter and chose her words. “I agree but not yet. I tried so hard to protect my children from what went on. Plus, it has been hard moving them away from everything they love, getting booked into a new school, losing their friends. Let them get settled into their new life, okay?”
“You’re the mom. I just wanted you to know I don’t agree.”
“Got it.” She took another sip of wine, the fresh notes of crisp apple sliding over her tongue. “I’m going to bathe the children. Tell me if there’s anything I can do.”
* * *
“I wondered how long it would be before she came home.” Gigi poked her head around the easel and framed the view with the paintbrush and her thumb before ducking behind her painting again, her brush gliding over the canvas. “Poor child. I wonder what sort of life she’s had since she’s been gone.”
“You make it sound as though she was the one who had a hard time of it.” Drew kicked at the grass, frustrated his favorite woman didn’t seem to understand what he was going through after seeing his long lost love again.
Gigi put down her paint brush and stepped away from her easel. He shouldn’t feel so needy at his age, but the whole saga with April when he was an intern had been hard, and his aunt was the only person who’d understood how much it had affected him.
“Drew, my love, you need to stop and think. You two were attached at the hip from the moment you met as children. You knew her better than anyone else. What made April leave like that? Was it something you said or did, something someone else did to her? And if that was the case, you need to find out why she didn’t come to you of all people for help.” She grabbed a rag from her basket of paints at her feet and wiped the spots of bright oil paint from her hands before looking at him again. The acrid smell of turpentine hung in the air. “I also think you need to give her time to adjust to being back home. It’s not always easy coming back to the island, not after you’ve been gone for so long. I can only imagine how the gossip mill will react.”
“As if you’d let them worry you.” He peeked over the canvas at her painting. The only think he recognized was the blue of the water. The dabs of bright paint in the foreground may or may not have been the flowers in the garden Gigi lovingly tended. The work was still at a very early stage in the process so it was hard to tell exactly what it was going to be. Her paintings sold well on the mainland and in the local art gallery. He even had a couple himself ready to hang in his new house. If he ever got it finished.
“Oh, not for me. Gosh, you know better than that. No, I was thinking of April. Poor girl might need a friend on her side.”
Heaven help him. “And you think I should be that friend?” Drew jammed his hands into his pockets and watched the wise eyes rake over him.
Gigi smiled, a cross between a wicked grin and an I-told-you-so smile. She had the ability to hit right at the crux of the problem. Drew hated that she was usually right. From the day she’d moved in when his mother died, she’d proven just how right she could be for all of them. It was a trait that seemed to cross over to his father too. Between the pair of them, he was driven to frustration more often than not.
It hurt to realize he still missed April after all this time. Missed the companionship, the love, and the easy going banter they shared. It’d been that way since they were children. If anything happened to either of them, the other was always there for support. They’d been each other’s first love and determined to be
