“I’m going. Call me if you need anything. I can be home in a minute.”

  “I won’t need you, and I’m not calling. I can take care of myself.”

  “Fine. Be that way.”

  “Have a good night at the office, dear.”

  He walks out on a huff of laughter that pleases me. I really hope this week apart can help get us back to normal, or whatever counts for normal after something like this happens.

  After I hear Nico leave, I realize I’m alone for the first time since the shooting. My mother must not realize that, or she would’ve organized a team of family members to keep me company. With a fridge full of food delivered by family and friends and hours to myself, I’m happy for the peace and quiet, which has been hard to come by lately.

  The first thing I do is text Gianna. Look at me! I’m home alone!

  Awww, did they leave little Milo to his own devices?

  They did! I’m waiting for them to figure out I’m home alone, and then there’ll be an invasion. Shhhh, don’t tell anyone.

  Your secret is safe with me!

  How’s the cooking going?

  Good! I’m almost done. I made four pounds of pork tenderloin with a huge pan of potatoes, vegetables and homemade applesauce.

  Yum. I’m gonna need you to make that for me someday.

  I will!

  Something to look forward to.

  What if you can’t stand me after a week together?

  That’s not going to happen.

  How do you know?

  Because I can’t wait to spend this week with you and next week and the week after and all the weeks.

  How can you already know that for certain?

  I just do. Is that okay?

  It is, as long as you know… I’m not sure I’m ready for this… Even though I invited you on my honeymoon. LOL

  That’s kind of a mixed signal… haha.

  I know!

  Listen, I get it. You’re coming off a terrible breakup, and all the legal stuff has been awful. But meeting you has been the best thing to happen to me in, well… ever. I’m prepared to be patient and wait for you to be ready for whatever this turns out to be…

  As soon as I send that, I worry that I’ve once again given her too much too soon. I’m not sure what it is about her that makes me want to lay all my cards on the table so there can be no doubt in her mind about where I’m coming from.

  When she doesn’t reply for a few minutes, I text her again. Did I freak you out?

  Haha, no, I was getting stuff out of the oven.

  Oh, phew. I was picturing you running for your life from the crazy ex-patient who’s coming on way too strong.

  Nah, you’re fine. I appreciate the honesty. It’s actually rather refreshing.

  Blame it on the near-death experience. That changes everything.

  I’m sure. How has it changed everything for you?

  Well… One minute you’re going along, living your life, minding your own business, and in the next, it’s nearly taken from you in a single second of madness that has nothing to do with you. It makes you think about what’s important.

  What’s important to you now?

  The same stuff that was before—my family and friends and my job—and now you’re important to me, too.

  Just like that?

  Just like that.

  You’re important to me, too.

  Have I ever read five better words than that? Nope. Not ever.

  It’s just that the timing is kind of weird for me.

  I get it. I promise I won’t push you for more than you’re ready for, even while we’re on your honeymoon.

  She responds with laughing emojis. Weirdest first date ever?

  What a story we’ll have to tell the grandchildren someday.

  So much for not getting ahead of ourselves…

  Whoops. I add laughter emojis.

  Are you packed?

  Yep. Nico, my personal assistant, did it for me before he went to work.

  That’s good! I need to finish packing and get to bed. I’ll see you around ten?

  I’ll be ready. Can’t wait.

  Me, too. Thanks for coming.

  Thanks for inviting me. Sleep well.

  You, too.

  I put down the phone and close my eyes, smiling as I anticipate seven days alone with her. Maybe that will be enough time to prove to her that I can back up my words with actions. I heard her when she said she isn’t ready to start something new. But hopefully, she’ll turn to me when the time is right for her.

  However long it takes, I’ll be waiting.

  * * *

  GIANNA

  I’m so excited for a week off from work and the chance to get to know Milo away from the hospital and his big family and all the other distractions of life. When I get up the next morning, I text my brothers to remind them that I’ll be away this coming week.

  I’ll check in when I have Wi-Fi, but try not to have any emergencies for the next seven days.

  Since it’s only six a.m. out West, I don’t expect to hear back from them until much later, if at all. It doesn’t surprise me anymore when they don’t respond to my texts. An older woman I work with tells me this is normal for young men in their late teens and early twenties, who are the world’s worst communicators, according to her.

  All I can do is try. I keep hoping that eventually, the distance between us will lessen as they move into adulthood and away from their reliance on me as much more than an older sister. I’m their first call when something goes sideways, but I often wonder if they ever give me a thought except for when they need something.

  Probably not.

  Before I leave to deliver the food to the hospital and then pick up Milo, I take the time to dust my mother’s beloved curio cabinet, which is full of her treasures. She collected Lladrós, porcelain objects made in Spain, that were her prized possessions. Personally, I don’t see the big deal, but out of respect to her, I keep them dusted the way my mother did. Every Sunday morning after church, she took each object out of the cabinet to dust it, and then she cleaned the glass shelves.

  I’ve rarely missed a Sunday with the Lladrós since she died. As I return them to their places, I hope that wherever she is, she can see me caring for the things she loved, including the sons who brought her so much joy.

  After I finish the cleaning, I shower and change into one of the pretty summer dresses I bought for the trip when I thought I’d be going with my new husband. Sometimes I can’t believe everything that’s happened since I booked the cruise he wanted to take. I hate crowds, so I’m certain that being on a cruise ship with thousands of other people isn’t going to be my thing.

  I load up my car with the food, my suitcase and a beach bag and take the familiar roads to work. I pull up to the hospital’s staff entrance just after nine o’clock and haul the huge tote I bought just for this purpose to the PICU on the sixth floor. There’s a family room with a refrigerator that we fill each Sunday to give the parents of children fighting serious illnesses one less thing to worry about during the coming week. It’s one of the traditions I love best at Miami-Dade, which is a huge, sprawling medical complex that at first seemed like a cold and sterile place.

  However, I’ve found it to be anything but. I’ve made some great friends here, and I love contributing to the community within the hospital by cooking for the PICU families, volunteering to visit elderly patients who have no family and participating in holiday toy drives and food drives and all sorts of other things throughout the year.

  I’m on my way out of the PICU with the tote tucked under my arm when I run into Jason Northrup and his residents.

  “They’ve got you working on a Sunday, huh?” I ask him.

  “No rest for the wicked. I’ve got three patients on this floor and two on yours to check on before I can head to brunch with the family. I thought you were on vacation?”

  “I’m leaving today on a cruise.”

  His eyes briefly widen before he schools his expression.

  I fear I just spilled the beans to him, since he probably knows Milo is going on a cruise, too. I keep forgetting Jason is married to Milo’s cousin.

  “Well, have a great time. We’ll miss you this week.”

  “Thanks. I’ll see you when I get back.”

  “Bon voyage.”

  As I walk away, I’m worried about how unprofessional that might’ve appeared to him. Crap. I hope he doesn’t think less of me for inviting a former patient on a trip. The slightly nauseated feeling stays with me as I drive to Milo’s house and give my name at the security hut. Milo must’ve told them he was expecting me, because the arm lifts immediately to let me in.

  I pull into the driveway and see Milo standing in the doorway watching for me. He’s wearing a navy polo shirt and khaki shorts. All thoughts of professional nausea are forgotten as my heart does a little happy dance at the sight of him. That can’t be good for someone who’s not ready to have her heart dancing at the sight of anyone. My heart isn’t getting the message that it’s not ready for whatever this might turn out to be with Milo.

  “Wait, let me do that,” I tell him when he starts to bring his suitcase out of the house.

  “Nothing makes me feel less like a man than having a woman carry my suitcase for me.”

  “Oh stop. It’s temporary.”

  “Still… Thank you for doing that.”

  I lift the suitcase into the trunk next to mine. “No problem. Don’t forget your glasses.”

  “I’m back to contacts now that I’m out of the halo.”

  “Oh, okay. But they were kind of cute.”

  Smiling, he says, “I’ve got them with me. Let me just grab my backpack. I’ll be right out.”

  “Should you be carrying the backpack?”

  “It’s not that heavy.”

  He steps out of the house a few minutes later with the backpack slung over his shoulder. After he locks the door, he comes toward me, smiling. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

  “I figured your whole family would be here to see you off.”

  “They’re at brunch at the restaurant, or they probably would be. I’ll take you to brunch when we get back. It’s something we do every Sunday.”

  “I love that your family is close like that. It’s so nice.”

  “Most of the time, it is. Other times, it can be a little suffocating, such as when one of us gets shot and nearly dies. This trip is a great chance to push reset on all that, so thank you for inviting me.”

  “Thanks for coming.”

  “Is it hard for you? To be taking this trip with someone else?”

  “Not like it would’ve been before the lawsuits and stuff. I’m just so over him, it’s not even funny, especially since he asked me to go through with the wedding so he wouldn’t have to pay all that money for nothing.”

  “Yeah, that’s what every girl dreams of hearing from the man she loves.”

  “Right?” I ask with a huff of laughter. “I keep replaying that encounter in my mind and wondering if he honestly thought I’d agree to reschedule the wedding after what he did.”

  “He’s a fool.”

  “Yes, he is.”

  “He’s probably realizing what a huge mistake he made letting you go.”

  “Who knows what he’s thinking? I just don’t care anymore, which is a relief.”

  “I’m sure it is. I’m sorry you had to go through such an ordeal with him, and that it’s still not entirely over.”

  “It’s over in all the ways that matter, and your mom is taking care of the rest, thank goodness.”

  “I hope you can take a deep breath and just relax this week. You deserve a break from it all.”

  “We both do.”

  I take the exit for Interstate 95 North for the forty-five-minute ride to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. There were cruises we could’ve taken from Miami, but the excursions were better on the one from Fort Lauderdale. I turn the radio to Big 105.9. “I hope classic rock works for you.”

  “Is there anything else?” he asks.

  I keep waiting to find something about him I don’t like, but so far, I’m coming up short. Jared loves country music. That was a problem for me. I put up with it to make him happy, but I don’t enjoy it, and he never wanted to listen to my music. He said it gave him a headache.

  That’s just another on a long list of ways I capitulated to him. I ate the food he liked at the restaurants he preferred, attended the sporting events he enjoyed and hung out mostly with his friends. I’ll never do that again. I don’t care how great a guy seems. If he can’t meet me in the middle, I’m out.

  “What’re you thinking about over there?” Milo asks, breaking a long silence.

  “About how I let Jared make all the decisions in our relationship, including the music, and wondering why I allowed that.”

  “Why do you suppose you did?”

  “I’ve felt so alone since everything happened. I have lots of great friends and a job I love, but I was lonely. A friend set me up with Jared, thinking we’d hit it off, and for a while, we did. It’s only in hindsight that I can see that I was jumping through hoops to make him happy with little concern for what made me happy.” I look over at Milo, who’s turned in his seat so he can see me while wearing the neck brace. “That’s probably too much information. Sorry.”

  “It’s not too much. I like to hear about your life.”

  “And I like to hear about yours. Have you ever tried so hard to make someone else happy that you lost yourself in the process?”

  “All the time. I’m famous for going out of my way in relationships and ending up alone at the end.”

  “Why do we do that to ourselves?” I ask.

  “I have no idea, but I’m trying to break the habit and not doing a very good job of it.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because I already know I’d do just about anything to see you smile.”

  Chapter 13

  MILO

  I love being with her. I love the way her scent surrounds me like a cloud of the sweetest fragrance I’ve ever experienced. I love the red-and-purple floral dress she’s wearing and how it leaves her shoulders bare. I was never particularly attracted to shoulders before I saw hers.

  I love the way she speaks so freely about her ex and their relationship with me, but I despise the haunted look in her eyes when she talks about how it went so wrong. I love that we have a whole week together to get to know each other and to hopefully set the foundation for so much more.

  I’ve never felt quite like this about any woman, but I know I must tread carefully with her. Still, the fact that she asked me—of all the people she knows—to come on this trip with her is a sign that she’s at least interested in spending more time with me.

  Alone time.

  Or as alone as we can be on a ship with thousands of other people.

  “Have you been on a cruise before?” I ask her.

  “Nope. You?”

  “Nope.”

  She hesitates before she says, “I’m going to be honest…”

  “I wouldn’t want you to be any other way with me.”

  “I have a phobia about being stuck on a ship with so many strangers.”

  “Me, too. That’s why I’ve never been on one.”

  “Same.”

  “So if you have this phobia, why’d you plan a cruise for your honeymoon?”

  She glances over at me with a weary look that says it all.

  “It’s what he wanted.”

  “Yep.”

  “Gianna…”

  “Yeah, so, I was a doormat with him, and here I am stuck with a trip he wanted that I agreed to pay for since he was paying for the wedding.”

  “We’ll get even by having the best time ever, and I’ll protect you from the crowds.”

  “That’d be good. If I can be honest again, I kinda hate people in large quantities.”

  I snort with laughter. “Right there with you, sweetheart.”

  Gianna shivers. “I’m so freaked out about this trip that I almost canceled it. If you couldn’t have gone, I would’ve canceled.”

  “It’ll be fine. We’ll keep to ourselves. After all, we are on your honeymoon.”

  “That’s right. I emailed my travel coordinator to swap you out for Jared, but she said it was too late to change the accommodations from the honeymoon package. I apologize in advance for whatever level of shitshow this turns out to be.”

  “No worries,” I say, chuckling. “I’m just here for the all-you-can-eat buffets.”

  “I read that the food is pretty good, and we got the booze package, too.”

  “Even better. We’ll have a blast.”

  When we arrive at Port Everglades, we join a long line of cars being directed toward the long-term parking lot. Gianna has a parking pass that she puts on the dash.

  “Parking is included in the honeymoon package,” she tells me.

  “Can’t wait to see what else is included.”

  “I’m terrified.”

  We share a laugh that breaks any remaining tension that might’ve been left as we embark on this adventure together. It’s amazing how comfortable I feel with her after knowing her only a short time, during which I couldn’t do a damned thing to move things along other than talk. We did a lot of talking, more than I’ve done with any woman at this point in a relationship, and that’s one of many reasons why I feel so good about spending a whole week with her.

  We haven’t run out of stuff to talk about yet. Not even close.

  As we approach the terminal, pulling suitcases behind us, Gianna stops short.

  “No. Way.”

  “What?”

  She uses her chin to nod toward a man standing off to the side of the crowd heading into the terminal. “That’s Jared.”

  “What’s he doing here?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know, too.”

  Gianna storms over to him, and I follow, not sure what else I should do.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” she asks him.

  “Going on the trip we planned together.”

  “You’re not going anywhere.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Gianna. Isn’t it bad enough that we’re going to lose all that money on the wedding? And besides, you didn’t even want to go on a cruise.”