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Before she spoke, her lips tugged into a frown. She flicked her gaze to her boots as a tear slid down her cheek. “Juju, please don’t go.”
Julia sucked in a breath, trying to find the strength for this argument after the long week. “Ally…”
“No, please. I…I’m sorry, okay? I went way over the top. I get it. I just…” She licked her lips as she blew out a shaky breath. “I can’t have you leaving when you hate me.”
Her voice cracked and the last few words came out like a squeak. Julia pressed her lips together before she pulled her sister into a hug. “I don’t hate you, Ally.”
The firm grip around her shoulders tightened as her sister’s shoulders shook with sobs.
“Ally, it’s okay. I don’t hate you.”
Alicia pulled back, wiping at her cheeks. “But you’re leaving.”
“Because I have to. You know that.”
Alicia chewed her lower lip. “Please don’t go back with him just because of what I did. I’ll stop, okay? I promise. No more pushing Luke, no more–“
“Ally, I’m not going back with Grant because of anything you did. This isn’t me teaching you a lesson or punishing you for anything you did. You don’t like what’s happening. I get it, but…”
“But?” Alicia asked with a sniffle.
“But that doesn’t mean I agree with you or that I’m going to do what you say.”
Alicia scrunched her lips as she flicked her teary-eyed gaze out over the landscape. “I am so scared this is going to take you away from me for good. Juju, you nearly died.”
“I know. I know how that must have been finding out about it after the fact. And I’m sorry. But we need to finish what we started. There is more at stake here than you realize.”
“For you or for him?”
Julia let her gaze fall to the pavement below her feet. “For everyone.”
Alicia set her hands on her hips, the badge on her belt glinting in the afternoon sun. “So, there’s nothing I can do to stop you from getting back on that plane?”
Julia shook her head. “No. But now you know, so you can call me anytime and check on me. You can call Grant if you can’t get a hold of me.”
“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll answer my calls.”
“He will. He understands why you were upset.”
Alicia heaved a sigh before she reached for Julia, pulling her back into a bear hug. “I hate this. I don’t want you to go, but…if I can’t stop you, then please promise me you’ll be safe.”
She leaned back, cupping her sister’s face in her hands. “Please, Julia. I’ll see you in eight months when this is all over. Please.”
“I promise. We’ll talk. Probably every day. And you can pass the time by working on your marriage. You and Ethan reconnected while I was here. Build on that. Okay?”
“Yeah,” her sister answered with another sniffle. They clasped their hands together, lingering for a few more moments before Julia fought back her own tears as she let go of the warm familiarity and strode back to the plane.
The memory faded as she swiped to answer the call. “Hey, sis. How are things?”
“Awful,” her sister’s voice croaked. “Ethan and I had another major fight.”
“Aw, I’m really sorry to hear that,” Julia answered as she shifted the phone onto her shoulder and tapped on her keyboard to initiate a search.
She stared at the images that popped up, her mind clouding with doubt for a moment before her sister’s shaky voice refocused it on the problem at hand. “This just keeps happening, and I don’t know what to do about it.”
“Maybe you need a break.”
“So, what? My marriage is over?”
