Page 10 of Marcus

It would be a lot of work, and more than she could currently afford to do what with her long list of clients—and the waiting list she had recently started—for her interior design business. She specialized in everything from personal spaces, to commercial. And when she needed it the most, her work had been there to give her an escape from the grief that seemed ever-present for those first couple of years after William’s death. It helped that here in Rochester, there weren’t memories she shared with him.

Essentially, she started over.

Hit a restart button.

If only it had been that easy.

“Did Joe come with you this time?” she asked.

Liliana smiled. “He had something to take care of in Chicago … last minute, and all.”

“Too bad.”

Joe, her sister’s husband, was a quiet man. Very there, in presence, considering his large size, the fact he was covered in tattoos, and just his stare alone could quiet a person. Yet, with her family, he turned into a different man, kind and welcoming. Tiffany adored her uncle, who was also her godfather. She didn’t get to see him nearly enough.

“Tell him no excuses, he needs to see Tiff before she starts kindergarten in the fall,” Cella warned.

“Will do. I think he’s planning a weekend trip, anyway. We’ll let you know the details.”

“Great.”

“Hard to believe you’re going to have a kindergartener in what, five months?”

Cella blew out a heavy breath, staring hard at her sister. “Thanks for reminding me.”

“What? I thought you’d be excited for that.”

She was.

God.

She honestly was.

At the same time … “It’s been me and her for so long. It scares me to think for six hours a day, she’s going to be away from me.”

“She’s in daycare now.”

“Not the same,” Cella said, shaking her head and causing the wavy strands of her newly styled, long balayage to fall over her shoulders. “This feels like … well, like she’s growing up.”

“Kind of the point, isn’t it?”

Cella laughed. “You know what, I can have feelings about her starting school. Just let me have them, Liliana.”

“Who else points out to you when you’re being totally ridiculous?”

No one.

And she liked that just fine.

“Anyway, we’re doing lunch, right?” Cella stood from her desk, one she used only for paperwork and things of a similar nature. Most of her work was done on her smart design board that covered an entire wall in a connecting room of her studio, or on one of her illuminating tables when she really needed to nail things down in a specific way. “So, let’s stop wasting time. God knows when we’re going to get the chance to do this again because I have to get home in lots of time to pack for this weekend.”

Liliana gave her a look as she grabbed her purse before crossing the floor to stand with her sister in the doorway. “Well, that answers that for me, I suppose.”

“What?”

“Ma said she didn’t know if you were coming to the showing at Lucia’s gallery this weekend, so I hoped that meant you probably were but hadn’t found time to let them know.”

Yeah.