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“Yes, Maya.” She clicks her tongue. “I was shocked to get a call at the restaurant from her, explaining to me where you were and that I needed to call you as soon as possible.”
I send up a silent prayer of thanks and condemnation to her for choosing to call my parents.
“Maya has the best intentions, but sometimes she needs to mind her own business.”
My mom pauses, and a pregnant silence remains on the line before she breaks it.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on, or do your father and I need to get on a plane?”
Just the idea of them getting on an airplane causes me to giggle. My parents have never gone further than the Jersey Shore for their entire lives. They’re New Yorkers through and through and claim they have everything they need right there in the city, so there’s no sense in leaving.
“I don’t know what to do.” Fresh tears run down my cheeks as I pull my knees into my chest and rest my back along the lower cabinets of the island. “Bryce is everything I could have ever wanted in a man. He’s a genius in the kitchen and even owns a few restaurants across the country, but he isn’t conceited. He’d give someone the shirt off his back if they needed it, no questions asked.”
A smile creeps across my face as I continue to tell my mother all the wonderful things I’ve learned about Bryce over the short time we’ve spent together, wanting her to know everything there is to know about the man who owns my heart.
“You love him?” she asks.
I nod, forgetting that she can’t see me, but she continues.
“Does he treat you well?”
“Like I hung the moon.” My hands grip my robe tightly as I fight to keep control over my emotions. “He’s everything.''
Large, hiccupping breaths cause my body to tremble.
“Then what’s the problem?”
I freeze, not knowing exactly how to answer her question. It's true that I’m irrevocably in love with Bryce Thomas and he loves me just as much, if not more. But I have a responsibility to my parents, to come home and help keep the restaurant going.
Tears streaming down my face as I gasp for breath. “But the restaurant?”
“Will continue to run with or without you here.” She laughs. “What do you think we did while you were away at college for the last four years?”
“But you and Dad always said that I was going to come back and work in the kitchen at the restaurant.”
“Oh, baby.” My mom chokes up. “I’m so sorry! Yes, we’ve always wanted you to come back and work at the restaurant. To get married and have children of your own, and raise them to be strong and amazing people.”
Unable to speak, I nod as tears continuously stream down my face while I try to regain my composure.
“But what doyouwant, Charlotte?”
“What?”
“What doyouwant with your life, baby? All your father and I want is for you to be happy. Even if you have to live in another country to do it.”
Laughter bubbles from my throat. “I want to spend the rest of my life with Bryce.”
“Thank God.” Maya’s voice filters through the phone, making me gasp.
“What in the world…” I pull the phone from my ear and tap the screen, double checking that I’m in fact on the phone with my mother and haven’t lost my mind.
“I had a layover at JFK before heading to Venice for my nanny gig,” she responds without a care in the world.
“You were getting on a plane to fly across the world, and you didn’t bother to tell me?” My voice cracks as all the horrible things that could have happened to her while in flight run through my head. “Is that why you called me earlier?”
“Yep, but you were in the middle of a crisis, doll. I didn’t think telling you I was getting on a plane and planned on checking in on your parents was going to help. Besides, it all worked out in the end, didn’t it?”
“It did.” I smile brightly, pushing off the floor and glimpsing the clock on the stove. “I have to go.”
