Chapter 2 Do You Still Love Me?

It was after ten when Elena got back to the house in Coral Gables.

Martha, the housekeeper, met her in the front hall with a bowl in her hands.

"Miss Rossi, this is the soup you made for Mr. Costa. It went cold, so I heated it up again. Would you like to take it up to him?"

Elena took the bowl without a word and carried it upstairs.

The bedroom door was open. Julian's laptop sat awake on the desk by the window, but his chair was empty. The shower was running.

She set the bowl down beside the laptop.

The laptop chimed. Then again. Then four more times, fast.

She had never once gone through his phone or his computer. But the name at the top of the screen was Bianca.

She moved the mouse and opened the chat.

Bianca had written ten minutes ago: "I'm back, Julian. I land at Miami International at 11:30 tonight. Will you come get me?"

So that was why he was showering.

The messages kept coming, one after another.

"I never stopped thinking about you in Paris. Leaving you for my career was the biggest mistake of my life."

"We were both too proud. Neither of us knew how to be the first one to back down. But you still think about me. Don't you?"

"I dated a couple of guys over there. None of it lasted. Something was always missing, and it took me way too long to figure out it was you."

"I was afraid to come home. Afraid you'd see me and walk the other way. Afraid there'd already be another woman at your side."

"I was wrong, Julian. Can you forgive me?"

Elena read every line. Her chest felt tight.

She reached for the mouse to close the chat. Before she could, a reply appeared under Bianca's.

Julian. Answering from his phone. In the shower.

"Bianca, I just need to know one thing. Do you still love me?"

Bianca answered in seconds. "Yes. Only you."

"Then wait for me at the airport."

Elena's hand stayed on the mouse.

Julian was always busy. Her texts could sit unread for half a day. After the first year, she'd mostly stopped sending them, so she wouldn't be in his way.

Bianca's messages, he answered with the water running.

It couldn't have been plainer which of them he loved.

She closed the chat, put the cursor back where it had been, and went downstairs.

She ladled herself a bowl of the same soup and ate it at the counter, one spoonful at a time.

Julian had a bad stomach, and she'd learned this recipe for him. Pearl barley soaked overnight, then three hours on low with chicken, rice, and a little ginger. It took half a day to make. He'd said once that he liked it, and she'd made it for him twice a week for two years.

She'd finished the bowl by the time Julian came down.

His hair was dry and combed back. He'd changed into a clean white shirt and the cologne she'd bought him for his birthday.

"Where'd you go?" he asked. "I didn't see you come in."

"I went for a walk."

"I have to go out." He was already heading for the door. "If you get tired, go to bed. Don't wait up."

"Are you coming back tonight?"

He stopped with one shoe on. It took him a few seconds to answer.

"Something came up with the family. If it runs late, I'll just stay out."

"Okay."

She didn't argue. She never did.

"Hey." He looked back at her, and his voice softened. "Get some sleep. And that Lady Dior you were looking at last month, I'll have Danny bring it by tomorrow."

Danny Reyes was his right-hand man. Lately Danny was the one who delivered most of Julian's apologies.

"Okay," Elena said.

He picked up his keys and went out. He didn't look back once.

Elena went upstairs. The soup she'd set beside his laptop was still there, untouched, gone cold again.

Julian didn't come home that night.

In the morning, his side of the bed was cold.

Her phone woke her at eight.

"Elena! Oh no, did I wake you? Sorry, sorry!" Paige Whitley sounded wide awake and thrilled about it. "It's my birthday! I'm doing a thing tonight at Lumen. Private room, nine o'clock. You have to come!"

Paige was part of Julian's crowd. They were the sons and daughters of the old Miami families, and they'd decided early on what Elena was.

A resident from some no-name family somewhere up north. Nobody's daughter. Not one of them would have said it to her face, and every one of them made sure she knew it.

Paige was the only one who had ever stuck up for her.

Once, at a dinner, one of the girls had asked in front of the whole table whether residents made enough to split the check. Paige had slid her own card across for Elena's share. Elena had counted her as a friend ever since.

"I'll be there," she said.

She spent her lunch break on Lincoln Road and picked out a gift, a thin gold necklace Paige had once pointed to in a magazine.

That night, she got to Lumen early.

"Happy birthday, Paige."

"You're the best!" Paige hugged her and took the box. Behind her, a blonde named Brooke looked Elena up and down and went back to her drink.

"Where's Julian?" Paige asked. "Isn't he with you?"

"I didn't know he was coming."

"He texted me this afternoon. Said he'd stop by." Paige blinked. "He didn't tell you?"

He'd had all afternoon to mention it.

They were still talking when the door opened.

Julian walked in late, the same as always. A woman had her hand tucked into the crook of his arm.

Elena didn't know her face. Then she looked again, and she did.

Dark hair to the shoulders. Wide dark eyes. The same shape of the mouth. Elena had seen most of that face in her own mirror every morning of her life.

Julian's eyes met hers across the room. He stopped walking.

"Elena?" he said. "What are you doing here?"