“Nina, please, not today. Don’t play that broken record.”
His wife slammed the plates down on the table.
“I wouldn’t have to. You know exactly what this is about. How long have we been married? Not five years, Andrew, but over twenty. And you still call out her name in your sleep… Don’t you dare!”
“Don’t dare what? Call your old flame what she was? Why shouldn’t I? I’m your wife, the mother of your son, and I have every right to name the woman you call for in your dreams. Don’t you get it? She’s gone. She died a long, long time ago.”
Andrew knew what was coming. A storm of tears. Nina wasn’t a hysterical woman; he knew this was his fault. An unintentional fault, but his nonetheless.
Twenty-three years ago, he’d fallen in love. So hard it made the world spin. She wasn’t like anyone he’d ever met. She was delicate, ethereal, almost otherworldly. Andrew had never seen anyone like her. He was a jock, a high school football star who raced motorcycles on dirt tracks and dreamed of being a stuntman.
Carina was different. She was afraid of heights, of deep water, even of the sun, which burned her pale skin instantly. Carina had spent her life immersed in music, playing nearly every instrument she could get her hands on. Her dream was to be a world-renowned composer, and her grandmother was determined to make it happen.
Eleanor Vance was a force of nature. A formidable woman who had built a real estate empire from the ground up. She had connections, a will of iron, and a condescending attitude toward almost everyone. But she adored her granddaughter, even if she couldn’t understand how someone could be so fragile. Carina was a gift from her late daughter. Eleanor carried a heavy guilt over her daughter’s past, and perhaps that’s why she allowed Carina to pursue her musical dreams.
Carina’s mother, Eleanor’s own daughter, had also dreamed of a life in music, but Eleanor had forced her into business school. The pressure seemed to break the young woman. Within six months, she had dropped out, changed beyond recognition, and turned up pregnant. Naturally, Eleanor disowned her ‘wayward’ daughter. Then came the call from the hospital: her daughter had died in childbirth. Did she intend to claim the baby, Carina?
From that day on, Eleanor treated Carina like a precious doll. Vacations by the sea, a grand future all mapped out…
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