And neither do I.

She stared at the photograph on the website of beautiful Versailles with its gorgeous gardens and shimmering fountains, stretching out into the distance, studded with flowers and Roman statues. The white columns of the building itself, in the distance, seemed to go on and on forever out of the range of the camera. It was like something out of a dream. Even when she’d gotten the invitation, she’d never actually imagined being there among those gorgeous gardens and statues, a part of it all.

Why shouldn’t I be a little reckless, too?

She was pulled away from her fantasies by a sudden text from Lily, her oldest: I think somebody’s totally lost their marbles!

Definitely.

Diana was definitely no longer in control of her marbles. Really, traveling halfway around the world on a whim to go to a masked ball? What did she think this was, a fairy tale?

She stared at the message, about to respond when another one came through: Are you going to talk some sense into him?

Oh. Lily had meant Evan, the wayward husband.

But how did Lily expect her to talk sense into anyone? She wasn’t sure she had any of her own left to spare.

And maybe it was time to shake things up a little—just to make life a little more interesting.

CHAPTER FOUR

That morning, Diana did something totally not like her.

Instead of driving into the city early to avoid the traffic, she called and left a message for Sandy, saying something came up and she’d be in later in the afternoon.

Everyone who worked at Addict had the ability to work from home, if they chose. Diana, though, had never taken HR up on the offer. Usually, she enjoyed making the drive, being in the city, and of course, making things happen at work.

But this time, she had no choice.

The thing that had begun tugging at her last night was now yanking her so hard, she could think of nothing else. Certainly not work. A drumbeat kept thrumming in her head: Europe, Europe, Europe.

Her eldest, Lily, was twenty-seven and lived with her husband in East Norwich, a town just south. Though they lived not ten minutes apart, Diana’s schedule was so busy that they rarely saw one another. Lily didn’t seem to mind because she was a chip off the old block—as a realtor, she was constantly hustling all over Long Island, showing homes to prospective buyers. Despite the closeness, theirs was a long-distance relationship—mostly relegated to phone calls and texts. They rarely just “stopped by” unannounced.

That’s probably why it took Lily a good ten minutes to answer the door. By then, Diana had been sitting on the porch and pressing the doorbell under the “No Soliciting” placard until her fingertip hurt. Lily came to the door in a bathrobe, her long auburn hair up in a towel turban. Tall and slim with her father’s Roman nose and her mother’s dramatically arched eyebrows, she moved with all the grace that ten years of ballet lessons and recitals at the Oyster Bay Dance Troupe had given her.