BooksBarbecue
Back Everything After
Chapters (108)
  1. Cover
  2. ALSO BY JILL SANTOPOLO
  3. Dedication
  4. i
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. ii
  8. 3
  9. iii
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. iv
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. v
  16. 8
  17. vi
  18. 9
  19. vii
  20. 10
  21. 11
  22. viii
  23. 12
  24. ix
  25. 13
  26. x
  27. 14
  28. xi
  29. 15
  30. xii
  31. 16
  32. xiii
  33. 17
  34. xiv
  35. xv
  36. 18
  37. xvi
  38. 19
  39. xvii
  40. 20
  41. 21
  42. xviii
  43. 22
  44. 23
  45. xix
  46. 24
  47. xx
  48. 25
  49. xxi
  50. 26
  51. 27
  52. xxii
  53. 28
  54. 29
  55. 30
  56. xxiii
  57. 31
  58. 32
  59. 33
  60. xxiv
  61. 34
  62. xxv
  63. 35
  64. xxvi
  65. 36
  66. xxvii
  67. 37
  68. 38
  69. xxviii
  70. 39
  71. xxix
  72. 40
  73. xxx
  74. 41
  75. xxxi
  76. 42
  77. 43
  78. 44
  79. xxxii
  80. 45
  81. 46
  82. 47
  83. 48
  84. 49
  85. 50
  86. 51
  87. 52
  88. 53
  89. 54
  90. 55
  91. 56
  92. 57
  93. 58
  94. 59
  95. 60
  96. 61
  97. 62
  98. 63
  99. 64
  100. 65
  101. 66
  102. 67
  103. 68
  104. 69
  105. xxxiii
  106. acknowledgments
  107. about the author
  108. What’s next onyour reading list?

“A lot,” he answered.

She pressed the scar against her lips. “All better,” she said.

“You want some water?” he asked.

“I want you to kiss me all better,” she said. “Can you kiss me all better?”

“Oh, Queenie,” he said. Then he stood and gathered her in his arms, carrying her to her bedroom. He laid her on the bed and kissed her forehead. “There is nothing I’d like more than to kiss you all better, but not like this. I’ll leave some water and Tylenol on your table. Sleep well, beautiful.”

Emily closed her eyes, and the world started to spin. She opened them again as Rob put pills and a glass on the table next to her.

“I love you,” she told him.

“I’ve always loved you,” he answered.

A few moments after he left her room, she heard guitar chords strumming. Then Rob was singing:

Kiss me all better

You said

You said

Kiss me all better

As I tucked you

Into bed

Emily closed her eyes again and this time his music grounded her and made the world stop spinning off course. She fell asleep cradled in his song.

58

The next morning, Emily woke up at dawn with a headache. She looked over and saw the water and Tylenol to her left, took both pills, and drained the glass. It had been a long time since she’d woken up hungover. It made her feel like she was in college again. She didn’t want to be in college again. She turned over and went back to sleep.

—

A few hours later, she woke up again, feeling more like a human. She ambled out of the bedroom to get some more water and a cup of coffee and found the villa empty. There was a note on the table from Rob: Meeting with Diana, be back soon.

She wasn’t sure when he’d left, so she wasn’t sure what soon meant. She twisted her hair up into a messy bun that she secured with the pencil he’d left next to the note, then brushed her teeth and washed her face. She felt like she’d traveled back in time to the days of waking up late after drinking too much the night before. She remembered the roar of applause, the on-stage kiss, her off-stage request, and Rob tucking her in. It really was like she was twenty years old again. But she wasn’t. She was thirty-three.