A slow smile spread across Greta’s face.

“I was going to ask you the same thing.”

They spent the rest of the evening talking, and by the time the wine ran out and Greta had to crash for a few hours before heading back to the airport, they had a viable plan.

Chapter 29

Greta

Truman and Ash had trooped back to Ash’s hand in hand when the wine ran out, and Greta had fallen asleep on the couch for a few hours, setting three alarms on her phone so she wouldn’t oversleep and miss her flight.

She’d thought the first alarm was what jarred her from sleep, but it was a knock at the door and then the sound of a key in the lock. Assuming Truman forgot something, Greta grunted and pulled the blanket back over her head.

A moment later, she felt a weight on the cushion next to her, and a hand settled on her head. That didn’t seem like something Truman would do. Greta sat up and pulled the blanket away.

“Mom. What are you doing here?”

Her mother looked awful, eyes puffy and nose red.

“I think I’ve always known you’d leave me,” she said. But she sounded less accusatory and more mournful than before. She put a hand on Greta’s cheek, and Greta leaned into it. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize how unhappy you really were here,” her mom said softly. “I…I never wanted that.”

“You just wanted me to be nearby.”

Her mother nodded. “I like having all my girls around me. I like knowing where you are and what you’re doing.”

“You know you can still know those things if I don’t live near you.”

“How?”

“Mom. You just ask.”

Nell let out a bark of laughter that Greta recognized; she’d heard herself do it when she was nervous.

“And you’ll tell me?”

Greta nodded soberly. “I will. I’ll be excited to tell you because I’ll be excited about my life. Don’t you…” She screwed up her courage. “Don’t you want that for me? A life I’m actively excited about, rather than one I just happened to be born into?”

Nell Russakoff tugged at the worn edge of the blanket covering her daughter. “Yes. Of course I do. I want that for you. I’m just sad for myself.”

Greta sat up straighter. “Thanks for telling me. I’m really sorry that you have to be sad for me to have the life I want. And I hope you know how hard it’s been for me to realize that I could leave. It hasn’t been an easy decision. I love you. I love our family. I want us all to be close. But I can’t give up my chance at the life I want so that you won’t be sad.”

“I know that,” Nell said. “We know.”