Octavia let her mask slip and grimaced. “What the hell does that even mean?”

“I don’t know, I just thought that I was a homely nerd.”

“Jesus Christ, Toni. You need to seriously work on this self-image business. You’re young, brilliant, and beautiful. Derek is just a pretty face with no real substance. Why would you want to fit yourself into his tiny box?”

Antonia gave a tired shrug. She didn’t have an answer for that.

“Well I need you to figure that shit out,” her sister said in a stern tone that reminded Antonia of their mother. “My second condition is that you have to take your book with you. Whatever it was, it seemed like the one thing that made you happy. Can you do those two things?”

Antonia missed her writing terribly. The thrill she got when she sorted out the puzzles of her plot was euphoric. But she’d put it on the backburner for so long that she wondered if she could possibly return to it. There was a chance that she could. If she took advantage of this rainy day in her life, she could write her next chapter. She could also put in the hard work of understanding how she lost herself for a full year. Maybe she could find Augusta and herself in Ireland.

“I can do it,” she said with resolve. “I’ll go.”

Chapter Six

“I read an article saying people can’t drive and talk on the phone at the same time, did you know that?” Aiden’s mother said, her concerned face filling the screen of his phone. “It just can’t be done.”

It was a cloudy Thursday afternoon when he decided to take off for Tully Cross, but made the mistake of answering his mother’s phone call. Clare Hannigan, who was still figuring out the intricacies of her new iPhone, had discovered FaceTime. “I’ve heard that, Mam.”

“People think they can multitask and it just can’t be done,” she repeated. Her phone was tilted upward, showing more of her neck and chin than her eyes.

“Mam, go ahead and hold the phone up. At your face.”

“M’dear, what do you think I’m doing? Anyway, how are you feeling?”

“Well, I’m on my way to Tully Cross,” he said, leaning against the steering wheel. “And I don’t want to talk and drive.”

“You can talk to your poor mother for just a moment, can’t you?” She moved the phone to her jade green eyes and peered at him. “It’s not too far to the peninsula anyway. Also you didn’t answer my question: How are you feeling?”

Aiden rubbed his temples. “I feel fine, Mam.”

“You’re a worse liar than your da, you know that? And you look an awful mess, Aiden. Have y’even shaved?”

He glanced at his rearview mirror before answering her. No, he had not followed Robert’s orders and shaved his beard. In the past semester, the black stubble he usually sported had grown much fuller. He tilted his face slightly and frowned. The small patch of gray near his jaw was becoming more noticeable. “I’ll shave when I get to the cottage,” he promised.