“Then go get her.” Mia smiled at me. “If you know her well enough to love her, then you know what she needs to hear. It’s in there, Henry.” She put a hand over her heart. “Trust me. Trust you.”

24. Sylvia

Twenty-Four

Sylvia

I was helping April prepare for the inn’s big Valentine’s dinner when Whitney found me in the restaurant.

“Hey, Whit.” I placed one of the centerpieces that had just been delivered from the florist on a table for four near the bar. “Where have you been?”

“I went to see Henry,” she announced.

I looked at her, startled. “You what?”

“I went to see Henry in his office at the winery.”

My mouth fell open. “Why?”

“Because I needed to talk to him.” She pulled out a chair and sat down. “And now I need to talk to you.”

“Okay,” I said, pulling out the chair adjacent to hers. My head was spinning. “But since when do you call him Henry?”

“Since he told me to today. So here’s the thing.” Whitney placed her clasped hands on the table. “He’s really in love with you. It’s true.”

My face burned. “Whitney, what on earth—”

“Listen to me. You said, that night he came to the house, that you didn’t know whether he loved you or not. You said that was the problem.”

“I said that was part of the problem.”

“Well, it’s not anymore. He loves you for real.”

“And how do you know this?”

“Because I asked him how he knows he’s in love with you, and he gave me this very long speech that I can’t exactly remember, but he looked sort of intense and sad like Augustus Waters when he says that he knows that oblivion is inevitable but he is in love with you and all your efforts to keep him from you are going to fail.”

“Who?” I asked, feeling like I had whiplash.

She rolled her eyes. “Augustus Waters! From The Fault in Our Stars?”

I shook my head. “Okay, but Whitney, you said you weren’t ready for me to date anyone. You said you were scared of what might happen.”

“I know what I said on New Year’s Eve, and I’m sorry. It wasn’t fair. If you and Henry love each other, you should be together. Keaton and I just talked about it, and we agree.”

I placed two palms on the tablecloth, wishing the world would just slow down for a moment. I couldn’t keep up. “Wait a minute. You spoke to Keaton about this already?”

“Yes, right after I talked to Henry. We want you to be happy, Mom. I know you say you don’t need anyone but us, but that’s a lot of pressure—and it’s not working. We can hear you crying at night. We think you need something of your own.”