“I’m so sorry,” said Milos again, and Sarah could see how he needed her reassurance, to know he hadn’t failed her.

“It’s okay.” Lies heaped upon lies.

In the night, the wind howled outside like pleas, and her family populated her nightmares. In her head in the dark, Sarah was convinced they should take over boats and save them. But save them from what?

In the daylight, she was sure she was overreacting. The Allies were closing in. Nonetheless, Sarah and Milos crumbled beneath the weight of what lived in her head.

He was no longer her beloved Milos, but rather the boulder obstructing her path to her family.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Joey

Florida
2019

Joey pulled up to the pink terra-cotta clubhouse where she’d spent the bulk of her teenage years, lifeguarding and eating free frozen yogurt. She was zonked from a day at Edith’s, if one could be zonked from accomplishing absolutely nothing.

All of yesterday, she’d sketched ideas, masses of evil eyes, because that had first piqued Edith’s interest and they were indeed Joey’s specialty. But when she’d gotten in the space today and stared at the wall, attempting to feel what it was asking her to paint, it had all seemed wrong. The foyer needed something major. Something large-scale. Not lots of evil eyes, but one thing to hold its own against the coffee lid tapestry and the giant Lucite chandelier.

She’d closed her eyes and tried to activate an image. Instead, all that had happened was that the butler had nearly tripped over her legs. As he’d said, brushing imperceptible lint off his jacket, he hadn’t expected the artist to be taking a nap.

Joey knew the sign of a creative well run dry.

That morning, Grant had suggested takeout for dinner from the Boca Beach Club, and Joey had offered to pick it up after her day at Edith’s. They’d decided on kale salads and turkey burgers in lettuce wraps from the club’s new California-style decorated-in-all-white spot where, appropriately, the kale salad was called the Wedding Diet Salad.

Joey hadn’t confided in Grant, or anyone, about her recent binge. She was putting it in her past. Never again. She just had to be vigilant going forward, especially if she wanted to fit into her wedding dress. She couldn’t wait to slip on her pajamas and eat Wedding Diet Salads with Grant. They’d watch Bachelor in Paradise, maybe, and talk about anything other than her family, Leo, and the wall she had to paint.