It took a few days for Eduardo to get over being mad at me. The night after I told him about Lucinda’s offer of a show, he did come back and sleep in our bed, but the intimacy between us took a hiatus. He was quiet and preoccupied.

We were starting to feel like roommates.

I wished he would come around and try to understand why I had to take Lucinda up on her offer, but he had his opinions, and I wasn’t sure how to persuade him. So, I started making my own plans and hoping he would get on board eventually.

It was a Wednesday, and I was running around our cottage packing. I was scheduled to leave for Los Angeles the following day. Eduardo knew about this, but he didn’t act like he wanted to talk about it.

When he came home from work, he looked even more distracted.

“Hey,” I reached out and touched his arm as he sat on the couch. “Are you okay?”

He crossed his arms across his chest. “Fine. I’m fine. Why?”

I perched next to him. “You don’t look fine. You look like something’s bothering you.”

He shrugged. “There’s a lot of stuff going on at work.”

“Like what?” Eduardo didn’t really talk about his work at the church that often. I mostly heard about the boys playing basketball or the theology behind various things. It was clear he enjoyed his work as a priest, but sometimes it felt like there was a distance between him and his congregation, and I sensed a sadness from him regarding the church. But none of that came from anything Eduardo had said to me, so I could have been imagining it. It was just a feeling I had.

“Nothing for you to worry about. Anyway, you’re about to start your new life in Los Angeles.”

“I wouldn’t call it a life Eduardo. We’re just shooting a pilot. It could come to nothing.”

He eyed me skeptically. “We both know better than that. With Lucinda at the helm, this show will happen if she wants it to.”

“Well I hope so. Anyway, I’ll be back. It’s not like I’m going to LA permanently.”

“What are you going to do about the bakery while you’re gone?”

“I’ve hired a guy to check in on the construction and keep me updated. His name is Peter. You know, he’s the guy I was going to hire to work the front counter when we opened?”

“Good idea, but I don’t know why you didn’t just ask me to check in on things.”

Eduardo and I hadn’t seen eye to eye on some of the aspects involved in me running my new business. I wanted to hire someone to help me run things, but he thought it was too soon for that. We’d gone around and around a couple of times about it, but ultimately he agreed that it was my business, and that I could do whatever I wanted.

“You’ve got enough on your plate, don’t you think? With the basketball and the congregation and services and with Kay being at work so inconsistently. I didn’t want to make more work for you.”

He smiled weakly. “Still, I would’ve done it for you. All you had to do was ask.”

My heart squeezed. This wonderful man loved me so much, and in many ways I kept throwing his love back in his face instead of embracing it, nurturing it. It made me feel awful.

“Thank you. I’ll remember that next time.” The minute the words were out of my mouth, I wished I could take them back. Mentioning a next time only seemed to widen the divide between us.

He nodded, picked up a magazine off the coffee table, and started flipping through it.

Not sure what else to say, I got up and started for the bedroom to finish packing. But before I left the room I said, “I’m not going to be gone that long and Lucinda says they are having a Barnes family party to meet me and of course they want you to come. It’s not this weekend, but the next. Do you think you might try to make it?”

To my surprise he said, “Sure. I’ll check my schedule and see what I can do.” But he never looked up from his magazine.

Even though the tension was thick between us, he almost agreed to come to LA. That was a good sign, wasn’t it?

* * *

I’d been to LA before when I was in culinary school. But nothing in my experience prepared me for California—Barnes style.

Lucinda sent a car to pick me up at the airport, and I couldn’t help but get a little thrill when I was greeted in the baggage claim area by a man wearing a suit and holding a placard with the name Chloe Soto on it. It was at that moment that I knew I had arrived. Not just in LA, but in a new life in which I no longer had to humiliate myself in order to pay the bills.

The driver took me to the Barnes family home in Beverly Hills. It was a lovely Spanish-style home with a big pool in the back and came complete with a housekeeper named Esther.

The first day I spent with Lucinda since the other members of the family were jet-setting around somewhere else. Nick was away playing basketball on the East Coast, but his home base was in Fresno anyway which was several hours away. Dynassy was in Milan doing a fashion shoot, and Ivy and Leo were performing somewhere in South America. Only Lucinda was home to greet me, but she was a gracious hostess, and the reason I was there in the first place.

“Oh, Chloe! I’m so glad you decided to come. We are going to have the best time creating a show for you. I am so looking forward to this.” Lucinda enveloped me with a big hug, surrounding me with the heady scent of her perfume which smelled of jasmine and citrus.

I hugged her back tightly. “Thank you so much for this opportunity. I can’t tell you how excited I am. I kinda feel like I just won the lottery.”

She patted my hand. “You did. Not only is Eduardo a wonderful man, but he comes from a pretty good family too.”

I smiled warmly at her. “I would have to agree.”

“So, my little chickadee, where shall we eat?”

We decided on a sushi restaurant that Lucinda recommended. She told me it was all the rage and terribly hard to get reservations. Apparently, that didn’t apply to the Barnes clan because we were seated right away, and the food was delicious.

The next morning Lucinda and I went to the Barnes Media offices where we had meeting after meeting with the show developer, designers, and even a custom set designer. They told me to prepare the next morning to do some test shots. The day was filled with excitement, and by the end of it I was exhausted.

The time flew by, and before I knew it, it was the day of the Barnes family party.

I was a little nervous, because the Barneses were famous people, but I reminded myself that I’d been nervous about meeting Nick and he turned out to be an amazing guy who made me feel super comfortable around him. I also got along with Lucinda really well, so I told myself that the other Barneses would be just as down to earth, but it was still intimidating. There were few women on the planet as beautiful as Dynassy, and Ivy was not far behind. Not to mention her and her brother Leo were so talented that it was mind-blowing.

I was about to head downstairs to join the party when my phone buzzed with a text.

It was from Eduardo.

Sorry. Can’t make it.

Anger swelled inside me, and I turned on my heel and went back to my room.

Not wasting a second, I hit the call button on my phone.

Eduardo answered immediately. “Hello.”

“What the hell do you mean you can’t make it?” How dare he leave me high and dry at a party for his family. I was getting fed up with his bad attitude. It was embarrassing.

“I’m sorry. Kay’s husband was in a drunk driving accident early this morning, and he’s in the hospital. They’re not sure if he’s going to make it.”

“Oh.” The news deflated my anger pretty quickly. He’d known Kay a lot longer than he had me or any of the Barnes family for that matter. It made sense that he should be there for her now. “That’s awful. Please tell Kay I’m sorry. How’s she holding up?”

“Not great. It’s a blessing that her mother is staying with her, so she can help with the twins, but it’s not looking good.”

“That’s awful,” I repeated, unsure what else to say. “Do you want me to come back home?”

“No. You’re living your dream out there, right? You do you.”

“But this isn’t the marriage you signed up for.”

I heard a sigh from his end. “No, but I think I was fooling myself.”

My chest clinched. What could I say? “You knew I married you to escape my circumstances, to get my career off the ground?” Of course not. Instead, I said, “I feel bad.”

It was the understatement of the year, but it was all I could come up with.

“Don’t. Enjoy yourself. I’ll make it out there for a weekend soon. I just need to make sure Kay is going to be all right.”

“Yes, of course. You should. I know she’s always been there for you.” Unlike me.

“Tell my siblings hi for me. And Lucinda,” he said with a laugh.

“I will.” This whole situation got weirder all the time. I was married to a member of the Barnes family, yet I was getting to know them better than he was. It was bizarre.

“We’ll miss you tonight.”

“Me too.” He said the words, but I didn’t necessarily believe him. He hadn’t wanted to come to LA. And more than likely if he had, he would have done it just for me.

“All right. Please keep me updated. We’ll keep Kay and her family in our prayers.”

As soon as I said it, I cringed. “We?” I’d made it sound like I was so tight with the Barneses, and he was on the outside.

“I will and thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” It came out so formal . . . I missed the couple we had been on our honeymoon. Things had been the complete opposite of formal then.

“Okay, I’ve got to get back,” he said.

“Okay.”

“Bye,” he said, then the call disconnected.

He’d hung up without telling me he loved me.

It was the first time he’d done that.

Eduardo always ended a phone conversation with an “I love you.”

My heart ached.

Desperate, I texted him a heart emoji and the words, “I love you.”

Then I waited, but I didn’t get a response. Damn!

I hadn’t meant to join the Barnes family circle and leave my husband out, but that’s exactly what I’d done. I’d isolated my poor sweet husband who was my connection to them in the first place.

The last thing I felt like doing was going to a party, but that’s exactly what I did.

I met Dynassy and Ivy and Leo. They were as good-looking as they were on magazine covers, though Dynassy was shorter than I thought she’d be. I liked her boyfriend Hunter. You could look at him and tell he was ex-military with his big muscles and the confident way he carried himself. They were a cute couple, and seeing them together made me miss Eduardo all the more.

Leo was the most quiet. He let Ivy do the talking for him most of the time. But when he did chime in it was obvious he had a wicked sense of humor. Unfortunately, Nick and Eden and their twins couldn’t make it. The twins had been fighting a bout of bronchitis so Eden had decided they needed to stay home.

“Those babies are the most adorable children you will ever meet,” Ivy assured me. “That is, until you and my new brother have your own, of course. Any plans in that department?”

“Ivy!” Lucinda chided. “That is so rude. The two of them just got married. And besides, that’s a grandmother’s job—to nag about grandchildren.”

Everyone laughed.

“We’re not planning to start a family anytime soon, but maybe one day,” I said, and realized I meant it. If Eduardo and I could get our relationship on track.

“Don’t let them bully you into it. I’m not.” Dynassy winked at me then looked at Hunter in a way that made me think it might not be long until the two of them did go down that road.

The party was fun, but Eduardo’s absence made it feel like there was a shadow hanging over the gathering. The Barneses didn’t appear to notice, but I couldn’t help it.

After a while, Lucinda pulled me aside. “Hey, are you okay, Chloe? You don’t seem like your usual plucky self.”

I feigned a smile. “I’m all right. I just miss Eduardo. Kinda disappointed he wasn’t able to come.”

Lucinda nodded. “It can be hard to love a man with so many responsibilities. So many people to look after.” She patted my hand. “But in his heart, you come first.”

I made a face. “After the man upstairs, of course.”

Lucinda’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t be too sure of that. I think you’re at the top of his priority list.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You’re here, aren’t you?”

I nodded. “What does that mean?”

“Eduardo didn’t want you to come out here and be on my TV show, did he?”

“He wasn’t thrilled with the idea, no.”

“But he let you come anyway.”

I protested. “He may be my husband, but I’m a grown woman, Lucinda. I make my own decisions.”

She gave me a look that could only be described as patronizing. “I’m sure you do my dear, but if the bishop wanted to ruin this for you all he’d have to do is give me a call. No, Eduardo is the one with Barnes blood running through his veins, and if this project didn’t have his blessing, I’d have to put the kibosh on it.”

I stood there, speechless. It felt like Lucinda was standing there telling me that I didn’t matter.

Wasn’t that what Eduardo had warned me about when I’d been so excited about this project?

“Don’t be upset, dear. It’s all good. What I’m trying to tell you is that your husband loves you so much that he’s willing to put up with our batty Barnes bunch just to make you happy.”

At a loss for words, I mumbled, “Oh.”

Lucinda patted me on the arm then went into the kitchen leaving me standing there in a room full of people feeling completely alone.