Page 67 of Never To Suffer (The Hollywoodland #4)

“Your father called me,” Marie interrupts.

“I couldn’t believe how happy he was. Like being young again and hearing him call me about Gio or élodie.

So much love in his voice, just like now.

Just like you two.” She looks down at Luca, and back to Sylvie and I.

“We should go. Papa will be home by now and it’s time he puts this foolishness aside.

His daughter loved an American as much as she loved an Italian. ”

“Why does he dislike Italians so much?” Luca asks.

“Ah, because he is a stubborn old man. His father left his mother for an Italian actress. Then Papa fell in love with his own Italian woman, who left him at the altar. He’s held a grudge against your country ever since.

Absolutely stupid. He only found more hatred after Gio moved in with élodie and Theo.

He couldn’t understand and thought it made élodie look…

dirty. He’s a Catholic, and they can be so strange sometimes, I swear.

” She picks up the dishes from lunch, turning before she gets to the kitchen.

“Theo, after we deal with Papa, I have something to show you.”

Maurice yells at me in French. I yell back in broken French and English.

He yells some more. When Marie steps in between us saying the neighbors are about to call the police on us, Maurice finally backs down and lets us into the house.

It’s another hour of heated arguments, but less yelling, before Marie and Sylvie have Luca and I leave.

When we’re allowed back in, Maurice is gone, but he’s told us to take whatever we want.

Or, at least, that’s how Marie puts it. So we do.

Marie leads us to the attic, where we find the instruments and boxes of gifts I’d sent for Sylvie after I’d left.

We find toys she never got, packages and presents they hid from her, and a lifetime of memories I promise to explain for the rest of my life if I have to.

It’s no wonder she didn’t want to talk to me.

She thought I’d abandoned her, and her grandparents helped fuel that belief.

We pile everything we can into Luca’s car, and even fill Marie’s.

The last few boxes come with me in a cab.

The neighbors watch the whole thing, probably happy Maurice is moving.

They’re less happy when they realize he’s not.

After we unpack the boxes into Sylvie and Luca’s apartment for them to go through, we’re all exhausted and ready to call it an early night.

“One more stop. I promise, it will be worth it. We’ll grab some wine and snacks on the way and we can eat there.”

“Where?”

“Somewhere Sylvie needs to see. You, too.”

It doesn’t take me long to recognize the path she’s taking, pointing out different places along the way that Sylvie has seen her whole life but never knew she had ties to.

The first restaurant I worked at. The place her mother and I met.

The first apartment we shared with Gio. As we leave the city behind for more rural roads, I stare at a landscape that’s hardly changed in the years I’ve been gone.

Sylvie falls asleep leaning against Luca, and he nods off shortly after that.

I check my phone again, but still nothing from Xander.

The calendar says Dani and Skylar have a show tonight, so I don’t want to bother them.

I’m only here for another two days before I head back home. Hopefully I hear from him before that.

The crunch of gravel as Marie pulls off the main road pulls me out of a dream with a start. I glance around, my brain still a little foggy about where I am and why I’m in a car.

“Have a nice nap?”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t mean to—” My thoughts screech to a halt when she turns a corner, and the house comes into view.

I had pictured it with weeds and flowers overtaking it through the years, but it looks the same as it did in my rearview mirror when I finally decided I couldn’t take anymore and went back to the states.

“Where are we?” Sylvie asks as Marie puts the car in park. She gasps and sits upright, pointing out the window to a wooden swing hanging from a branch. “LUCA! Oh, my god! I know this house. I know that swing!”

“Gio hung that up for you. Took him three weeks to convince élodie that you wouldn’t kill yourself on it. You were so scared the first time; he held you while I pushed you both.”

“I—I remember that. I believed it all a strange dream I had, not reality.” She pushes the door open and runs across the backyard past the swing and to the tree where our initials are all carved.

“You built me a house! My own little house, and I loved it so. It sat there. Oh, and over there we had a table where we painted together, all of us. I used to paint the sun, always the sun. Mama painted flowers. Gigi. I called him Gigi!”

I hold Marie’s hand as I watch Sylvie’s childhood come back to her. Marie hands her a key, and she runs inside and up the stairs, Luca right on her heels.

“I’ve been paying a local boy to keep the place up. He and his father live on the farm down the road. Now you can stop staying in hotels.”

“Or I could give it to Sylvie.”

“No, Theo. This place is yours. Besides, what would she do way the hell out here in the middle of nowhere? This place doesn’t even get the internet!”

“Yeah, well, that wasn’t really a thing we cared about back then.”

“No. You should bring your new family here. Let them meet your ghosts, because élodie and Gio would be so damn happy for you.”

“Thank you, Marie. For telling me to call her. For helping with Maurice. For this.”

“You took care of my sister. You loved her. At least I can do this for you.”

The next few days are a blur of sorting through boxes, finding the rings, and trying to remember all the little details and stories for each new thing we uncovered.

There’s still more. So much more. I wish I could stay a few more weeks, but Xander’s silence has my mind racing, and I don’t want to risk it knowing how on edge Dani has been.

My family here is safe and happy. My family back home is cracking under the pressure, and it’s time for me to go home and get to work.

I’m more determined now than before to make this work between us, to have the family we need and deserve.

As the plane takes off and I leave Paris behind once again, my phone buzzes. I normally don’t pay for the Wi-Fi on a flight, but I wanted to be available if anyone called. I turn the phone over.

Love

I know you’re headed home, and I’m not sure you’ll get this. Xander took off a few days ago and won’t return our calls. He took Baggy, so I’m sure he’s okay. He wouldn’t do anything that put her in harm's way.

Dani’s a mess. We only made it through to the next round because the other band all got sick and had to drop out. It was bad.

Sorry to dump all this on you. I just didn’t want you walking in blind.

I’m sorry, Skylar. That’s a lot to deal with on your own. Call me if you can or if you need to. I’ll let you know as soon as I land, and we’ll sort this all out.

We’ll get through this. It’s just a bump in the road to test our suspension.

Love

Good thing I know how to fix those.

Be safe, we miss you. And your cooking.