Zoe raised an eyebrow. “Not since she left for New Orleans.”Zoe poured more ranch dressing over her salad. “Why? What’s going on?”
Remi hesitated before answering. “Nothing. I just … I thought I saw Bianca today.”
“In Napa?” Zoe blinked. “
Remi gave a slow uncertain nod. “I think so.”
Zoe tilted her head. “She wouldn’t be here and not tell us. Right? She’d stay with us … here at the house.”
“Right,” Remi replied softly. Her voice said one thing, but her gut whispered something else entirely.
After dinner, she sat with a glass of Merlot. Soft music played to soothe her soul as she relaxed on the sunporch.
“Mind if I join you?” Zoe asked softly, peeking her head out the door.
“Not at all, sweetheart. Come on out.”
Zoe took a seat in the chair adjacent to Remi’s. “Mom, you know how you told me that if you had known what I was going through, you could’ve helped me?”
Remi nodded hesitantly. “Yes.”
“Well, if I don’t know what’s going on with you, then I can’t help you.” Zoe grinned. Her frazzled cornrows had been replaced by two thick braids on each side of her head. “I know that something happened between you and Aunt B. And you haven’t been the same since.”
“You’re so observant.” Remi smiled at her daughter.
“I’m not a kid anymore. You can tell me what’s going on, and we’ll work through it together,” she said. “Isn’t that how it’s done?”
Remi sighed long and hard. “This is really heavy, even for you.”
“I’m tougher than you think,” Zoe shot back.
Remi smiled. “Let’s just say, it’s something that I can probably never forgive her for.”
“Well, I know this—” Zoe began. “There has never been a time inmylife that Aunt B wasn’t around. She’s been a present figure since the time I was born. She’s family. So, whatever it is, I’m sure she didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Remi looked down at her wineglass, turning it slowly in her hand. The silence hung thick. Crickets chirped just outside the screened window. Zoe didn’t push. She waited patiently.
“It was more than just a falling out,” Remi said finally. Her voice low, barely audible over the music. “It was betrayal. The kind you don’t come back from. The kind I hope you never have to endure with any of your friends.”
Zoe sat up straighter but still quiet.
“There are things I believed were sacred in my life. My marriage. My friendships. My sense of whom I could trust. Bianca and I—we were more than best friends. We were sisters. She knew everything about me. Everything about our family.”
She sighed, then paused to steady her breath.
“She crossed a line that can’t be uncrossed. One that broke something in me. Something I’m still trying to figure out how to live with.”
Zoe frowned, her eyes narrowing. “Did it have to do with Dad?”
Remi hesitated. She knew the truth was out there now. There was no turning back. “Yes. But not just him, though. My whole world. Imagine learning that one of the people you’ve trusted most in the world helped tear your life apart. That’s the kind of pain I’m talking about.”
Zoe’s face shifted. Concern softened into sadness. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“Because I didn’t want you to carry it too,” Remi said. “It’s not for you to worry your pretty little head about.”
“But I am carrying it, Mom. I’ve been carrying it in your silence.”
Remi blinked hard, caught off guard by her daughter’s words.