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Carmel, California
The biggest call of my life came at three o'clock on a Thursday afternoon in the middle of September. I'd been working at my sister's clothing boutique in downtown Carmel when Ray Price's name flashed across my phone screen. I couldn't take the call in the shop, so I'd jumped into my car and driven a half-mile to the beach where I'd parked along the coastal trail and called him back.
"You're in," Ray said, his voice filled with excitement. "The Pacific Coast Orchestra wants to hire you as a second chair violin for our upcoming European tour. It's the chance of a lifetime, Brynn. We'll be touring for eight weeks starting in November and ending just after the New Year. You'll get to play in eight major cities, ending in Paris."
My heart pounded hard against my chest. "Are you sure? I can't quite believe it's real."
"That's because you've never really believed in how good you are."
"You've always been one of my biggest supporters," I said gratefully. I'd met Ray nine years ago in a music class at UCLA. Ray also played the violin, and we'd become instant best friends. But while we'd started out on the same path, mine had diverged after college, when I'd given up my goal of playing in a world-renowned orchestra and decided to run a clothing boutique with my sister. That goal had seemed far more practical and attainable than the other.
While I'd played for community orchestras on the side and earned extra cash giving lessons, I'd thought it was too late to go back to that childhood dream of mine. But then, last week, Ray had asked me to audition for a last-minute opening with his orchestra, and I'd given it a shot, thinking the odds were very much against me.
"Rehearsals won't start until the first of October," Ray continued. "But they'll need your answer by Monday. Not that I think you need that long to decide. You can't turn this down."
"I don't want to turn it down, but I need to talk to my sister," I said, dreading that conversation.
"I'm sure Dani will be thrilled for you."
"I'm not sure about that," I replied. I was going to bail on our business and that would not make Dani happy. Although it wasn't really our business; it was Dani's store. But I'd been by her side since she'd first opened the clothing shop four years ago. I'd helped her grow the business and managed the store when she'd gone through difficult personal trials.
"Why wouldn't she be happy for you?" Ray questioned. "You have a gift, Brynn, and you're not using it. Your sister can find someone else to help her run the store. She'll want you to take this job. Just say yes."
"I'll call you back as soon as I talk to Dani, but since they are giving me until Monday, I'm going to take the weekend to get things organized here."
"All right. Congratulations, Brynn."
"Thanks, Ray. I know you put in a good word for me."
"I just told them the truth. You're one of the best violinists I've ever had the pleasure to play with."
"Right back at you. I'll call you soon."
As I set down the phone, I looked out the window at the crashing white-capped waves of the Pacific Ocean. There was a storm blowing in, and I felt like the sea echoed the turbulent emotions running through me. I liked my life best when everything was relaxed, on an even keel. I didn't like highs because they were usually followed by painful lows. Today was one of those days that seemed too good to be true.
But it was true. I had an offer to play with an incredible orchestra touring across Europe. It was an unbelievable opportunity. I wanted to believe that my sister would be happy for me. We'd always been there for each other, but the last several years had been more about me being there for her.
I'd moved to Carmel with her after college, when her very serious boyfriend had popped the question right after graduation. Steve had just finished law school and was about to join his parents' firm in Carmel. Dani hadn't wanted to move there without me. So, I'd gone to help her get settled and plan her wedding. It wasn't supposed to be forever. But after the wedding, she'd wanted to open the boutique, and she needed my help again. Then had come her issues with pregnancy, miscarriage, and sadness. My sister had needed me, and I couldn't say no to her, because when I'd needed her, she'd been there.
It had been the two of us against the world since my mother had died when we were seven. Our dad had been around, but his grief had taken him away from us, mentally and emotionally. He hadn’t come out of that grief until he'd remarried, and then it was all about his second wife, Vicky.
But even without the attention of my father and stepmother, I'd always had Dani. Born twenty-two minutes before me, Dani had taken on the role of big sister from the minute she was born. She'd been the bossy one, constantly looking ahead, making sure I wasn't breaking any rules and acting like my second mother. I'd needed her to fill that role. I owed her a lot and leaving now would hurt her. Not just because she'd need to hire someone at the shop, but because after a couple of unsuccessful attempts, she was now four months pregnant, and the last thing she needed was stress in her life. It wasn't the best time to leave.
But would there ever be a good time?
Once she had the baby, Dani would want to be home with her child. She'd want me to keep the boutique running. I couldn't keep putting my own life on hold no matter how much I loved her, no matter how much I didn't want to disappoint her.
My phone rang, and Dani's name flashed across the screen. I felt almost panicked at the sight of it. I knew she was wondering where I was. I couldn't talk to her on the phone. This conversation had to be done in person. I sent her a text, telling her I was on my way back, and then I started the car.
A few minutes later, I pulled into the small lot behind the store, drew in a deep breath and headed inside. I dropped my bag in the office and made my way through the dressing-room area, where all three stalls appeared to be full. That wasn't surprising. This weekend should be especially busy as there were a ton of tourists in town for a big celebrity golf tournament.
Dani was ringing up a customer while our other clerk, Maddie, a local college student was hanging up clothes. I smiled at Maddie, then made my way over to Dani. The customer she was helping gave a double take when she saw me.
"There's two of you," she murmured in bemusement.
I smiled, used to the surprised reaction, although it hadn't happened as much in recent years. Dani and I were identical mirror twins. While we looked alike, she was right-handed, and I was left. She had a freckle above her right eyebrow, while I had the same freckle on the left. But we shared the same brown hair and dark blue, almost purple, eyes.
Beyond that, we'd made some changes to distinguish ourselves over the years. Dani had cut her brown hair to collar length and wore it straight, while my hair fell below my shoulders in tangled waves. Dani's fashion style was trendy and modern, while I was more casual and liked a bohemian look.
"Sorry for staring," the customer continued.
"No worries," Dani said. "Brynn is my twin sister, and we've had some fun over the years confusing people until we changed our hair and the way we dress."
"It must be odd to look at each other and see your own face," the customer said.
"It feels normal to us," I said.
"Enjoy your dress," Dani added, as she handed the customer her bag.
"Oh, I love it already. It will be perfect for my best friend's wedding. Thanks."
As the woman left, Dani's sales smile faded as she gave me an annoyed look. "Where have you been? I told you I need to leave early to get to my doctor's appointment. Steve will be here any second to pick me up."
"Oh, right." I realized my plan to shake up both our lives was going to have to wait. "Sorry, I forgot."
"You've been preoccupied lately. Are you thinking about Jeff?" Dani asked, referring to the man I'd been dating the past month.
I started at the question, realizing I hadn't given Jeff one thought in the last week.
"Are you two getting serious?" Dani asked with a hopeful smile.
"It hasn’t been that long. He's a nice guy, but I don't know…"
"You're so picky, Brynn. Jeff has a good job, and he's Steve's best friend. Think how great it would be if the two of you fell in love. Jeff is already part of the family. He's a good catch."
"I'm not looking to catch someone."
"I wish you would change your mind. I want our kids to grow up together."
"Dani, slow down," I said with a laugh. "Nothing would happen that fast, even if I keep dating Jeff."
"I know. I just like it when we're both happy. And it doesn't feel like you've been that happy lately."
Her words seemed like the perfect opening to say I'd found a way to make myself happy. But then Steve walked through the front door. Dani's husband was an attractive man with blond hair and blue eyes. Steve was dressed in a navy-blue suit. His glasses framed a pair of tired brown eyes. Dani had told me earlier that he'd been putting in long hours at the office and in court as a trial was just getting underway.
He gave me a friendly smile, then walked over to Dani to give her a kiss. "Are you ready to go?"
"I am," she said. "I'm a little nervous."
"It's going to be fine," he told her.
"Just what I wanted to hear you say."
I envied the look of intimacy that passed between them. They'd been through a lot of heartache since their wedding, but they seemed to have grown stronger because of it. I hoped today's exam would provide nothing but good news. They deserved a break.
"I'm going to grab my purse. I'll be right back," Dani told Steve.
As she went into the back room, Steve moved over to the counter. "Have you talked to your dad lately, Brynn?"
"No. Why?" I asked curiously.
"Vicky just called me. She wanted to know if I knew where Ross had gone on his business trip. His assistant told her he'd gone to Portland, but he's not staying at his usual hotel there. Nor is he returning her calls."
"Why would she call you?"
"Ross and I are supposed to play golf on Sunday."
"Oh. Well, my father doesn't check in with me. Dani would hear from him before I would."
"I'll talk to her about it." He paused. "Don't say anything about your dad right now. Dani might worry, and I want her to go into this appointment with a relaxed, positive attitude."
I could see by the tension in his eyes that he wasn't feeling at all relaxed. "I won't say anything, and I hope it goes well today."
"Me, too. It has been a lot to get to this point."
"It's all going to be good from here on," I assured him. "I wouldn't worry about Dad or Vicky. She lives for drama. She has always been insecure, imagining the worst whenever Dad isn't giving her a hundred percent of his attention. But he gets distracted by work, and he doesn't always check his phone when he's with clients. I'm sure he's fine."
"I hope so. I don't want Dani to be stressed about anything right now. Whatever you can do to take pressure off her, I'd really appreciate."
My heart sank at his words. I couldn't promise him I'd be taking pressure off Dani, not with what I needed to talk to her about. But first things first; they needed to see the doctor and find out everything was exactly as it should be.
Dani came back into the shop and gave me a smile. "Thanks for taking over, Brynn. I don't know what I'd do without you."
Her words lingered in the air long after she and Steve had left. She was going to have to do without me if I took my dream job. When I took my dream job, I silently amended.
It was a risk. I could play horribly and get fired within a week, and that might hurt worse than not playing at all. But I'd been playing it safe my entire life.
Growing up, Dani had never let me stray too far. If I got close to the street, she'd take my hand and yank me back. I hadn't always appreciated her tight grip on me, but I had relied on it. She had kept me safe over the years. But I couldn't let my sister's needs dictate the rest of my life. I was twenty-seven years old, and Dani and I both needed more than each other. She had Steve and the boutique and a baby on the way. It was my turn.
But for now, I needed to finish the day. For the next hour, I did everything I could do to keep myself from thinking too much. As the clock ticked toward five, the customers petered out.
Maddie left to get ready for a date, and I was about to turn the sign to Closed when the door opened, and Jeff Dunbar walked in with a smile on his boyishly handsome face. He wore gray slacks and a light-blue shirt with a tie loose around his neck. Jeff was a lawyer at Steve's firm and one of my brother-in-law's best friends. We'd been dating the last few weeks, and I liked him, but I didn't see it going anywhere.
There was nothing wrong with Jeff. He was attractive and nice. There were a few sparks, but I rarely thought about him when we weren't together, which wasn't the best sign. He was also five years older than me and far more interested in settling down than I was. With my change in career looming, I couldn't imagine where he would fit into my life, or if he would even want to. But I couldn't get into anything with him before I spoke to Dani.
"Hey, Brynn," he said with a smile. "How about Happy Hour at Casa Maria tonight? Margaritas, chips, and guacamole are calling my name."
A drink didn't sound bad, but I felt in too much emotional turmoil to fake being a good date tonight. The sound of my phone ringing gave me a reason to stall. "Hold on, I need to get my phone. Dani is at the doctor." I dashed into the office to retrieve my phone from my bag. I really didn't want this to be Dani calling with bad news.
Jeff followed me into the office with concern in his eyes. But it was an unknown number flashing on my screen.
"It's not her," I said. But I answered the call just in case it was the doctor's office. "Hello?"
"Brynn Landry?" a woman asked.
"Yes."
"I'm Kendra Miller, a nurse at St. Mary's Hospital in San Francisco."
"Okay." When she said hospital, my brain went straight to Dani, but my sister wasn't in San Francisco. "What do you want?" I asked.
"I have some bad news," the woman replied. "Your mother is in critical condition."
My breath caught in my throat. "What?"
"She was brought in thirty minutes ago," Nurse Miller said.
"That's impossible." I felt suddenly dizzy. I put a bracing hand on the desk in front of me. "My stepmother is in Los Angeles."
"The woman told me her name is Kim Landry. Although, there is some confusion, because her ID gives her name as Laura Hawthorne."
My stomach flipped over. "I don't understand." Kim Landry was my mother's name. But I didn't know a Laura Hawthorne. "Why are you calling me? How did you get my number?"
"It was in her phone. I spoke to your mother briefly when she was brought in. She said to tell you and your sister she's sorry and that she always loved you."
My breath started coming too fast. My mother had died twenty years ago, when I was seven years old. "There must be some mistake. You have the wrong person."
"I don't think so. There's a photo in her wallet of her with two little girls, Brynn and Dani. You're Brynn, right?"
"Yes, but…"
"I just took a picture of the photo. I'm texting it to you," the nurse said.
I opened the text, and the image sent a stabbing pain through my body. I was looking at the same photo that sat on my nightstand, that sat on Dani's nightstand—the last one taken of my mother with Dani and me at a park a month before she died.
"Is that your mother?" the nurse asked.
"Yes," I said, barely able to get the word through my tight lips.
"You should come to the hospital, Ms. Landry."
"What—what happened to her? Was she in an accident?"
"No. She was shot."
Her answer shocked me again. "Shot? Who shot her?"
"I don't know. You can talk to the police about that. I just wanted to let you know that if you want to see your mother, don't delay. Her condition is grave."
The call disconnected, and I struggled to draw a breath.
"Brynn? What's wrong?" Jeff asked, walking toward me with concern. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I just heard from one."
"What does that mean?"
"My mother," I said shortly.
"Vicky? Is she all right?" he asked.
I shook my head. "Not my stepmother. My mother."
"I thought your mom died when you were a child."
"I thought so, too. But a nurse from a hospital in San Francisco just called me. She said my mother was shot, and she's in critical condition. She wants me to come right away."
Jeff gave me a disbelieving look. "She must have the wrong person."
"She sent me a photo of my mom with me and Dani. It was in the woman's wallet. And she said her name was Kim Landry, although she had some other name on her ID. But she had my name in her phone. That's why they called me. She wanted me and Dani to know she was sorry." The words poured out of me before I could even process them.
"There has to be an error." His brows furrowed together in a frown. "You should call Dani."
Dani was always my first call when I had a problem, but she was at her doctor's appointment. She was going to find out if her baby was okay. I could not drop this bomb on her, not until I knew what was going on. "She's at the doctor's office with Steve. They're doing an ultrasound. I can't call her right now."
"What about your father?"
"I could call him." I grabbed onto the idea like a lifeline. I punched in my father's number, but it went straight to voicemail, and I remembered Steve telling me that my father had been out of touch. I hung up without leaving a message because I had no idea what I would say. "He didn't answer."
"What about Vicky?"
"No," I said. My stepmother was the last person I wanted to talk to right now.
Jeff gave me a troubled look. "What do you want to do?"
My mind was spinning, but there was only one answer to that question. "I have to go to San Francisco, and I have to leave now."
"That's a three-hour drive, maybe longer at this time of day."
"Then I better get started."
"This is a bad idea," Jeff said. "You should talk to Dani."
"No. I need to find out what's happening. Then I'll talk to her. Please don't tell her, Jeff. Don't tell Steve, either. Promise me."
My demand made him uncomfortable. "I don't know. You're acting on emotion, Brynn. This could be a bad decision."
"Well, it's mine to make," I snapped. "I need you to give me a day before you say anything to my sister or her husband. I want her to have a night to celebrate. This could all be nothing, so the last thing I need to do is cause her undue stress."
"All right. I won't say anything," Jeff said with an unhappy glint in his eyes. "I wish I could go with you, but I have a lot of meetings tomorrow."
"I'll be fine." I ushered him out the front door, then locked up, and ran to my car. As I started the engine, I knew I wasn't anything close to fine. My world had just turned upside down. I'd thought the call I'd gotten from Ray earlier was the one that would change my life. But I had a terrible feeling it was going to be this one.
