The same night I was in Francesca’s apartment, she died in the bathtub.
Nobody knows I was the last person to see her alive. Even Joel, who was the one who found her. He didn’t know about that, and he didn’t know Francesca was pregnant. He only found out after the autopsy. He might have been able to deal with feeling like he caused her suicide, but the baby pushed him over the edge. It took him several months before he could go back to work again, to the job he loved.
But he did eventually go back. He got better. His friends talked to him about getting back in the dating market, but he resisted for a long time. Over a year. Every time someone would mention a girl he might like, he’d mumble, “I can’t.” He was even more of a mess than I was when he broke up with me.
But then he met Cassie.
I liked Cassie the first time I saw her. She was everything Francesca wasn’t—sweet, earnest, and pretty in a fresh-faced sort of way. I could see how much Joel liked her. He was able to finally move on.
As for me, Dean and I went out on our second date the night I met him at work, and he kissed me again before he said goodnight. It was another incredible kiss. This time when he called me the next day, I picked up on the first ring—no games. Within a few weeks, we were practically living together. I’d never felt this way about anyone before, even Joel. In fact, I was grateful to Joel for ending things between us so I could experience this kind of love. After we were together for less than a year, I became the wife of Dr. Constantine Pourakis, called Con by his friends and Dean by the people he’s closest to.
We decided to try for a baby right away, and we were blessed to get pregnant quickly. Dean was over the moon excited when I told him the news—I tried not to think of the fact that Francesca never got to share her news. And Joel never got to hear it.
When our baby was born, it was Dean’s idea to name him Andrew. After my grandmother Angela, who died a month before he was born. I am so sad Nonna never got to meet her namesake. But we keep a picture of her on our bookcase, so Andrew can know his great-grandmother. We hold him by the bookshelf, pointing out his relatives to him so he knows where he came from.
I’ve become friends with Joel again in the last year. I’ve been rooting for him and Cassie. I want him to be as deliriously in love as I
am with Dean. I want that so much.
Cassie doesn’t seem like the paranoid type—if she believes someone is trying to kill her, she’s probably right.
And I know who that person is.
