Once Upon a Heartbreak

by Cassie Rocca

  Justin was her grandparent’s lawyer, and the moment they had met it had been obvious that they would be perfect together. She had started dating him mostly to keep her family happy, but then she had found that his company was relaxing and stimulating, and that had convinced her to carry on with the relationship. Justin was the perfect man to grow old with, she thought, and isn’t that what every woman wants?

  So why is everyone so skeptical that he’s going to make you happy, then? Her conscience just wouldn’t shut up. Was she making a mistake?

  “Enough with all this paranoia, you’re not doing anything wrong,” she snorted as she headed for the shower, allowing the flow of the warm water to wash away all her silly doubts.

  *

  Cape May turned out to be so different from her everyday life that she gave a smile of pure pleasure.

  They arrived when the sun was already high in the sky and a light breeze was blowing along the empty beaches, making the sand swirl. There were a few tourists on the streets, roaming about on foot or on their bicycles, and the mood was a million times more relaxing than in New York. It was like having landed on another planet, although they had only been travelling for three hours.

  While Justin followed the car carrying their friends, Liberty enjoyed the bright and fresh panorama. There were no skyscrapers, yellow taxis nor grey skies. Cape May was all about light, space and vibrant colors. She saw the colorful and peculiarly shaped Victorian villas and the characteristic little boutiques, and she thought she spotted some good restaurants too, judging from the inviting aromas she could smell in the air. The most beautiful thing, though, was the sun kissed sea, something that, spending her days between her loft and her shop, she barely ever got to enjoy.

  She immediately liked the place; its peaceful and easy going atmosphere made her feel relaxed and inspired. She started thinking of plots for a new book, something she rarely allowed herself to indulge in, as writing had become mostly a job for her. She was already convinced that spending a few weekends there with her future husband would really help her find some peace of mind.

  “I love this place!” she told Justin, while she opened the car window to let the fresh sea air in. It would probably be good for her constant headache too.

  He caressed her knee with his free hand. “But you haven’t seen anything yet,” he replied. “How come you’re so enthusiastic?”

  “I’ve seen enough! I love this light, the weather, and the sound of the waves! Everything is so relaxing here, I’m sure that I’d be able to unwind from all the stress I’ve accumulated. And the houses are so lovely.”

  “Well, I want to explore this place properly before I decide whether I want to buy a house here. I need to make sure that there’s everything I need for my job, and I also want to try out a couple of restaurants and see some of the residential areas.” Justin turned to look at her briefly. “I’m happy that you already love it, though, especially since you weren’t keen on the idea of having a second house at first. I always knew you would change your mind!”

  “Well, I’ll admit you were right,” agreed Liberty unwillingly. She was still observing every single detail of that peaceful town through the window. “It had never occurred to me to spend my life doing anything except work, but this place is making me feel like dedicating more time to myself and my interests. I could forget about the shop and about everything else for a change – starting with the million stories I’ve been commissioned but haven’t even started writing yet…”

  She could also forget that she was about to get married to a self-satisfied lawyer… But she didn’t say it out loud.

  They took a side road that lead to their host’s house, and there the scent of the sea was even stronger and mixed with the odor of the freshly cut grass. When she saw the house where they would be spending the next two days, Liberty couldn’t avoid sighing with happiness.

  The building was large and sprawling, and its three floors were topped with a large attic with an irregular roof. In front of it there was a well kept garden with three parking spaces which ended in front of a portico and the entrance stairs. The façade was light pink with bright white shutters and columns at each window arch, and together these formed a whole which was as harmonious as it was romantic.

  Liberty fell in love with the house at first sight, which was quite strange, since she usually preferred modern architecture and minimalist design. That house, though, was awakening the sentimental young woman inside her: the one who had always loved fairy tale worlds.

  While they parked, Liberty noticed a man on the stairs. She couldn’t make him out very clearly because he was standing in the shade of the portico, so she didn’t pay him much attention – she was too busy taking in every detail of the house, and couldn’t wait to see the rear, which looked out over the sea.

  “You look as though you’re in a trance,” said Justin while he gently steered her towards the front door.

  “It’s because I can’t wait to visit every room of this house,” she smiled. “You can’t imagine how inspirational this place is to me! Let’s go meet our lucky host and possible neighbor then,” she joked, “maybe he knows if there are any houses on the market nearby.”

  “Slow down, Liberty. We don’t know for sure that we’re buying a house here yet. We still haven’t visited Long Beach and Martha’s Vineyard, for a start.”

  God he can be such a killjoy, she thought.

  They followed Clover, Cade, Zoe and Eric up the front steps to where their host was waiting to show them inside. They found themselves in a small lobby which opened onto an amazing hall surrounded by luminous windows; there was a beautifully decorated fireplace, and the walls were covered in blue striped wallpaper.

  The furniture was an elegant mixture of classic and modern, as though the interior designer hadn’t wanted to either lose the original mood of the building or do without all the latest comforts. The colors were light and bright, and the general feel was original and harmonious.

  The many pictures in the room were mostly of a man who looked vaguely familiar and a little girl with a sweet smile and no front teeth, both with dark hair. She was about to go and look at one of them from closer up when she heard Clover talking to someone. “You told me to bring my family along, so I did. They’re not my blood family, but I’m way closer to these people than I am to my mother and brother. So, here we are!”

  “I’m glad that you all came,” replied their host, in a voice that sent a strange shiver down Liberty’s spine.

  She moved closer to Justin and tried to get a better look at Cade’s friend. She didn’t know anything at all about him: she was sure that Clover had tried to fill her in on who he was and what he did, but Liberty hadn’t been paying attention.

  He was a tall, athletic looking man, with very dark tidy hair and a complexion that was fair but tanned, probably thanks to Cape May sun. He was wearing a white shirt and a pair of casual jeans. She began looking more and more closely at his face, as the sensation that she somehow knew him grew in her mind.

  Clover and the man came over to her, and when Liberty was finally able see him clearly she could barely believe her eyes…

  “Zack,” said Clover, thus confirming Liberty’s worst fears, “this is Justin Matthews and Liberty Allen. She’s the owner of Giftland, meaning she’s my boss. Guys, this is Zack Sullivan.”

  Liberty saw that Zack was staring at her with as much surprise as she was staring at him, and was barely able to lift her hand and shake his.

  “Miss Liberty, I can’t believe it! Is it really you?” beamed Zack, holding her hand longer than was strictly necessary.

  Liberty pulled her hand away and began massaging her forehead while she tried to get hold of herself. She was feeling really confused. “Did you say Sullivan?” she asked in a low voice, then coughed and, more loudly, said, “From Chicago?”

  “Yeah! We spent a summer together many years ago, do you remember?” he asked, while observing her very carefully. “Your cous
in was my brother’s girlfriend.”

  He looked confused too, and Liberty thought that if Clover hadn’t said her full name, he probably wouldn’t have recognized her at all. And I should hope he wouldn’t!, Liberty thought in annoyance. She looked totally different from the last time he had laid his dark, intense eyes on her: about four stone different…

  “How long has it been?” she asked, pretending that she didn’t remember. She would have rather chopped off one of her fingers than admit she’d recognized him as soon as she’d been able to see his eyes. “I’m sorry, I barely remember anything about my life in Chicago.”

  “No problem!” he smiled, “you’re in great shape.” At those words, she felt herself bristle immediately.

  She would have liked to answer that of course she was in great shape, why wouldn’t she be? But she didn’t say anything of the sort, replying only with a polite, “Your house is splendid.”

  “My fiancée is already in love with the place,” said Justin, grasping Zack’s hand. “We also came to get to know the town better. We’re thinking of buying a holiday home, and Cape May is one of the options.”

  “Oh I can totally recommend it here, it’s an amazing holiday place,” Zack said. “When I inherited this house from my grandparents I moved here for a few years, but now I only come when I have some spare time.”

  Zack wouldn’t stop staring at her, and Liberty was starting to feel more and more uncomfortable. “Well, before making a decision we’re also planning to visit Martha’s Vineyard and Long Beach,” she said. Suddenly the idea of buying a house nearby didn’t sound quite so appealing.

  “I really hope you choose Cape May, Lib, I’d love to have you as a neighbor.” She remembered the way Zack was looking at her now, and the memory was like a punch in her stomach. “When you left Chicago you broke my heart – I didn’t have anyone to spend my summer afternoons with anymore.”

  “Yeah, right,” she burst out suddenly.

  Her words had come out sounding incongruously harsh, and everybody turned to look at her. She immediately regretted not having been able to control her mood, and felt even more irritated at the idea that Zack Sullivan could still make her feel like an idiot after all those years.

  Liberty was trying to think up a good excuse for her weird behaviour when someone suddenly shouted “Daddy!”

  A little girl dressed in her pyjamas rushed across the room and into Zack’s arms, and he caught her with the same agility he used to have in high school when he played on the football team.

  “Hey there, gnome face – so you finally decided to wake up!”

  Unable to move, Liberty stood there staring at the little girl. She couldn’t believe that Zack had a daughter. And did that mean that he also had a wife?

  Absurdly, just the thought of it was enough to tense up her stomach as hard as a block of marble.

  She watched as he bent down to grab hold of her, lifted her onto his shoulders and then stood back up, one hand holding his daughter in place, to look at his guests with an adorably proud expression on his face.

  “This is Candy. And before any of you say that only a pastry chef could have called his daughter that, her full name is Candice, so don’t worry!”

  A young woman who had appeared in the doorway came over to them and said hello to Zack with a smile. Liberty studied her in detail: she was of average height and had long black hair and big blue eyes. Her body was very shapely but without a trace of fat and the khaki shorts she wore showed off her beautiful long legs and highlighted her slim waistline.

  She didn’t look as though she was long out of her teens, and neither did she resemble Candice in any way – was she his wife?

  She suddenly remembered Zack telling his brother Brad that one day he would marry the most beautiful woman on earth. Was that what the most beautiful woman on earth looked like in his eyes?

  They couldn’t have been more different.

  Zack looked at the girl in a kind but rather distant way. “Hey, Jessie – what is it?”

  “If you don’t need me anymore, I’ll be getting off home.”

  “Sure, yeah, go. And thanks again for saving me last night!”

  “Jessie, are you gonna come see the Easter Day parade with me?” asked the little girl in a sing-song voice.

  “Of course I am, Candy! I can’t wait!”

  Zack and his daughter accompanied the girl to the door. Liberty was finally able to breathe again, but her upbeat mood was irremediably lost, and her headache was back. Finding herself face to face with the man who made her suffer most in her life was a tough pill to swallow, and she was already finding it difficult to control her reactions. She had hoped to get some relaxing time in that weekend – but now, instead, she would have to sleep in the same house as Zack Sullivan.

  She shouldn’t have accepted Clover’s invitation like that. She never let herself get carried away with any unplanned adventures, precisely because she knew that they could only bring trouble.

  3

  He just couldn’t take his eyes off her. Ever since the moment he’d seen her again, he had felt an irresistible attraction towards her and hadn’t been able to stop himself from following every single movement she made with his eyes. He didn’t know if he was feeling that way just because Liberty was so astonishingly beautiful or because she reminded him of when he was younger. The only thing he knew for certain was that he couldn’t forget her presence in his house for a moment.

  Once again, he leaned over the kitchen bench so as to be able to see what was going on in the other room. She was sitting at the dining room table with her friends and her partner. She looked completely different to the girl he remembered and yet so familiar that he couldn’t help but smile. She had become a very sophisticated woman, but she had kept her beautiful blonde hair, and her eyes hadn’t changed at all. She was still his Miss Liberty, he thought to himself.

  The last time he’d seen her she had been fifteen, overweight, shy and a bit clumsy, but she’d had something about her that now she appeared to have lost: the ability to smile. The Liberty he remembered was always smiling, as though it was a way of letting her inner light shine. She used to be gentle and warm with the people she felt comfortable with, and he had always thought that she had been comfortable with him. Things had clearly taken a turn for the worse now, though – she seemed to have become cold and serious. She really didn’t look happy to be there and he didn’t remember her looking very enthusiastic even when they’d been introduced to each other.

  Zack had helped his guests to settle in as well as he could and Cade had showed them around while he had taken care of Candice and prepared some food for everybody. The kitchen was still his natural habit, and there was nothing more relaxing and enjoyable for him than preparing a meal to share with some friends. And that day especially he wanted to be sure not to disappoint his unexpected guest.

  Those afternoons spent with Liberty had marked his first real achievements in the art of food making, so the idea of cooking for her again was genuinely exciting. Sharing a meal with her was like going back in time to when he was just a creative young kid who was passionate about pots and pans – and who was a mystery to most of his friends, who couldn’t believe that he’d rather spend his free time making cakes than making out with one of the many girls who had a crush on him. Regardless of all the difficulties, though, it was the period of his life of which he had the fondest memories.

  He could hardly wait to have a chance to talk to her again. He wanted to know everything about the last fifteen years, starting from the reason why she had decided to move to New York before finishing high school and how she had ended up working with Clover O’Brian. For some reason he couldn’t quite see her as the owner of Giftland: he’d always imagined that she’d become a writer, a teacher or an illustrator. He remembered how she loved reading, studying and writing in the diary that was always with her, where she’d take note of every romantic thought that crossed her mind or draw funny comics. He even
remembered her saying that she wanted to be an artist… How come she changed her mind? he asked himself.

  She must have sensed that he was staring at her because she suddenly turned to look at him, and he felt as though he were drowning in those big green eyes. She was about to take a sip of water, but her glass never reached her lips and the two of them froze and looked at each other until he smiled.

  He signalled to her to join him the kitchen so that they could finally have a chat. For a moment, she didn’t react, then she put the glass back down on the table and started talking with the others again, pointedly ignoring him.

  Zack frowned and went back to concentrating on the pasta salad he was making. Why the hell didn’t she want to talk to him? Wasn’t she even a little bit happy to see him?

  At first he’d thought that Liberty didn’t remember him at all, which wouldn’t really have been that strange, since they had only spent a few weeks together.

  On the other hand, their last evening together had been pretty hard to forget. It had been Brad’s birthday, and they had organized a party; Liberty had spent most of the time sitting by herself in the garden, because she hardly knew any of the other people there. He remembered taking her a piece of cake. He didn’t think there was anything weird about her wanting to be alone, as he wasn’t particularly keen on crowds himself. And anyway, his brother’s friends were the ones who had been giving him a hard time for months after they had found out that he liked cooking. And he wasn’t even that keen on the girls who had crushes on him – they were all so anxious for him to like them that they just ended up being annoying.