Read Online Wayward Dreams by Gail McFarland - Free Book Online

came to her lips. “Let’s get some lunch. Benedetti’s is downstairs.”
    â€œReally?” Bianca’s brow furrowed. “Just like that?”
    â€œJust like that,” Julia said, then shrugged. “Do you still like spaghetti?”
    Knowing an apology when she heard one, especially when it came with marinara sauce, Bianca didn’t have the will to resist. “I crave it.”
    â€œThen I’ll buy. And we can talk.”
    Their table was small, and concentrating on the menu used up a few minutes and ordering took a little more time. When the waiter walked away, they were left with a basket of breadsticks…and each other.
    Turning her water glass, Julia waited, but when Bianca began to toy with the cheese shaker, her patience came to an end. “You want to tell me how this happened?”
    â€œNo.” Bianca seemed fascinated by the cheese shaker.
    â€œFine.”
    Bianca set the cheese aside and sighed. “Okay,” she finally said. “Yesterday, my business was trashed, the man I was living with dumped me and everything he thought belonged to me on the street. He cut off all the bank accounts we shared, so I have no money. I spent last night in some no-name motel out by the airport.”
    â€œI knew there was a man in the mix…” Julia stopped when Bianca’s lips tightened. “What’s his name?”
    â€œKelvin.” Bianca’s voice thickened. “Kelvin Michael Payne, also known as KPayne.”
    â€œNever heard of him.”
    â€œDidn’t seem to matter when he was throwing me out…”
    â€œOh, right.” Julia would have said more, but the look in her sister’s eyes and the arrival of food stopped her. Bending her attention to her plate, Julia stole fleeting glances at the woman her sister had become. Beautiful in all the ways that usually counted, there was something different, something chastened about her. Has she gone through something like this before?
    Across the table, Bianca gathered the final bits of pasta. When she looked up, Julia was watching her. “What? Do I have something on my face?”
    â€œNo, I was just thinking that it was time for us to do business.”
    â€œJulia, I’ve just told you my predicament.” Bianca lowered the napkin. “I don’t think I have the energy to go through any more angst and recriminations over our relationship.”
    â€œNobody’s asking you to. I just want…to make it right between us. Maybe I didn’t exactly make it easy before, but now I can at least help. Will you let me?”
    â€œRight now, I’m between a rock and a hard place.”
    â€œI know, but let me show you what I think might work.” Julia flipped open the narrow presentation folder she’d brought from the office and pushed it across the table. “I did some checking while I was waiting for you.”
    Bianca opened the folder and gazed at the pictures inside. They represented an eighth floor, one-bedroom condominium, facing the city’s east side—hardwood floors, high ceilings, a terrace. She looked up and stared at her sister. “This is really nice, but I could never pay for it. I was hoping you would have something a little more…affordable.”
    â€œThere you go, assuming things. You didn’t give me a chance to tell you what it goes for. Koketsu ni irazunba koji o ezu , my sister.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œJapanese for ‘If you do not enter the tiger’s cave, you will not catch its cub.’ ”
    Bianca closed the folder. “That sounds a lot like ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained.’ ”
    â€œExactly.”
    â€œDid you forget who I am? I know high-end when I see it. I know what a place like this goes for, and I know I can’t afford it—and it doesn’t matter whether you say it in Japanese or in English.” Bianca pushed the folder across the