After a disastrous date with Natalia and a close encounter with lightning, Buck realizes he needs a break from the chaos of LA. He decides to take a much-needed vacation to Italy, where he immerses himself in the beauty of Rome and Venice and redisc...
"Dad? Mom? What are you guys doing here?" Maddie asked confusion, as she stepped out of her car.
She had received a message from Buck asking her to meet him at this address. After her brother had extended his vacation for another week without offering any explanation, she'd been worried. So, when the text arrived, she accepted the invitation with relief. What she didn't expect was to end up in a family neighborhood, or to see her parents parking in front of the same house.
"We got an urgent call from Evan," Margaret Buckley explained, wringing her hands nervously.
Maddie knew her mother had been trying hard to repair things with both of them. Too many years had been lost to mourning Daniel, years when she'd neglected the two children who were still alive. The damage couldn't be undone, but both Buckley siblings could see she was trying. Maddie, especially, was grateful that Margaret had finally begun to understand how much she'd hurt Buck—and that she'd chosen to take responsibility for it, instead of excusing her behavior.
"Do you know what this is about?" Phillip asked, slipping an arm around his wife, his concern mirroring hers. "Last we heard, he was still in Italy."
"Well, that's his Jeep," Maddie said, pointing toward the black car parked neatly in the driveway of a two-story house. "Let's ring the doorbell and find out."
They barely made it to the door before it flew open, saving them the trouble of knocking or ringing the bell.
"You're here!" Buck exclaimed, smiling brightly. "Come in! I can't wait to show you around!"
Startled, the three Buckleys followed him inside.
The front door opened into a wide foyer, rectangular in shape, with a clear line of sight through to the rear of the house. The floor was finished in polished marble, pale cream in tone, with a narrow border of darker stone tracing the edges of the room. Overhead, recessed ceiling lights cast a soft, even glow that reflected subtly off the surface below. The walls were painted in a muted cream shade, trimmed with dark wood that matched the wide doorframes.
Directly ahead, a staircase began on the right-hand side of the foyer and curved upward toward the second floor. The banister was a deep, varnished brown, supported by narrow balusters spaced evenly along the rise. At the top, a landing extended in both directions, bordered by the same wood railing. To the left of the stairs stood a small console table with a vase and a mirror above it. The air carried a faint mix of lemon polish and the scent of freshly baked bread coming from deeper inside the house.
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Moving forward, the space opened into the dining room on the left. The transition between the two areas was marked by a wide entryway framed in dark trim. The dining room stretched the full length of the west side of the house, with two large windows facing the street and a third at the far end overlooking the side garden. A long rectangular table occupied the center, set for ten, the chairs upholstered in light gray fabric with high backs and straight lines.
