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“What’s wrong, Emma?”
“Nothing. I just...I’ve been thinking, that’s all. About us.”
Luke nodded. “I’ve been thinking about us too, Emma. Maybe we can talk about this inside.”
“No, I’d rather stay out here,” she said, not meeting his eyes.
“Okay, let’s stay out here. What have you been thinking about?”
She took a deep breath and looked up at him for the first time. “This isn’t going to work out, you and me. I think it’s time for us to face reality and end it.”
Luke felt his pulse quicken. “End it? What the heck are you talking about? Emma, I’m crazy about you—”
“You may think that, but it’s going to change, Luke.” She threw her hands up in the air. “We barely know each other, and I feel like the farther we go on, the worse it’s going to get.”
“Emma, what do you mean? Help me understand.”
Emma threw the tennis ball, and Riley went running after it. “I’ve been reflecting a lot this week, and I’ve been able to look at things from a different perspective. We should’ve been upfront with Jeremiah from the beginning. Relationships can’t be built on lies. You and I can’t work, Luke. I won’t be the reason you can’t mend things between you and your son. If you’d just step back and look at it like I did, then you’d agree with me.”
Luke shook his head. “Emma, looking back, maybe we should’ve told him sooner. But Jeremiah misread things, and I’m so sorry he said those awful things to you. I know they’re not true, and so does everyone else. Jeremiah will too someday. We just have to give it time—”
“No Luke, you have to give it time.” She called Riley and walked to the door to go inside.
Luke couldn’t believe this was happening. He knew Emma was hurting, but never thought she’d break up with him over all of this. Luke couldn’t accept it. He wouldn’t.
“Emma, we can work this out—”
“It was good seeing you, Luke. Please, just go.” She turned back to him and folded her arms in front of her.
“Emma, don’t do this.”
“Goodbye Luke.”
Before he could respond, she turned around and went inside, with Riley following behind her. Only when the door shut behind them did it sink in for him that they were actually broken up.
Luke settled back into his SUV and gazed out towards the vast expanse of the ocean, which reminded him of how small he was in this big world. The rolling waves crashed upon the shore, as the sun gradually began to set, painting the sky with its vivid colors. The scene was both breathtaking and heart-wrenching at the same time, mirroring the turmoil that was brewing inside his heart.
With Emma’s words still ringing in his ears, he tried to envision a different outcome. But the more Luke thought about what she had said, the more his stomach knotted up. He knew it really was over.
As he sat there, lost in contemplation, a sudden burst of courage surged through him. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing Emma, not without a fight. With his heart racing, he stepped out of the car and strode toward her house, hoping that they could salvage their relationship.
With each step, he imagined a world in which Emma would hear him out, and that they could find a way to mend what was broken. But as he knocked on her door, there was no answer. Undeterred, he continued to plead with her through the door.
“Emma, I know we can work through this,” he pleaded with her, his voice filled with desperation. “We’ll figure this out. Don’t give up on us.”
But the only response was silence, and after waiting for what seemed like an eternity, he knew it was time to leave.
As he walked away, Luke felt his heart shatter into a million pieces. Giving up was never his style, but Emma had made it clear that it was over. For now, all he could do was respect her wishes and hold onto the possibility that, given enough time, she’d have a change of heart and they’d find their way back to each other once again.
Chapter 35
Emma
It had been nearly a month since Luke had come to her cottage, and since she’d told him to go away. Ending the relationship with the man she loved was just as heartbreaking as she had imagined. Although her words to him had been cold and blunt, she sobbed the entire rest of the week behind closed doors. Part of her wanted him to stay and bang down the door to tell her it wasn’t over between them. But she knew that would’ve been wrong and only would have made things more difficult. She missed him with every ounce of her soul, but took comfort in knowing she was doing the best thing for Luke and Jeremiah. Or at least, that’s what she told herself.
Emma eventually reached out to her friends again, telling them she had ended things with Luke and asked them politely not to bring it up again. Lisa and Kara respected her wishes, even though she knew Lisa was dying to ask for more details every time she saw her. She had even mustered up the courage to go back to her job at Hadley Cove High sooner than anyone expected. Principal Kennedy offered her extended time off, but she declined. After all, she did have bills to pay and her Barking Orders business didn’t have the financial stability to fund itself.
Getting back to normalcy at school was much easier than the stories she had told herself. At first, there were a few snickers coming from the students, but that soon went away when they found some new piece of gossip to talk about. Emma was back to being plain ole Ms. Wright, a role she was quite okay with.
