"Because they're better than the regular ones," Chase replied. "Appetizers or desserts?"
"Both."
"Of course."
Chase turned the page to the wine list and sure enough, there were plenty of expensive bottles. He chose a five-hundred-dollar red wine, figuring it would match well with their burgers.
After a call to the butler's desk, he walked back over to the couch and sat down next to Emma. She seemed a little less stressed than before, but there was still something about her that made it feel like he couldn't really get to her. The quietness took over again, but it wasn't like the easy quiet that he had with her only a few hours ago. It was a messy quiet that said so much even though they were saying nothing.
Dinner arrived and they small-talked through it. Casual conversation over wine and expensive burgers without saying anything he really wanted to say to her. Without saying anything real. They ate and finished half the bottle of wine before putting a cork in it. Emma asked if they could drink it on the plane tomorrow, and Chase said he would take care of it.
She quietly brushed her teeth and climbed into bed, not really saying good night. Just lying there looking out the window past their bed.
He finally turned off the light, giving in to an early bedtime in Vegas. That wasn't normal for him, but nothing about this Vegas trip was normal for him. He had never been here with a woman like Emma and he had certainly never been here in such a complicated situation. Spending money in Vegas was easy, but spending it with Emma to finally finish Nana's wish was tougher than he ever imagined.
Chase moved a little closer to her in bed, gently putting his hand on her hip on top of her t-shirt, holding himself back from sliding it under to feel the soft warmth of her skin.
Emma didn't reach for his hand, didn't pull it closer, didn't even acknowledge it.
That's when Chase realized that he had lost her, and there was probably nothing he could do to bring her back.
Chapter Twenty
"Emma?"
She turned to see Sabrina staring at her from across their office in the library with a worried look on her face.
"Sorry, did you say something?"
"I asked if you returned the books from story time with the kids."
Emma couldn't remember honestly and took a quick glance around the room, finding them still sitting in a pile on her desk where she had left them a few minutes ago. Or was it a few hours? Wow. Today was not going well.
"I uh—"
Sabrina waved her hand aimlessly and walked over to Emma's desk to grab the colorful stack of books. "I got them."
"Sorry, my mind is just somewhere else."
"I know it is," she said with a small smile. "Why don't you leave now for your lawyer appointment?"
Because she didn't want to see the lawyer. Because Emma had been dreading the visit to his stupid office to get the last of the paperwork done for her grandmother's estate. Because she didn't want to think about all that money and how shehad worked to earn it.
Because she didn't want to think about Chase, and she didn't want to think about the way she quietly slipped out of his guest house and his life a month ago.
"I don't have to be there for another three hours."
Sabrina laughed and shook her head. "I don't know how much you got from your grandmother, that's none of my business. But you paid for a private jet to Vegas with Chase Warwick, and I've also seen your new apartment in Santa Monica. So I'm sure that lawyer will be more than happy to make time for you and your wallet."
"I still have to get these new books into the system."
"You're going to stare at them for three hours and get nothing done. Your mind has not been here at all today. So just head out, get the paperwork done, and I'll see you tomorrow."
And with that, Sabrina headed out without another word to reshelve the story time books that Emma had blindly grabbed that morning. Books that Emma couldn't even remember picking out, couldn't remember reading, and then didn't remember to put away.
Sabrina was right. She had been pretty useless today. So Emma did what she was told, packed up her bag, and left.
The drive to the lawyer's office wasn't far and there wasn't much to cover with him anyway. Theday after she got back from her trip to Vegas with Chase, she went to George Gordon's office to sign a bunch of papers confirming she had fulfilled her grandmother's wishes to spend her inheritance. That jerk Charles Dickson was there as well to make sure she had all of her receipts that added up to one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. The Vegas trip, the fancy dinners, the monthly rental of Chase's guest house. It was all there.
