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Rachel was there to meet me again. She took one look at my pale face with the raccoon mask-like circles under my eyes, and her mouth fell open. “Are you okay?” she asked as we walked toward Emmie’s office.
“I’m getting over double pneumonia.”
Her eyes dropped to my feet. “And the boot?”
“Someone knocked me over in the rain last week. It’s just fractured, not broken.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “You’ve had a sucky time lately. I heard your dad passed away. I’m so sorry.”
I swallowed hard but gave her a tight smile. “Thanks. He was one of the good guys. I miss him.”
She stopped in front of Emmie’s door and knocked. Opening it, she stuck her head inside. “Amara Marks for you,” she announced then stepped back and waved me in. “Good luck,” she murmured as she walked away.
I pushed the door open and stepped into the office. Emmie was seated behind her desk, but when her green gaze landed on me, her face turned into a storm cloud. “What the fuck happened?” she demanded as she came from around her desk. “Are you okay? Holy shit, Amara. You… Fuck.”
She stopped right in front of me, her hands grabbing mine as she scanned me from head to toe, and I felt the tears spill over. Seeing them, she pulled me into a hug that made something unfurl deep inside, and I found myself sobbing on her shoulder. “Ah, sweetie,” she muttered. “It’s okay.”
“N-no it’s not,” I sobbed. “My entire life is unraveling around me.”
For the next few minutes, she just held me while I cried. When I lifted my head a while later, I felt oddly better. I’d cried a lot over the last few days. Alone. With Riley there to hold my hand. But this was the first time I felt like my tears were cathartic in some way.
Emmie gave me a grim smile as she stepped back. “Want to tell me about it?”
“It’s a pretty long and crazy story,” I told her as I wiped at my eyes. “You sure you have time to hear it all?”
She shrugged. “I’ll make the time. Come on, let’s sit down. You probably shouldn’t be on that foot too much by the looks of it.”
I hobbled across the office and sat beside her just as I’d done the last time I was there. She already knew about my dad’s death. She even sent flowers to the memorial and an entire catering company for one of the most delicious meals I’d ever had afterward. Not because Cash asked her to, but because she cared about me.
I was still trying to wrap my head around that. Emmie Armstrong was a one-in-a-million kind of person. So hard and badass on the outside, but she loved with her entire being when she cared about someone. Meeting her was possibly the best day of my life.
But that would mean meeting Cash was the best day of my life too. They were one and the same.
Fuck it. I wasn’t going to let him ruin that for me as well.
I told Emmie everything, including how amazing Cash was during the time I needed him most. She sat there, nodding as I continued the story. Clenching my jaw, I told her about coming home early and finding Lindsey in his shower. After that, her face wasn’t nearly as understanding, and with each new word out of my mouth, I could feel the tension rising in her.
“For fuck’s sake,” she muttered and jerked to her feet. Pushing the hair out of
her face, she glared out the window behind her desk. “I’ve told them all hundreds of times if they have a problem to come to me. All that idiot had to do was say ‘Hey, Emmie, my old man needs this and that.’ I could have arranged something. I know people. I can get just about anything accomplished when I need to.”
“They seem pretty self-reliant,” I said. “They don’t know how to ask for help.”
“This is getting ridiculous, though. First Jace and Kin, now you and Cash. Those dumbasses are screwing up their lives, and they don’t even need to.” She groaned long and loud with frustration. “What the fuck do I have to do to get them to understand that I want to help them? That it’s my job to make their lives easier? Two hours. I could have taken care of Jace’s problem in two godsdamn hours. Instead, he’s been trying to fix shit with this one chick for nearly a year now. And all along, he’s been lying to everyone and fucking up everything he touches. Now, Cash…” She broke off with an annoyed shriek that had a smile teasing my lips.
It wasn’t funny, especially when I was right in the middle of the reason she was upset, but to watch her throw a tantrum was amusing nonetheless.
“Guys are stupid,” I agreed with her. “And while I’m not even going to pretend to know what Jace did or who Kin is, I will happily agree with you on whatever names you want to call Cash.”
She blinked down at me in confusion for a moment. “You don’t know Kin?” I shook my head. “Oh yeah, that’s right. You came along the same day they broke up. Kin has been lying low, avoiding Jace…” She sighed deeply, but then her big green eyes widened, taking over her beautiful face. “I have an idea, but it’s up to you if you want to do it.”
“Emmie…” I touched a hand to my stomach, and she narrowed her eyes. “I’m not really up for any scheming right now. I’m just now getting over being sick, and mornings are a total bitch at the moment.”
“Oh, relax,” she grumbled. “I knew you were pregnant the minute you walked through the door.”
“What?” I screeched.
“I get it. You haven’t told him, so you weren’t about to tell me. I won’t tell anyone, though. Your secret is safe. I’m the queen of secret-keeping. There is so much shit locked in my head that I can’t tell my husband, it drives me crazy at times.” She dropped down in the chair beside me once again. “This one is a teeny tiny secret compared to most of the ones I’ve got to keep.”
