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“I’m sorry, baby. The dinner with the gala speakers went long, and I was already on the Upper East Side, so I figured I’d just see Mom and Gram and sleep here for the night,” he said as I walked around the big, empty kitchen, staring out the windows into the dark of the yard. “Do you want me to call Julian to pick up Ozzy?”
“No, silly,” I said. “I can take care of Ozzy. I’ll wake up a little earlier in the morning so I can take him out.”
“Baby, no. You need every minute of sleep you can get.”
“Trust me – fifteen minutes won’t make a difference. And it’ll be easier for me to get out of bed when you’re not there.”
He made a pained noise.
“I didn’t say that to make you feel bad,” I laughed gently.
“I know. But it made me remember that I’m going to be waking up alone in the morning,” he grumbled. “And I’ve kind of gotten spoiled with you.”
“Trust me. I’m in the same boat,” I sighed as I refilled Ozzy’s water bowl. “But it’s okay.”
&nb
sp; “Alright. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I blinked, a bit jolted by the sudden goodbye.
“You have to go?” I asked. He paused.
“Yeah. I think I’m going to go to bed soon.”
I glanced at the time. A quarter to ten. I frowned.
“So early,” I remarked. “But you’ve had a long day.”
“Yeah. I’ll text you in the morning, okay?” he said.
“Okay.” I made my voice sound light despite the fact that I was standing in the middle of the kitchen, holding Ozzy’s water bowl and feeling vaguely lost – at least until Emmett’s next few words.
“I love you, baby,” he said in the kind of tired murmur that made me feel like he was holding me in bed, saying goodnight to me. Whatever weight had begun to sag in my heart, I felt it lift as I returned his words with a little smile.
“I love you, too.”
It wasn’t till the end of work the next day that I felt a tinge of concern.
Or maybe it started in the morning. I’d felt instantly disoriented since I’d woken up in the guest room for the first time in ages, but I refused to let it bother me much. I threw my legs over the bed – or rather, I tried but then I realized they were trapped under the blankets because Ozzy was sleeping at the end of my mattress, pinning my sheets down. With a giggle and a nudge, I woke him up and noted that I actually hadn’t slept alone all night. So there was that.
In the bathroom, I stared at my reflection in the mirror throughout my tooth brushing, instead of drifting in and out of the bathroom and the hall, the way I usually did when I knew Emmett was just a few doors down.
Getting ready without knowing he was asleep in his room was a strangely empty feeling. I definitely felt a bit off as I left the house. But still, I told myself that today would be fine – like any other – and to just carry on.
So I did.
Despite a handful of particularly rude tables in the afternoon, I coasted through service without a single hiccup affecting my mood. We were out of both the lobster roll and the Hail Mary, which earned me the fiery wrath of a good dozen or so guests, but I just turned up the charm and sent out crab cakes on the house as a sorry.
The PM hostess wound up a no-call no-show during the lunch rush, but I was unflappable, opting to finish my paperwork at home so I could take her place and stand up front.
It wasn’t till my quick breather in the office that I felt the first chip at my confidence.
EMMETT: Baby
EMMETT: Something came up and I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make it home tonight
I stared at the texts, feeling the adrenaline rush of the day start to crash. Fast and hard. Still, I breathed steady, remaining calm while texting Emmett back.
