AllFreeNovel
Share Us
thing out of place.
She’d been so excited, but now that excitement turned into
something else. Emily’s stomach cramped and she knew she
couldn’t eat a single bite of one of those cookies. They even
smelled off now that Dani was home. The sweetness was too
sweet, the smell of burnt sugar nauseating.
Emily reasoned that Dani had a lot going on that didn’t have
anything to do with her. Maybe something was wrong, and it
had to do with the store or with Dani’s family. Emily didn’t
know. She knew so little about Dani. Her own wife. Emily still
hadn’t taken off the ring and Dani still hadn’t put hers back on.
That had to mean something. Emily hadn’t wanted to see it
before. She didn’t want to think that when Dani said those
things about strings and not getting attached that she meant
them fully. She’d wanted to believe they weren’t just playing
at keeping house, or whatever people called it.
Dani walked across the kitchen and poured herself a glass of
water. She still hadn’t even really looked at Emily. It was like
she was sleepwalking. When Dani turned around, Emily tried
to make eye contact, but Dani’s gaze darted away to land on
the floor.
“Dani?” Emily asked. Her voice wavered because she was
choking back tears. “I know something’s wrong. Will you
please tell me?” She walked over and tried to take Dani’s
hand, but she jerked away.
She exhaled loudly and set her glass of water down on the
counter. She turned so that she was facing the alley, staring out
the window through the set of lacey curtains. “It’s only been a
few days,” Dani started, “but
this is going somewhere that
