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CHAPTER1
EMILY
Tyler, Texas
“This is ridiculous…”Emily muttered grumpily, because of the stack of paperwork she could be doing at home. Being a CPA for all the farmers, ranchers, and other businesses in the area - she had the market practically cornered in Tyler, simply by word of mouth.
She was good –verygood.
Numbers she could handle easily. They made sense and certainly didn’t talk back or lie straight to her face. People on the other hand? People were harder to handle… and she wasn’t exactly the most outgoing person in the world.
Her brother often said that she ought to smile more, get out, see the world, or at least get a tan. She heard that yearly from Chase, that ‘she looked like one of the molemen’ and that didn’t help her self-confidence at all.
She knew she wasn’t a catch.
Chase was tall, buff, and outgoing.
Karen was petite, loving, and quick-witted.
Emily… was Emily.
Her hair was mousy brown, which seemed to be a family trait… but while Karen’s was straight? Her own hair had some weird waves to it like a bad perm that resembled a poodle on humid days. She had an angular face and bony nose that her oval framed glasses sat on… and long fingers, which helped her type fast on the calculators and on the computers in her office.
… And part of the reason Chase taunted her.
That, and he was a typical brother.
They were all meeting for a quick get together and apparently Karen, her sister, had some guy she was dating on the sly… which only increased the pressure on Emily from her parents.
“What do you mean you didn’t know about this man your sister is dating?” her mother asked as her father looked on, standing there with his arms crossed and frowning.
“I didn’t know…” Emily stressed, folding napkins for her mother who was literally freaking out that they were having company now, instead of just them celebrating Johnny’s birthday.
Johnny was her nephew from a very quick, impulsive marriage that fell apart a year after her brother had married in a rush… and Chase had his son this weekend.
Her brother was such a good dad, too.
Chase always hung out with Johnny, picked him up from school and drove him home to his ex-wife’s house, and attended every soccer game that his son was in.
“Karen’s the youngest and Chase has already been married once…” her mother began, and Emily closed her eyes, knowing exactly what was coming next from either one of her parents’ mouth’s. “Maybe if you put a little rouge on your cheeks or tried contacts, maybe someone would talk to you. You have such pretty eyes, honey, and so much love to give.”
“Gobs and gobs of it,” Emily said flatly, causing her mother to frown.
“Well, you just need a young man to actually take a good look at you while you are smiling – and he would be a fool not to fall in love right away. You are smart, driven, soooo smart…”
Emily winced.
Her mother said ‘smart’twice – which meant she was running out of adjectives really quickly… and much faster than normal, too.
Ouch, that hurt.
She had what Emily affectionately referred to as ‘Ugly duck syndrome’. If there was a line-up of women, she would be picked last… or the human race would die off.
It was that simple.
She was not a swan in the slightest like in the fairytales, where she would suddenly ‘bloom’ and fit in. Nope. The only thing long or elegant on her was her gangly legs – which were currently hidden underneath baggy trousers because she as exceedingly self-conscious of how knobby her knees were.
“Mom… it’s okay,” Emily said quietly. “Not every woman has to be married in this world and I would rather simply wait for the right guy than to end up in some nasty divorce like Chase had to deal with.”
