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Emma
Iwasexperiencingthekind of panic only a mom who had been away from her child longer than necessary could experience.
“Honey, calm down,” Mom said over the phone. “I told your dad not to text so much, but he said you’d want to know.
“I do want to know,” I quipped. My feet weren’t working fast enough. I needed to get down to the garage and get in my car and back home to Lily.
“She just spiked a little fever. She wasn’t being herself, so I took her temp and low and behold, she’s got one,” Mom said. Her light tone didn’t fool me.
She was worried and so was I. Lily was born prematurely which meant she had a whole host of health issues other, full-term babies didn’t experience. So far we’d been fairly lucky, a cold here, an infection here, but I was always waiting for something big to come along. Maybe it was the pessimist in me preparing for the worst, but I was still hoping for the best.
“I’m on my way back now,” I told her, stepping into the elevator.
“Well, then, you really do need to calm down, hon. “Lily is fine, and I don’t need you on the road, driving like a maniac and getting into an accident. Then we really will have a problem.”
“I won’t. I will abide by all traffic laws,” I said, my annoyance totally evident.
The elevator finally arrived at the garage level but as I stepped out into the vestibule, I dropped my keys. My hands were shaking. Mom was right, I needed to calm down. It was just something that was impossible of her to ask me.
“I’ll see you soon,” I told her before hanging up.
Being short with my mom, when her and Dad were the only people I could count on to care for my daughter, wasn’t right, but I was frustrated and scared. I didn’t need a man, but Lily did need a father. Or at least she deserved one.
You can’t think like that. Not right now, I told myself. I needed to focus.
I took a breath and then another step out into the garage when I dropped my keys again.
“Miss Milton?” a familiar looking older man wearing a suit asked as he approached me.
“Henry,” I said, remembering with the help of his nametag. He was the same man who drove Krista and me to Silver Mountain Ski Resort all those weeks ago.
“Yes,” he said with a smile, seemingly pleased. “Mr. Beckford said you might need some help getting home.”
“I—uh—that’s not necessary.” My hands were still shaking. and Henry noticed.
“There’s nothing to worry about, miss. I can drive you home in my car and an associate of mine will be following along in your car. I’ll get you home nice and safe, and your car will be there for you to have for the rest of the weekend. There’s nothing to worry about.”
I sighed. When he put it that way, there was no logical reason to say no.
“Thank you. Truly,” I said, letting him lead me to the car.
Without any effort on my part, my keys were given to someone else, and Henry shut me inside the sleek BMW.
“Just sit back and you’ll be home in no time.”
I was too worried about Lily to think about everything that happened with Kyle. He didn’t want me out with Jerry, we had sex that was somehow even better than the sex we had before, and he told me he didn’t want me with anyone else. Then, he sent his driver to take me home because he knew how upset I was. I couldn’t be falling for him.
Or, I had already fallen for him years and years ago and that spark was reignited, impossibly brighter than it was all those years ago. I wanted Kyle, and with this gesture, this unbelievably kind and thoughtful gesture, I was starting to need Kyle.
Needing someone, opening my heart to another man and trusting him to take care of not only me, but Lily, was terrifying. I chose the wrong man for her once before.
I was determined not to do it again.
I watched the building until I couldn’t see it anymore as we drove away like it would somehow give me the answers to what Kyle was thinking, but more importantly, what he was feeling.
***
A week had past, and everything felt completely different, yet somehow exactly the same.
