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Eighteen
The door hung open,and Emilia stepped back, making room for Blaine to leave, his attention lingering as if to beg her to reconsider. Meanwhile, Ally stood on the veranda with her lips parted like she meant to ask about what happened, only to fall short a few words or ten.
Emilia shook her head, signaling for Ally to drop the questions, at least for now. All shocks aside, the one thing holding her together was the small concession that at least this house was hers alone to occupy—something she hadn’t had with Anthony—and she, therefore, enjoyed the power to decide who stayed and who left. Blaine included.
Ally stepped into the hallway, her gaze in the direction of the living room. “I’m going to take a guess here that you don’t usually keep your kitchen table and chairs in this room. What the heck happened?”
As much as Emilia would have loved to have moved everything back to its rightful place, she had no hope with her injured shoulder.
She turned to close the door, catching the last glimpse of Blaine and his truck, the windows still covered in condensation from a night in the cottage’s driveway. There’d be no point in lying to Ally now that she’d seen him.
“I fainted yesterday afternoon, in the rain, of all places. Blaine happened to be there to help, and Dr. Richards asked him to stay and keep an eye on me overnight.”
“Hmm…” Ally’s gaze searched Emilia’s, but nothing about her expression gave much away. “Are you okay now?”
“I landed on my shoulder, and it hurts a lot, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.” She faked a serene smile, unwilling to go into as much detail as she had with Blaine last night about her history of stress-induced fainting spells.
“Let’s make tea and take it to the living room.” She gave a nervous chuckle as they entered the kitchen. “You know, since that’s where the table lives for the moment.”
“Ya, sure.” Ally headed toward the electric kettle on the counter. “And I can move the table for you later if you like. By the way, I’m glad you survived, but maybe next time check the weather report before taking an afternoon swim, okay?”
Emilia dragged out an ironic laugh, even though what she really wanted to do was collapse on her bed in a torrent of tears. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
I’ll talk to her. She'll understand.
Blaine’s words about Sarah lingered in Emilia’s ear, and a wave of nausea hit her belly. She didn’t want him to make Sarah understand anything. Emilia knew all too well what it was like to have a man try to make her “understand.”
Betrayal was betrayal—no matter the spin—and the guilt of her kissing him would be something she’d have to wear, regardless of how confused she might have been at the time.
So even now, as Blaine’s absence hung like a heavy stone around her neck, she took a deep breath and did what she always did. She stifled her feelings in favor of not making everyone else miserable with her problems. At least for the moment, anyway.
“So…” Ally smirked from beside the stove, only stopping to pull out a frying pan from one of the doorless cupboards. Clearly, breakfast was also in order. “Blaine was your knight in shining armor, huh?”
“Ally.” Emilia dragged out the name, her weak version of a warning.
“Oh, come on. Dontcha know, life gets boring around here, and I’m good for keeping a secret? Pleeeeassse.”
Emilia leaned against the doorframe and stared at the floor. What had happened? She’d taken a tumble, and in a moment of rapture invited Blaine back into her life—the most thrilling, foolish, and temporary decision she’d made in years.
The man had a way of making her revert to being an impulsive and overly emotional teenager again. But an impulsive and overly emotional teenager she was no longer, which meant she’d need to find a way to take responsibility for her actions last night. Even if Blaine wouldn’t.
“There isn’t much to say.” She strolled over to the fridge and handed Ally a carton of eggs. “Blaine took care of me, and now I’m sort of okay.”
“And I don’t believe you.” Ally cracked an egg into a bowl. “It’s okay to want to keep a secret, but you, Miss Emilia, are not the best liar.”
Sure, fair enough, even the fact she allowed Ally to call her “Miss” was a lie. But some lies were needed. Like Ally being Blaine’s employee meant Emilia would not mess with this relationship of his, either. Even if last night and this morning upset her. Even if she did want to tell her version of events.
Then again,what was the point of her new life if she spent the entire time avoiding confrontation? Hadn’t she done enough damage control for other people over the years? And if she wanted to know if she’d wronged Sarah, if she wanted to know if closing her heart off to Blaine had been the right choice, well maybe sometimes a wrong could make a couple of things right.
She squared her shoulders and steeled her nerves for further disappointment, before turning to Ally. “If you must know, Blaine and I had a fight, and I think I need your help.”
“Oh cripes, really?” Ally poured scrambled eggs into the pan and then angled away from the stove. “What was the fight about?”
“Many things.” She toyed with her robe, gnawing at her lower lip for a beat. “Though I guess you could say the deal breaker was Sarah.”
Ally let out a gasp. “Oofdah! You two fought about Sarah?”
Emilia shrugged, trying to pretend the memory didn’t bother her. “Not directly but to be honest, we kind of ran out of time to get all that stuck into the topic.”
