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Rory couldn’t reach out to take my hand, but she did the next best thing.
“I’m here. Talk to me.”
I nodded.
“Emma was supposed to come home to me. This was the night of the gala. That year, she was the one representing the university. That man... we didn’t know this could happen, Rory. I was already working with June to find more evidence about him, but I never—”
My voice broke, and I took a second to compose myself.
“I kept calling her and there was no response for the longest time. Finally, when I couldn’t take it anymore, the phone rang. It wasn’t Emma. It was the hospital. She’d listed me as her primary contact.”
When I received that call, I almost drove headfirst into a tree. It was raining so hard I couldn’t see the road ahead. Everything outside was dark, but nothing felt more desolate than the storm inside me.
Emma. My Emma. My brave, courageous, stubborn girlfriend and her desire to even all odds.
I’d gone to the hospital as soon as I could. She was lying in bed, her face puffed beyond recognition. There were bruises all over her cheeks, her lips, her arms. I didn’t want to know where else.
Her eyes were open. And I didn’t even see fear or anger in them.
No. What I saw was defeat.
And that... I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t bear what had happened to her, and it was wrong and selfish to think about my feelings when my whole world lay broken in front of me, but...
But there we were.
I did my best to say everything to Rory. By the time I got to the part in the hospital, I was seconds from leaving the table and running out so the whole school wouldn’t see a grown-ass professor weeping like a baby.
Rory sighed.
“You stupid fucking idiot.”
Wow. Way to make me feel better.
“What?”
“You... listen. Do you have any other classes today?”
I shook my head. I honestly had no idea what I was saying or doing. She looked down at her phone and typed something furiously.
“Good. Because I’m taking you out. I’ve got to go drop this book in the library. Find this cab” —she showed me the number— “and give me five minutes.”
“But I—”
“You have something better to do?”
I really didn’t.
She met me just outside the college. I was standing outside the cab, waiting for her.
“Where are we going?” I asked, still unsure where I stood with her.
“To get some sense into your head.”
I decided the best thing I could do was keep my mouth shut for the rest of the journey. The cab went on and on, down busy roads lined by offices, until it finally stopped near a little garden.
It was an oasis tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
We found a quiet spot to sit and watch some ducks swimming in a small pond.
