Chapter Twenty-Seven
DC was one of those cities that emptied out around the holidays.
It seemed nearly everyone Emma knew was from somewhere else.
Even her. She’d grown up in the DMV—DC, Maryland and Virginia—but she’d hardly ever come into the city until she was a teenager.
Except for field trips or the odd trips with her grandmother when they had a little extra cash.
Despite her not having a biological family, she’d never spent the holidays alone. Before Davis, she’d flown to Texas to spend the holidays with Aniyah and her family. Still, she’d always had that hollow place where she missed the feeling of family she’d never had.
She decided to embrace her aloneness. On Christmas Eve morning, she left the apartment early for breakfast. A few flakes of snow drifted past her on her way to her local coffee shop.
An odd sort of melancholy tugged at her as she walked. No matter what, nothing about this neighborhood would be local to her after next week. She’d always felt a little out of place here, even after she’d committed to marrying into this life with Davis.
She looked down at her empty ring finger. Funny how she hadn’t really noticed its absence while she was at Sky House.
She didn’t really miss it now. Perhaps the certainty that came with living with Davis. Even though he’d told her she wouldn’t have to work when they’d moved to New York, she never would’ve taken him up on that offer. Her gut instincts would’ve never let her fully depend on anyone but herself.
Obviously, her gut instinct had been right about that. She could only imagine the shenanigans he’d have pulled if she’d moved to New York and changed her mind before he’d gotten her down the aisle.
She hunkered down in the corner of the café with her coffee and croissant. Instrumental Christmas music played in the background. Several staff members wore Santa hats. She felt a pang of longing for the Christmas she’d given up when she fled Sky House.
She’d taken the coward’s way out. She knew that. But wasn’t it best that way? Caleb probably would’ve tried to come up with a plan to help her out. Or, god forbid, loan her money or something. That wouldn’t solve the issue—making her beholden to him. That was exactly what she was hoping to avoid.
She brushed off those thoughts and began working on her résumé, sending requests for references to colleagues and old bosses, updating her career-focused social media, and scouring for jobs.
With it being the holidays, she didn’t expect to hear much until January.
But she felt better knowing those emails were on their way.
The job market was discouraging. She’d been at her last job for nearly five years. It seemed as if the job search had changed almost completely since then. Jobs paid less but wanted you to do even more for your wage.
She reached into her bag, pulling out a brightly colored to-do list notepad. She added the following to her list—
Search for a recruiter??
Look into Master’s degree programs??
Work in a stationery shop?
The first two options failed to enthuse her, and the third wouldn’t pay the bills.
But having options was the way forward. By the time she left the café, it was mid-afternoon.
Not in a huge hurry to return to Davis’ cold condo, she decided to stop at the grocery store to get the ingredients for a holiday dinner.
Just because she was alone that didn’t mean that she couldn’t be festive. Besides, she was used to making the best out of a bad situation by now.
* * * *
“I can’t believe we’re doing this.”
After he’d ended the phone call with Aniyah, Caleb had swept into action. He wasn’t in his right mind. That’s why he’d asked his mom for help with his plan.
It wasn’t his fault. She was standing at the front desk and noticed him “whirling around like one of those Turkish dancers,” in her words.
Somehow, that had turned into Lainey roping in the rest of the biddies.
Babs, Inez, Tiffany, Tinesha, and the newest and most reluctant biddie, Sabrina’s former roommate, Eleanor, were all in favor of ditching their families on Christmas Eve to help with his hair-brained plan.
Well, to be fair, it was Aniyah’s plan. He was just following it. He had no idea if Emma would embrace him or slam the door in his face.
Aniyah knew Emma better than anyone. She was sure it was the former.
But even if it was the latter, he could say that he tried.
He’d never force someone to be with him.
She was running scared, thanks to Davis’ threat.
He hoped she’d see that they were in this together.
Whatever help she needed, he’d be there to support her.
So now, he was circling Emma’s block, desperately looking for street parking that would fit the van, trying to ignore their bickering behind him.
“Aniyah says there’s a garage around the corner. Just park there. You’re never going to find street parking at this time of day, not even on a holiday,” Inez said.
“Yeah, and it’s probably forty bucks an hour,” Caleb muttered to himself.
“Now is not the time to be miserly, Caleb,” Babs cut in.
He turned to his mother in the passenger’s seat. “I still don’t know how all of you didn’t have plans tonight.”
“Look, Christmas is every year. There will never be another opportunity for us to see you make a romantic gesture like this,” Lainey replied.
“Or see me make an idiot out of myself.” He flicked on the turn signal as they approached the parking garage. “I swear to god, if I see any of you with your phones out, or god forbid, start going live when we see Emma, I will flip my shit.”
“Language,” Lainey chided.
“Don’t worry, we’ll keep them in check,” Eleanor said. She pointed to Tiffany and Tinesha.
Inez clucked her tongue against her teeth. “You’re no damn fun. Fine. My phone will stay in my bag. Happy?”
Caleb rolled down the window and took the ticket as they entered the parking garage. “Not really, but I’ll take it.”
After they parked, it was an ordeal to get all the biddies out of the van and organized. He wondered if herding cats would be easier.
“Okay, Aniyah gave me the address. I have a walking map up on my phone,” Tinesha said.
“Why does she get to have her phone out and I don’t?” Inez said.
“Because I have self-control.” Tinesha gave Inez a light punch on the shoulder.
Caleb snickered. “Come on, it’s starting to get dark. Aniyah said Emma just got home. Let’s go get her.”
* * * *
Considering she’d pulled everything together so last minute, she was quite pleased with her cozy Christmas Eve.
She’d cobbled together a decent Christmas dinner for one from ready meals available at the grocery store.
This included her childhood favorite—a fruit cake.
Something Davis had always forbidden at their celebrations.
She was always the only one who ever loved them.
She was sure there was a metaphor in there about feeling unwanted—growing up in foster care, and how everyone hated fruit cake—but she was depressed enough.
She didn’t need to make herself feel worse.
She turned on a cozy, atmospheric Christmas video to add to the ambience. Unlike last night, it didn’t make her want to cry. That was something, right? She was starting to accept that her time at Sky House had been nothing more than a fantasy.
During her packing, she’d found a box of Christmas decorations. She’d never bothered to decorate much. Davis detested clutter, and they were usually away for the holidays anyway.
She’d looked over the campy decorations that had been hidden in a box for years. Her pink desktop Christmas tree went on the coffee table. The bold, retro table runner laid across on the glass and metal dining table.
Brightly colored pillows were tossed on the leather couch. She even found her old, tattered Rudolph doll from childhood.
She sat on the couch, clutching the old doll. Even after finally allowing her personality to shine in this cold place, it still felt like someone else’s home.
It was time to make her own home now, for better or worse. She couldn’t rely on anyone else.
She’d relied too heavily on Davis. Look where that had left her.
The microwave beeped, reminding her that her dinner for one was done reheating.
She gently placed Rudolph on the couch and headed for the kitchen. Her holiday spirit dipped slightly when she pulled out the plate of turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes.
“At least you have a meal,” she muttered to herself. “It could be worse.”
She closed the microwave door and set her plate on the table. She remembered she’d bought gravy. That would save the turkey that looked about as dry as Davis’ sense of humor.
She began to rifle through her grocery bags as the jarring noise of the doorbell cut through the apartment. Her heart jumped into her throat at the interruption.
Most of the building was empty, but someone must’ve rung her bell by mistake. Better send them on their way.
She shook out her nerves as she walked over to the door. She unlatched the deadbolt and opened the door wide enough for the chain latch to catch.
“Sorry, wrong apartment! Merry Christmas!”
When she started to close the door, a hand caught it before it could catch. “Emma, please open the door.”