Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
EMMA
Everything was fucked.
Emma dragged her suitcase down the uneven sidewalk in Greenpoint.
Even the tree roots were determined to ruin her day, tripping her up every couple of feet.
Her body ached with fatigue and jet lag, and her eyes stung from crying.
The couple hours of rest she’d had at the airport gate hadn’t reinvigorated her.
She had torpedoed her career. Squandered her mom’s best chance for a better future. And then Leo had scolded her. Against all odds, she was even worse off now than before she left.
Even Brooklyn matched her mood. Dirty snow was piled on every corner, and car horn blasts were everywhere as harried people crisscrossed the streets without waiting for pedestrian lights. It felt strangely alien after the small-town bustle of Hollybrook.
This was lower than low. She had taken a drill to rock bottom, mining straight to the hot, miserable core of the earth. No steady income. No health insurance. No money for food or heat. Merry freakin’ Christmas.
And it was all her fault. She had almost fallen in love with a prince who lived thousands of miles away.
She knew she should’ve stayed away from Leo.
That’s what she got for allowing herself to be distracted by a man.
They weren’t trustworthy. She was better off alone.
Her mom needed her to be better, to do better.
And now she had to go home and tell her she had lost her job and taken a crème br?lée torch to her future.
Tomorrow, there would be time to find a new way forward. But today, she was going to cry.
At least Cooper was still happy. His tail thumped back and forth, sweeping the curb they stood on.
They paused at an intersection. The woman next to her lifted her head and looked confused.
Emma offered a weak smile and turned away.
“Is—is this you?” The woman lifted her phone.
Emma tensed and moved her hand to her purse. Was this some new kind of scam? Distract people so a pickpocket could move in?
But no, it really was her. On TikTok. Screaming at the queen of Lynoria and smashing a gingerbread house. Great.
“Nope. But I’m sure that girl had a good reason,” Emma said, then led Cooper across the street the second the light turned green.
Fuck.
Finally, she and the dog climbed the steps to her apartment. Back to reality. Her tiny apartment in Greenpoint with peeling paint, burned-out lightbulbs, and linoleum flooring that was so worn the subfloor was visible in some spots.
Cooper barged ahead into the living room.
“You’re home!” Her mom’s voice was like a salve.
Emma stepped inside and was greeted by glimmering Christmas lights and the earthy warmth of a thousand meticulously kept house plants.
“Mom!” She released her suitcase and rushed into her mother’s arms.
Lisa gave her a tight hug and rocked her like she hadn’t since she was a little girl.
Emma pulled back and looked at her. She looked no worse for the wear—no drop in weight, no obvious bruises. At least there was one thing her trip hadn’t ruined.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“What do you mean?” Emma asked.
“You know I have a nose for drama. Something happened.”
Emma paused and debated, but there was no point. Her mom always got the truth out of her eventually.
“I ruined everything.”
The entire story came pouring out, from Leo’s community plans to her sudden burst of feelings for Leo to the retaliation against the queen. Lisa sat there and listened until it was all on the table.
When it was over, she wheeled into the kitchen.
“Mom?” Emma asked. Was she immediately jumping into crisis mode?
The refrigerator opened, and Lisa came back. “I had a feeling we were going to need this. I kind of hoped we’d need it because you’d come home in love, but this works too.”
A crisp bottle of champagne and some flutes rested in her lap.
“We’re celebrating me getting fired?”
“We’re celebrating your new freedom, sweetheart. I don’t like to speak poorly of people. But that Maya was a real clown. I was this close to sourcing some dead mice to hide in her walls. I still might,” Lisa muttered.
Her mom struggled with the bottle, and Emma took it from her. The cork popped out smoothly and instantly reminded her of her outburst not even twenty-four hours ago. Her eyes watered as she poured two glasses.
“This isn’t the end, Emma. It’s just a minor setback. We’re going to be fine. And it’s going to be hilarious to watch Maya try to run the business without you. I might make popcorn and park myself across the street tomorrow morning.”
At least something good had come from her destroying her own life.
“And for what it’s worth, I have a feeling you’ll see Leo again,” Lisa said softly.
“I don’t even know if I want to. He couldn’t understand why I did what I did.”
And then there was the fact that her outburst had almost certainly endangered his project. She couldn’t see outside of her own rage during the incident, and now Hollybrook could pay the price for her gingerbread-smashing home run.
Lisa shook her head. “I think he understands, sweetheart. He probably just wanted to help you and feels partially responsible. He made the choice to pursue you just as much as you did. If he’s willing to give up at the first roadblock, he’s not the man for that project, and he’s not the man for you. ”
Emma sighed. She wasn’t ready to analyze whatever was going on with Leo. His birthday was tomorrow, which made her insides feel squiggly. But she wasn’t about to send a Harry & David basket after how things had ended. Would he even find the cheesecake she had convinced Ruby to stash in his freezer?
“Enough about me,” she said, dabbing the end of her sleeve under her eyes. “Tell me everything you’ve been up to while I was away. What’s going on in the neighborhood? Did the Keefers finally get evicted?”
“Well,” Lisa said, pulling a legal pad off the table next to her. “I have a list. First, I’m pretty sure that guy with the fedora two doors down is having an affair. I’m gathering evidence. But that’s not even the worst part. You remember Fabian? I used to work with him.”
Emma relaxed into her mother’s recounting of the neighborhood gossip.
She took a sip of champagne and paused. How the hell had they afforded champagne?
On a whim, she entered the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.
An astonishing amount of food greeted her—vegetables, fruit, even a nice cheese.
Far more supplies than she had ordered before her trip.
She opened the pantry next to find a couple boxes of pasta and a variety of canned goods. Her mouth dropped open.
“Mom?”
Lisa stopped her storytelling and looked up. “Yes, honey?”
“Were we reverse robbed?” She gestured at the pantry.
“Oh, you mean the food? No, sweetie. A couple neighbors brought over some gifts. Mind Mr. Smith’s fruitcake though. It tastes like ass.”
“They brought over sun-dried tomatoes and whole wheat penne?” Emma asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No. It was the strangest thing. We got a package in my name with a slow cooker and five thousand dollars’ worth of gift cards to Wegmans.”
Emma clutched the refrigerator handle for support. “What? It didn’t say who it was from?”
Lisa shook her head. “I assumed it was a local church but maybe it was…someone else.”
Emma’s heart warmed against her wishes. There was no chance it was anyone but Leo.
She didn’t want to owe him anything. Someday, she would find a way to pay him back.
Even though the price of groceries was getting wildly out of hand, she was an expert at stretching.
Five thousand dollars would keep them for months.
If her mom hadn’t already blown it all on sun-dried tomatoes, anyway.
Maybe everything wasn’t lost. Tomorrow was another day.