Chapter 15 Emma
EMMA
Laddie is like a tiny tornado in sneakers all morning, already dressed in his favorite dinosaur shirt and jeans, his little backpack stuffed and zipped.
He’s so excited he’s practically vibrating.
“Mama!” he yells from the kitchen. “Do you think Tristan’s mom will let us stay up all night this time?”
Before I can answer, Talia beats me to it. She’s leaning against the counter, sipping her smoothie, grinning like she’s watching her favorite sitcom.
“Only if Tristan’s mom is clinically insane,” she says.
Laddie gasps. “Aunt Talia! She’s not insane, she’s awesome!”
I snort into my coffee. “That’s debatable. You came home from her house last time with blue hair and a sugar hangover.”
“It wasn’t blue, Mama—it was aqua lightning.” He grins proudly, showing off his missing tooth. “Tristan said we looked like superheroes.”
Talia laughs. “Well, I hope you two superheroes plan to save the world quietly this time. I heard you guys partied till midnight.”
He waves a dismissive hand. “That was the dog’s fault. She kept wanting snacks.”
I shake my head, amused. “Right. The dog made you eat four slices of pizza and half a bag of marshmallows.”
“She’s very persuasive,” he says seriously.
Talia leans down and tweaks his nose. “You’re a menace, kid. Poor Tristan’s mom has no idea what’s coming.”
He beams. “She said we could build a fort! With flashlights and popcorn and nachos!”
“Nachos?” I fake a gasp. “What is this, Amazing Chicago’s Funhouse?”
Laddie puffs out his chest. “Better. It’s Tristan’s house.”
Talia grins and winks at me. “You know what that means, Em. You’ve got the night off and zero bedtime stories.”
I smile as Laddie zips up his bag. “But first, I have to survive the drop-off.”
By the time I’m back home, the apartment feels way too quiet. Laddie’s off living his best life at Tristan’s, and I’m standing in my kitchen pretending I’m not nervous as hell.
It’s the perfect night for a sleepover, for him and for me. I didn’t really want to ask Talia to babysit anyway, especially since I have no real intention of coming home until morning.
“So, uh...” I start, hovering awkwardly by the counter, not sure how to tell Talia that Liam and I are going on a date. And that we’ve been doing a lot of phone sex. Yeah… probably skipping that part for now. “I, uhhh…”
She glances up from her laptop, peering at me through her ultra-cool, wire-frame glasses. “What’s wrong with you? You look like you’re about to confess to a crime. Or have a stroke.”
I roll my eyes. “Neither, thanks for your concern.”
Talia is home for the night, a night she would normally work. She’s been taking more and more vacation days and sick days lately, I’ve noticed.
When I asked her about it, she just said she thinks she needs to look for something else, and that is indeed what she’s doing now.
“I have a date tonight,” I blurt. “Just wanted to let you know.”
Her eyes narrow. “With whom, exactly?”
“Ummm...”
She stares at me for half a second, then groans. “Jesus, Emma. Liam Callaghan? Seriously?”
I feel defensive already. “We’ve been texting a lot. I think we just want to see where it leads.”
“Where it leads?” She scoffs. “I’ll tell you where it leads. To you, telling him he has a kid, and him reacting, who knows how? To you, getting dragged into whatever mess he’s got going on right now. To you, getting cold feet and ghosting him again. That’s where it leads.”
Her words hit like a slap, sharp and stinging. I flinch before I can hide it, and she must see it because her expression softens instantly. She exhales, long and slow, closing her eyes like she’s reeling herself back in.
“Emma,” she says, “I’m sorry. That was...I should have thought about what I wanted to say before I said it. It’s just that you made a choice to end things a long time ago, and I do not understand, for the life of me, why you would want to reopen a box you sealed up six years ago.”
I swallow hard, forcing the lump in my throat down. “I left because I didn’t want to put him in a position that would mess up his chance to chase his dream, not because I didn’t love him.”
“I know,” she says softly. “And that was incredibly selfless of you. But you were eighteen then. You’re not that girl anymore, Em. It just feels like… you’re walking backward.”
My jaw hurts, and I realize I’m gritting my teeth. “I have tried dating other people, Talia. I’ve been with other people. No one makes me feel the way he makes me feel.”
Her eyes flick up, sharp and a little sad. “Makes,” she echoes flatly.
“What?” I snap, even though I already know what she’s getting at.
“Makes.” Talia’s brow arches. “You said makes—present tense. Not made, like you’re reminiscing. What am I missing here?”
I push my lips together and fold my arms across my chest.
“Emma,” she says firmly, dropping into that no-nonsense older-sister tone.
“We’ve just been talking a lot,” I say, hating how small my voice sounds. I feel like a teenager caught sneaking out past curfew.
“A lot,” she repeats, still in that dead tone.
I nod, curling inward for a second before I force myself to stand straighter. I’m not a kid anymore. I’m a grown woman, and I can make my own damn choices.
“We still care about each other. We’re still attracted to each other. We owe it to ourselves to see if there’s still something there. I owe it to him, because I just left, Tal. I left with no explanation, and he has a son who deserves a father.”
“Is that where this is going?” she asks. “You tell him he’s got a kid?”
“Maybe.”
She makes a noise that I can’t decipher. “Whatever, Emma. It’s your life.”
“It is,” I say, as confidently as I can muster. “And I may not be home tonight, so don’t wait up.”
I stomp off to my room to get ready, feeling like a petulant kid, but also like a grown woman who’s tired of being treated like one.
I’m not really mad at Talia.
Not really.
She’s always been protective of me. Always there when everything fell apart. She’s my best friend… and, honestly, Laddie’s co-parent more than she ever signed up to be.
She’s supported me through everything, so it stings that she isn’t supporting me now.
Liam is Laddie’s father. They deserve to know each other, don’t they? We all deserve to have a life together, if that’s where this leads, right?
Still stewing, I hop in the shower and try to rinse off the tension. By the time I’m getting dressed, my nerves are buzzing.
Liam suggested dinner at a small, unassuming Italian restaurant that’s closer to his place. I don’t get the impression from the reviews that it’s fancy, but I still want to look nice and date-worthy.
I chose a dark green maxi dress with a plunging neckline that accentuates my cleavage, paired with wedge heels and a denim jacket. I pile my crazy curls on top of my head with a cute clip, then add a pair of gold hoop earrings.
I stare at my reflection in the mirror, and I look… casually sexy. Put together, but not trying too hard.
I try to calm the flutter in my stomach. I don’t even know why I’m so nervous. Maybe it’s Talia’s warning echoing in my head. Perhaps it’s the phone sex—how intimate things have gotten so fast.
Or perhaps it’s the bigger fear, the one I won’t say out loud: that I’m about to make the same mistake twice.
Because this time, Liam and I can’t just fall back into bed. We need to talk.
Serious talk. About what happened. About what comes next.
Because physical attraction is one thing.
Forgiving the past and facing the truth are crucial steps.