Chapter 41
Emma
It had been a week since she’d seen her estranged father at the supermarket. She wrestled with the idea of listening to what her dad had to say, even if it was for her own healing. Emma kept putting off the phone call by making up excuses of why she couldn’t...she had to bake treats, she had to take Riley out, she had to catch up on her book club reading.
But enough was enough. Today was the day she would reach out and make plans to meet up. As Emma thought more about what she would say to him, she realized that he was just a man. A flawed, broken man who had made a mistake and had to live with the consequences. And even though she couldn’t forgive him for what he had done, holding onto the pain would only hurt her in the end.
The thought of calling him put her nerves on edge as she paced back and forth in the kitchen. With a deep breath, Emma gathered the courage to call her father, ready to confront the pain of the past and move forward.
I can do this, she told herself. Her fingers trembled as she finally picked up her phone and dialed the Hadley Cove Police Department.
“Hi, I’m looking for Paul Wright. I think he’s just newly rejoined the force, and I—”
“Yes, I can connect you with Officer Wright. Who may I say is calling?”
“This is Emma Wright.”
“Alright, Ms. Wright. I’m going to put you on hold for a minute while I patch you over to him.”
“Thank you.”
Emma let out a slow exhale as the line clicked. She started drumming her nails on the kitchen table, then tapping her foot while she waited.
“Emma?”
Paul answered in shock.
“Uh, hi Paul. I changed my mind about the coffee thing. Are you free this afternoon?”
Emma asked.
“My shift is actually ending in fifteen minutes, so I can meet you—”
“Great,”
Emma said, her tone direct. “I’ll meet you at Phil’s in fifteen.”
Emma stood up from the table and hung up the phone. It was only coffee, she reminded herself. Paul was going to be the one talking. She only had to show up.
Seventeen minutes later, Emma opened the door to Phil’s Diner and spotted Paul sitting in a back booth. After waving at Phil in the kitchen, she walked over to Paul and sat down across from him.
“What can I get you, darlin’?”
The waitress came over with her pen and pad ready.
“Just coffee,”
Emma said. “I won’t be eating.”
“Same for me,”
Paul told the waitress, smiling up at her.
“Easy enough. I’ll be right back with your coffees.”
Emma leaned back in the booth and looked over at Paul. “So, you wanted to talk?”
Paul nodded, letting out a deep breath. “I wanted to explain myself to you, Emma. I don’t expect you to forgive me or anything like that. I need you to hear what I have to say.”
The tension was broken when the waitress brought over their coffees. Emma looked down at it and took a sip. It was hot, and she burned her tongue, but she didn’t care. All she thought about was that scared little girl, who saw her father passed out on the floor surrounded by beer bottles. But she also knew what heartache could do to a person. What she didn’t understand then, she could try to understand now.
Paul’s voice cracked and his eyes became glossy. “After your momma died, I lost it. You were probably too young to remember, but I went on a week-long bender. I missed her so much, and I used alcohol to numb the pain of losing her. I didn’t realize how much it affected you. You needed a parent, and I wasn’t there for you. I can’t ever take that back, but I can try to do everything in my power now to make things.”
A tear ran down Emma’s cheek as she looked up at her father, feeling some of the anger melting away. Her heart told her it was time to let the past go. If Paul wanted to reconcile with her, she would let him. But she would keep her guard up to make sure she didn’t get hurt again.
Emma felt the sincerity in his tone as he continued. “I’ve been sober for two years straight now, Emma. I got my old job back, and I got an apartment in town. I’m putting my life back together, and I know what you must think of me, but I want to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry for the life you had to live because of my mistakes.”
Reaching across the table, she grabbed Paul’s hand. “I’m not saying I forgive you, but I guess I’m willing to be open to getting to know you again, a little at first. It’s going to take some time for us to build anything back up.”
Emma felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Pulling it out, she looked down and gasped.
Chad: Emma, I messed up royally. I made a mistake with Ashley, and I’m so, so sorry for what I put you through. I’ll do anything I can to get you back, Em. Please don’t give up on us.
“Emma, is everything okay?”
Paul asked.
Emma looked up from her phone, putting face it down on the table. “Uh, no. It’s my ex, Chad. My ex-husband, that is. We’ve been divorced for months now because he left me for another woman.”
“I’m sorry to hear, but it sounds like it was for the best,”
Paul said.
Emma nodded in agreeance, dazed by the text. “Yeah, he’s no good. I mean, we had some good years, I think, but he turned out to be a creep in the end. Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t think we had any good years. He was a terrible husband, always gaslighting me and making me feel like I was worthless. He’s manipulative and mean, and I’m going to tell him right now to leave me alone.”
Emma: Chad, I am not interested in getting back together with you. Do not contact me ever again.
Closing her phone, she dropped it in her purse and let out a long, satisfying exhale.
“Emma, this might be something you don’t want to share with me, but has Chad ever threatened you before, or hurt you?”
Paul asked hesitantly.
Emma stirred her coffee. “Not exactly. He’s never laid a hand on me, but he slammed his fist through the wall after an argument once. Made him sleep on the sofa that night.”
Paul frowned and reached out to take Emma’s hand. “Do you have a security system installed in your house? I’ve seen situations like this before, and they haven’t played out well.”
“I got one of those doorbell video cameras if that’s what you mean. There’s one for the front door, but nothing for the back. I got them after Riley, my dog, got out. But it hasn’t worked in weeks, and I’ve been meaning to get it looked at, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
“I could come and check it out for you, if that would help,”
Paul offered.
“Well, sure. That would be nice,”
Emma said, grateful for one less thing on her to-do list.
The waitress brought over their check and two to-go coffee cups.
“We can go right now if you wanted to,”
Paul said, laying down a few bills on the table.
Emma shrugged her shoulders. “Sure. If you insist.”
They got up from the table and headed outside. Emma got in her car, while Paul got in his police cruiser. Her phone vibrated again, but she ignored it. If it was Chad texting her, there was nothing he could say to change her mind.
After the short drive to her cottage, she let Paul inside. Riley immediately took to him, wagging his tail and trying to lick his face as he bent down to look at the doorbell cam.
“Riley, get down! Sorry, he has terrible manners,”
Emma said, trying to grab Riley’s collar.
Paul chuckled, scratching behind Riley’s ears. “That’s okay. Riley’s a nice guy, aren’t ya?”
Riley let out a bark, then ran into the front yard, sniffing at the tall beach grass.
“Do you have the camera connected to an app on your phone?”
Paul asked.
Emma pulled her phone out, ignoring the barrage of texts from Chad. “Yeah. It’s on here somewhere.”
“I’m going to look at the settings,”
he told her, swiping through her phone. “Ah, here’s the problem.”
Emma leaned over and looked down at her phone in confusion. “What is it?”
“You have two wireless networks here,”
Paul explained. “The camera was on one network, while the app was on another. Now they’re synced up, and the video should work beautifully.”
He handed the phone back to Emma and showed her a crystal-clear view of Riley doing his business in the front yard.
“Wow! Thank you. I didn’t know it would be a simple fix.”
Paul chuckled and stepped out onto the porch. “Well, I’m glad to help, Em. Let me get out of your hair. And now that you have my cell, I want you to call me if you have any trouble at all, okay?”
Emma smiled. “I will. Thanks. Riley, come on in!”
Riley raced through the door as Paul walked back over to the cruiser and took off down the road. Emma closed the door and locked it, then checked out her doorbell cam. Another text from Chad popped up, and she ignored it, hoping he’d take the hint soon.
By that night, she had received so many texts and calls from Chad that she had to block him. His behavior bewildered her since he was the one who had served her with divorce papers on their anniversary and had left her for a younger woman. Ashley must have dumped him, Emma thought, and now he was all alone. And she didn’t care one bit.
***
The next morning, Emma was packaging a case of dog treats to take to a store in Bridwell Bay, when there was a knock at the door. She opened her camera app and was shocked to see Jeremiah standing on the front steps. She walked to the door and opened it, keeping it half closed so Riley didn’t get out.
“Hi Jeremiah. I’m a little busy at the moment, so this really isn’t a good time—”
“Wait! Wait!”
Jeremiah held up his hands. “Please, I need to talk to you.”
Emma opened the door a little more and leaned against it. “Okay. What is it? I’ve got some deliveries to make, so you need to be quick.”
Jeremiah swallowed. “Okay, I’ll try to be fast. I’m really sorry about what I called you...I just, I was scared my dad would leave me for you. Moving down here, things were actually getting better, and I thought I might lose him again. But I was wrong. And I was wrong to call you such awful names. I don’t think you are...what I said you were. I’m really, really sorry, Emma.”
Emma appreciated his honest words and saw how difficult it was for Jeremiah to face her, as he had avoided eye contact. She reached over and put her hand on his arm. “Jeremiah, it was very sweet of you to come all the way here and apologize. I forgave you a long time ago. The last thing I want to do is take your dad from you, and that’s why I broke up with him. I don’t want to come between you two.”
“But that’s the thing,”
Jeremiah said. “My dad needs you. He’s been hiding it, but I can tell he’s miserable without you. When you were dating him, he was the happiest I’ve seen him in, well, ever. And he’s about to take some job in New York City because he thinks that it’s over between you two and there’s nothing left for him in Hadley Cove.”
Emma’s chest heaved with pain at the mention of Luke taking a job in New York City. That was an entire world away, but she didn’t want Jeremiah to know the news had bothered her.
“Thanks for the apology.”
She grabbed the box of treats that she’d left by the door. “But I really have to get these deliveries out, so if you don’t mind—Riley!”
Riley had wiggled his way through the door and ran outside, leaving the front yard and heading for the road. Emma panicked.
“Riley! Riley, get back here!”
Jeremiah grabbed a bag of treats sticking out from the box and took off after Riley.
“Riley! Hey boy! Lookee what I have here! Come on, come on!”
Jeremiah opened the bag of treats and pulled a few out, holding them in his hand as Riley turned and headed in his direction. Jeremiah bent down and fed him the treats while grabbing his collar.
Emma breathed a sigh of relief as Jeremiah walked Riley back over to the porch.
“Jeremiah, thank you! Can you put him in the house and lock the door?”
As Emma walked over to her car to put the box of treats in her trunk, she paused and looked out toward the water, taking in a deep breath of salty sea air. A light breeze and the gentle warmth of the sun-kissed her face. The waters were calm as seagulls could be heard calling out overhead. When Emma closed her trunk, an obnoxiously loud sports car came tearing down the road, kicking up dust, before stopping in front of her house. Its engine was still rumbling as an all too familiar figure emerged from the driver’s seat, taking long strides toward Emma as she stopped in her tracks.
“Emma, why haven’t you been answering any of my texts?”
Chad’s voice was booming, sending Emma’s heart racing as she quickly glanced toward the house, wishing Jeremiah had already left so he wouldn’t have to see this.
“Emma! Talk to me!”
She walked toward her car, ignoring him, although she was afraid. In the past, he had never taken no for an answer. But she wasn’t going to let him control her anymore. She was just going to get in her car and leave.
“You think you can ignore me like that?”
Chad walked over to her and yanked her arm, sending the box of treats falling to the ground.
Before he could put Riley in the house, Jeremiah yelled from the porch, “Hey! She doesn’t want to talk to you! Let go of her.”
Emma spun around to see Jeremiah sprinting in their direction, with Riley following close behind, letting out a fury of barks through the air like a crackling thunder. Jeremiah slammed his shoulder into Chad, breaking his grip from her arm and hurling him away from her with a fierce force. Chad retaliated, shoving Jeremiah with a powerful thrust, sending him flying over the box she had dropped. As Jeremiah hit the ground, Emma heard a loud thud reverberate through the air, sending a primal fear through her body.
“What are you doing?”
Emma cried out. “Get out of here, Chad!”
Jeremiah let out a groan as he sat up, disoriented from the fall on his back. Emma tried to go over to him, but Chad grabbed her again and squeezed even tighter.
“Let go of me!”
Emma shrieked as her fight-or-flight response kicked in. “You’re hurting me, Chad!”
Tail raised and teeth bared, Riley let out a murderous snarl Emma had never heard before. He pounced on Chad’s leg, clamping down with an iron-clad grip, biting through his pants as Chad tried to shake him off.
“Get off me, you stupid dog!”
With Chad distracted, Emma quickly reached for the little can of pepper spray she kept on her keychain and sprayed a thick cloud of fumes right into Chad’s face. He screamed in agony, releasing her arm, and staggered back as Riley continued to tear away at his leg. Emma stood tall with a newfound surge of strength and courage.
Chad choked and sputtered, rubbing at his temporarily blinded eyes. “I can’t believe you used that on me, you fat, worthless, dumb...”
Emma exploded, screaming the most un-Emma-like words she’d ever said before to anyone. Her use of expletives even shocked herself. Chad stumbled over; his face contorted in pain as Riley’s teeth sunk deeper into his flesh. Adrenaline pulsed through her veins as she pulled out her phone and dialed 911.
“Stupid mutt!”
Chad kicked Riley, making him howl with pain.
Riley took off, running toward the street as Chad hobbled to his car.
Jeremiah had finally gotten up and came over to Emma. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine,”
she told him. “We need to get Riley—”
Just then, a deafening tire screech came from the road, sending Emma’s heart plunging. She raced to the scene, dropping her phone in the grass. Jeremiah was at her heels when they both stopped dead in their tracks at the terrible sight before them. Riley lay motionless on the ground as Emma screamed his name, tears streaming down her face.
The middle-aged woman driver jumped out of the car in a flurry of panic.
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t see him!”
The woman fell into tears as she dialed 911 to report the accident.
Emma collapsed to the ground, sobbing as she stroked Riley’s fur. Tears poured down her face as she whispered to him, her voice quivering. “I’m so sorry Riley, Momma’s here. Stay with me. Don’t leave. Please don’t leave me.”
Memories flooded her mind of the day she adopted him from Second Chance Rescue, his bright eyes and wagging tail. She had promised to always be there for him, to protect him from harm. But now, as she watched his labored breaths and felt his body grow limp, she thought she had failed him. Emma couldn’t bear the thought of life without her faithful companion by her side. She held onto him, her sobs echoing through the empty street.
“We have to go now!”
Jeremiah interrupted. “We’ve got to get him to the animal hospital.”
Jeremiah sprang into action, bent down and carefully grabbed Riley, trying to hold him as gently as possible.
“Put him in the backseat!”
Emma cried, opening the car door. Glancing up, she noticed Chad’s car was still there, but he had vanished. But none of that mattered now. All that she cared about was Riley.
“Can you drive?”
Jeremiah asked.
Emma looked at him, still in shock, and murmured, “I—I don’t know.”
“Give me the keys,”
Jeremiah ordered. “Get in. We’ve got to go now!”