Chapter 19
19
Emma
T he house felt both incredibly empty and too crowded after the Palmer family returned and Caleb went home. Emma didn’t spend much time in the company of Sophia’s siblings, mostly because she knew that the more people who saw her, the more likely she’d be found out.
Her pictures were all over social media and the news. Each passing day was like a ticking time bomb. She could already imagine what it would do to this town if someone recognized her and called the paparazzi. Coming to Copper Creek had sounded like a good idea in the beginning, but now she could see just how big of a mistake she had made.
Perhaps it wouldn’t have been too bad if she’d only stayed for a few days—the reprieve she’d been planning. But she’d ended up falling in love.
Her heart twisted and knotted. Not only had she fallen in love with the town, she’d fallen in love with a cowboy. How could she have been so stupid? She’d known this was a possibility. Emma wasn’t a stranger to growing attachments to the people she worked with. She’d thought she could just throw caution to the wind and not get hurt or hurt anyone in the process.
It wasn’t like her, and now she was regretting every decision she’d made since that afternoon in the airport.
There was a knock on her door before it was pushed open. She sat on the edge of Sophia’s bed, her legs folded, unable to bring herself to leave the room. Sophia inched inside and shut the door behind her. “You doing okay?”
Emma nodded with a faint smile. “I’m just not feeling too well.”
“Do you want me to take you to urgent care? We could?—”
“Oh, it’s nothing like that. More…” Her voice trailed off as she tried to come up with a reasonable excuse.
“Homesick?”
Her head snapped up and she stared at Sophia once more. “Yeah. I suppose it might be.”
“I get that.” Sophia moved farther into the room and sat down beside her. “I know I told you that you could stay here as long as you want to. Anyone with eyes could see that you weren’t quite ready to head home. But maybe there’s a reason that you’re feeling this way.”
Emma stared down at the floor. She knew exactly why she wasn’t feeling well. She was stuck. She’d been trapped by her own idiotic and selfish decisions. She was in love with a man who had constantly told her he had a hard time trusting people. He didn’t put his faith in humanity as easily as the next person. And she’d lied to him.
She’d lied about everything.
If she came clean now, he’d be hurt. If she didn’t tell him and he found out, he’d be hurt. There was only one way around it that she could see, and it would end up hurting both of them.
“Do you have any family you could talk to about how you’re feeling?” Sophia’s soft voice pulled her from her thoughts. Besides Caleb, out of everyone Emma had met while in Copper Creek, Sophia seemed to be the one other person who gave her any degree of solace. It was funny because she was also in the dark about so much.
Emma nodded. “I suppose I could call my sister… though… she’s not all that thrilled with me.”
“I’m guessing it’s because you extended your stay?”
Emma stared with surprise at her new friend. She couldn’t possibly know what was going on, and yet it almost felt like she knew everything.
Sophia chuckled. “It would be understandable. Most people spend a couple days on vacation. You’ve extended your trip to two weeks by my count, and so far, you haven’t given us any clues as to when you might go.”
“If I’m outstaying my welcome?—”
“Of course not!” Sophia briefly placed a comforting hand on Emma’s leg. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you need. We’re not going to be the ones to kick you out. I mean, we couldn’t. You helped us so much. And then there’s the issue with that ride that went terribly wrong.” She released a soft laugh that seemed to be covering up her embarrassment. “Mateo was furious when he found out, you know. He said that I should have never taken you out riding—or at least given you one of our really old horses.”
“It’s fine,” Emma said. “Now I can say that I’ve been thrown from a horse. Who else can say that?”
“I’d say all of Copper Creek has had that experience at least once in their life.”
Emma laughed. “Okay, who else who doesn’t live in this town?”
“You got me there.” Sophia smiled. “Well, if you’re not feeling so great, maybe you reach out to your sister. Family can usually help in this regard. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has a bit of advice for you.”
Advice .
Now Emma really did wonder if Sophia knew more than she was letting on. Had she heard about the budding relationship between herself and Caleb? That was possible. Caleb’s own brother had caught them nearly kissing once. And even though she thought she knew Caleb well, she wasn’t willing to bet he wouldn’t share what had transpired between them.
She took a deep breath and released it with a nod. “You’re probably right. It would be a good idea to fill her in on certain updates. I’m just worried she’ll try to convince me to head home before I’m ready.”
“In my experience, when you’re not feeling up to staying, that’s the first sign that a trip needs to end.”
Emma gazed at her friend. It was almost like she was pushing her to leave. Even though she insisted that Emma could stay as long as she wanted, maybe there was a reason why she would make such recommendations.
“I’ll leave you to it, then. I only came up to ask you if you’d like to stay for dinner or to see if you had other plans.”
Ah. There it was. Sophia was definitely trying to find out just how far things had gone between the housemates who had taken care of the animals while they were gone. A smile tugged at her lips. What would the harm be in telling Sophia that she had started to fall for her brother’s friend? There were worse secrets that could be spilled—her identity, for one.
“Actually, I have a dinner date this evening.”
“I had a feeling that might be the case,” Sophia said and chuckled. “Mateo and I had a bet going, and I just won twenty bucks.”
Emma froze for a moment, then she let out a laugh. “Don’t tell Caleb I told you. I have a feeling he likes to keep things quiet.”
“Yeah, I could see that,” Sophia agreed. “Caleb seems like a really private person. It was strange that he seemed to be so easily taken with you.” Her eyes widened, and she laughed. “Not that you’re not a catch or anything?—”
“It’s fine. I knew what you were talking about.” Emma laughed again. It felt good to find humor in things. It was exactly what she needed.
Sophia left the room, and Emma wasted no time calling Jessica. Her sister answered on the first ring, her voice hushed and bordering on anxious. “Do you have any idea how hard it’s been trying to get ahold of you? I swear! What was the point of giving me your number if you weren’t even going to?—”
“I need your advice.”
Her sister stopped speaking. “What? Are you serious? I’ve been telling you from the beginning that you need to go home. Mom knows you’re missing, but she’s not pressuring me to tell her anything. I can tell Rachel thinks I know something, but she’s not willing to come right out and say it. All this publicity is going to make you a legend one way or another, and right now I worry it’s going to drag you down in a black hole of some kind.”
“I don’t want to hear about Rachel or her stupid PR stunt. I know how I’m going to handle that when I get back.”
“You can’t keep everyone hanging like this. What if people sue?—”
“I’ll come back before that happens. I haven’t even been gone a month.”
“A month!” Jessica squeaked. “Ems, you’re not planning on staying for a month, are you? That would be career suicide! You have to tell Rachel something. I don’t know about contracts, but I’m pretty sure they can get you on some legalities.”
“Are you just going to lecture me, or are you going to listen?” Emma said with exasperation. She got to her feet and paced the small bedroom. “Because I’m feeling stuck, and I need my sister right now.”
Jessica went quiet.
Emma didn’t know where to start. She couldn’t just blurt out that she’d fallen in love for what might have been the first time in her life. That wouldn’t go over well. Jessica had heard about Caleb, but she didn’t know the extent to which it had escalated. Maybe blurting it out was her only option.
“Well?” her sister pressed.
“You remember that guy who was looking after the ranch I was staying at?”
“Caleb? Yeah, so?”
When Emma didn’t respond right away, Jessica gasped.
“ Emily Hartford , you didn’t .”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“No one means to fall in love, Em.” She muttered a curse. “Does he know who you are? The real you?”
Emma bit down on her lip and then sighed. “I haven’t exactly had the opportunity?—”
“You’ve been there two weeks. You’ve had plenty of time to tell him. If you haven’t, it’s because you don’t want to.” Her sister was probably right about that. There were so many reasons she didn’t want Caleb to know. His possibly hating her was but one at the top of the list. “You want to know what I think? I think you need to get your little behind on a plane and just go home. Rachel is going to find you one way or another. This Caleb guy is going to figure everything out. And it’s all gonna blow up in your face. Either you tell him, then come home—or you break it off and come home. There are no other options.”
“I’m scared.”
There was silence on the other end for what felt like an eternity. “You’re being selfish and immature, Em.” Jessica’s statement stung more than Emma would have liked to admit. But once again, she was right. “If you really care about this guy, then you have to make a choice.”
“And what if he hates me for keeping it from him?”
“Then he wasn’t really yours to begin with, was he? Look, he’ll either forgive you or he won’t. What do you really want out of all of this? You have a life in LA. You have a career and people who count on you. He can either accept it or not. You can’t control that.”
Already, Emma knew the answer. She had to tell him. There was no avoiding it. When she saw her future, it was with Caleb. But that future didn’t have a chance if he didn’t know what they would be up against. She nodded. “Thanks. I needed a swift kick to get myself in gear.”
“Happy to help. Does this mean you’re coming home?”
“Might be sooner than you think.” Emma sighed. Hopefully not sooner than Emma was ready for.