Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Rick fretted for about the twentieth time as they drove back from Providence.
“Yes!” Darla said, laughingly swatting his hand away as he reached for her, as if he was going to take her temperature. “I’m fine. Now pay attention to the road, you goof.”
“Okay, okay,” he grumbled. “I just hate that I can’t go back with you for all the medical stuff. What if you want somebody to hold your hand?”
He said this last part so sweetly that she felt her heart swell in her chest.
“Oh, you’re just lucky I’m not quite so full up on all those hormones anymore,” she said, reaching out and squeezing his arm briefly. “That would have definitely made me cry.”
Rick froze, which she supposed she deserved. There had been a lot of tears these past few weeks.
“I’m fine ,” she said again, chuckling at his expression. “A little crampy, that’s it. Very excited to be done with the hormones.”
Today had been their first appointment at the IVF clinic in Providence, which had come after several weeks of hormone injections that had felt Darla left feeling both physically gross and like she was on a nonstop emotional roller coaster. She would have gone through that discomfort a million times over though, if it got her a baby in the end.
The hormones had been to prepare her for this morning’s egg extraction.
“I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much,” she admitted, “but this feels like an exciting step. I know they have to do all kinds of science, and that we don’t know how many rounds it will take, and all that, but?—”
“But this feels like a definite step forward,” Rick agreed. “Instead of waiting and hoping and not knowing if it will head anywhere.”
“Exactly,” she said, smacking a hand on her knee for emphasis. “I mean, say what you will about having to go down this whole science path. ” She paused, wrinkling her nose. She had long accepted that it was perfectly normal to need medical help getting pregnant but couldn’t shake the idea that it would have been nice if things had worked the old-fashioned way. Then she shrugged off those lingering emotions. “Anyway, it’s cool to know something’s happening.”
“Even with all the needles?” Rick teased. She had spent the last few weeks complaining very frequently about needles.
“Even then,” she admitted with a laugh.
They finished the remainder of the drive with idle chitchat, even stopping along the way at one of their favorite out-of-town diners, not that Darla would ever admit that to Rose and Darell Smith, the owners of Clown Fish Eatery, whom Darla considered like grandparents. When they got home, Scout was ready for her afternoon walk, so Darla decided to take the puppy.
“Are you sure ?” Rick asked again, worry in his expression.
“Oh my gosh, yes! Some exercise will do me good. It always makes me feel better when I get cramps.”
Rick looked grouchy about it, but he nodded, and she laughed over his adorable overprotectiveness as she and Scout took a few laps around the block.
When she and the dog circled back toward their house, Darla saw her new neighbor, Emily, heading in the same direction.
“Oh, hi!” Darla called, falling into step with her.
Emily looked surprised, like Darla had caught her while woolgathering.
“Oh, hello,” she said, tone shyer than Darla’s had been. When she saw Scout though, her face lit up. “And who is this beauty?”
Darla felt a maternal sort of smugness at having her baby praised… even if Scout was a ‘fur baby’ and not a human one.
“This is Scout,” she said proudly. “She will love you forever if you give her pets.”
Obligingly, Emily bent down and scratched Scout’s ears. Scout’s tail thumped loudly against the pavement to show her appreciation.
And, as Darla had predicted, Scout looked up at Emily like she was her new best friend as the three of them continued walking toward their houses.
“How are you holding up with the winter weather?” Darla asked as they went. “I don’t know where you lived before this, but New England winters can be a bit of a shock, and you arrived just in the middle of a particularly icy one.”
“Oh, I came from New York City, so I’ve done plenty of winters,” Emily said. “None as beautifully pristine as what you have here though.”
“Oh, you lived in the city?” Darla asked. “Me too! For a bunch of years, I mean. I’m from Whale Harbor initially, and I came back a few years ago and met Rick, but in between I was doing the New York art thing.”
“That sounds interesting,” Emily said, although her tone did not match her words. This was curious, Darla thought. It wasn’t that everyone had an obligation to be interested in the same things as she was, of course, but usually former New Yorkers were happy to connect about their favorite restaurants, museums, and cultural spots… as well as the things they very much did not miss about city life now that they’re relocated to Whale Harbor.
But the similar background, strangely enough, made Emily seem more distant than ever.
As if she could hear Darla’s thoughts and wanted to prove them correct, Emily gave her a tight smile as she approached their houses.
“Well, it’s been nice talking to you,” she said. “But I really have to go now. Bye!”
She was halfway up her driveway before she finished speaking. Darla watched her hurry into her house and close the door behind her with a decisive click .
Darla looked down at her dog, who looked bereft to have lost her new buddy.
“Well, Scout,” she said, heading up her own driveway with the pup trotting obediently at her side, “I have to tell you. I am very curious about our brand-new neighbor.”
It took Emily a while to relax after her conversation with Darla.
This was, she knew, a sign that she was still deeply affected by her past. Her neighbor had been nothing but nice in their few encounters, but Emily had felt almost panicked talking to her, especially after she’d learned that Darla had lived in New York City. What if the woman had heard about Emily’s dreadful past? What if her history had followed her here to Whale Harbor after all?
Knowing there was no sense worrying, as that wouldn’t change anything, Emily poured herself a glass of her favorite wine and sipped it as she prepped for dinner, enjoying the simple pleasure of cooking.
Back in New York, she’d scarcely had any time for cooking. She’d scarcely had time for anything except for work.
In her new home, she was finding herself again. And the true Emily Harper, the one who was more than just a workaholic and rising star in the business world?
Well, that Emily loved to cook.
She hummed to herself as she sliced shallots, tossing them in the copper pan she’d bought as an extravagance back in New York.
It had been a pointless extravagance then, something that hung on her kitchen wall, unused. Now though, it was starting to get those telltale marks that said it was well-loved.
It made Emily happy just looking at them.
She would caramelize the shallots until they were soft, sweet, and jammy and then add in the tomato paste, the garlic, some freshly cracked pepper. When the sauce was done, she’d pour it over the fresh pasta she’d purchased at Harvest Grocery Store. That’s what she’d been doing when she’d run into Darla.
She took a slow sip of her wine, savoring its crisp flavor.
Yeah , she thought, letting her calm finally settle around her like a blanket. Yeah. Her new life was good.
The shrill ringing of her phone shattered the calm atmosphere. Emily jumped, nearly splashing wine on herself, before she set down her glass and spatula and headed to the counter where the device was sitting.
She frowned when she saw who was calling. A reporter, one who had called her frequently enough in the past that Emily had saved her number. Even worse, this woman wasn’t a business reporter, but a gossip columnist, which meant that her piece wouldn’t be about Emily’s past business… but instead would be about Emily herself.
Emily declined the call, jabbing her phone with more force than was probably strictly necessary. Then she turned the device on silent for good measure.
She went back to her dinner, but the comfort in the act had disappeared.
Her new life was good, but it was hard to feel like her old life wouldn’t keep creeping in, no matter how much she wanted to keep it at bay. She felt like every time she put up another fence, the bad things kept getting taller and taller ladders to climb over her barriers.
And worse, she feared that those barriers were keeping the good things out too. She’d practically been cold to her neighbor, for all that Darla and her adorable puppy had been friendly and open and sweet. Or kind Charity, in the coffee shop. Emily had practically raced out of there to avoid sharing anything personal with the kind woman.
Oddly, her mind even flashed to the man on the bench, even though she didn’t even know his name. She never would know it either, not if she kept keeping people at arm’s length.
The thought made her impossibly sad.
She was going to figure it out, she thought with determination as she poked at her shallots, their slow cooking suddenly too slow. She was going to figure out a way to make it work, to have her beautiful future in this wonderful new town…
And she was going to figure out a way to make it happen without letting the shadows from her past follow her, no matter how much it felt like there was no way of escaping them.