Chapter 6
CJ
I put the phone down after saying bye to Emmy and pumped my fist in the air because she agreed to go to lunch with me. The plan was to pick her up after 6 pm tonight, but since one of the guys dropped out of the show at Envy tonight, I’m going to have to go and fill in, and I didn’t want to let Emmy down when I had already promised her I would help her move in. Something tells me she is far too used to people letting her down; I don’t ever want to be one of those people.
It's still early, so I have a few hours before I pick her up. I take my phone out and dial Coles number, he answers on the fifth ring “CJ it’s your day off, what are you doing ringing me so early?”
he sounds like he’s been wide awake for hours and I shake my head, worried that he’s burning the candle at both ends.
“Just thought I’d call my big brother and see how he’s doing. Did you manage to convince Dad to hire some help?”
“Yeah, I spoke to him. He hadn’t realised how much work we had on at the moment. She starts in a couple of weeks. She’s just finishing up her old job first and then moving house, but after that she’s free. I’ve said I need her on the job sites with me once or twice a week, but she should be able to work from home the rest of the days. To be honest I’m just glad for the help with all the admin shit.”
The pieces fall into place in my mind, and then the penny drops. “What’s her name, Cole?”
I hear him rustle some papers on his desk, and then he says what I already knew “Emily. Emily Hart. Her references were brilliant, and she has the experience I need for an assistant, so hopefully, it will all work out. Why did you want to know?”
I chuckle, and then I burst out laughing because someone up there really wants Emmy in my life.
“You’re never going to believe it, Cole, but that’s my Emily…erm…I mean, my new roommate Emily. Well, Emmy, she prefers that.”
Now it’s Cole’s turn to laugh, and I curse myself for that little slip-up; there is no way he didn’t hear it. “You’re Emily, eh?”
and yes he heard it!
“Oh, piss off Cole you know what I mean, but yes that’s the same Emily. I’m helping her move in today. I’ll pick her up and then take her for some lunch to make her feel a bit at ease.”
“Wow. A lunch date already? I’m pretty sure you told me you weren’t getting her till tonight. Why is there a need to do it early?”
smug. That’s the only way to describe how my brother sounds right now.
“Yes, that was the plan. Originally, but Dan can’t dance tonight, so I have to step in. The last thing I wanted to do was mess Emmy about.”
Cole clears his throat. “Does she know what you sometimes do at night?”
What will you tell her you’re doing tonight if you've already told her you’re not working this weekend? I slap a hand to my head because I didn’t even think about that.
I groan “Ugh…thanks a lot, Cole. I rang you to catch up, and now I’m overthinking what I’m going to say when I have to disappear all night for her first night at the house!”
“Well, you could just be honest and tell her you have a second job and need to cover tonight. You don’t need to go into any details unless you want to, CJ. Stop overthinking it. If she’s as great as what you’ve been harping on about, I’m sure she won’t mind. Listen I’ve got to get going, I need to sort that fucking electrician out again. Oh, and don’t forget that we’re all at Mum and Dad’s at the end of the month for Sunday dinner; maybe you can bring Emily.”
He clicks off the call and leaves me thinking that for the first time, I don’t want to go in and dance tonight.
I spend the rest of my morning stressing about cleaning the house and re-checking Emmy’s room for the fiftieth time to make sure it’s okay for when she arrives. By the time I’m done, it’s time to go pick her up. Grabbing my phone, I fire off a quick text to her.
Me
Just about to set off now, be about 10 mins or so (smiley face emoji)
No sooner do I hit send, the three little dots start typing. Hmm, that's interesting. It seems Emmy was waiting for me to text her. That thought makes me feel fucking good.
Emmy
No problem! I’m excited (wink face kissing emoji)
The three dots appear immediately, as if she’s typing, then they stop. I’m just about to set off, and my phone beeps again. Picking it up, I smile.
Emmy
OMG I am mortified right now! (face palm emoji) I didn’t mean to put a (wink face kissing emoji)
Me
Setting off now Emmy. Hope you’re ready for me (wink face kissing emoji)
Me
and before you ask yes, I did mean that (wink face kissing emoji) see you soon (smiley face emoji)
Am I playing with fire by flirting with her? Yes abso-fucking-lutely I am, but I also really fucking like how it feels.
Pulling up outside her friend’s house, I see that Emmy is already there with all her bags around her, waiting for me. Just looking at her, all excited and happy, sends a jolt through my chest and makes me want to be the reason she always has that happy look. I park and get out of my truck.
“I hope you haven’t been waiting long for me?”
Emmy shakes her head. “So, is this all of your things?”
She only has a handful of bags with her.
“Yes, this is pretty much everything I own. I left all of my furniture in my old place. I didn’t feel like bringing anything with me; it kind of all felt a bit… tainted.”
She puts her head down and throws her hands up. “So, this is me,”
she says, giving me a small smile, and I bend down to pick up two of her bags.
“Well, just me,”
she’s smiling and blushing at me. “Let’s get you settled in, and then we can grab a bite to eat.”
After loading Emmy’s bags in the back, we get in the truck and head back to my house. I look over to see that Emmy is sitting with her handbag in her lap and her hands wringing nervously with the straps. She catches me watching, and I turn to focus back on the road, having been caught. However, I can see her smiling from the corner of my eye.
“Are you nervous, Emmy?”
I smirk and sneak another look to see her blushing again, but at least she’s smiling.
She shakes her head a little and blows out a breath “Yeah, I’m kind of nervous, not because of anything you have done but just because it’s a change. I just hope I’m not too much of a nightmare roommate and you decide to kick me out”
she gives a nervous little laugh.
I shake my head and say, “Impossible. That’s it now, Emmy. You’re mine, and I’m not letting you go.”
I turn my head to see her staring at me wide-eyed, realising what I’ve just said my cheeks heat, and I stammer, “I um mean m-mine roommate…my roommate. You’re my new roommate, and you're welcome to stay as long as you'd like. I clear my throat, cringe at myself, and turn back to focus on the road. I'm thankful we’re coming up to my street.
I park my truck and hop out, and busy myself with getting Emmy’s bags out of the back. I could honestly kick myself for being so stupid. Way to go, CJ. Now you've probably freaked her out, and she thinks she’s living with some pervert. I turn around and almost drop the bags because Emmy is behind me. She definitely heard my stupid ramblings, especially considering the smile on her face, as if she knew some secret. “Sorry about that back there in the truck. I hope I didn’t come off as creepy or anything?”
she bursts out laughing and grabs one of her bags from me.
“Wow, and I thought I was the awkward, self-conscious one. Don’t worry, Cas, I don’t think you’re a creep. I think you’re sweet,”
she says, kissing me on the cheek, and walks towards the house. I swear I feel like a teenager with how my stomach is doing somersaults.
We get inside, and Scruff does a mad dash around the living room, jumping on all the furniture and being excited because he gets to see Emmy again. She gets down on the floor for him, and he bounds over, licking her face. Then he lies there so she can scratch his tummy, and for a split moment, I’m jealous of a dog. God, I need to get a grip. Clearing my throat, Emmy turns around and smiles at me, and I can’t help but smile back.
“Do you want to see your room now?”
She nods at me, and I can see the gleam of excitement in her eyes.
We carry her bags upstairs, and for a minute, I worry she won’t like her room. When I knew she would be living here, I put a few more things in for her. Her room now has a vanity table and a comfy armchair for her to read in, and I gave it a fresh lick of paint, new curtains, and a new bedspread. I may have gone a tad overboard, but I wanted her to be comfortable.
“So up here are the three bedrooms, and the fourth one is the loft conversion, which I turned into a fourth bedroom, but your room is here. It’s right across from my room. Your room has an ensuite attached to it, but if you ever need it, there is another bathroom at the end of the hall. Then the door to the right of it is the other spare bedroom.”
I open her door for her, let her in, and hear a weird gasp/gurgle coming from behind me. I turn around and find Emmy there with her hands over her mouth and tears rolling down her face. “Shit Emmy I’m sorry do you not like it? It’s a bit much, isn’t it, and now you do think I’m a creep. I’m sorry, you can change anything you don’t like.”
I put her bags down, and now, sooner than I have, Emmy crashed into me and threw her arms round my neck and hugged me fiercely.
“No one has ever done anything this nice for me, Cas. Thank you so much.”
It takes me a few seconds to recover, but I wrap my arms around her and hug her back. We stay like this for a few minutes before she breaks the hug and slips into the room, a look of awe on her face. She dives onto the bed and starfishes across it, but the sight of her there, spread out on her bed, has me feeling way too tight down below the belt, so I make my excuses and leave, telling her we can go out to lunch once she has settled in.
Before we headed off to lunch, I decided to take Scruff on a quick walk. I was putting on his lead when I heard Emmy come down the stairs, and I turned to her. It seems I’m sporting a permanent, dopey smile.
“I’m just off out to take Scruff for a walk before we head out to lunch. You can wait here for me if you'd like, or you can come with us if you'd prefer.”
She nods and smiles at me, “Yeah, I’d like to come along if that’s okay, just let me get my shoes on”
We head outside and start walking. When we get to the park, I let Scruff off his lead to go and have a wander about.
“So, Emmy, are you looking forward to starting your new job?”
We’re walking side by side now as Scruff runs around us, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.
“I sure am. It will be nice to start somewhere fresh and hopefully make it my own. I loved my last job, but after everything that happened with my ex, seeing him there at work just…didn’t feel like a place I could be anymore”
“Well I happen to know that your new boss is a pretty nice guy and I think you will enjoy the job”
she turns to look at me a question in her eyes “you’re going to be working for Peterson Construction aren’t you?”
she nods yes but still doesn’t say anything “well that’s my families company. My big brother, Cole, runs the show for our dad. It was only when I was telling my brother about you that I realised that you were the same Emily he was hiring as his PA”
Emmy chuckles. “Wow. The universe wanted us to meet,”
she says. Her eyes widen when she realises how that came out, but instead of commenting, I grab her in a one-armed hug and smile at her.
“For lunch, I want to take you to a really nice café that serves the best paninis with a side of chips you have ever had!”
After letting Scruff run free for a while, we head back to the house, drop him off and make our way out to the café. Emmy seems quiet, and I realise that maybe she’s a bit overwhelmed with everything. With a new house, a new job, and having just come out of a relationship, what she needs now more than ever is a friend, and I want to be that someone to her - the one she knows she can depend on, no matter what. I hope I don’t friend-zone myself in the meantime.
“So, Emmy, do you want to get to know each other a bit better?”
She turns to me, her eyes going wide, and then she’s laughing at me so hard that tears stream down her face.
“Oh…my...God! That was the cheesiest thing you could have ever said,”
she laughs so much that she snorts, and as I say it back to myself, I realise how bad that sounded. Yeah, I most definitely am going to be friend zoned if I carry on saying shit like that.
“I didn’t mean it that way. I meant…you know, like Twenty-One Questions? It couldn’t hurt to know a bit about each other.”
She has one of those laughs that instantly makes the other person catch on, and then before we know it, we’re both laughing, and she’s snorting, which makes me laugh harder. We finally calmed down enough for her to say, “Yeah, okay then. You go first”
“Ok, so if you wanted takeout, would you get it from a Chinese takeaway or an Indian takeaway?”
“Ooh, it would have to be from a Chinese takeaway, although I sometimes prefer Indian food. What about you, Cas?”
“Okay, good to know. I’m the same, although I sometimes enjoy a good burger. Are you a coffee or tea person?”
“I have coffee in the morning, but I don’t mind a good cup of tea. It has to be Tetley tea. Do you prefer going to the gym or relaxing? Actually, don’t worry, I can already tell you’re built!”
Realising what she has just said, her cheeks flame, and my chest puffs out at the thought that she’s already been checking me out.
“I go to the gym sometimes, but mostly, my workout is at work. Thanks for noticing, by the way, but I love a good movie night. Speaking of which, are you more horror or rom-com?”
“I do love a good rom-com, but I also love a good horror too, especially around Halloween! Ooh speaking of which, do you decorate for Halloween or Christmas? If you don’t celebrate them, it’s absolutely fine, but would it be ok with you if I decorated my room?”
“Believe me, if I didn’t celebrate them, my Mum would string me up. I do decorate, but I do not usually do it for Halloween, just Christmas, but I’d be more than happy for you to show me how it’s done.”
Again, there she goes with that smile of hers. It makes me feel good to know I put it there. We pull up to the café and head inside. I move through the tables and chairs and head for the corner booth, which is usually my seat when I come here a few times a week.
“Oh, wow, this place is lovely. It’s just like I’d expect a garden party to look like; I can’t believe I’ve never been here before.”
Emmy looks around at the walls covered with flowers and greenery, a small smile on her face.
“What about family? Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
I break the spell, and she turns back, shaking her head.
“No, I’m an only child, which is okay, but I have always wanted a sister. The closest I have is my best friend, Hayleigh. What about you? Do you have any more brothers or sisters besides Cole?”
She reaches for the menu and starts to look through what she wants. “Yeah, I have four more brothers, so six of us. Cole is the oldest, followed by Ethan and Rafe. They’re twins, and then we have Nate, Archie, and me. I’m the youngest and obviously the best-looking”
I give her my most award-winning smile, and she dissolves into fits of laughter again. I grab the menu from her hands and put it back, and she looks at me questioningly.
“So, Emmy, tell me, if you were a flavour sandwich, would you be chicken or beef?”
“I’d probably be both. I didn’t get to looking like I do by choosing just one type of sandwich,”
she says, doing that little self-deprecating laugh I’ve noticed her do before. Someone has definitely hurt her, and that makes my blood boil.
“Being both is what I would have picked, so I guess we’re the same. May I order for you? I promise you'll like it, but before I do, I need to ask you one serious question, okay?”
She nods, looking worried. “Okay. Emmy, I really need to know. Do you like pickles or not?”
I put on my most serious face, and she has the broadest smile I have ever seen.
Before we know it, we’re laughing again, before she says, “Most definitely pickles,”
with that, I get up and go place our orders with Irene, I get us both a turkey, ham and pastrami panini with mozzarella, tomatoes and pickles and a sweet onion sauce and a side of chips each.
When I return to the table, I see Emmy frowning at her phone. She’s so engrossed that she doesn’t notice me sitting down, and when she finally does, I make her jump.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you”, I point to her phone “Is everything okay?”
She locks her phone, chucks it in her bag, and shakes her head.
“It’s just my ex. He keeps sending me messages asking to talk, that’s all, nothing important.”
I nod and decide to change the subject to see if I can cheer her up.
“So, what do you like to do for fun, Emmy?”
She smiles. “I don’t have any hobbies as such. I like to read, and I enjoy crafting”
I’m just about to ask her what that is when Irene comes over with our orders on her trolley. After we get our food, we dig in, and a comfortable silence falls over us, with no awkwardness whatsoever.
After a bit, Emmy looks up and asks me, “What was it like for you growing up, Cas? It must have been crazy with all of those brothers”
I nod my head and finish chewing “Yeah, it was pretty crazy, but it wasn’t too bad for me because I was the youngest and being the baby of the family pretty much guaranteed me getting away with anything. Although my brothers hated it when my mum told them they had to take me with them whenever they went out playing. We had fun, though. Growing up, I mean, it was a nice childhood.”
Emmy smiles at me “So are your parents still together?”
I nod. “Yeah, they’re still growing strong; they'll be celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary this year. Don’t get me wrong; they have their moments, and sometimes I swear my mum chases my dad around with a frying pan, but they love each other.”
I smile, thinking of my parents and how I’ve always wanted what they have. I thought for a moment I would have that with Stephanie, but looking back on it, I realise now that wasn’t love; it was just lust.
Emmy gets a wistful smile on her face “That sounds so romantic. My parents split when I was younger, so I spent my childhood being passed between the two of them, listening to them bickering about each other. I still love the idea of being in love, though; I guess I can thank my books for that.”
We finish our meal, and I excuse myself to use the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, I notice that I’m smiling more these days; my eyes are starting to crinkle in the corners, but it feels nice.
I finish what I’m doing and start thinking about my mum and dad and their anniversary. Every month, my mum demands all her boys get together and come to her house so she can cook us a Sunday dinner. She says it’s her time to reconnect with us all and to make sure she still gets to see us as often as she can. Still, with it being their anniversary this year, they will both throw a party and invite most of our family. I love going to my mum's for Sunday dinner; she makes the best Yorkshire Puddings I have ever tasted, but she also loves to go on at me and my brothers, asking when are we going to meet someone nice and who is going to be the first to give her grandchildren.
Always with the grandchildren, most of us can’t even look after ourselves properly, let alone a child.
If I had to guess who would be first, I would say Cole, given that he is the oldest and most mature among us. Maybe I can bring Emmy along. I mean, I’d have to crush my mum's heart by telling her she's just a friend, but I have a feeling it'd be nice for Emmy, too, to be a part of a big family event.
As I’m walking back to our booth, I see that Emmy isn’t alone. My blood boils when I see some prick standing over her with one hand on the table and the other behind her head on the booth; he’s leaning in, and it looks like Emmy is cowering in her seat. I storm over, not giving two shits what anyone thinks and as I get closer, I can hear him talking to her.
“Really Emily, whoring yourself out for a dog and now you’re on a fucking date with him? I don’t know who you think you are, but you need to stop fucking about and…”
I don’t even give the arsehole a chance to finish his sentence before I’m grabbing his hand off the booth and yanking it back and up towards his shoulders. He cries out, his voice going high pitched as I drag him back and slam him down face first on the table.
Emmy squeaks as she looks between us.
I bend down and get as close to his face as possible, I make sure to look him in the eye “I don’t ever want to see you again. You don’t contact her, you don’t come near her, you don’t even look at her. Do I make myself clear?”
he nods frantically underneath me, his face turning a funny shade between red and purple. I ease up on him, and he gets up. Without a backward glance, he scurries off out of the café.
I turn towards her, not knowing what to see, and to my surprise, she looks grateful. I offer her my hand, and she takes it, getting up shakily. Still grasping her hand, I turn to Irene, who stood and watched the whole show.
“Irene, I apologise for that but…”
She waves me off and shakes her head “Oh behave you silly sod. Now if you wouldn’t have defended her honour and just sat there, I might have to box your ears with my rolling pin. I’ll see you in a few days dear”
and with that she turns around and ambles off to the kitchen, I chuckle to myself, Irene has ran this place since I was little and at 70 she’s still running around like a young spring chicken.
I turn to Emmy. “You okay?”
She nods but says nothing.
She holds my hand all the way home, but she doesn’t say a word to me, and I worry that I might have gone too far. However, when we get inside, she lets go of my hand and wraps her arms around my waist, resting her head on my chest. I bring my arms around her and hold her there, and she whispers, “Thank you,”
her voice so faint I can hardly hear it. I decide that I’m staying with her tonight.