26. Emerson Chin Up
emerson: chin up
“SO THIS ISN’T GOING TO be awkward at all,” I was saying to Kyle as I double-checked that Carter’s ballet blankie was in her bag. She wouldn’t sleep without it, and I couldn’t risk getting all the way to Peachtree Bluff for a little rest and relaxation and having a child who wouldn’t rest—at all.
Kyle laughed. “I know. Part of me wants to tell James to just bow out, but then the other part of me…”
“Can’t quite believe the whole Caroline-and-Chase-Aarons thing is going to take?”
Kyle grimaced. “Is that horrible?”
I shook my head. Deep down, I had those same thoughts. “It’s weird because, on the outside, it doesn’t really make sense. But then when I see them together…”
Kyle nodded. “Yeah. It’s like you can’t imagine them ever being with anyone else.”
“Exactly.”
Caroline and Chase had been together six weeks, which, in normal years, was no time at all.
But, in Hollywood years, it was like six months.
In Caroline Murphy Beaumont years it was like a year.
Especially because they were together all the time.
Every paparazzo in New York City was having a field day with this.
And now that they knew that Caroline was almost ten years older, they were really having a field day.
They called her “Cougar Caroline,” which was so noncreative.
And neither Caroline nor Chase even mentioned it because they were so ecstatic in their love haze.
When she came to visit him on set, it was like they were in their own little movie.
The buzzer buzzed. Speak of the devil. They couldn’t have been standing there two seconds, but when I opened the door, Chase was standing behind Caroline, his arms wrapped around her, his chin on her head.
They were like magnets. She even let him be around her children.
He had filled in for Preston’s soccer coach last week when he was out sick!
“Hi, lovebirds,” I said. Chase shifted and kissed Caroline quickly before patting her to go inside. “Where are the kids?”
“They’re still at James’s,” Chase said.
Caroline rolled her eyes. “They should all be up momentarily.”
Chase stuck his lower lip out slightly. “And it’s off to the cold, cruel, in-bed-all-alone world for the next week.”
Caroline rested her head on his shoulder. “I know. I’m going to miss you so much.”
They kissed again. It was kind of gross but also fascinating.
I couldn’t decide whether I was worried because this was so unlike Caroline, or if I was thrilled because it was like Chase had unlocked this next love level within her and she was suddenly capable of all these feelings.
I kind of thought it might be the second.
“Emerson, can you talk some sense into your sister?”
“No. Never. But about what?”
“I think we should move in together.”
I laughed. “Chase, darling, my sister is never going to live with you and her children. That will never happen.”
Caroline shook her head. “And we’re never apart on James’s weeks, so we’re kind of half living together.”
“But I love you,” he said sadly. “And I love your kids. And I want to be together all the time—”
“Hello!” a booming voice called from the tiny vestibule just a few feet from where we were standing.
James.
Caroline shrieked and wrapped Vivi and Preston in hugs.
Then, much to my surprise—because I hadn’t seen this part yet with my own eyes—they both ran up to Chase.
Vivi put her arm around him, and he kissed her cheek.
Preston said, “Chase! I did that little thing you taught me—” He did some sort of shuffle with his feet.
“And you’re totally right. No one can steal the ball from me. It’s wild.”
Chase put his hand up. “Alright, man. That’s good stuff.”
James rolled his eyes at me, and I realized that he thought we were on the same team here.
“Hey, guys, Kyle got some cinnamon rolls from that new organic bakery down the street, if you want some while we wait for Lake.”
They all scattered, including Chase, which was boyish and cute.
Then there were two. “What are we going to do about this guy?” James asked.
“James…”
He laughed. “I’m sorry. Don’t tell me you’re buying into this. You know that Caroline and I belong together. She doesn’t have some long-term future with that guy. He’s practically a child.” He stood up straighter. “He can never handle her.”
When this whole thing started, I kind of agreed with James.
I did not in any world think that sweet, handsome, laid-back Chase Aarons had even a tenth of the spark to handle the hurricane-force gale that was my sister.
I thought that being with James—or at least someone like him—challenged her and was the only type of relationship that would ever hold.
And, yes, I knew that she and Chase were still in the early, breathless stage.
But that was usually the stage where Caroline died a slow and painful death.
Two days of romance, and she was out. She was ready to move on.
She loved Chase. That was real. Did they have a future?
I couldn’t be sure. But she was happy now, and maybe that was enough.
James said, “I mean, I thought you were going to help me win her back.”
I put my hands on my hips. “James, I gave you advice. I never said I was going to help you win her back. But this is not the way. You’re acting… petulant.”
“I’m getting on a plane with my wife and her famous lover,” he hissed. “You do that and try not being petulant.”
I was mystified. “James! You don’t have to go! At least for the Halloween Hoedown. I mean, yes, I think it would be hard for you to miss my wedding—”
“No way they’re still together by your wedding.”
The wedding was only a month away, so I tended to disagree. But… “I’m just saying that there is no reason for you to go now. Why put yourself through it?”
“Because I need Caroline to remember that I’m the one who loves her, that I’m the one who is always there for her.” Then he added, in a childish, singsong voice that cracked me up, “Even though Chase’s plane is the only one big enough to hold all of us.”
I laughed. “James! You hate it when she uses your plane. You should be happy.”
He hung his truly handsome head. “I would do anything to have her want to use my plane now. You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.”
I laughed again and patted him. “Chin up, honey. It’s Caroline. She’s mercurial. I think you’re just going to have to wait and see on this one.”
Caroline walked back to us from the kitchen.
“How were the cinnamon rolls?” I asked.
“Oh, right,” Caroline said with a face that indicated—as I well knew—that she had not had one.
“I don’t know…” I said. “We all saw you eating that french fry at Chez Fifi,” I teased.
She nodded. “I know. It was a big, big moment for me.”
James was trying to arrange his face into something that resembled a smile. Trying was the operative word.
“Hey,” she said. “You really don’t need to come to this.”
“But I always go,” James said. I could tell he was trying to sound smooth, but it came out kind of squeaky.
Caroline laughed. “Not always. There have been years you haven’t gone.”
More to the point, there were years he would have done anything, faked a work emergency, to get out of this event. “You know, it’s just that I’m feeling like I have so much less time with Vivi now. And we have so little time left with her at home, and I just don’t want to miss a thing.”
Caroline smiled sincerely.
I thought, More like you don’t want to miss a chance to sabotage your wife’s happiness.
“I totally get that. It’s fine. We’d love to have you. Just wanted you to know.” She turned around and he mouthed We to me.
I grimaced. I thought things were looking bad for James. But who knew? He and Caroline had a long and complicated history.
Then she turned back, walked the few steps toward us, and said, “Oh, and James. I totally forgot to tell you. I know we’ve been dragging our feet on this forever.
But since we’ve already negotiated our settlement and custody and everything, I had the lawyer go ahead and draw up the final divorce papers.
They should be ready in a couple of weeks. ”
Yeah. James Beaumont’s goose was cooked.