Chapter Twenty-Eight #2
May gave her a look. “Emmy… who are you talking to?”
“Oh… right.”
She started with the visit to Lucy. It was surprisingly easy once she got going, especially if she pretended she was simply telling a story, a tall tale to amuse her big sister.
She summed up the Tarot reading, moved on to browsing for a new romance novel, and remembered at the last second to skip over seeing the vanity set in all its glory. No need to spoil anything there.
May listened without interruption. Even when Emmy got to the part where she woke up in Will’s bed, inside the world of the novel. May laughed a little, then sat forward and gestured for Emmy to continue, like she was excited to hear what happened next.
Then Emmy got to the part where she’d looked at Gordon the flashlight, and May stopped her for the first time.
“I guess I can accept he’d name a flashlight since it was from his grandfather or whatever, but why Gordon?”
“It’s a reference to Flash Gordon.”
May gave her a blank look.
“It’s an old TV show from the eighties.”
“Never heard of it. How do you know about it?”
“Sarah’s uncle had it on DVD. We got a kick out of watching it. It’s ridiculously cheesy. I never told you about it?”
“I, too, am shocked that there’s something about you I was not aware of, but more interesting to me is the fact that this particular obscure show was referenced in a magic book you happened to pick up.
Almost like it was made for you. Or Will was.
” When Emmy frowned at that, May added, “If it had been me, I probably would have thought he was a basketball fan or something.”
Now Emmy wrinkled her nose in pure confusion. “Why basketball?”
“Because of the famous basketball guy. Come on, everyone knows him. His last name is Gordon.”
Emmy let out a bark of laughter as she connected the dots. “Baka! You mean Michael Jordan?”
“Yeah, him! Wait… Michael Jordan? Oh.”
Emmy had thought it would be a long time before she could laugh again, but as her sister’s face turned red, and she began to giggle at her own mistake, the joy bubbled up.
They laughed together, drank cold tea, ignored the remaining slice of toast. Emmy sat back against the couch and tried to pick up the threads of the story.
She opened her mouth, and, without any warning, burst into tears all over again.
Then she was lying with her head in May’s lap, sobbing until she thought she’d die.
“You fell in love with him,” May said quietly, her hand rubbing soothing circles on Emmy’s back.
Unable to speak yet, Emmy nodded.
“Do you want some water?”
Now she shook her head, got her breathing under control. “I need to finish it. There’s so much more.”
She didn’t bother to sit up as she resumed the story.
Once again, May listened without question, without offering censure, or judgment, or incredulity.
Her lap was comfortable, and Emmy could smell some kind of delicate body spray.
Honeysuckle maybe. May always had one or two scents in her purse.
As well as deodorant, lipstick, mascara, a compact, cold cream, hand lotion, nail clippers, eye drops, tissues, and peppermints.
Emmy breathed her sister in and took comfort in it. Until she got to the part of the story where Will had encouraged her to try landscaping professionally, and she’d balked. She admitted now what she’d only thought to herself at the time—that Andrew had played a big part in her hesitance.
And May simply exploded.
Emmy jumped back as her sister sprang off the couch like someone had jabbed her butt with a pin.
Hands fisted, May let loose with a string of Japanese that had Emmy’s eyes going wide.
She had no trouble translating, but she didn’t think May even knew those words, let alone felt comfortable using them.
“That cocksucker!” she screamed, switching to English. She began to pace furiously. “That absolute fart cloud! I could kill him! I will kill him! I fucking knew it!”
“Uh…”
Emmy was so bewildered that her heartbreak actually receded, temporarily forgotten as May fumed and swore. Then she swung back to Emmy, perfectly styled hair whipping around her face, eyes blazing with fury.
“I knew it!” she repeated, jabbing a finger at Emmy.
“We were all waiting for you to tell us you wanted to go into gardening… landscaping… something like that. Dad thought you were going to be a florist. He even suggested I talk to Ando to see if you could shadow Yvette,” she added, referring to the florist who worked exclusively for Elegancia.
“Really?”
“Yes! It was obvious you had a knack for growing things, and you lit up whenever you talked about it. You didn’t freak out when you saw earthworms or when you got dirt under your fingernails.
” May stopped, took a long, deep breath.
“But you never went for it. Not a word from you. I always wondered if that asshole had something to do with it. I could tell something was off, but you never mentioned anything. I just had a feeling. I almost tracked down Beth to pump her for information, but she couldn’t have helped.
If she’d known he was a slimeball, she wouldn’t have set you up with him in the first place.
She’s not malicious like that. A little… dim, but not mean. She’s sweet.”
“May… you just insulted someone.”
“I said she was sweet.” She ran her hands through her hair. “Don’t tell Sarah, but I could tell Beth never clicked with you guys. I like to think we clicked. Not just you and me, but Sarah as well.”
“Yeah, we absolutely clicked. Definite clicking,” Emmy said quickly. It was true, fortunately, but she would have lied without compunction in that moment if it meant May remained calm. She’d never seen anything like this from her sister. It was fascinating and scary.
“I just knew…” May shook her head. “There was never anything I could point to, but I knew he was wrong for you. I felt so guilty when you broke up because you were hurting, but I was secretly glad to see him go.”
“I never knew any of that. You never said anything to me.”
May deflated a little. “Like I said, there was nothing to say. It was just a gut reaction. Anyway, it’s done now. And I can finally tell you I’m glad it’s done.” She sat next to Emmy once more. “Tell me the rest. I want to hear all of it.”
Emmy finished the story with no more surprise outbursts from her sister. The heartbreak crept back in, making some parts harder to tell than others. But she simply squeezed May’s hand and pushed through until she’d made it all the way back to waking up in her bed that morning.
Her throat was dry. Her eyes were swollen. She felt like a dishrag that had been wrung out and left on the counter in a damp heap. Then May hugged her, and she felt the soothing sensation of being believed.
“Can I see the book?” May asked quietly.
“Sure. Just don’t read it.”
“No chance of that. You said it was on the floor in your bedroom?”
“I can get it.”
May shook her head. “Go drink some water. Splash some on your face if you need to. I’ll be right back.”
Because she desperately needed to hydrate, Emmy didn’t argue. She got herself a glass of water and downed the whole thing in one breath. Then she fumbled in the tea cabinet until she found a bottle of ibuprofen. All that crying had left her with an insistent, throbbing ache in her temples.
“Is this it?” May asked.
Emmy looked over, saw the unfamiliar cover, and shook her head. “No, that’s… wait.” She frowned at the book cover as May held it out to her. Then she snatched it out of her sister’s hands. “What the fuck?”
The model who had portrayed Will was no longer entwined with Bright beneath the swirling script of the title.
While Bright remained the same, she now gazed lovingly up at a Black man with a chiseled face and appealingly defined arm muscles.
He looked back at her with equivalent love in his expression.
It was Jared.
Emmy flipped the book over, read the synopsis. Bright’s section was, like the image on the cover, exactly as it had been. But the paragraph that had been dedicated to Will was now entirely about a divorced anesthesiologist named Jared.
“What the fuck?” Emmy repeated.
“What’s wrong?” May asked.
“It’s different. The book changed.” Taking a risk, she flipped open to the first chapter and skimmed a few paragraphs. Different here, too. The narrator followed Jared as he navigated a hectic shift at the hospital. “It’s not about Will anymore. It’s about Jared, his best friend.”
“The one who fell for Bright?”
Emmy closed the book and looked at the cover again. “Yeah. The one who fell for Bright.” She looked up at May again. “What does this mean?”
“I don’t know, hon. At the very least, we can say you definitely did experience something. It wasn’t a dream. The book is some kind of magic. I guess Lucy would know more. Do you want to go ask her?”
“I… yeah. Maybe. But…” Emmy squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m trying not to get my hopes up. If I get my hopes up, and I still can’t get to him… May, I don’t think I can go through that heartbreak all over again.”
She felt her sister touch her shoulder, opened her eyes again.
“One step at a time,” May said soothingly. “Do you have work today?”
“I…” Emmy let out a half laugh. “I don’t remember. It’s been weeks for me. I’m a little screwed up.”
Clutching the book to her chest, she grabbed her phone to check her schedule. She did have work that afternoon, and would get off well after Lucy closed up shop for the day. She told May as much.
“Do you want to call in today? You’re definitely entitled.”
Emmy shook her head. “Better to have the distraction than sit around here noticing how empty my apartment is.” She studied her schedule. “I have an evening shift tomorrow, so I’ll go in the morning. I don’t know what Lucy will say, but you’re right that I should talk to her.”
“Do you want me to go with you?”
Emmy pulled May into a quick hug. “I want you to get ready for your wedding. Be excited. Sext with Victor. Whatever it is you do.”
May laughed. “Okay. Will you call me after you talk to her? I want to know what she says.”
“That I can do.”
May had to get to work herself, so she reluctantly left Emmy a few minutes later.
Emmy stared at the book, was almost tempted to read it.
Was Will in it at all? If he was, what would that mean?
But she couldn’t risk getting sucked into the book again.
What if it tried to make her fall for Jared this time around? Best to leave it be. For now.
She focused entirely on her work. It was good to have something familiar as a distraction.
In her downtime—and she had plenty on a Wednesday afternoon—she doodled ideas for Hikari.
It was a relief to know that she still felt wholly committed to the idea of starting her own business.
It was still a kind of wonder to her that her family had known all along.
The one thing she took away from May’s rant was that her family never doubted her, not for a second.
They had talked about when she was going to make her career official and how they might be able to help her with it.
Two thoughts floated through her brain in quick succession.
God, she was lucky.
Fuck, her notes were in the romance novel.
She remembered most of them, fortunately. What did it say about her that she was a little excited about rewriting them with more organization this time around? She decided not to analyze it too much.
It was clear from the projections she’d jotted down on a pad of hotel stationery that she couldn’t think about putting in her two weeks right away.
In fact, she might do better keeping the day job—so to speak—for as long as possible.
It would give her an income to work with while she was getting Hikari up and running.
It would have the added benefit of keeping her mind as occupied as possible during all her waking hours.
No room to think about romance.
The apartment was dark and quiet when she returned to it that night.
She hadn’t realized how accustomed she had become to having someone living with her, having a companion.
Not wanting to think about that, she checked on her various plants, watered a couple.
It felt like years had passed since she’d woken up alone in bed that morning.
She was physically and emotionally exhausted enough to crawl into bed and fall immediately to sleep.