Just for the Summer(71)

Emma’s eyes were still wide, but she nodded. Then she padded over in her bare feet, stepping carefully around the glass, took her mother by the shoulders, and led her into the house.

As soon as the door to the garage closed, Neil let out a long breath and closed his eyes. Then he turned to survey the damage. His hood and grille were dented, but he stared the longest at the shattered hunk of glass in the driveway.

“That was my Charles Montgomery Award for Medical Excellence,” he said, tiredly.

I didn’t answer.

He stood there in silence for a long beat. Then he talked to me but looked at the award. “You know, there was a time when I would have gotten in my car, driven to the nearest five-star hotel, and picked up the first woman who would have me just to teach Amber a lesson. But I’m trying. I’m really trying to be the best version of myself.”

He stayed for another moment. Then he turned and walked slowly back into the house.

I was alone, standing in the driveway, whiplashed by the last five minutes. The part with Neil and Amber and the part with Emma too.

I began cleaning up the mess. The driveway was full of glass, and Emma’s sandals were scattered on the lawn. Her phone was still in the grass. It started to light up right as I reached for it. It was Maddy.

“Hey,” I said, answering. Then I told her everything that had just happened with Neil and Amber. A minute later the lights of the pontoon turned on in the distance across the lake.

I closed the door to Neil’s car, picked up what was left of the award and set it inside the garage on the deep freezer. Then I swept up the shattered glass and collected Emma’s shoes and set them by the garage door to the house. I was done in time to help Maddy dock the boat.

She arrived cursing.

“I fucking knew it,” she said, sliding up the dock. “Not even a month and that woman’s already losing her shit.”

I grabbed the front of the boat and pulled it in. She tossed me a rope and I tied her up and she jumped off, swearing like a sailor while she secured the back. When she was done, she turned to me. “How bad is Emma?” she asked, fixing her windblown hair. “Is she a mess?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “She went in with Amber before we could talk.”

Maddy scowled up at the house. “I hate that fucking train wreck. She does this every time.”

I slipped my hands into my pockets and stared out past her into the pitch black of the lake.

“What?” Maddy asked, noticing I’d gone quiet.

“Nothing.”

She eyed me from the side. I glanced over at her and something moved across her face, like she could read my mind.

Maybe she could. Maddy knew Emma inside and out. She probably knew exactly how Emma felt about me—or didn’t feel. And she seemed to know that I knew it now too.

“Did something happen?” she asked.

I peered at her quietly. “Just tell me if there’s any chance,” I said.

I didn’t have to explain it.

She looked away from me, like she was trying to figure out how to say what she wanted to say. “I shouldn’t be telling you this.”

“Tell me anyway.”

Her gaze came back to mine. “Justin, you will never get her to love you. You can’t. My parents tried with her. For years. They still try.”

“She loves you.”

“That’s because I got in before the doors closed.”

I dragged a hand down my mouth. “She said it’s because of the kids. That I’m in a different place than she is—”

She shook her head. “It’s not because of the kids. I mean it is, but it isn’t. If it wasn’t that, she would have found something else to be the reason.” She held my eyes. “She’s not capable of falling in love. Things happened to her and she’s…” She blew a breath through her nose. “You seem like a really nice guy, and I genuinely like you. I do. But you should prepare yourself for what’s going to happen when it’s time for her to go. Because she will go.”

I had to look away. “I don’t think I can give up.”

When she didn’t reply, I glanced back to her. I couldn’t help but notice that she looked sorry for me.

“I thought you might say that.” She breathed in deep and looked out over the lake. “Justin, for what it’s worth, I really hope this curse thing is real.” She peered back at me. “Because I think you deserve your happy ever after when it’s over.”

The soulmate I’d get once Emma and I broke up. So that was Maddy’s prediction: There was no hope.

But my foolish heart would hope anyway. It didn’t know how not to.

CHAPTER 30

EMMA

Mom was a mess.

She had glass in her foot. I got her to the bathroom and pulled it out with tweezers, then cleaned and wrapped her wound while she sat at the vanity.

She looked like she hadn’t been sleeping. She had circles under her eyes and the robe she was in was stained.

Neil wasn’t cheating or lying to her. I knew how busy he’d been at the hospital over the past few days because for the most part I had been with him. But Mom didn’t do well with abandonment—even the perceived kind. Which was funny, because it’s the very thing she’d subjected me to for most of my life.