Page 57 of Echoes of Eternity

“Yeah. Why are we leaving?” Conner asked.

Putting on a fake smile, Emily went over to them and bent her knees. “We’re going to California to visit Grandma and Grandpa.”

Walking with her out to the car, Ryan helped load the vehicle and then met her at the driver’s side door after the kids were buckled and the doors were shut. She rolled her window down.

“You don’t need to leave, Emily. This is just silly. I know you just want to go see Elizabeth, but we can get her on a plane tonight!”

Her head tilted as she shook her head. “You don’t get it, Ryan. You lied again. Maybe I’m in the wrong here, but I just can’t anymore. I don’t feel like I belong here, and you keep lying, and I just . . .”

Pausing, she looked out the windshield as tears kept rolling down her cheeks. A deep sigh escaped her lips as she shook her head and then looked at him again.

“I love you, Ryan, but I don’t see how this all works out for us. I’m so tired.”

She put the car in reverse and Ryan came closer to the window. “What do I tell everyone?”

“Tell them whatever you want, Ryan. Or just hide it somehow. You’re good at that.”

And just like that, his family was gone.

CHAPTER 15

Three days back in California and it still didn’t feel like home without her husband. Emily did her best regardless of the constant uneasiness she felt. The first day, she blamed it on being tired from the drive. The second day, she thought maybe it was a stomach bug. The reality, though, was she couldn’t feel comfortable without him. On day three of living in her parents’ house, she rolled out of bed around five o’clock to go make a pot of coffee. To her surprise, it was already made. She noticed the light on outside, and her father, Richard, was already up and sitting out on the back patio.

“Dad?” Emily opened the French doors leading out onto the patio. “What are you doing up?”

“Trouble sleeping.” Lifting an eyebrow, he looked at her. “What’s your reason?”

Sighing, she came outside and shut the door behind her. “Same.”

Motioning to the lounge chair beside him, he offered her a seat. “Sit down and let the heater warm you.”

A small heater oscillating back and forth blew hot air toward the two chairs. She sat down.

“What’s on your mind? New job jitters?”

Emily had successfully slipped into a job back at her old school for the summer, this time as a teacher assistant in fifth grade for the summer school program. She was set to start that morning. “No. My husband . . .”

He took a swig of his coffee and set it down on the little table between the chairs.

“Sure. You spend that long with another human being, it’s going to take some time getting used to them not being around.”

She shrugged a shoulder. “It just feels so wrong.”

“What was wrong is his lying to you.” Sitting further up in his seat, he leaned over his armrest toward her. “The problem with guys like Ryan is the fact that they never change. Once a liar, always a liar. Who knows what else he has lied to you about? That girl you were worried about early on in your marriage? At that job he had in San Diego? Jackie or something? He probably had a fling with her.”

Uneasiness rose within her like tide waters. She shook her head as tears welled in her eyes. “Why have you never liked him, Dad? What was it about him that you couldn’t stand?”

Relaxing back into his chair, he shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t trust him. Never have. But I’d grown to like him enough, until this whole moving debacle.”

“Liked him enough?” She shook her head. “Enough for who? God?”

Richard looked pointedly at her. “Don’t you dare try to judge me in my own house. I let you bring your kids and live here rent-free! I’ve given you everything, Emily. Learn to respect the gift I’ve given you and don’t question me.”

Pain. It was the only thing Emily felt in that moment. “I need to go inside.”

“Why? Uncomfortable for you?”

She nodded as tears spilled onto her cheeks. “Extremely.”

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