Page 71 of Since the Day We Wished

Luke settled back into his SUV and gazed out toward the vast expanse of the ocean, which reminded him of how small he was in this big world. The rolling waves crashed upon the shore, as the sun gradually began to set, painting the sky with its vivid colors. The scene was both breathtaking and heart-wrenching at the same time, mirroring the turmoil that was brewing inside his heart.

Even though giving up was never his style, Emma had made it clear they were over. For now, all he could do was respect her wishes and hold onto the possibility that, given enough time, she’d have a change of heart and they’d find their way back to each other once again.

With Emma’s words still ringing in his ears, he tried to envision a different outcome, a world in which they would’ve found a way to mend what was broken. But the more Luke thought about what she had said, the more his stomach knotted up. It was a sentence that had been passed before, an all-too-familiar verdict from his son only a week prior: “We’re done.” It was a phrase that sent chills down his spine, a phrase that held the power to shatter his world twice over, leaving him adrift amidst the broken fragments of a life he once cherished.

Chapter 35

Emma

It had been nearly a month since Luke had come to her cottage, and since she’d told him to go away. Ending the relationship with the man she loved was as heartbreaking as she had imagined. Although her words to him had been cold and blunt, she sobbed the entire rest of the week behind closed doors. Part of her wanted him to stay and bang down the door to tell her it wasn’t over between them. But she knew that would’ve been wrong and only would have made things more difficult. She missed him with every ounce of her soul but took comfort in knowing she was doing the best thing for Luke and Jeremiah. Or at least, that’s what she told herself.

Emma eventually reached out to her friends again, telling them she had ended things with Luke and asked them politely not to bring it up again. Lisa and Kara respected her wishes, even though she knew Lisa was dying to ask for more details every time she saw her. She had even mustered up the courage to go back to her job at Hadley Cove High sooner than anyone expected. Principal Kennedy offered her extended time off, but she declined. After all, she did have bills to pay, and her Barking Orders business didn’t have the financial stability to fund itself.

Getting back to normalcy at school was much easier than the stories she had told herself. At first, there were a few snickers coming from the students, but that soon disappeared when they found some new piece of gossip to talk about. Emma was back to being plain ole Ms. Wright, a role she was quite okay with.

During one of her tutoring sessions, she took note of the empty seat Jeremiah usually occupied. She wondered if the month-long suspension he received from Principal Kennedy had been too harsh. Although what Jeremiah had done was inexcusable, she still had a soft spot for him. Emma only hoped his time at home would give him and Luke the space to rebuild their relationship.

After work, her time was spent distracting herself, as best she could, from thinking of Luke. Since Emma had finished bingeing the backlog of shows on Netflix on her to-watch list, she threw herself into other activities, like tennis at the rec center and joining her favorite author’s online book club.

But even after she’d had a long, active day, she would often find herself lying in bed and scrolling through the photo album on her phone she had named, “Since the Day We Danced.” It was all of their memories together. Those photos held so much love, joy, and all the possibilities that life gives to us, if we’re brave enough to live again. Emma knew she should probably delete them but didn’t have the heart to do so yet.

And then, right before she would fall asleep, she’d read all the old text messages Luke had sent her, starting from the very first ones up until her birthday. Emma thought about him and how he was doing, and wondered if he missed her as much as she missed him. If he didn’t, she couldn’t blame him. The way she ended things had been harsh. It was a complicated situation, one that she never asked for. She had an impossible choice to make. Should she continue seeing the man of her dreams, even if it meant standing in the way of his relationship with his son?Ormiss out on her second chance at love? There was no winning for anyone. To Emma, it was natural to defer her happiness for the sake of others. She had done this many times over the years, especially for Chad.

Some days, Emma struggled to keep her emotions in check, as everything reminded her of Luke: the memories at Phil’s Diner, the sound of the crashing waves on the beach, and even Riley. A thousand times Emma had typed out a text to him, deleted it, and retyped it, but never hit the send button. Although her heart pressed her to reach out to him, she knew a clean break was the only way forward for both of them, no matter how difficult it seemed.

Emma’s life went on, waking up every morning and spending time with Riley before heading to school or working on her dog treat business. Mrs. Anderson had returned from her maternity leave, so Emma was back to being part-time at school. It was nice to have a little extra time to focus on growing Barking Orders. Over the past few weeks, she’d even picked up two new stores that wanted to sell her dog treats. Things were looking up for her, at least on the business front.

***

One morning, after getting back from a long walk with Riley, Emma took a shower and cooked breakfast. While sipping down her coffee, she realized she didn’t have anything to do once all of her morning tasks were completed. She didn’t have to be at school and was caught up on all of her deliveries for Barking Orders. It looked like she would have the day to herself.

Emma decided to start with a deep cleaning of the cottage. But, because the space was so small, she was done in only two hours. She still had half of the day to fill and didn’t want to lounge on the couch and binge Netflix until the sun went down. She had done enough of that in the past month to last a lifetime.

Emma had to find something else to do; otherwise, she’d sit and think about Luke, which was the last thing she needed. It had been some time since she’d visited with her grandfather, so she gave him a call to catch up.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Grandpa. How are you doing today?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” Liam said. “Although my knee’s acting up, so that means it’ll probably rain later.”

“Are you busy today?” Emma asked, hoping he didn’t have any plans.

“Me? Busy? Not at all. I was just getting ready to eat.”

“How about I come over and make some lunch for you?” Emma suggested. “I can bring Riley with me too, since it’s been a while since you’ve seen him.”

“Well, that sounds like a real treat, sweetheart. I’d love to have you two over.”

“Wonderful. We’ll be over soon.” Emma’s heart swelled with gratitude as she hung up the phone. She was blessed to have Liam in her life, even though they didn’t spend much time together anymore. The weekly rides to the animal rescue hardly counted as quality time. It dawned on her that Liam wasn’t getting any younger, and she needed to make more of an effort to spend time with him. As she gazed out the window, she realized that life was too short to take loved ones for granted.

Emma stepped into her quaint kitchen and scanned the pantry and fridge, gathering ingredients for lunch and put them all in a canvas bag. After grabbing Riley’s leash and some dog treats for later, she loaded her car and drove across town to her grandfather’s little house on the water. It was even smaller than her place, but Liam didn’t need much. After her grandmother’s passing several years ago, Liam adapted to a quiet, simple life, full of volunteering at the rescue every week and soaking up ocean views from his dock.

She pulled up in front of his house and let Riley out of the car. He ran up to Liam’s door and started scratching and whining, knowing where he was. Liam opened the door and greeted Riley with some pats on his head. Emma grabbed her bag from the car and walked over to join them.

“Hi, pumpkin.” Liam kissed her on the cheek. “This is a pleasant surprise.”

Emma leaned in, giving him a hug. “I figured I was past due for a visit.”

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