Page 101 of Engulfing Emma

“Still, hasn’t she been a bit over-dramatic today? I mean it’s not like she just showed up on your doorstep and you walked out.”

He looks guilty.

“Oh, my God. That’s exactly what happened, isn’t it?”

He laughs. “It wasn’t quite as thrilling as that. But I didn’t tell her I was leaving until she arrived this morning.”

“Why not?”

“Because more than likely, she would have changed her plans and come a different week. I did not want to spend a week with her up in my business. I love my son more than anything in the world, and I want him to have a great relationship with his mother, but that does not involve us playing house for seven days.”

I try not to smile but fail.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you? You like the fact that I can’t stand my ex.”

“It’s”—I try to think of the right word, one that won’t give him the wrong idea—“entertaining.”

He looks at me like he knows I’m full of shit.

My mouth goes dry when the flight attendants go down the aisle, closing the overhead bins, making me remember where we are. I pull out a bottle of water and chug it. When we taxi away from the gate, I tighten my seatbelt again.

Evelyn puts a hand on my arm. “Hundreds of thousands of people fly every day. It’s safer than driving.”

“So I’ve been told,” I say.

“You can hold my hand if you want to.” She leans closer. “But I really think you should be holding Brett’s instead.”

I give her a scolding stare.

“Oh, come on,” she whispers. “I know you like him. And I know you haven’t had him over lately even though you want to. Probably because of me. You should let him hold your hand, Mom. He has strong hands, I can tell.”

She goes back to looking out the window. Me—I can’t stop staring at Brett’s hands.

I try not to listen when the flight attendants give their spiel. I don’t need to hear any more about cushions under the seat and water landings. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and grip the armrests.

“Here we go!” Evelyn squeals.

I feel hot breath on my ear. “Do you know how much I’d like todistractyou right now? Oh, the things I could do to you.”

“Don’t even think about it,” I say, not opening my eyes. “You’d get arrested for sure.”

A short while later, Evelyn keeps poking me, so I open my eyes. “We’re up. Look at the ocean. Isn’t it fabulous?”

I stretch my neck as far as I can. “It’s great, honey.”

Evelyn breaks into a huge smile, and I quickly see why. I hadn’t even realized that Brett and I are holding hands. I try to pull away, but he won’t let me.

Evelyn pulls her earbuds out. “I’ll be listening to music, so I won’t be able to hear you talk. You know, in case you and Brett want to say mushy love stuff.”

Brett chuckles and squeezes my hand.

“Don’t get any ideas,” I tell him. “I don’t speak mushy love.”

He nods to the small video screens embedded in the seats in front of us. “Want to watch a movie?”

“Actually, I’d like to see what you found out about Stefan.”

Brett had a private investigator look into his whereabouts. He was just emailed this morning, and he hasn’t had time to go over it with me yet.

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