Page 68 of Engulfing Emma

When I don’t get a response, I sit on the couch and re-read our texts. She’s done enough looking out of windows lately. What does that mean? I run through the day in my mind.Shit. My head falls back as I realize what happened.

Me: You saw me and Amanda in the window this morning. Is that what this is about?

No response.

Me: Will you let me explain please?

Nothing.

Me: Emma? Are you there?

Five minutes go by. I return to the window. Her light has gone out. I go back up to my room, knowing I won’t be able to sleep. I throw on some clothes and pick up the phone.

Me: I’m coming over in two minutes. I suggest you meet me at your front door unless you want me ringing your doorbell and waking up your family.

Emma: Do not come over here. I mean it.

Me: Ninety seconds…

Emma: Brett, no.

As I’m crossing the street, I see her light come on. She opens her curtains and looks out. I wave as I pass under the streetlight. She shakes her head and disappears.

At her door I don’t ring the bell, and I don’t knock. I don’t really want to wake up Evie and her mom. I just want to make Emma think that I will.

She opens the door and pulls me inside, then puts a finger to her lips. We go upstairs. When the floorboards creak, I turn around and look at Evie’s closed door, wondering if she hears it.

Once we’re safely in her room, she pulls her robe tightly around herself. “Why are you here?” she whispers.

“You blew me off at the restaurant and then you wouldn’t text. You left me no choice.”

“Won’t yourwifebe upset that you’re here?”

Even though she’s whispering, I can hear the animosity in her voice. “Would you quit calling her that? She’s my ex-wife.”

“That’s not what it looked like when you were kissing her,” she says, nodding to her window.

I’m upset she saw that. But now I understand why Amanda did it. “I wasn’t kissing her. She kissed me.”

“That’s not what it looked like from here,” she says.

“We were in my son’s room. He was asleep in his crib. I could hardly cause a scene. But you better believe I had words with her once we were out of Leo’s earshot.”

She sits on her bed, looking confused.

I sit next to her. “I’m not sure what you saw from the window, but she took me by surprise. It took me a moment to realize what was happening and then to figure out what to do about it with my son five feet away.”

She sighs. “You were married. And she obviously wants you back. Maybe you should—”

“You know why she’s doing this, right? It’s because we made her jealous last night. She doesn’t want me. She was just being a bitch.”

“It sure looked like she wanted you,” she pouts.

I almost smile. The woman who won’t date me is jealous.

“You should have seen how mad she was when I ran into her at the store this morning,” she says.

“Wait. You saw Amanda today?”

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