Page 74 of Engulfing Emma

I close the toilet lid and sit on it, confused by my thoughts. I’m getting too close to him. I should date other people. Not that Brett and I are dating—but what we’re doing is dangerously close. My friends are always telling me about men they could set me up with. I used to let them. Before the robbery. Before Brett. Maybe it’s time I let them again.

“You can do this,” I tell myself. I stand and look in the mirror. “Guys do it all the time. They have sex. They play the field. They date multiple women. Or not date them. Whatever. It’s all good. You are a modern woman.”

Before I leave the room, however, I touch the mirror, regretting that I erased his words.

I walk over to the window. Leo’s room is dark, as is Bonnie’s. But the television is on in Brett’s living room. I can see the flickering of light. I wonder what he’s thinking right now. Is he thinking about the other night? Because I am.

Which is exactly why I need to let Becca set me up with one of Jordan’s friends.

I make a mental note to call her tomorrow.

There is movement in Brett’s window and against the flickering light of the TV, I see him, bare-chested, swaying back and forth with Leo in his arms. It looks like Leo’s crying, and Brett is …singing?

My insides get all warm and gooey, seeing him sing to his crying son in the middle of the night.

He stops at the window and looks over at my house. I know he can’t see me. All my lights are off. But it’s almost as if he knows I’m watching because he just stands and stares, rocking his son.

Leo eventually falls asleep and Brett moves out of sight. The TV goes off, and then there’s a soft glow from Leo’s room. A minute later, Brett draws the curtains.

I climb back into bed as my phone vibrates with a text message.

Brett: Goodnight, Miss Lockhart

Chapter Twenty-three

Brett

The past few weeks have been confusing at best. Sex with Emma is incredible. But I can tell she’s fighting her feelings. She never lets me stay in her bed after, which oddly, I’ve become okay with because it means I get to talk with Evie.

At first it was strange, having a twelve-year-old waiting for me to get done having sex with her mother. And maybe it shouldstillbe strange. I mean, she’s twelve. But for some reason it’s not.

Evie waits for me in the kitchen. It’s become our thing: cookies and milk. Sometimes Enid joins us. But never Emma. She remains unaware that I visit with her family.

While part of me feels guilty for that, the other part, the part that enjoys finding out who Emma is and where she came from, looks forward to our chats.

While eating breakfast, I check if Emma sent me a text. She never does unless I send her one first. And sometimes not even then.

I’m still upset by what I saw through Leo’s window last night. A man walked Emma to her door and then kissed her on the cheek.Is she dating?He didn’t go inside, but it definitely looked like a date. They talked for a minute, him with his hands in his pockets like he wasn’t sure what to do with them. It’s exactly what I did the time I walked Emma home from the school.

Have other men been in her bed? Do they leave lipstick messages on her mirror like me?

She must wipe them off after I leave. I’ve never seen one of my messages on the mirror. Not even when we hooked up two nights in a row last week. Does she erase them so Enid and Evie don’t see them? Or is it because of other guys?

Maybe I’m overthinking this. Maybe she erases them because they’re stupid and juvenile. I haven’t done this in years. I guess I thought it was romantic or something. But as far as I can tell, romance is not what Emma is looking for. From me, at least. Maybe that’s where the man from last night comes in.

“You okay?” Bonnie asks, bringing Leo into the kitchen. “You’re stabbing at your eggs like they aren’t already dead.”

I push my plate aside. “I’m fine.” I nod to the stove. “I made breakfast if you’re hungry.”

She puts Leo in his highchair and spoons eggs on a plate for him. Then she pours a cup of coffee and sits at the table. “You are obviously not fine, Brett.”

I shrug.

“Does it have anything to do with the woman across the street?”

I look up in surprise, then remember Enid telling me they play euchre together.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I say, getting up from the table. “I’m going to take Leo to Central Park, so we’ll be gone most of the day. Are you still good with watching him tonight?”

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