Page 22 of He Doesn't Deserve You

“Do you need to go potty?” Emily asked, noticing Ava holding herself and wiggling in her pants.

“No, Mommy!” Ava insisted.

Emily got up from the chair and walked over to the sandbox. She extended her hand to Ava and gently said, “Come on, let’s go inside and use the potty.”

“Okay,” Ava said reluctantly.

As they headed towards the house, Ava suddenly exclaimed, “Uh oh!”

Emily quickly scooped her up and sprinted towards the door, but it was too late—Ava had already wet herself.

“It’s okay, honey,” Emily reassured her, bringing Ava into the bathroom. She carefully removed Ava’s soiled pants and underwear and placed her on the toilet. “Stay here,” she instructed. I’m going to put these in the washing machine.”

When she returned, she held the last pair of spare panties from Ava’s backpack but found no spare pants. “You’ll have to go without pants until the wash is done,” she informed Ava. “How about we watch some TV in the meantime?”

“Okay, Mommy.”

They went into the living room, where Ava climbed onto the couch as Emily turned on Ava’s favorite cartoon. Emily took a seat beside her but soon grew bored of the Dora the Explorer episode she had seen countless times before. Her eyes wandered across the room to a bookcase.

Maybe I’ll read a book, she thought, rising from the sofa and heading towards the bookcase.

She spotted a photo album on the shelf and had a better idea. Taking the album from the shelf, she returned to the couch and nestled beside Ava. She opened the album, and a smile spread across her face at the sight of a family having a picnic by the lake. In the distance, she recognized the very cabin they were staying in.

She flipped through the pages, watching as the summers progressed and the family of four grew older. Additional kids appeared in the photos, likely friends, she surmised. Emily came across a picture of twoteenage boys, carefully removed it, and turned it over. The back read: “Travis and Roman, 1995.”

She turned the photo back over and brought it closer to her face. This time, she immediately recognized the familiar features of Roman’s face.

She placed the photo back in the album and continued flipping through the pages. Her heart stopped when she reached the final pictures, and a chill ran down her spine. She suddenly realized that Roman’s friend Travis, the owner of the cabin, was the same man she had met at the bar that night—the person responsible for drugging her.

Bile rose to the back of her throat. Emily jumped up from the couch, letting the album tumble to the floor, and sprinted to the bathroom, where she barely made it to throw up. She was leaning over the toilet, dry heaving, when Ava’s voice came through the door, “I’m hungry, Mommy. Can we have lunch now?”

Emily wiped her face on the back of her hand and said, “Sure, honey. Mommy will be right out.”

She flushed the toilet and went to the sink, rinsing her mouth and washing her face and hands. As she looked into the mirror, she silently confronted herself:What does Roman have to do with this? Her thoughts swirled with disbelief.

She went into the kitchen and prepared Ava’s lunch. With no bread in sight, she rummaged through the pantry and found a jar of peanut butter and a box of crackers. She made Ava some peanut butter crackers.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Ava asked, noticing her mother wasn’t eating anything.

Emily’s appetite had vanished after what she had just discovered. “No, Mommy’s not hungry. I’m going to go put your clothes in the dryer.”

Emily spent the rest of the day in a distracted haze, her mind racing as she tried to devise a plan to get answers and find a way out.

At five-thirty, Roman returned to the cabin with a pizza in hand. “Honey, I’m home,” he called out jokingly as he walked through the front door.

Glancing up from the book she was pretending to read, Emily said, “Oh, hey,” before quickly returning to the pages.

Ava, who had been playing with her toys on the floor, exclaimed excitedly, “Pizza!” She eagerly followed Roman into the kitchen.

Emily set her book down with a sigh and got up to join them in the kitchen.

Roman placed a slice of pizza on a paper plate, giving Emily a sideways glance as he set it in front of Ava, who was already seated at the table. “Everything okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, fine,” Emily replied, opening the refrigerator. “Do you want something to drink?” she asked, sounding casual.

“I was thinking of having a glass of wine. Care to join me?” Roman offered.

“No, thanks,” Emily responded, taking a can of Coke from the fridge. She opened it, and Roman asked, “Did I do something wrong? I feel like you’re mad at me.”

---