Page 62 of Sinful in Scrubs

I checked my phone again. No response. My message was left on read.

How was I supposed to get a hold of Emma to let her know I was sorry if she blocked me? It seemed excessive. Maybe I should have been more understanding. After all, the administration and her ex, Kevin, had really been out to destroy her career.

I wanted her to understand that I felt like my hands were tied between Lily and the not-quite threat from James Collins. I believed her when she said Kevin was out to cause problems for her professionally, and I wanted her to know that I would stand by her and be in her corner, even though I had done a poor job of showing that lately.

I wanted her to know just how much I truly missed her presence in my life, something I didn’t think was going to happen. She needed to know how much I truly missed her, cared for her—something I honestly never thought would happen again after I lost Blair.

Emma was important to me, and I desperately needed to let her know this. So no matter what my daughter tried to do, it was my responsibility to acknowledge and correct the situation. If she wouldn’t answer my calls, maybe she would at least talk to me if I showed up on her doorstep? I had so much to atone for.

I called Jason, having taken Lily’s phone away from her as punishment. “Just want to let you know you and your sister are on your own for dinner tonight. I have to do something after work.”

“Can we get pizza?” Jason asked.

“No pizza,” I said. “There’s food at home, and you have plenty of time to make it.”

I heard his disappointed groan through the phone. “Well, what are you doing for dinner?” he asked.

“I will be having dinner with a colleague,” I said hopefully.

“Are you going to see Dr. Emma?” he asked cheerfully.

“I don’t know,” I said. “This is kind of like a… I don’t know if she’ll be there.”

“If she is, say hi for me.”

“I will,” I said. I certainly hoped I would be.

If all went well, I would be having dinner with Emma. And if it went really well, I’d be staying late.

I stepped into the lobby of Emma’s apartment. “I’m here for Emma Chen,” I mentioned to the doorman.

“Oh, right, yeah,” he said. “You can head on up.”

I knew he wasn’t going to announce me—it wasn’t that kind of building. But something seemed a little off. When I got to Emma’s apartment, the door was open, a stack of moving boxes was piled just outside the door, and a woman in an expensive designer suit stood tapping her foot as she leaned against the door jamb.

“How much longer are you going to take?” she said to the air.

“Excuse me?” I asked as I approached the door.

She looked up. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah, I’m here to see Dr. Chen,” I said.

“Another one?” She sighed. “She didn’t tell me about you. If you need to get your stuff, just go on in and grab it.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked.

She started speaking slowly, enunciating each word carefully. Something I was starting to notice… whenever I had questions about Emma, people tended to talk to me like I was some kind of idiot.

“She hadn’t told me there would be more than one of you. Go on in and get your stuff. I can’t be here all day.”

“I’m sorry, who are you?” I asked as I stepped into the apartment. “And who do you think I am?”

She pursed her lips and tried to hide an eye roll, rather unsuccessfully. “You are one of her exes here to pick up his stuff.”

Well, I didn’t think whatever had developed between us had been enough for me to qualify as an ex, but it still hurt to hear myself referred to that way.

A deep, throaty chuckle came from inside the apartment. “She went to L.A., man. She didn’t tell you either, huh?”

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