Page 29 of Call it Fate

Her blue eyes leaped to mine. “You don’t want to know about—” She shook her head. “Never mind.” Her smile turned brighter. “Iain just turned six in February. You just missed his birthday. He’s amazing, and I know I’m his mother and I’m supposed to think that, but he really is. He’s smart, funny, and has more energy packed in that little body than a car battery.”

I remembered how he’d burst into the room this morning. A little mini me. There was no way Emalee could see him every day and not be reminded of me.

“What else does he like?”

Emalee chuckled. “Anything fast or outdoors. He loves auto racing, and there’s no bigger fan of number fifty-six than him.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Number fifty-six?”

“Brock Allen.”

“Oh.” I didn’t follow the sport, but even I’d heard of him. “Good choice.”

“Well, it’s kind of a given in our family. He’s my uncle.”

“Really?”

“Well, not directly, but it’s too complicated to figure out the exact relationship. There’s a family connection about two generations back. I guess, technically, he’s more of a cousin, but since I call his children cousins, the title of uncle fell on him. He has twins, Chase and Cameron, who are a little older than me, and a younger daughter, Bristol, who’s my age. Chase owns the farm where Iain is now. Cameron owns a construction company here, and Bristol works for their dad. I lived with Uncle Brock and Bristol when I lived in Charlotte.”

Emalee’s eyes grew wary as she squirmed in her seat. She must have realized she’d opened the perfect segue to finally talk about what happened. There was no point in putting it off.

I got up and crossed the room, leaning against the sink with my arms and ankles crossed. “What happened that weekend, Emalee?” I asked quietly. “Where did you go? How could you have left and never said goodbye?”

I glared at her across the small room, allowing all the frustration to pour out. “I thought we had something special. I saw a future with you. I thought you felt the same.”

I heard her gasp as she gaped at me. “And then you were gone, no word, no goodbye, no ‘screw you,’ just…nothing! I didn’t understand. I kept walking through our park, hoping against hope you’d show up. I tried to find you, but I didn’t even know where to look because you never said exactly where you were from. All I knew was there was a girl from out of town, who I was falling in love with but disappeared without a trace, almost like Cinderella. Only I didn’t have a glass slipper to track her down. I couldn’t believe I’d been so wrong about you.”

I didn’t care that her face grew paler with each of my questions. I had them stored up for all these years, waiting to be asked, begging to be answered.

“No! It wasn’t like that!”

“Then whatwasit like?” I shouted, throwing my arms in the air. “Because for the life of me, I can’t understand anything. All I know is that you destroyed me then, and you’ve wrecked me now. I’ve missed out on so much. So, what happened, Emalee? For the love of God, why didn’t you tell me we’d created a baby, then or now. My god, it seems like that should have been the first thing you told me.”

By the time my tirade ended, tears were streaming down her face, but I couldn’t find the energy or compassion to care. I turned away and rested my palms on the counter to bear my weight.

At least until her next words, and then the world dropped out from under me—again.

“I’ll tell you what it was like,” she hissed with such venom I turned around.

She had stood. Her pale cheeks grew red splotches, and her eyes glittered like brown pools of anger. “Imagine waking up alone after the most incredible night of your life. Then imagine getting a phone call that devastated you and all you want is the person you thought made your world more manageable but is nowhere to be found.”

“Emalee, I—”

“No, wait,” she said, taking a step closer. “It gets better.”

What the fuck was she talking about? A sudden sinking feeling crept into my gut.

“There I am, on the elevator, getting ready to text you one more time, when it seems like my prayers are answered. There you were.” She laughed almost hysterically. “But instead of you being there for me, I see you leave someone else’s room, half-naked. That someone else being ashe, wearing nothing but a T-shirt that I recognized as yours, and you giving her a kiss in the doorway.”

She dashed at the lone tear on her cheek, then crossed her arms and glared at me, no longer the gentle, warm sunshine but a full-blown squall. “So, there, Zach.” She jabbed me in the chest with her finger. “That’swhat it was like. That’s how you destroyedme.”

Too bad Chad, the Theta Mu brother who’d caused me so much trouble that night long ago, wasn’t standing in front of me. He’d been confused when I’d decked him the day after Emalee disappeared. He probably wouldn’t understand why I wanted to pummel his face this time.

CHAPTER15

Emalee

Iforced myself to take several deep breaths. The fight drained out of me.

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