Page 55 of Not My Fault

“It didn’t seem like the right time.” Georgie smiles.

We head back to their apartment and Emily runs to look for the paperwork. Georgie and I settle in the living room with the takeout we grabbed on the way in. We’re all sitting on the floor in the living room around the coffee table. It’s the biggest table they have where we can spread out all the paperwork easily. Georgie makes margaritas, because it seems like that kind of a night, and I take mine with extra salt on the brim. Which of course makes it difficult to be serious when Emily is trying to talk about the paperwork.

“You need to put your tongue away! I can’t focus.” Emily narrows her eyes at me, and I stop.

“Gross,” Georgie mumbles.

“Okay, this says she’s allowed to talk about anything if she’s fired.” Emily sighs.

“I guess that was put in there so she could write her tell-all book one day,” Georgie snarks.

“Wait, but this says in the case of being let go due to poor job performance or illegal activities, each party is allowed to dissolve the contract and the NDA remains intact,” Emily says.

“Holy shit, so if you have proof of her literally stealing thousands of dollars and committing fraud, wouldn’t that be the illegal activity?” I ask.

“Yes!” Georgie shouts.

“But how are you going to have her let go? Does she have a boss?” I ask.

“She technically works for an agency, but I believe it’s all her family. No way would they side with me. But, I have enough here that if I went to the police, she’d be let go because her bad image would reflect poorly on mine. They’d have no choice but to dissolve everything.” Emily’s face lights up as she realizes this.

“Let me call my cousin and confirm this, but if so, we’re going to the police station tonight,” Georgie says, pulling out her phone.

“Didn’t she just have a baby? It’s like one a.m.,” Emily says.

“So? She’s not sleeping anyway.” Georgie waves us off as she dials. “Luna!”

“Thank you for tonight. I know this is a lot, but it means everything that you didn’t go when things got tough,” Emily says, holding my hand.

“It might take some time, and I’m sure this doesn’t help. But I’m going to show you I’m not someone who leaves when the going gets tough. I can weather any storm.” I lean forward to kiss her softly.

But a peck quickly turns into more as she slides her tongue in my mouth. I moan quietly as I taste the margaritas on her lips. Her mouth is cold from all the ice and I’m warming her up. Emily scoots closer to me and I reach to hold her face. Her cheek is warm, probably overheating from the alcohol, and our teeth clunk together as she starts to giggle mid-kiss. We try again, her smile prematurely ending the kiss.

“Ew, get a room.” Georgie comes back in the room and Emily flips her off.

“So my cousin said we’re right and the best thing to do is head to the police station and file a report before Viv has the chance to do anymore damage. The proof the intern gave us should be enough, but you should bring your paperwork too. If all goes well, she could be arrested tomorrow since it’s so much money and her job makes her a flight risk,” Georgie explains.

We’re all elated from the relief of the good news. Since we only had one margarita each, we’re not too drunk to go now—so we head out in hopes of good news.

It’s almost morning when we get back from the station but at least Georgie’s cousin was right. There was enough evidence to get Viv and put her away. I can see how relieved Emily looks, and I know she’ll be stronger because of it.

“Can you come to bed?” Emily asks as we get back to her place.

Georgie is already in her room by the time we get in. She’s too tired to stay up and attempt to celebrate with us. Not that we are any better. But Emily wants me to sleepover and I won’t turn down the chance to hold my girl in my arms. Especially after the day from hell she had.

“Of course.” I nod.

We get undressed and the second her head hits the pillow, she’s fast asleep. For a moment, I think she’s messing with me. When I get a closer look and she’s still fast asleep, I know she’s serious. I pull her phone from her jeans, putting it on the charger. I grab a makeup wipe from her bedside table and wipe her makeup off. Then I pull the covers over her and climb in next to her. I don’t blame her for being off routine tonight, but I’ll do anything I can do to make the morning a little bit easier. I have to go to work in the afternoon, but at least I don’t have to get up early. Which is be way too soon anyway.

For a little while, I just watch her sleep. She’s facing me with her mouth slightly open, only the sound of breathing fills the room. Sure, there’s New York City traffic and sounds outsidegoing on too, but I tune all of that out. The only thing I hear is her. Her chest moves lightly with each breath, and I trace the outline of her face with my thumb. One ear is slightly smaller than the other, but it’s not something anyone would normally notice. Her blonde hair is in disarray, half of it falling out of the messy bun she had it in today. She’s still so gorgeous that it’s times like this I have to pinch myself to remember she’s mine. When I finally start to get tired, I pull her into my body and wrap an arm around her.

I shut off the last of the lights, check my phone, and put it on the charger, too. River and Aspen stopped by after work to make sure the cats were fed, so I know they’re okay. But that doesn’t stop me from looking on the Ring camera inside the apartment just to make sure. All three of them are sleeping in different places on my couch. I’ve noticed that they like to sleep next to each other when I’m not home. Like being together makes them feel more relaxed. I guess people are like that, too. Often going for whoever feels the safest when things are different.

TWENTY-SEVEN

Emily

“How the hell is it already Halloween?” Gus asks as I look through the Halloween costume ideas on Pinterest.

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