Page 17 of Flare
“They’re an up-and-coming real estate development company. My boss was so sweet at first,” Emily continued, keeping her voice low.“We started dating. We fell in love… or at least I thought we did. But then, after we got engaged and Mom died—”
“Your mom died? Oh my God, Em, I’m so sorry,” Maggie interrupted.
“Thanks. It happened last November, just before Thanksgiving.” It was still hard for Emily to talk about it. But Maggie had known Mom and deserved to hear what had happened.“She’d been fighting lung cancer for a couple of years, and the cancer won in the end. Andrew proposed just before she passed away. She was so happy, because she thought he’d take care of me.”
Maggie frowned.“But that’s not what happened?”
“As soon as we were engaged, Andrew started getting very, uh, controlling. And then there was his family…” Emily shuddered.“Theyhatedmy guts, and I don’t know why. I’m sure his grandma Katherine thought I was a gold-digger taking advantage of her precious grandson. And then… things got weird.” Her throat tightened. It was hard to get the next words out.“We got into a big argument this afternoon after I found out he was involved in illegal stuff, and—and—hescaredme, Mags. I thought he was going to do something bad to me.”
Maggie’s frown deepened. She inhaled deeply through her nose.“Wait… you were working at Brunborn Holdings? You’re ma—I mean, engaged to Andrew Brunborn?”
Emily stared at her friend in shock.“Youknowhim?”
Maggie snorted.“Yeah, sort of. I went out on a date with him once, a few years ago.” Her mouth twisted into a wry smile.“Would you believe that’s how I met Cade?”
“You datedAndrew?” Emily asked in disbelief.Just when I thought things couldn’t get any weirder today…
“Don’t hold it against me,” Maggie said.“We matched on an online dating site. Turns out I wasn’t his type. But he thought I owed him sex because he’d driven all the way from Spokane to meet me. And he wouldn’t take‘no’for an answer.” She grimaced.“What an asshole. Cade came to my rescue, and we, uh, got together after that.”
“You figured Andrew out way faster than I did,” Emily said bitterly.“It tookmeeighteen months. I should’ve left sooner. But he seemed so perfect in the beginning that when things got bad, I kept telling myself that I could fix things if I just tried a little harder and made myself a lot smaller.”
“Hey.” Maggie reached across the table, covering Emily’s hand with her own.“You’re here now. You’re safe. That’s the only thing that matters.” She paused. “Do you, um, think he’ll try to come after you?”
She looked oddly tense. Emily felt a sick jolt of panic.What have I done?
“He told me he’d find me wherever I went! I’m so sorry, Mags. I don’t want to make trouble—”
Maggie reached over and put her arm around Emily’s shoulders.“You’re not responsible for anything Andrew-fucking-Brunborn does. It’s just… well, our family trespassed him from the ranchafter my dating debacle. I need to let Grandma Elle know he might turn up here.”
She unplugged her phone from the charging station at the end of the island and added,“I’ll be back in a minute.”
Feeling guilty about the trouble she was making for the Swanson family, Emily watched as her friend left the kitchen and walked across the entry hall to what looked like a home office, and closed the door behind her.
When Maggie emerged a few minutes later, she announced,“Grandma Elle wants to see you.”
“Right now?” Emily asked. A fresh dose of anxiety fizzed in her gut. It was nearly 11:00 p.m., and she knew ranch families woke up well before dawn.“Is she really mad that I showed up here?”
Maggie shook her head.“Of course not! She’s just really concerned about Andrew. And she wants to offer you sanctuary. It’s, uh, this special thing our family does when one of our friends is in trouble.”
I’m still considered a friend of the family, even after all this time?The thought warmed Emily and helped calm her nerves.
∞∞∞
Elle Swanson’s living room in the big yellow Victorian ranch house still looked like something out of a period drama—gleaming wood floors, a huge Persian carpet, a wide antique horsehair sofa, and rosebud wallpaper covered with framed family photos dating back to the 1800s.
Mrs. Swanson also looked unchanged from the last time Emily had seen her. Maggie’s grandmother still had short, light brown hair heavily highlighted with blonde, and the same warm smile. Tonight, she was dressed in a long fluffy robe over an ankle-length nightgown, with matching fluffy slippers.
To Emily’s surprise, Maggie’s dad, Dane, was there, too.
He was a big guy who was built like a football linebacker. The smile lines around his mouth and radiating out from the corners of his hazel eyes were maybe a little deeper, and his dark brown hair had a few silver strands these days, but like Mrs. Swanson, he looked like he had aged little since Emily left Bearpaw Ridge.
He also had a mild case of bedhead, though he was dressed in worn jeans and a flannel shirt instead of pajamas.
Emily felt bad about getting them both out of bed this late in the evening. Especially when both of them reacted with visible surprise when she greeted them.
She’d just seated herself in an armchair when Mrs. Swanson’s husband—and Emily’s former boss from Wildcat Springs BBQ—Justin Long, entered the living room. He held a tray holding five steaming mugs of hot cocoa.
Like his wife, the lean, silver-haired Texan with his weathered, deeply tanned face and bright aquamarine eyes looked unchanged from the last time Emily had seen him.
