Page 44 of Free to Believe
Corinna and I exchange a look while Jenna yells, “I told you that those girls at school were just bitches.”
“Jenna, language,” I correct quietly.
“Sorry, Em,” she says sheepishly. Lynne’s still in a daze.
“Lynne?” Corinna calls out. The girls redirect their focus to her. “I need a favor, and I think you might be the one to help me. I’m supposed to go to some dinner with Colby’s grandfather. It’s kind of a big deal, and I don’t have time to listen to Em blather on about what I should wear because I have to get to the kitchen at the office. Can you take notes for me and shoot me an email?”
“Me?” she says incredulously.
“Girl, if you’re like me, you’re constantly being bombarded with fashion advice. Em’s is the best,” Corinna says simply. “What she’s going to talk to you about is likely what she plans on telling me. It saves her work if you could pass it along. She’s supposed to be working on her designs.” Corinna throws in an eye roll for effect.
God, I love my sister. I hope the smile I’m giving her conveys all my gratitude. I’m pretty certain it does when she winks at me before beseeching Lynne. “Please, can you help me out?”
Lynne nods, still somewhat in a daze. “Thanks, sweets. I really appreciate it. Now, Em.” Corinna’s focus turns to me. “I am glad you called. There’s a surprise coming for you soon.”
“Does it involve you working extra hours?” I keep my voice stern. Corinna has a tendency to work too many hours as it is. I don’t need her working overtime to send me a care package.
“Not at all,” she assures me. “It does, however, involve Jenna.”
Now I’m confused. “Huh?”
“You’re getting some visitors up your way for Miss Thing’s birthday next week,” Corinna tells me smugly.
I turn around to the weight on my back. “Jenna? It’s your birthday?”
She blushes. “I’m just turning seventeen. Dani and Brendan always come spend my birthday with me.”
Lynne lets out another sigh. “I’m going to meet Brendan Blake.” Corinna and I burst into simultaneous laughter. Lynne looks at us both and blushes bright pink.
“Don’t feel bad, sweets. Our brother, Phil, was the exact same way when he first met Brendan,” Corinna tells the girl.
“Was there any of us who weren’t?” I add drolly.
“Smith certainly doesn’t think so.” Corinna names the head of Brendan’s road crew. We both crack up as she tells the girls about the night all of our siblings descended upon Brendan’s country show in Connecticut en masse. Jenna and Lynne are in awe when they realize Corinna got called up on stage. And both girls squeal when they hear about Corinna’s proposal from Colby.
It truly is the stuff of teenage dreams.
A half hour later, a reluctant Corinna ends the call, reminding Lynne she has to listen to my advice. After Cori’s gorgeous face disappears from the screen, Lynne turns to me and says, “Tell me everything I need to know, Em. I want to go back to school feeling as confident as Corinna is.”
Smiling, I start to talk about colors, A-lines, V-necks. The girls listen enraptured while I pick up my sketch pad and begin to fill in the details of Lynne’s face. When I’m done, there’s a bright laughing young woman in front of me with her best friend, the beach in the background. Signing the bottom with just my initials, EDF, I tear it out of the pad.
Solemnly, I hand it to Lynne and wait for her reaction. “You are that beautiful. Remember that. Fashion doesn’t change that.”
“I happen to agree, Lynne,” a deep voice says from behind us.
We all turn as one to find Jake walking toward us, an unreadable expression on his face.
My stomach flips around as I take in his broad chest in a tight-fitting tee and jeans, his eyes shadowed by sunglasses.
Damn. I did not need this.
25
Jake
Somehow, I knew the cool facade Emily Freeman presents to the world was just that—something for her to hide behind. She smiles, she laughs. She’s warm and caring. And apparently has a heart she shields with enough armor it might take a weapon of mass destruction to blow a hole to get through. And I thought Jenna was hiding her emotions? Emily could teach a course on it. Despite the tension thrumming through my veins, I keep a relaxed pose while taking in the startled women in front of me.
Until these past two weeks, pulling a smile from my daughter since the last time Michelle attempted to visit has been next to impossible. If memory serves me correctly, that was over two years ago. In between the door closing behind my ex, and my spinning around with the latest explanation to my daughter, she grew up and realized that Mommy just didn’t want to be there.
