Page 79 of Maybe This Christmas
She looked worriedly at Caleb, who placed a hand on her shoulder.“You need that money for the store, don’t you?”
She nodded.“Yeah.He doesn’t know about that.He just wanted to find a way to punish me, I guess.”
“You know, Mayor Ford is a practicing attorney,” Tinesha said.“I bet I could get him to draft up a good ‘screw you’ letter to leave your smarmy ex.”
She collapsed onto the couch.“How do you have an answer for everything?”
“We had a lot of time to think on the drive up here,” Babs deadpanned.“Now come on, let’s eat this Christmas dinner.We’ve got a long night ahead of ourselves.”
As they gathered at the table, pushing in chairs and sitting on upturned boxes, Emma took a moment to be grateful.She’d almost thrown all of this away.
And for what?Because she’d been scared?She was smart enough to know that the trauma that was built into your bones didn’t vanish overnight.She’d run, but because she’d always wanted to stay ahead of the trouble life had thrown her way.
Caleb grabbed her knee under the table.“You doing okay, Em?I know this is a lot.”
She set her fork down and placed her hand on top of his.“I’m sorry I ran off, Caleb.I won’t do that again, I promise.Add another thing onto my to-do list after the move—finding a new therapist.”She eyed the biddies.“Don’t tell me one of you is a practicing therapist on top of everything else?”
Lainey laughed.“No, but we do know the best one in town.We can get you to the top of the waiting list.I know we may seem like a bunch of country bumpkins sometimes, but we’ve all been on our own healing journeys, you know?”
“Once you’ve survived menopause, everything else is a breeze,” Babs said.
The table erupted into laughter, and everyone broke into separate conversations once more.
Caleb exhaled and rubbed his thumb over her knee.“I’m not going to say that it didn’t devastate me when you left.I felt like I was back where I started, before Sabrina and Brandon forced me to work at Sky House.Depressed and alone.”
“I’m sorry I made you feel that way, Caleb.”
He squeezed her knee, as his jaw worked, as if he was working out what to say.She gazed at him, slightly distracted by the golden twinkle in his eyes, before he began to speak again.“But once Aniyah called me, the pieces came into place.I understood why you did it.You and I have a lot of things in common, but one is that we’re both terrible at asking for help.”
“Well, wewere.I know I’ve got more folks behind me who will go to bat for me.Good thing, because I think Aniyah is getting tired of handling that duty all by herself.”
Emma’s phone began to buzz across the tabletop.“Speaking of.”She squeezed his hand before answering the video call.
“Well, it’s about goddamned time,” Aniyah deadpanned.“Not one of you could’ve called me to give me an update?I’ve been waiting on pins and needles over here!”
Emma tilted the phone around the table, allowing Aniyah to get a look at everyone.“Sorry, we got a little busy,” Inez said.“But you knew it went well, didn’t you?We don’t do things halfway.”
Aniyah laughed.“I haven’t even met you and I already know that.My girl is in good hands with y’all.”
Emma turned the phone toward her so she could see her best friend, her sister, if not by blood then by heart.She was waving her hand in front of her face.“Y’all are gonna make me mess up my makeup before church.”
“I love you, Aniyah.Thank you for being an honorary biddie and helping me see what I was about to miss out on,” Emma said.
Aniyah’s face crumpled like a tissue.“Okay, okay.I’ve gotta go before I really mess up my face.I love you too, Em.Merry Christmas.”
By the time they started loading the van, it was well after midnight.She realized just how little of her life remained in this place—no more than twenty boxes loaded onto dollies and out of the apartment.
In the brief moment she was alone before Caleb and the biddies came back to gather her and the remaining boxes, she stepped into Davis’ office.She opened the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a blank sheet of his personal letterheaded paper.
She took a moment to admire it—she’d picked out the fine 28 lb paper and designed his personal branding.
She slammed it down on the tabletop and reached for his fountain pen.
D—
Every trace of me is gone now.If you find anything I missed, you can toss it.As for what I ‘owe’ you, please forward any requests to the Falling Leaves, Virginia town hall, attention to Mayor Gary Ford, Esq.I’ve forwarded him a copy of your claims.He’ll be looking them over after the holidays.I think we both know you might not have much luck with your suit, but if you want to pursue it, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with Mr.Ford.
Thank you for showing me what I really want.Good luck in New York.
