Page 22 of Emma
Maybe she’s just introverted,Emma thought to herself.
Still, Emma lifted a hand and called out, “Hi, Freya! Are you waiting to be picked up?”
“No, miss. I had a meeting with my mentor.”
That explained why she was alone. Still, Emma couldn’t help but notice the strange sense of solitude Freya seemed too comfortable with. Did she have any friends outside of school? Had she even hung out with Alice this week? Emma didn’t recall seeing them together, but she had been run off her feet—literally—for four of the five school days. “Well, it’s Friday, so get yourself home and enjoy the weekend.” She popped the boot of her car, tossed her rucksack inside, then turned back to Freya. “Excellent netball trial last night. Did you enjoy it?”
Emma suspected Alice had nudged Freya into attending, but she didn’t mind who planted the seed. Freya had shown real potential. “I did. Can I come next time, too?”
Emma nodded and beamed a smile. “I expect to see you there. I wasveryimpressed.”
“I’ve never played on a team before.”
“Well, high school is different from primary school. This is where you begin to find your feet and what you’re really good at. Netball is definitely one of those things.” Emma glanced at her watch. She had five minutes left before rush hour kicked in and doubled her journey. “Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you on Monday for my lesson, okay?”
“’Kay, miss. See you on Monday.”
Emma watched her go. Freya was just a guarded little girl who was slowly and cautiously letting the world in. She didn’t suspect Freya would ever be the loud one or the rule breaker, but she didn’t need to be. All Emma wanted was for her students to be open to new experiences and to find the one thing that reallyfit for them. Emma smiled. Freya had a spark. She just didn’t know it yet.
She climbed into her car and started the engine. The dashboard lit up, the workday falling away as the tension she’d carried started to ease, and her thoughts turned to home. Since Vanessa’s scare last year, time had come to mean something else to Emma. She no longer went about her life with the idea of infinite tomorrows. Every evening and every weekend together felt like a victory. A chance to hold onto what they had and enjoy it.
Emma didn’t need plans with colleagues, and she didn’t need parties.
She just needed her wife.
The kettle clickedoff as steam curled beneath the cupboards and dispersed itself around. Vanessa poured hot water over the teabags in two cups, inhaling the scent as it started to brew. She could hear the narrator’s faint voice in the living room; Emma was watching one of her usual nature programmes. It was her go-to at the end of the week when she wanted to relax.
She carried their cups through to the living room, smiling when she found Emma tucked away under a grey knitted blanket, her hair swept up into a messy bun. That usually meant neither of them would be leaving the confines of their home for the rest of the night, but Emma had already made that clear the moment she’d walked through the door, one shoe flung off in the hallway as she wrestled with her bra beneath her T-shirt.
“Tea,” Vanessa handed a mug over.
“Thanks, babe.” Emma wrapped her hands around the cup, making room for Vanessa as she settled beside her and sighed. “You okay?”
“Mm. Just tired.” Vanessa leaned back and rested her head on Emma’s shoulder. “Long week.”
“You’re right, but it just makes the weekend at home even better. Don’t you think?”
Vanessa had to agree. It was usually what she was working towards lately. Home, quiet, loved. “I do.”
“Any sign of Dani yet?”
“I caught her for all of five minutes earlier. She was off rushing somewhere.” Vanessa laughed as she shook her head. “She’s dating a woman she met at a museum a few weeks ago. Apparently amazing. It would appear she’s in that ‘vanish off the face of the earth’ phase.”
“Insufferable, by any chance?” Emma lifted a brow.
“Mmhmm.”
Emma looked down into her mug of tea. “At least she hasn’t been abducted. Itdidcross my mind for a very brief moment.”
“She texts. When she can.” Vanessa didn’t want to get into a deep conversation with Emma about Dani. Things were only just really starting to level out between her wife and her colleague. Though truthfully, Dani was so much more than just that. She was Vanessa’s friend, and regardless of the past Dani and Emma had, it didn’t change the fact that Dani had been a huge support to them both. “So long as she’s happy…”
Emma side-glanced at Vanessa, a small smile on her lips. “You miss her.”
“A bit.” Vanessa expected Emma to tense, but it never came. “She was there. When I needed her most. And she’s one of the very few people who actually asks me how I’m doing and waits for the answer.”
Emma watched Vanessa but didn’t say anything. She wanted to, Vanessa could see it in her eyes, so she would patiently wait for her wife to figure out her thoughts before she verbalised them. Then Emma cleared her throat. “When you found the lump and told her before you told me, I didn’t get it. Even down the line, when I told you I understood, I didn’t…not really.” Emma regarded Vanessa with a faint smile. “But I do now. I get it.”
“I needed to be scared with someone who didn’t know every inch of me. You…you’re my home. I couldn’t risk bringing the fear I felt into our space.”
