“You’re not asking me to,” Sophia insisted with a frown. “I’m offering. Let me at least float the idea by Nora. You never know what she might say.”
Still, it wouldn’t be fair of Emily to put that on her cousin’s plate, no matter how grateful and happy she was to have the offer.
“Think about it,” Sophia urged, her eyes bright with love and understanding. Her gaze was open and earnest as she looked at Emily, a small smile hovering on the edge of her lips. “Maybe it’s not the solution you were hoping for, but I think it could work. And I couldn’t think of a better person to go into business with Nora.”
Except the two of them had very different approaches, and Emily wasn’t sure how comfortable she was going into business with someone she didn’t know well.
Was she willing to risk her relationship with Sophia to save the bakery?
As Sophia went on, highlighting all of the perks of combining both of the bakeries, Emily’s head raced and spun with all of the possibilities, good and bad, presented before her, but it didn’t change the fact she couldn’t imagine any of it. Still, as Sophia pulled her sweater back on and turned to leave, Emily gave her another hug.
Whatever happened, Emily would always be grateful to Sophia for offering.
Chapter Sixteen
“They haven’t spoken to you at all?”
Lily’s sigh was heavy. “We’ve spoken, but I don’t think they’re ready to talk about what happened.”
Amy swallowed past the lump in her throat and glanced out the window at the towering city skyline set against a backdrop of clear blue skies. “You know you can tell me if they’ve talked to you about it. I won’t mind.”
It was better than not knowing what they thought at all.
Amy didn’t like being kept in the dark when it came to her children, and she liked it even less because of how they left things the last time she saw them. After a tense dinner with Ashley and Jude, who did their best to break the ice, Sylvie and Lucas had barely looked at her. Lily was left to try and carry on the conversation, and it wasn’t until they’d all gone to sleep that Amy burst into tears in her room.
In the morning, she’d woken up to the news they’d already left.
She’d been carrying around a heavy feeling in her stomach and in her chest since then.
And even though it had only been a few days since she’d last set eyes on them, it felt like far longer.
As Amy listened to Lily discuss the details of the renovation, her latest client, and a new chapter in her book, she couldn’t help but wonder how she’d gotten to where she was now, living out of a suitcase in Ashely and Jude’s spare room with her kids barely speaking to her, and an ex who wanted to leave her out on the street.
How had everything spiraled so quickly out of control?
Weeks ago, she’d been glancing out of her penthouse apartment while dinner cooked and a TV played the news in the background. Now, she was back at her lawyer’s office, glancing out an unfamiliar window and trying to ignore the knots in her stomach. Over and over again, she kept replaying the events of the past few weeks in the hopes it would make her feel better.
How had her life veered so far off the charted path?
And was she really better off for it?
With a sigh, Amy ended the call with her stepdaughter and stood straighter. When she spun around, she spotted her lawyer stepping off the elevator in her usual five-inch Louis Vuitton heels and a pressed creamy silk blouse tucked into a pencil skirt. Kate didn’t say anything as she motioned to Amy from across the hall. In silence, the two women stepped into the familiar conference room, and Amy immediately froze.
Everything came back to her all at once.
All of the taunts and insults, everything Eric threw at her, designed to punish and break her.
Her chest grew tight as she forced herself to reach for the nearest chair and sit down. Her hands were trembling as she placed them underneath her thighs. Amy’s heart was pounding in her ears as Kate walked to the other side of the room and poured herself some water. Then, she poured some more and brought a cup over to Amy.
She couldn’t hide the shake in her hand as she brought the cup up to her lips.
“I know Eric is a piece of work.” Kate sat down and linked her fingers together. “But you remember what we talked about, right? He’s going to throw everything he can at you to make you look bad. He wants you to think this is all your fault.”
Amy’s throat was dry. “It is, though,I’mthe one who walked away.”
Kate laid a hand on top of Amy’s, and the tremor stopped. “You walked away because you had to. Because you couldn’t stay in that house a minute longer. Honestly, I don’t even know how you stayed with him all that time.”
Amy cleared her throat. “I didn’t think I had a choice.”
