Not yet.
Her parents and the research were still going to be there while she took a few moments to gather herself.
After a long pause, Jack lowered himself onto the ground beside her, their shoulders brushing.
It felt like old times.
Emma almost expected him to reach for his backpack and pull out a textbook.
She almost wished he would because she didn’t know how to fill the silence.
Not when she kept replaying her conversation with Henry on a loop inside her head. She wanted to believe things would be different, but she wasn’t sure how.
How was she supposed to get past the fact they’d had so little faith in her that they felt the need to lie to get her home?
How was she supposed to feel about the fact her mother had known for days and gone along with it?
Her entire trip felt like a lie, shrouded in deception and deceit.
Jules was the only reason she hadn’t ripped into her parents further.
And Jack was the reason she was sitting up straight, trying to remind herself how to breathe.
“You know, I’ve seen your parents do a lot of crazy things, but I have to admit, this one’s right up there…”
Emma snorted. “You mean worse than when my mom decided to organize a field trip to the set of one of her newest movies?”
Jack stretched his legs out in front of him and twisted to face her. “I thought that was fun.”
Emma looked over at him and smiled. “That’s because you’re nice. You’ve always been an optimist, trying to see the good in people. But I think it was more about trying to get me to be popular than anything else.”
Jack bumped his shoulder against hers and grinned. “Bobby Leedidnotice you that week.”
“Only because he wanted to get tickets to the premiere,” Emma grumbled with a sigh. “I don’t think I ever thanked you for giving him a piece of your mind.”
Jack threw his hands up in the air and laughed. “Hey, I’m not the one who punched him to get my point across.”
Emma’s smile grew wider. “I think that was the first and last time I got into trouble for something like that. My mom was so angry with me, and I remember my dad being so disappointed…”
All her life, she had felt like she was always one step behind, never quite keeping up with them.
She’d never measured up.
But she’d clung to the belief that someday, somehow, she’d finally become someone worthy of their respect, of their admiration.
Being a lawyer hadn’t changed that.
If anything, it had set them back.
All of the glitz, the big office, and the accolades had amounted to nothing.
She was still little, lanky Emma Sullivan, living in the shadows of her mother’s glory and her father’s ambition.
“If it helps at all, I think your parents are proud of you. I just don’t think they know how to show it.”
Emma stood and ran a hand over her face. “Yeah, well, tricking me into coming back here isn’t the way to do it.”
Jack rose to his feet and peeled off his jacket to hand to her. “It’s not, but now that you’re here, you can all start working on your issues.”
