“Take a breath, Em.Give the man a full minute to process the fact that he nearly lost you.”
“I knew the window-washing unit was there—I saw it when we drove up.I purposely drove him to?—”
“You shouldn’t tell me these things.”
“Sorry.”
“So now what?”
“I gave the cell phone to Logan, and he gave it to his hacker, Coco.She’s trying to trace the calls and see if we get any hits.Maybe figure out what’s happening.”
“Good.Meanwhile, I’m looking for vulnerabilities.”
“You made it to the King’s Inn?”
“Mama Em took me in like a long-lost daughter.”
The words hit Emberly’s chest, burned.“She’s like that.”
“She’s very sweet—gave me a room in a house called the Grover.I have a window seat, and the room overlooks the lake, which is surrounded by trees that are already turning color.Reminds me of that place we stayed in Sturgis.”
“You were seven.How could you remember that?”
“I remember way back, further than that, Em.I remember Ernesto.And his pizza.”
Emberly sat on the bed, stared out into the darkness.“I liked him.”
“I know.He liked us too.And he wanted to marry Mom and adopt us.”
Emberly stilled.“No, he cheated on Mom.”
“Em.Heproposed.I saw it.You were asleep, and I’d gotten up to get a drink of water, and he was on one knee in the living room.And I heard her tell him no.”
“She didn’t.”
“She did.She said that he’d leave her, just like everyone else, and that he’d break our hearts, and she cried and he left.”
“She told me he cheated on her.”
“Yeah, well, she probably thought he would.Or did.Who knows?Mom never saw herself as someone who could be loved.Sure, she longed to be loved, but in order to be truly loved, you have to be truly known, and she never wanted to trust anyone that much.That’s the scary part, right?”
Emberly closed her eyes.Saw Stein’s expression when he’d seen her in the dress.
Um.
But the sense of his maybe seeing her as someone who belonged in that dress had woven inside her.Made her believe the fairy tale.
“You should have heard him, Nim.He looked right at me and called me a thief.”
“Well, you are a thief.”
“No, I mean—hemeantit.He made me feel...”
Silence.
“Like you were trash.Like you were...Mom.”
Emberly nodded in the darkness.“He comes from this amazing family.He was a SEAL, for Pete’s sake.A real-life hero.I don’t know what I was thinking.”
