“Oh, yeah. This woman right here had me escorted out,” Seb said.
“I always wanted to do that to someone,” Ray contemplated out loud.
“Right? It was as fun as it looks in the movies,” Emily informed her gleefully.
Seb rolled his eyes. “I didn't miss the evil twin routine at all, honestly.” He turned his whole body towards Emily. “You didn't give me any chance to talk to you after I was back,” he said.
“Well, that wouldn't have stopped the truly determined,” Ray said.
Seb pointed a finger at Ray. “So I joined your dad's company. Besides, I was trying to be respectful because I did screw up badly,” Seb admitted.
“You took the job to force me to talk to you?” Emily asked, outraged.
“That's unnecessarily extreme language,” Seb hesitated. “I was hoping you'd remember you love me and give me a chance to explain.”
“I so don't,” Emily said, setting the record straight.
“Sure, Em,” Ray said, rolling her eyes.
“I didn't tell you I was leaving because my dad was a dangerous person, and the only way to finally end it all was to deal with him,” Seb said.
“Oh god, what did you do?” Emily asked, really worried now.
“I didn't kill him if you're worried about that. Not that I didn't think about it,” he said.
Emily was truly relieved, even though she was sure Seb wasn’t capable of murder. “So what did you do?”
“Collected evidence, created traps, and made sure he'd get caught red-handed. This time when he went in, it was for good,” Seb said, looking very distant.
“I'm glad.” Emily sighed. “I really am…”
“But?” Seb said, bracing for rejection.
“But it doesn't change anything, does it? I know you had your priorities, and I would never want you to question them. But I was never a part of your life. Not really,” Emily said calmly. She was thankful her feelings didn’t trickle out in her tone.
Seb was shaking his head, but she continued before he could interject. “You were always hiding something. Then you went no-contact for years. You can't expect everything to be normal again. Especially since our normal wasn't even good to begin with,” Emily said.
“It wasn’t?” Seb asked.
Emily started to get up. She’d said her piece, and she knew the reason for Seb's absence now. They truly didn’t have anything left to say anymore.
“No, wait,” Seb caught her arm. “I know. I get it. I promise. I know what I did was horrible, Em. You must have been so confused. But I was so scared. For my mom. For you. For the life I desperately wanted to come back to,” he pleaded.
“I'm sorry you went through that. But you didn't have to do it all alone. I wish you'd realize that,” Emily said, gently taking her hand back.
“But I did. He was a dangerous man. I would never bring anything that rotten into your lives. And believe me, it would have followed me,” Seb said.
Emily disagreed.
“Okay, if you don't want to believe that, just know I had to deal with that part of my life before I could start a new one worth living,” he said.
Emily could see that Seb believed that. But she couldn't. All she could feel was her heart breaking into a million pieces because she knew this time, it was final.
So she walked out before she lost herself completely and freaked everyone out with her bawling. She heard Jess calling out for her when she crossed the living room, but she couldn't even manage to be polite. Her eyes were already watering.
She somehow managed to hold back tears during her drive back because driving misty-eyed was a bitch. It looked cute and dramatic in movies, but it was clearly dangerous.
Should they ticket people who drive while crying?
