Page 91 of Worthy
Eyes sparkling with mischief, Emma grinned. “I’m Emma. Now that we’re friends...I don’t suppose there’s more where that ice cream came from?”
Still in a daze, Kit looked down at the container she’d completely forgotten she was holding. “Oh. Yes. I have a few different flavors in the freezer. What would you like?”
“I’m not picky.”
Picking up the spoon she’d dropped, Kit made her way back to the kitchen. She tossed the dirty spoon in the sink, grabbed two clean ones, and blindly snatched the first pint of ice cream she saw from the freezer.
“What are you doing here?” she blurted out when she turned back to Emma.
“I was wondering when you were going to ask that.” Humor colored her tone as she peeled the lid back and dug in. “Mmm. To paraphrase Ben Franklin, I’m fully convinced ice cream is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
“He never actually said that, you know. It was an internet prank and pretty much every idiot with internet access fell for it. Oh, god.” Kit slapped a hand over her mouth, nearly stabbing herself in the eye with her spoon. “I’m sorry. That was so rude of me.”
“Rude?” Tossing her head back, Emma let out a long, loud laugh. “Honey, I live in California. You haven’t even seen rude.”
“I tell politicians what to do with their money on a regular basis,” Kit returned dryly. “Trust me, I’ve seen my fair share.”
Emma laughed again and scooped up another mouthful of ice cream. “I like you. I had a feeling I would, just from what I’ve heard about you, but you can never really tell until you meet someone face to face, you know?”
“You’ve heard of me?” With every passing minute, this entire situation just seemed to get increasingly more bizarre.
“Well, you know, when one of our members is publicly outed, we sort of have to do our research.”
“Oh, god. I need to sit down.” Back pressed to the fridge, Kit slid to the floor and closed her eyes as if she could just block out the misery and humiliation of the past week. “Is that why you’re here?”
“Not exactly. My men are handling the legal bits and when I talked to them a couple nights ago, I realized Austin had someone to lean on through all of this, but you might not. So… here I am.”
“You flew all the way across the country to check on a woman you’ve never met?”
“When you put it that way, it sounds a little crazy.”
“Maybe that’s because itiscrazy.”
“Maybe it is. But I just…” Emma trailed off, for the first time since she’d arrived sounding unsure of herself and Kit opened her eyes to look up at her.
“You just what?” Kit prompted.
“I just wanted to be able to tell you that it does get better. I promise.”
Tears blurring her vision, Kit shook her head. “You can’t know that.”
“Yes, I can. I’ve been there. And it’s hard and it hurts, but it does get better.”
Kit barked out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, sure. Beautiful, confident Emma Cartwright-Davidson with her two gorgeous husbands and her two perfect kids knowsexactlyhow I feel right now.”
It was Emma’s turn to laugh as she joined Kit on the floor. “Trust me, that wasnotme when I met my husbands. And honestly, it’s not how I feel half the time, even now.”
“How did you get past it?” Kit asked softly, poking at her slowly melting ice cream.
“Jaxson and Chase, mostly.” Emma’s smile turned dreamy, the love she felt for her men written all over her face. “Whenever I feel like I’m not good enough, or thin enough, or pretty enough for them, they’re right there to remind me that I’m the one they want and that they love me exactly as I am.”
“That’s lovely.”
“Austin doesn’t do that for you?” There was something in Emma’s voice that implied he’d be answering to her if the answer wasn’t to her liking.
“No, he does. Did,” Kit corrected herself quietly.
“Did?” The ball must have dropped because a moment later, Emma let out a pained groan. “Tell me you didn’t do what I think you did.”
