Page 64 of A New Chapter

Chapter 31

Emma relayed the entire sordid story to Kelly the next day during a lull at the bookstore.

“You were right, Kell. I don’t do casual sex.” Emma sighed and slumped against the counter.

Kelly rubbed her back consolingly and withheld her “I told you sos,” which Emma greatly appreciated.

“None of this would have happened if we had just stayed friends,” Emma continued, but she stopped short when the door chimed and Mike walked in hefting two large boxes in front of him. The day couldn’t possibly get any worse, so Emma decided she might as well confront the Mike situation too.

He set the boxes on the counter but purposely avoided eye contact with Emma. He appeared to be looking around for Kelly, but as usual, she had slinked off when he came in. Thanks a lot, Kell.

“I can sign for those,” Emma said and came out from behind the counter to stand beside him. She scribbled her name on the electronic device and handed it back to him. He grunted a “Thanks” and turned away, but she placed a hand on his arm to stop him.

“I owe you an apology,” she said. “I’m sorry if I sent you mixed messages, and I’m sorry for Zack’s boorish behavior toward you.” Zack had used the same word to describe himself, so she figured she could too.

“You don’t have to apologize, Emma. It’s pretty obvious how you two feel about each other. I was just in denial.”

Emma raised her eyebrows and cocked her head. “It’s obvious how we feel about each other? That’s amazing, because we can’t seem to figure it out.” She laughed, but it sounded hollow.

“Well, from where I stand, the guy’s crazy about you, and I can certainly understand why.” Mike gave her a shy smile and then looked away.

Emma felt herself blush, and instead of trying to hide it, she decided to poke fun at it. “Some pair you and I would make, huh?” She gestured back and forth between their pink faces and was rewarded with Mike’s deep laugh.

“Thanks for being such a good sport,” she said and spontaneously gave him a hug. With her arms around Mike’s neck, she looked up right into a pair of piercing gray eyes. Zack stood outside the door, poised to come inside, but he frowned at her instead.

Talk about bad timing. Emma mouthed the words “Come in,” but Zack turned his back on her and practically jogged back to his car. “Shit,” she muttered, shaking her head in disbelief.

“What did I do? You hugged me, remember?” Mike had stepped back and looked at her with a confused expression.

“No, it’s not you.” She pointed toward the door. “It was Zack. He was just about to come in when he saw us hugging.”

“Sorry, Emma, but I’m outta here. I don’t want to be standing around if he decides to come back.” With that, Mike made a hasty retreat, and Emma just stood there shaking her head when the door closed behind him.

It turned out that Mike had nothing to worry about. Zack didn’t come back to the bookstore, nor did he call or text her. Emma stubbornly decided to let him stew over it, at least until she saw him on Saturday. He certainly wouldn’t deprive Gracie of story time due to a stupid misunderstanding, would he?

The answer was yes, he would. Emma conducted story time with a heavy heart, discovering that she missed Gracie almost as much as she missed Zack. She went through the rest of the day in a fog, replaying the events that had led to this impasse between them. Had she been too hard on him the other day? But why did everything have to go according to his time line? Shouldn’t she have a say too? The questions swirled around and around until she felt dizzy and begged off work early.

Kelly had been sympathetic and had told her to go home and relax, but now Emma was home, and she didn’t know what to do with herself. The house felt emptier than usual, and whenever she looked at the couch where she and Zack had made love, she was flooded with conflicted emotions all over again.

The one thing that Emma knew for sure was that she missed him terribly. She missed his voice, his laughter, his presence. She missed everything about the man, even though he was being a stubborn ass. Of course, one could argue that she was being stubborn too. She could easily have picked up the phone to call or text him, but she hadn’t. So Emma sat in her silent house and tried to distract herself with mundane tasks until it was time to go to bed.

She had just slipped into her favorite sleepshirt, the one labelled “I woke up like this,” when the doorbell rang.

“No, it couldn’t be.” Emma padded to her bedroom window and peered out through the blinds. It was pitch black, and she hadn’t left a porch light on because she hadn’t been expecting company.

“Maybe it’s Kelly, coming over to check on me,” Emma mumbled while she went down the stairs.

The doorbell rang again, followed by a loud pounding of a fist against the metal door. Only a man’s fist could make that kind of noise.

“Emma, open up. I know you’re in there,” Zack demanded.

“Just a minute,” she replied haughtily.

She managed to unlock the door even though her hands were trembling. She flung it open, and a lump immediately lodged in her throat. Zack stood on her porch barefoot in a pair of gray sweatpants and a University of Michigan t-shirt. His hair was rumpled, like he had just rolled out of bed, and he sported a light smattering of facial hair.

He looked sexy as hell when he held up a McDonald’s chocolate shake and said, “Peace offering.”

Emma waved him inside and accepted the shake cup from his outstretched hand. “You brought me a shake at ten o’clock at night?”