And then, after a moment, I dropped the news that had been gnawing at me for hours. “James is here.”
Sean’s jaw dropped in shock. “What? Where?”
“By now, probably in my room with Emma,” I mumbled, the words tasting bitter.
“Why the hell would ye bring him here?”
“Because she loves him. And whatever his issues are, he loves her too.”
“So what, yer playing Cupid now? Should I start crocheting angel wings for ye?” Sean shot back with more sarcasm than necessary.
I punched him lightly on the arm.
“Yer a fucking idiot,” he muttered, shaking his head.
“Yeah. Not gonna argue with that.”
Sean let out a deep breath, grabbed my arm and squeezed, then shook his head once more, as if he couldn’t believe what kind of dumbass I turned out to be.
And he wasn’t wrong.
The next few hours, we sat there, side by side, the quiet around us echoing our loss, aching but shared—neither of us saying a word, because there was nothing left to say.
FORTY-SEVEN
EMMA
I was a coward.
James was here, and my mind was a tangled mess of anxiety and fear. I had barely emerged from the numbing fog of that cold-induced nightmare, and the thought of facing the man who’d broken my heart into a thousand pieces, was just too much.
So I did what cowards do. I ran. I left Caden’s room, risking his wrath if he ever found out, ran toward my own room, hoping Caden hadn’t divulged its location to James and hid there until my breathing had returned to regular.
Closing the door behind me, I started pacing up and down my room.
I wanted to see James. I needed to see James. My entire body ached to see him. But I wasn’t ready! I wanted to be prepared. I wanted to know precisely what to say to him if I saw him.
Maybe if I could just sort through the chaos in my head.
I stared at my desk, the solution suddenly clear. I sat down, grabbed a notepad and pen, and began writing down everythingI wanted to say. I lost track of time as I poured it all onto the paper—every tangled feeling, every unspoken word—and when I finally looked up, the sun had long set.
The soft knock on my door startled me, pulling me abruptly from my thoughts.
“Emma?” Jackson’s voice came through, breaking the silence.
“Come in,” I called, rising from my chair, then crossed the room to hug him when he entered.
“When I couldn’t find you in Caden’s room, I figured you’d moved back into your own quarters.”
I frowned, momentarily puzzled. “How did you know where they were?”
Jackson offered a sheepish smile. “Sean showed me around yesterday.”
I smiled warmly at my friend. “I think Sean might really like you.”
Jackson’s face lit up with a genuine grin. “Don’t tell him, but I think I might really like him too.”
A soft giggle escaped my lips. “Well, that’s great to hear.”
