“Just some … clean up.” He looks around like he’s half lost and just as disgusted as I am. “It wasn’t always like this.”
The voice that eeks out of him has my stomach twisting.
“Bubbles,” I say softly and take the bottle from his grip, setting it next to another on the table. Something else falls off the opposite side but I don’t give a shit about it when I pinch Emmett’s sleeve.
He flinches.
Fuck.
I drop my hand.
“Bubbles, you don’t have to stay here.” The muscle in his jaw jumps, flexing like he’s gritting down hard. “You can bring her home. To our house.”
Haunted eyes swing on me, the soft sweet honey color hardened with an edge that makes my skin itch.
“No.”
I rear back. “Emmett.”
The sound of the gurney wheels hitting the steps on the porch has him jerking back again, eyes flicking to the noise.
I ignore the way my own eye twitches, my heart in my throat, and after a loaded beat, Hatley calls from outside.
“Tennnnn! Come help me, fool.”
A sigh pushes past my lips, and I turn away from Emmett with a deep scowl and a turning stomach.
I’m a fucking EMT. I’ve seenmanythings. Shit even the most hardcore gore fans would cringe at.
But this?
“Grab that end and lift her up.”
“Hatley, I don’t know if there’s room.”
My best friend’s brows meet in the middle of his forehead. “Just move some shit around so we can at least get her inside.”
I shake my head.
“I’m not talking couches and tables, man.”
There’s a slow nod of recognition, Hatley’s brow popping up. “Lemme try.”
He slaps my shoulder on his way by, disappearing into the house and leaving me to watch over Charline.
Emmett’s mom.
Never did I think I’d get the chance to meet her, though there’s still a part of me that didn’t want to.Still don’t.
She’s got an air to her. Like a cloud that follows overhead, not too different than the one I feel surrounding Emmett.
But Emmett agreed to do this, maybe he even needs her, and there’s no part of me that will ever let him have regrets if I can help it. The little boy inside him deserves the peace only his mother can give him; it’s something I can’t fix.
God, I hope she’ll give it to him.
The sun shines over the house across the street, slowly beating back the shadows and for the first time, I actually look at the woman that gave me Emmett.
Light strands string from her head, a similar shade to Em’s, and cover her dark brows.
