"I would never make you choose."
"I know that now." Maya's voice is barely audible. "I should have always known that. But I was stupid and scared, and I handled it wrong."
Emma's face softens. I can see the war happening inside her—anger battling with understanding.
"You should have told me after things calmed down. After therapy, after?—"
"Things never calmed down," I say. "We had a plan to tell you. And then everything happened."
Emma looks between us.
"Do you understand why I'm upset?"
"Yes," we say together.
"And do you understand that it's going to take me time to process this?"
Maya nods.
Emma's quiet. The clock ticks, Max jumps onto her lap purring, and the silence stretches.
"I want to be happy for you," she says finally. "I do. You're perfect for each other. But it’s going to take me time to process it properly."
"Take all the time you need," Maya whispers.
"And stop apologizing every five seconds.” Emma scratches Max behind the ears, then looks at her. "I'm still upset. But I love you. That hasn't changed."
Maya stands, crosses to Emma, and kneels in front of her chair.
"I love you. You're my sister, my family. The person who saved me when I had nowhere else to go."
Emma touches Maya's face. "You already saved yourself. I just gave you a place to do it."
The next morning, Emma asks Maya to come to the hospital, just the two of them.
Maya comes back three hours later, eyes swollen but lighter.
"She's coming to the trial," Maya says, settling onto the couch beside me. "She's going to sit right behind me the whole time."
I'm smiling before I can stop myself.
She looks at me. "You knew?"
"I knew. But I wanted her to tell you."
Maya shakes her head, a small smile tugging at her lips. She leans into me, and we sit here in the quiet, and for the first time in days, things feel almost normal.
Almost.
Because the trial's in six days and Maya's about to face the man who destroyed her.
But at least now Emma will be there.
And maybe that's enough to get us through.
36
MAYA
