“Rough night,” I explained. I leaned closer to him and lowered my voice. “Your person hates me now.”
I heard the door open behind me and turned to find Emilia hadchanged into shorts and a T-shirt and was clutching the same plastic tub Winston had arrived in.
“We’re leaving,” she announced.
Wait.What?
She stepped over the enclosure, set the bin down, tossed in a few items and then walked over to pick up Winston. I stood up to face her.
“Don’t worry, I’m only taking the stuff we arrived with,” she said as she grabbed more equipment and placed it in the bin next to Winston.
“Where are you off to? You obviously can’t go back to your place, the roof is still half ripped off.”
Emilia shot me a look. “Yeah, thanks for your help with that.”
It took me a second to even remember what she was talking about. I’d been juggling so many flaming torches lately that I could barely keep them all straight. But I did faintly recall a phone call she’d wanted me to handle. One I’d had to duck out on—not by choice, but because a torch that was even bigger and flamier had been falling right toward my head and I’d needed to catch it. “Oh, come on,” I replied. “I was in the middle of a Carter crisis, and I apologized to you. And the repairswereneeded.”
“Yeah, you checked in with Arlo way after the work had already begun. Huge help, Ashford. Appreciate the support.”
I ignored her sarcasm. “So where are you going then?”
“Why do you care?”
“I care because …” I trailed off since I wasn’t exactly sure how to answer the question. I’d barely admitted to myself how I was feeling about our scenario, so there was no way I could put words to what was basically undefinable.
She frowned at me as I tried to come up with a reason to make her stay.
“Because Winston needs to be in his habitat.”
Emilia reached into the bin and gave Winston a scratch. “Aw, you’re so lucky, buddy. He gives a shit aboutyou!”
“Come on, stop it.”
“We’re going to stay with Nora,” she said. “There’s no reason for us to be here at this point. The wedding is tomorrow and once it’s done, my commitment to you will officially be over. When we’re at the resort and the cameras are rolling, I’ll keep playing the part, but there aren’t any cameras here. And from what you said earlier, it’s clear that there’s no relationship here, either. So there’s no point in me staying.”
Her leaving was the last thing I expected. Just thinking about it left a yawning feeling in the pit of my stomach, like the floor had dropped away.
“Leaving now is a dumb idea,” I said. “Don’t make Winston suffer.”
“What difference do a few hours make?”
Why did she have to be so stubborn? “Emilia, don’t be ridiculous,” I sighed.
“The ridiculous thing would be to stay,” she said, her voice hard. “This isn’t where I belong.”
It was this morning!I wanted to yell at her. “All because we had a difference of opinion?” I said. “One little argument, and that’s it? You’re done?”
“Done withwhat?” she said. “What even was this? Because you made it very clear that you aren’t in the market for anything serious or committed.” She stood up straighter. “I don’t want a fling. And fromwhat you’ve said, it seems to me that that’s all you’re capable of offering. Since that’s the case, I’m done wasting my time.”
It felt like she’d slapped me in the face.
For a few long beats, neither one of us moved. The only sound was tortoise shell on plastic as Winston roamed around the bin. He was probably confused as well, poor guy.
“Are you sure you don’t want the ring back now?” Emilia asked. “Seems simpler to pass it off now, so you can put it somewhere safe. Trust me, no one will notice if I’m not wearing it.”
I glanced down at her finger, to where my mom’s original engagement ring winked back at me. It looked so natural there. I’d caught Emilia staring at her hand with a soft smile a few times, like she knew it too.
“Absolutely not,” I said quickly, with a little too much conviction. “Dorian sees everything, and if he gets a hint of scandal he’ll be relentless trying to find out the scoop. I can get it back from you at the end of the day tomorrow, when we finalize everything.”
