Instead, it feels like a pause right before impact.
My phone buzzes.
Emily:Coffee’s ready. Come sit with me.
I stare at the message until the words blur slightly, then I force myself upright, feet to the floor, breath in, breath out.
This is just a day.
Just a Friday.
Just… paperwork.
The lie tastes bitter in my mouth.
Emily is on the couch with her knees pulled up, wrapped in one of Mom’s old blankets like she’s trying to protect herself from the world. The state of her hair says she didn’t sleep well, and her eyes are too alert for this early.
She hands me a mug without a word.
It’s my coffee. Exactly the way I like it.
I take it in both hands and sit beside her, letting the heat sink into my palms.
We sit like that for a long moment, the only sound the faint hum of the fridge.
Emily’s voice comes quiet. “You don’t have to do this today.”
I close my eyes.
I do.“I know.”
“But you’re going to,” she says, not accusing. Just naming truth like we’ve always had to do for each other.
I nod once.
She blows out a breath and stares into her own mug like she’s reading the future in it.
“I can skip class,” she offers again. “I’ll go with you. You should have someone with you.”
“No.” My voice is firmer than I feel. “You need to go. You need to keep being… you. Medical school Emily. Future doctor Emily. The version of our family that’s moving forward.”
Emily’s brown eyes, which are usually so warm, hardened. “And you need to be what? Mrs. Billionaire?”
I flinch.
She immediately softens, reaching out to squeeze my knee. “Sorry. I’m not trying to be a bitch. I’m just… scared. I was all for this in theory. But now... After seeing the contract. I just became real... so real and it feels like you are giving so much of yourself.”
“I’m scared too,” I whisper.
That cracks something open in her face, like she’s been holding it all morning. She leans her head against my shoulder.
“You look like you might throw up,” she murmurs.
I huff a small laugh, breath shaking. “I might.”
“Okay,” Emily says, sitting up like she’s switching into emergency mode. “Then we do what we do. We make a plan. We eat something. We breathe through the spiral. And we don’t let you walk into that building like you’re alone.”
“I’m not alone,” I say, but the person I mean isn’t Julian.
