“All us girls were going to the spa for a couple of hours today,” she explained. “But I canskipit.”
“No, I don’t want you to do that. I’ll just go to the festival forawhile.”
“Or you can come with us guys,” Scott offered. “We’re all going over there. Jake’s got a bunch of stuff going on, but we were going to hang around and maybe catch a few shows inbetween.”
“I wouldn’t want to crash your birthday week oranything.”
“Please – there’s nothing I’d enjoy doing more than spending my day with Emma’s specialfriend.”
* * *
Ithought experiencingthe festival with my golden wristband would be the highlight of my life, but I was woefully wrong. Experiencing the festival with the McKallister brothers and their wacky birthday-obsessed father was a whole other level of fun. Between Scott’spoor meact and the brothers’ constant vulgar insults, I spent the afternoon with a permanent smile on my face. If I hadn’t already been fully invested in Emma, this little peek into her family life would have sealed the deal. I’d never had this type of camaraderie growing up and was soaking up themoments.
We spent part of the day following Jake around to his various interviews and appointments. I even had aPretty Womanmoment when I walked into the gift room with the festival’s headliner. They all clearly remembered me from the day before and were even more impressed with me this time around due to the company that I waskeeping.
Having a concert to prepare for, Kyle and Jake stayed behind as the rest of us went off to explore. Our journey took us to the carnival, where I partnered with Quinn for one of therides.
After we’d settled onto the bench, he surprised me by asking, “Are you in love with mysister?”
At first I thought he was joking, as we’d been doing a lot of that throughout the day; but when the kid narrowed his gaze on me and pinched his lips together, I could tell he meantbusiness.
“To tell you the truth, your sister and I only met recently. We’re still getting to know eachother.”
Quinn nodded and looked off in the distance, seemingly bothered by something. He’d come across to me as some dim-witted teenage boy during the brothers’ competitive insult-flinging portion of the afternoon, but now I could see a more reflective sidetohim.
“Youokay?”
“Just don’t hurt her. Emma… she means a lottome.”
His admission floored me. What I knew of most teenage boys, they weren’t overly concerned with the feelings of their adultsisters.
“I don’t plan to hurt her. To tell you the truth, I’m more concerned about hersquashingme.”
Quinn acknowledged my concern with a nod and then added, “I know you don’t plan on it, but thingshappen.”
“What exactly are you asking me,Quinn?”
“I’m not asking you. I’m telling you. Don’t hurt mysister.”
The ride started up, ending our conversation, but his words bounced through my head. His had been a warning, not a request. Gravity threw us around for a couple of minutes, and Quinn was back to his jovial self as he laughed his way throughtheride.
Still affected by his stark words, I said, “Your sister’s lucky to have you protecting herlikethat.”
He scoffed and removed hisseatbelt.
Quinn’s reaction held some meaning that I didn’t understand, but it stood as a reminder of all this family had gone through. It was easy to forget, seeing them as they were today, but Jake’s nightmare was out there, and for the first time I considered the toll it must have taken on Emma and her siblings. It made me wonder if her careful analysis of every situation was a carryover from her earlier life. We all had demons from our past, but the McKallister family’s seemed infinitely moresinister.
“People don’t understand her,” Quinn finally said. “They never have. She’s so much more than whatyousee.”
He didn’t have to tell me. I already thought she was incredible; yet after meeting her family, I now understood that Emma McKallister was considerably more complex than I’d originally given her credit for. Instinctively I knew I was in for awildride.
15
Emma, Present Day: Netflix andChill
“CanI just say how hot he is?” My mother fanned her face for emphasis. She’d been going on and on about Finn since the five of us arrived at the spa, and I was starting to run out of patience. It wasn’t that I didn’t agree with her about the whole Finn-hotness-meter, but the vibe of the conversation was rubbing me the wrong way. It was as if she were trying to convince me of his superior qualities because she was afraid I’d be my normal, judgmental self and dump him first chance I got. Which of course was exactly how this little dalliance would all eventually play out. “He has it all, doesn’t he? Handsome, polite and he’s a little taller thanyou,too.”
Right, because we Amazonian women were so picky about things like that. When you reached a certain height, it no longer mattered if your mate was taller, because at that point, it became an issue of just how freakishly elongated your offspring would be. Finn was eye-level, and that was good enough for me and our fictional kids. It wasn’t like I needed him for baby-making anyway. The relationship I had with him now – the one where my legs were straddling his waist in the middle of a carnival – that was as far as it would ever go. I shuddered at the memory. Had I really done all that stuff last night? I hated public displays of affection as much as the next girl. No, I take that back: I hated them more than your average woman. Who wanted to see happy couples swapping spit? Um… the crowd who’d clapped for us last night, that’s who. Oh, lord, what had I done? Somehow I’d let my libido run away with the show. No way could I let my mother see my infatuation with Finn. He’d be gone before it mattered anyway. No use in getting herhopesup.
