Page 108 of The Emma Special

“He already does so much for me. He’s… amazing. Wonderful. Perfect. How can I know what’s true when they both treat me like opposite sides of a coin?”

Katie leaned forward and rested a hand on Emma’s knee. “Your mom uses words to cut you down, but James is using them to heal wounds he didn’t create. That’s powerful, and you should listen.”

The first sob shook Emma’s body, and Allison had her wrapped in a bear hug before the wailing began. All of the terrible things Emma’s mom said to her floated in her head, each vying for attention and recognition. She said them with such force and authority. Every painful jab hit her straight in the chest—a fatal blow that never ended.

“I’m sorry,” Emma choked out. “Now I’ve ruined our whole day, I’m so, so sorry.”

“No, ma’am,” Summer said as Allison passed Emma’s hand over. “You have nothing to be sorry about. Everything she says about you is wrong. Do you hear me?”

“But she’s been right about so many things. I can’t keep a job. I only get a man to marry me because he feels sorry for me. I can’t even take care of myself. I’m worthless.”

“No, no. That’s not true,” Katie said as she rubbed circles on Emma’s back. “First of all, you’ve had a million jobs, and people love you. Second, James loves you. Good grief, that man loves you so much.”

“He kinda has to. It’s probably in the paperwork. But he doesn’t love me like a husband should love a wife. I’m sure he doesn’t.”

“Agree to disagree,” Allison said, passing her a tissue.

“Yeah. I would bet the cottage that man loves you like a man loves his wife. He’s done everything this past month for your care and happiness. Let that sink in. There’s no conditions attached to it. He’s happy you’re here. He’s taking care of you and asking for nothing in return.”

Summer held up a finger. “Well, that’s still up in the air. When he comes home and sees the flour in the kitchen, we’ll know if he’s been putting pressure on her to earn her keep.”

“Stop it,” Emma said, pulling back from the group hug to wipe her tears. “He hasn’t asked me to do anything. That’s the problem. I feel like a lazy bum.”

“I think lazy bum is repetitive,” Allison whispered.

The front door opened, and Daniel shouted from the front of the house, “Honey, I’m home!”

Emma pulled up the hem of her shirt and wiped her face. “Shoot. He can’t see me like this.”

“See you being human?” Summer asked. “He most certainly can, and he’d better act accordingly.”

James stepped into the living room wearing nothing on his top half except a smile and a sunburn. “Where’s my⁠—”

His smile fell when his gaze landed on her. Great. She probably had red eyes and a runny nose. Super attractive.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, taking three large strides to stand before her. “Are you okay?”

Emma nodded and forced her cheeks to lift. “Yep. Just talking about those sad pictures the humane society has been posting on their Instagram page.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “They get me every time.”

James’s stare lingered on her as he ran his hands up and down her arms. He leaned in until she could smell the sun on his skin and whispered, “Please, don’t hide from me.”

Daniel called out from the kitchen. “Hey, dude.”

“Oh no.” Emma’s eyes widened, remembering the flour explosion.

“Where are the sloppy joes?” Daniel finished.

Katie hopped from her seat on the couch. “I’ll help!”

Emma was about to follow, but her gaze snagged on James’s bare torso. His shoulders did a mighty fine job of distracting her from the mess waiting in the other room. She brushed her fingertips over the reddened skin, and he shivered slightly. “You’re burnt to a crisp.”

“Daniel wanted to keep fishing.”

“You didn’t take sunscreen?” She made the mistake of looking into his gorgeous eyes, and her entire body froze. She’d been this close to him plenty of times in their month of marriage, but her body’s natural reaction to him never changed.

James glanced behind him. “Would you girls mind giving us a moment?”

Allison and Summer scuttled from the room without comment.