Page 40 of The Emma Special

Allison: Katie won’t read these until after her next shift, but her calendar is open. So let’s go ahead and confirm for tonight. See you all then.

Summer: Bye!

Emma: Thank you! Bye.

This was great. This was good. It was peachy keen. She’d lay it all out with the girls and then put these pesky feelings behind her.

Feelings? There were no feelings. What are feelings? Emma couldn’t do the feelings. Feelings didn’t pay bills. They also didn’t buy her lunch.

But James does. He buys me lunch, dinner, and likes to play.

Whoa! Snap out of it. Emma shook her head to sling out all of the wayward thoughts. None of that. You are a professional. You belong in this fancy office in this fancy chair.

It’s James’s chair. He gave you his chair.

Emma clicked the space bar on her keyboard furiously. For the love of biscuits and gravy, get yourself together!

The door opened, and in strode a tall, slender man wearing trendy athletic gear. He pushed his aviators onto his head and flashed Emma a smoldering grin.

Emma froze. She knew that face. It haunted her.

This was Garrett Moore, the loser from high school who had encouraged her boyfriend to dump her. Among other insults. She blinked. Garrett Moore… Oh, no. Oh, no, oh, no! How had she never connected the dots?

“Well, isn’t this a nice surprise?” he asked, grinning at her like the cat that caught the mouse.

Emma looked over both of her shoulders before turning back to the man. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you mean.”

He shook his head and kept walking past her toward the doorway. “Nothing to worry about, sweetheart.”

That was his voice all right. Deeper and older, but it was him. And his swagger hadn’t changed. Emma was on her feet—aching knee or not. “Um, you can’t go back there. Can I help you with something?”

“I don’t need anything,” the man said, still unbothered by her pursuit.

Sharp pain zinged up and down her leg as she hobbled after him. “Sir, I can page one of the attorneys if you need to meet with someone.”

The man lifted his hand, waving her away. “Go babysit your desk. I’ve got this.”

Oh no he didn’t. Who did this guy think he was? He may have flaunted a false superiority in high school, but she wasn’t going to let him get away with it here.

And he was heading straight toward James’s office. James had already been out of the office most of the day at court, and now this bully was about to interrupt him.

“I don’t know what you think you’ve got, but⁠—”

“James! Look at you all dressed up. How much did that suit set you back?”

Mayday! Mayday! Emma followed the man straight into James’s office with an apology on her tongue. Even if Garrett was related, he didn’t get to trespass like this.

But James wasn’t the least bit surprised by his relative barging into his office and insulting his fashion choices.

James propped his elbows on the desk and steepled his fingers. “I see we’re going to get right to it.”

Emma stepped in front of Garrett and faced James. Just because he’d made it past the first gate didn’t mean she was backing down. “I am so, so sorry. He walked right past me, and I tried to stop him.”

James held up a steadying hand. “Emma, you didn’t do anything wrong. This is my brother, Garrett.”

Brother! Emma jerked her head toward her old nemesis who’d bulldozed his way past her. She’d at least hoped it was a cousin. She couldn’t believe these two men were born of the same woman. “What?”

Garrett waggled his eyebrows her way and extended a hand. “It’s very nice to meet you. James got all the money, but I got all the charm.”