Page 58 of The Emma Special

“I know you didn’t mean to. You have a good heart. I take credit for that. But the thing you got from your dad is your tendency to look at situations from a business standpoint. Emma is a person, not an employee. She’s a sweet girl who made a mistake and unfortunately needed to be let go. But I wish you’d been more sensitive about it.”

James rested his hands on the desk with his palms up. Empty and humbled before his mother. “What have I done?”

“You hurt someone you care about. This wasn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last,” his mother said matter of factly.

“Thanks. I think. What do I do to fix it?”

His mother straightened her shoulders and raised her chin as if she’d been born for this moment. “You’re going to apologize. And you’re not going to let work interfere with your relationships.”

Great. So he was turning into his dad.

“Okay. I can do that. But how do I fix this with Emma today?”

His mother pursed her lips before speaking. “You’re going to forgive yourself for whatever part you had in this, and then patch things up with Emma. She’ll forgive you. I know she will. I also know that she’ll be fine once she gets her feet back under her.”

Fine. How could she be fine when she didn’t have a job?

That was it. She needed a job, and he’d help her find one. He’d pull all of his strings and call in all of the favors he was owed. Somehow, Emma was going to be employed again.

Tilting her head, his mother continued. “She wasn’t happy here. Yes, she was good for you, but this wasn’t her calling.”

James opened the drawer and picked up the comic she’d drawn of him. “She’s not meant to be stuck in an office like this.”

His mother patted the desk twice and stood. “You will make this right. I’ll talk to your father.” She turned at the door and gifted him a comforting smile—the one she’d always given him after a good scolding. “And you’ll be at dinner Friday night.”

Dinner. That was it.

He was on his feet and moving, grabbing his suit jacket as he rounded the desk. “You’re a genius, Mom. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

His mom continued down the hall toward his dad’s office, but James was on a mission. He was on the move, and he wouldn’t stop until he found Emma.

He slid into the driver’s seat and grabbed the wheel with both hands. “God, I need your help. Where is she? I have to find her. Please help me get through to her.”

He glanced over at the passenger seat, and a speck of pink in the floorboard caught his eye.

Confetti. The confetti she’d spilled in his car the afternoon he’d picked her up on the side of the road was still there. She’d infiltrated his life from the very beginning.

Now, he couldn’t bring himself to thoroughly clean the reminders out of his car, and he couldn’t lose her because of this or anything else.

He found his phone and tried Emma one more time. He held a breath until the ringing stopped abruptly.

“Hello, James.”

His heart hammered against the walls of his chest. “Emma. You answered.”

“I did.”

Great. She was on the phone with him, but her tone was lifeless and melancholy. “Thank you for answering. I’ve been calling. Anyway, I want to apologize. Can we meet somewhere to talk?”

“We’re talking now,” she said.

“Yeah, but I would really like to have this conversation face-to-face.”

She was quiet for so long he wondered if the call had dropped. “I don’t think I’ll have time. I’m slammed getting more jobs lined up. I’ve got a couple hopeful gigs this weekend, and I want to make sure I’ve got everything ready to go.”

“Moonlighting as a princess?”