Page 67 of The Emma Special

“Your family is…”

James stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Here it comes.”

“Delightful.”

He snorted a laugh. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I mean it actually. They’re very normal. Your mom is my favorite of course.”

“She’s pretty great.”

“You’re pretty great too.”

The tightness in his jaw subsided, and he stared at her as if she were a string of Christmas lights wound into an impossible knot.

Emma swallowed the fear clogging her throat. What if she could really have a relationship with James? What if she could be the girlfriend… maybe not the girlfriend his family wanted to push on him, but maybe she could be a good girlfriend. She didn’t have anything to bring to the table, but she could lift him up. She could encourage him. Make him smile. He did that for her all the time.

She wasn’t good enough for him, but oh how she loved being around him. He made her feel stronger. He made her think she could do impossible things.

James tilted his head slightly to one side, keeping his stare locked with hers. “You’re pretty great yourself.”

Then the giggles started. Try as she might, she couldn’t contain them. “Great. Yay! We’re both great.”

James was smiling now, and she pushed off the door past him. “I’d say tonight was a success, don’t you think?”

“Here, I’d better give you this before you send the collectors after me.”

She turned to find his hand held out toward her with four hundred-dollar bills in his grip.

Suddenly the whole evening was rubbish. All of her unworthiness bubbled to the surface in one disgusting molten sludge over the edge of the pot.

She’d fulfilled her purpose. His family was appeased for firing her.

That sinking cold was back, but this time, it wasn’t her mother’s sharp reprimand. It was James giving her exactly what she was owed. With a tip. She was mad at him for offering it, but she was even more mad at herself for wanting to take it.

She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t take his money when she hadn’t been playing a part. She held up a hand and took a step away from him. “I don’t want it.”

“What?”

Using all the fury she could muster, she turned to march toward the car.

She made it five steps. Then the stiletto slipped to the side as she stepped off the path. Her knee buckled with a pop. White-hot pain was instant. The ground rushed toward her, and she had no will to break her fall.

Chapter 19

James Can

James reached for Emma as she collapsed. Wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to him, he held her entire weight against his chest as she crumpled.

Her breath caught, and she let out a strangled scream.

“Emma, what’s wrong? What happened?”

She wasn’t moving. Her back was against his chest, and she wasn’t breathing.

“Emma! Talk to me!”

She inhaled sharply and writhed in his arms.