Total pages in book: 16
Estimated words: 15283 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 76(@200wpm)___ 61(@250wpm)___ 51(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15283 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 76(@200wpm)___ 61(@250wpm)___ 51(@300wpm)
“Don’t you dare talk to my wife ever again,” I say. I reach for my wallet, pull out a few hundreds, and throw them at him. “Get yourself cleaned up. You’re an embarrassment.”
As I leave, Emilee follows. I stop at the limo and open the door for her.
“In case you didn’t hear me earlier, I’m going away on a business trip for a few days,” I say before walking back to my car and leaving.
A few days later, I came home late after the business trip. She’s been on my mind constantly, and I thought about reaching out to her, but with how little she speaks to me, I didn’t see the point.
While I was gone, I heard from Reggie, who informed me that Emilee seemed a little different since that day. She started visiting her father again and no longer wanted to drive around like she had that day.
As I head upstairs, I hear Emilee crying. I’m torn for a moment as I stand in the hall. I can continue to the right, towards my bedroom, or I can go left to where her suite of rooms is.
I continue to my room, thinking about how she doesn’t want me around. I can’t get the sound of her crying out of my head. I return to the hall, wondering why she’s so upset and how long she’s been feeling this way. Is it because of Dylan? Is this from what happened the other day? Or is there something else? Can I do something to help her feel better? Does she even want my help? I need to try.
Heading down the hall, the sounds of her crying become louder. They’re not constant, but she sounds miserable.
As I reach her door, I wonder if I should knock. Maybe this is the wrong time for me to push myself on her. Maybe I should continue leaving her alone.
“Emilee?” I say, then knock on the door. “Are you okay?”
The door swings open. Emilee has her long hair pulled up into a messy bun on the top of her head. She’s wearing oversized, boxy pajamas with watercolor hot pink ribbon bows on them. Her eyes are red and swollen.
She throws her arms around me and buries her head in my neck. I breathe her in, finding her vanilla scent intoxicating. I hold her close as she cries.
After a few minutes, she sniffles and takes a step back from me. She wipes her tear-stained face and forces a smile.
“I’m so sorry for how I’ve treated you,” she says.
Stunned, I’m without words. She takes my hand and leads me into her bedroom. The television is on, but whatever she was watching is paused. She sits on her bed and motions for me to join her.
“Is that why you’ve been crying?” I ask.
“Because of my apology? No.” She reaches for the remote and presses play. “I’ve been watching the beginning of Up. Have you ever seen it?”
I look at the TV and see an animated movie playing.
“It’s a cartoon?” I ask.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. You’ve never seen Up? You know, Pixar?”
“I don’t have a kid to go to the movies with.”
“Oh, Alex, you have no idea what you’ve been missing. This isn’t a kids’ thing. The beginning of Up is a montage of the best relationship ever. It’s my relationship goal.” Tears begin to form in her eyes. She looks up and blinks as she holds a finger up to me. “I’m sorry, I know it’s stupid, but all I have to do is think about them, and Ellie’s dying and…” Emilee gets choked up and shakes her head. “I’m sorry, I just can’t. I can’t talk about it.”
She wraps her arms around me again, and I hold her as I wonder what happened to the woman I left three days before. Once the tears stop, I reach over to her nightstand and grab a tissue box to hand to her.
“I’ll leave you to watch your movie,” I say.
“No, you should stay. You said you’ve never seen it, and we never spend any time together.”
“I didn’t think you wanted to,” I say.
“I know, again, I’m sorry about that. You’re right. I didn’t want to spend any time with you, but that wasn’t your fault. That was all me.”
“So what changed?”
She smiles as she crosses her legs underneath her. “I’ll be honest. The past few days that you’ve been gone, I’ve gone through your entire home. I didn’t find any pictures of women or children, nothing. You’re all alone. I asked Reggie, and he said you’ve never been married. He said you never had anyone serious, either. You were saving yourself for me, weren’t you?”
“Yes, I’ve been waiting for you my entire life.” I laugh. “I just didn’t have the time. If I’m being honest, I didn’t make the time. I didn’t think relationships mattered because all of mine ended so badly. Then, about a month ago, I was at my brother’s wedding when I realized what I’ve been missing out on. The next thing I knew, I was learning about arranged marriages. Is that why you were crying? Because of the marriage?”