Everlasting Love (Now & Forever) (11 page)

“When I saw that picture, I just knew that he cheated on me. Her email confirmed what I had suspected for awhile but just couldn’t get him to admit.”

“Emily, I’m so sorry. I can only imagine how awful you feel right now, but I’m glad that we met and I very much want our friendship to grow. I want you to know that you can come to me with anything and I will do what I can to listen and help you figure this out.”

She smiled at him. “Well, then, I think we will have a beautiful future together.” They both laughed as he pulled into her driveway. “Thank you for the ride home, you really didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to make sure you were home safe, now get inside and see Emma.”

“Talk to you later?”

“Of course, I’m here if you need me.”

Emily got out of the car and ran up the sidewalk. She glanced back and smiled at Alex as he pulled out of the driveway.

She opened
the front door and saw Emma running towards her.

“Hi Sweetie, I’m home.”

“
Mommy
! I’ve been waiting for you. Grandma said you were coming home.”

“Yep, I missed you so much, Emma.”

“Want to see my new toys?”

“In a little bit. I need to talk with Grandma first,” Emily explained as Emma ran away. Her mother entered the room and came over to hug her.

“Emily, tell me what happened.”

“The whole time, from the moment I got there, he wasn’t himself. He never once asked me about my dinner with Alex or how I was doing. He was acting like only his life mattered. I understand today is a big day and I was going to give him my full attention, but is it too much to expect that he treat me with a little respect?”

Her mom brought
over a cup of tea for her as Emily
continued, “We had a huge misunderstanding and it ruined the whole night. He deserted me for the hotel nightclub and I went to bed by myself.”

Emily took a sip of tea and listened to Emma playing in the other room. “When I woke up, things still weren’t great, but we talked a little bit and I felt like we were going to be fine at least for the day and then I found the email. The picture of him so comfortable with her and her email to him, I just knew something had happened at that party. Every time I tried to ask him about it, he wouldn’t talk to me and became distant. Now, my suspicions have been confirmed and it was because he’s been hiding her from me.”

“Honey, I know you are upset and I won’t tell you to feel something different. But, you need to talk with him, get the full story. I hope you didn’t make matters worse by leaving.”

“Mom, I couldn’t stand by his side tonight. I’m sure he’s mad at me but maybe it’s the wakeup call he needs.”

“Hey, I have a question. I didn’t see your car outside, how did you get home?”

Crap. Emily hadn’t planned on revealing the extent of her new friendship with Alex just yet. She needed to figure out a way to explain it to her mother.

“Do you remember, Alex?”

“The art guy?” He
r
mother asked suspiciously.

“Yes, we have been keeping in touch since our dinner.”

“Emily, what are you doing?” She asked in her judgmental mother voice.

“Nothing, I have done nothing wrong. We have just been talking. That’s it, unlike my fiancée.”

Her mother sighed
.
“I knew the minute I saw Alex look at you that he was taken by you. I understand Emily, he’s older, very attractive and you share the same interests. But Emily, don’t lead him on. You have responsibilities and I raised you better than that.”

Emily smiled at her mother.
“We are just friends, I called him to tell him that I was coming home early and he offered to drive me
home because of how upset I was. T
hat’s all.”

Paul entered the room with a bag of potato chips as Emily gave him a weird look
.
“I can still watch the draft, right?” He asked.

“Of course, I want to see if the rumors are true,” Emily responded.

Emily saw it was seven p.m. already so she gave Emma a bath and put her to bed. As she picked up her purse, her cell phone fell onto the bed so she turned it back on. She had ten missed calls, four voicemails and a text. She started with the text
.
Try to smile tonight. You will figure this out
.
– Alex
.

Emily then dialed into her voicemail.

Message One:

“Emily, please try to understand. Yes, I messed up. I’m sorry. I should have been honest with you when you knew something was different about me. She means nothing to me.”

The voicemail cut him off as she hit the next button.

Message Two
:

“Emily, you are my life but I’m human. I messed up, I’m not perfect. I have had pressure on me since a young boy and if I mess up now, I ruin everything. I need you to listen to me.” End of message.

Message Three:

“You are probably on a plane heading home right now. You should be by my side right now. I’m staring at your stuff. Don’t worry I will bring it home with me. Of course, you probably won’t want to see me. Please don’t take my daughter away from me. She barely knows me now, I’m going to change, Emily.”

End of another message as Emily started to cry. She would never take Emma away from him. He knew better than that but he was hurting right now and lashing out. She hit the next button and continued to listen.

Message Four:

“You are either avoiding me or your phone is off. I’m about to head over to Radio City. I’m sorry, Emily. I know that doesn’t mean anything to you right now, but I’m truly sorry.”

The message ended as Emily continued to cry in her bedroom. She
quickly sent him a text
.
I got your voicemails. We will talk soon and good luck. – Emily
.

She headed downstairs and sat next to Paul on the couch. Her phone buzzed
.

I love you
.
– Eric
.

She smiled but it still hurt too much to respond to him. As the draft started, she got more nervous. They kept showing pictures of Eric and running stats from his career. As the clock hit the screen, the draft had officially started.

“I can’t watch, I’m too nervous,” Emily said as she sunk into the couch. The announcers claimed that the first pick was in. She watched as the commissioner came onto the stage with his announcement.

“With the first pick of the 2012 draft, Indianapolis has selected Aaron Rush from Alabama.”

Emily’s heart sa
nk into her chest. All that buildup was over nothing. He let the pressure get to him and now their lives hung in the balance. Emily turned to Paul for reassurance.

“Don’t worry, Emily. I guarantee you that he goes next.” Paul explained.

Emily turned back to the screen as the commissioner made his next announcement
.
“With the second pick of the 2012 draft, Denver has selected Eric Mason, Syracuse.”

Emily jumped off the couch and cheered. She watched as he walked across the stage and slipped on a Denver jersey. He was smiling from ear to ear as they took pictures and then disappeared
off
camera.

Panic suddenly set in and Emily felt queasy and turned pale white. She looked at her parents. “If we work this out, I’m moving to Denver!”

CHAPTER NINE

Emily didn’t call Eric that night because she was exhausted from how the day played out for them. She had a lot on her mind and she thought the best place for her to be was in her art room. She spent hours that night trying to find some sort of peace.

When she woke up the following morning, she checked her cell phone and realized that Eric never called her. She ro
lled over and dialed his number.
“Emily?”

“I’m sorry about last night. It’s a shame that you didn’t go first in the draft.”

“You know what, I’m fine with it. I went second overall, how crazy is that?” Eric paused, “Emily, we need to talk.”

“I know.”

“I’m heading to Denver soon and I need you by my side.”

“Eric, I’m so mad at you right now. You cheated on me while I was home taking care of our daughter. How can I forgive you for that let alone think about moving half way across the country with you?”

She heard the pain in his voice when he started to respond. “I have to live with that Emily but I think I have the right to explain my side of the story.”

“You had your chance, every time I asked you what was wrong. I knew something wasn’t right with you.”

Eric seemed to choose his next words carefully. “I’m coming back to Buffalo on Sunday. Can I see you and Emma?”

“You know that I would never take her away from you, Eric. You can see her whenever you want but I don’t know about me yet.”

“When can I come by?”

“We will figure something out, can I ask you question?”

“Anything,” Eric said.

“How long has this been going on or was it only the one night?”

Eric sighed. “Remember when you came to visit me and I told you about one of the parties? We met there and realized that we have some classes together. So, we talked and hung out a few times, but nothing major happened until that really crazy party.”

Emily started to cry. “How many times, Eric?”

“Twice,” he responded calmly.

“I can’t breathe, I need to go.” Emily said sitting up in her bed feeling like she was having a heart attack.

“Emily, please don’t go yet. Let’s talk about this.”

“I can’t, not right now. I need to go.”

Emily hung up and wiped her face of the fresh tears. She headed over to Emma and picked her up.

“
Good Morning
, Emma,” Emily said smiling.

“You crying,
Mommy
?”

“Just a little bit, Sweetie. But, I’m ok now.” She knew she needed to be
strong
for her daughter.

She changed Emma’s outfit and headed downstairs to feed her breakfast.

“
Good Morning
, everyone,” Emily announced a little too cheerfully as she entered the room.

“Morning,” her mother responded quizzically. “Why don’t you give me Emma and I will get her situated in her chair while you get her breakfast together.”

Emily smiled as she handed her daughter to her mom and walked into the kitchen. Clearly digging for information, she heard her mother ask from the dining room
.
“Have you talked with Eric?”

“Yes, this morning. He says he’s ok with going second. He sounds positive about that.”

“I’m happy to hear that
. D
id you talk about anything else?”

“Yes, he’s coming home on Sunday but I haven’t decided if I will see him yet. But, he will come over to visit with Emma.”

“Emily, you need to sit down with him and sort this out. You can’t avoid him forever.”

“I will
,
but right now, I can’t think about it. I need to get to class this morning and I don’t have my car. Damn, I didn’t think of th
at!” Emily said as she fed Emma.
“I wasn’t planning on being here.”

“I can take you and drop you off but you will need to find a way home.”

“That’s fine
.
I will figure something out.”

Emily and her mom headed out the door with Emma after they finished breakfast. They needed to drop her off at Eric’s mom’s house and Emily was dreading this conversation. She wasn’t sure how much Mrs. Mason knew about everything that had happened.

She walked
Emma up to the front door and ra
ng the bell. The door opened with Mrs. Mason standing behind it.

“Oh, Emily!” She said as she reached out and hugged her. It was obvious that she knew enough. “What has my son done? I’m so disappointed in him and upset by everything. He called me after you left New York City and told me what happened. I didn’t raise him like this, Emily. Please talk to him.”

Emily
nodded. “
I’m sure I will but right now, I can’t. I need time to figure out what is best for our family. I’m so proud of him though, being selected second in the entire draft is pretty incredible.”

“Oh Emily, who cares about football,” she paused
.
“Don’t tell my husband I said that. What I really care about is you and this beautiful little girl,” she bent down to her grandchild. “Hello, Emma.”

“Hi Grandma, can I play?”

“Of course you can, go inside and take off your jacket.”

Emily hugged Emma goodbye and looked at Mrs. Mason. “I know Eric is worried about losing Emma. He won’t, I promise you that. Your family is her family and I would never deny him that. I just need time to digest this.”