Emma didn’t want to go inside, but she had five days of work to do in four, so she couldn’t stand out here, doing nothing. She went inside the stables too, the sight of Ted’s back to her utterly devastating.
She’d told Ginger about Missy. Why was it so much harder to admit to Ted?
And if she couldn’t tell him, how could she ever sit down with Robert and tell him?
“Ted,” she called, but he just kept going. As if a switch had flipped, he spun on his heel and came back toward her.
His fingers clenched and unclenched. He stopped a healthy distance away. “I know I’m demanding,” he said. “I want the truth. I always have. It’s why I became a lawyer.” He refused to look away from her. “I started to fall in love with you. Stupid, and idiotic, and maybe I was just kidding myself. I know. I know all of that. But I also know a soul in trouble. I can feel it. I just know it. And I’d been in so much turmoil myself, and I thought we were a good match.”
He shook his head and pressed his teeth together, making his jaw muscles jump. “I know it’s only been three weeks, but I feel close to you. It’s stupid, I know, because you obviously don’t feel the same.”
“Teddy,” she said. “That’s not true.”
“Then tell me where you were.”
“I was in San Antonio.”
“It’s a big city, Em. And I know your family doesn’t live there.” He took one calculating step toward her, his eyes glittering with that frustration. “So who do you go there to visit?”
Her heart trembled. “I have friends there,” she said. “They’re like family.”
“What are their names?”
“Fran and Matt Black,” she said, dancing dangerously close to the edge of her sanity. He could look them up. Ted seemed to have resources and instincts normal people didn’t.
“I talked to William,” he said. “He said Robert’s in town for his son’s graduation.”
“Oh.” Emma didn’t want to talk about Robert or his son.
“He said Robert’s interested in finding out if the two of you can pick up where you left off.”
The very idea was laughable, but Emma didn’t laugh. No, pure horror had struck her right between the ribs.
Ted lowered his head, his voice going with it. “Emma, I don’t want a relationship that isn’t built on trust. That’s the very bottom layer. The very most important. The one that should be the strongest.” He looked up at her. “So you should call Robert and see if he’s really interested. Because I’m not.” He nodded like that was that. “I’m already late for work. So I’m gonna go….” He fell back a step and turned fully when she didn’t try to stop him.
Emma simply stared after him, her mind whirring like a blender. He wanted her to call Robert and see if he was interested in having another relationship with her? Was he insane?
“No,” she murmured to herself as he rounded a corner and disappeared from her sight. “He just broke up with you.”
The next couple of days passed in a haze. Friday morning, Emma woke to two texts. One from Missy, who’d asked if she could call Emma after school. She didn’t say what for, but Emma said, yes, of course, sweetie. Just tell me what time so I can make sure I’m available.
The other text was from Robert Knight. Her stomach flipped and her eyebrows drew down as she looked at the text. The words were in English, but she didn’t understand them. See you at twelve-thirty for lunch. Can’t wait!
“Twelve-thirty for lunch?” she looked up, as if someone would be standing there in her bedroom to remind her that she’d texted Robert earlier in the week—mere minutes after Ted had broken up with her, in fact—and set up this lunch with him.
She scrolled back up through the conversation, and everything came flooding back to her. She’d reached out to him to tell his son congratulations on his graduation for her. Things had gone from there, and she’d been the one to suggest lunch on Friday.
She supposed she thought Friday would never come. Every minute on the ranch with Ted was torture, and stringing sixty of them together to make an hour made her head ache. Then the hours became days, and as time marched on, Friday had arrived.
Someone knocked on her door, and a moment later, Ginger eased through it. “Hey, Sunshine,” she said, her voice low and her smile high. “How are you today?”
“Okay,” Emma said, wondering why Ginger was treating her like a wounded animal. “I’m getting up.” She stood, realizing how much actual sunshine was pouring through the slats in her blinds. “What time is it? I’m so late.” She thought of the foals, and she wondered if she could skip showering.
It wouldn’t be the first time. Wait. Yes, it would.
She turned toward Ginger, who she now noticed held a cup of tea, which she extended toward Emma. “What’s going on?”
“You’ve kind of…disappeared?” Ginger guessed.
“Where did I go?” Emma sat back down on the bed and sipped her tea.
“You just…well, here’s an example. Yesterday, I got a call that we had a rogue tourist on the ranch, walking through the stables in their pajamas.”
Emma looked up from her teacup, so many memories flashing through her mind. Horror filled her as her eyes rounded.
“It was you, Em,” Ginger said, sitting next to her and patting her leg. “Bill didn’t even recognize you.”
“That’s because I’ve been hiding behind makeup and jewelry and cute clothes for a long time,” Emma said.
“Mm,” Ginger said. “Are you sure that’s it?”
“What else would it be?”
“Maybe you fell in love with Ted Burrows.”
“Please,” Emma said, scoffing. “With everything else I have going on, Ted is at the bottom of the list.”
“Okay,” Ginger said, but her tone suggested that she didn’t believe Emma.
The words scraped against Emma’s own feelings besides. She knew the reason she’d given up putting on her perfect persona was because of Ted. Unhappiness filtered through her, but she didn’t know what to do about it.
Yes, she told herself, and she had the distinct feeling she would’ve said it out loud had Ginger not been in the room with her. You know what to do. Work things out with Robert. Get Missy here. Talk to Ted.
That was why she’d texted Robert—to get Ted back.
“Thanks for the tea,” she said, handing the cup back to Ginger. “I’m going to shower.” She went through all the motions, and today, she did plait her hair just so, and paint on the pretty eyeliner, and put the perfect smile on her face.
She didn’t do much in terms of working in the office, and by the time the alarm on her phone went off, the West Wing was quiet and empty. No fanfare for Emma as she took her keys from the hook by the door and left the house. No one to wish her luck. No one to say a prayer with her.
So she wished herself good luck, and she kept a steady stream of silent prayers running through her mind as she made the solitary drive to town. Somehow, she knew where she and Robert had agreed to meet, and she saw him waiting beside a huge black truck when she turned into the parking lot, driving her decade-old car.