Emmett chuckles. “I’m southern, love. We live for sweet tea.”
“Great. C’mon, Henry. Let’s go to the house.”
Emmett stops by my side, and together, we watch the two of them make their way to the house.
“How do you do that?” he asks quietly after a while.
“Do what?” I ask, my attention still on Penelope and Henry. They’ve stopped in front of the stairs, and Penny has to pat a bit until she finds the railing. Holding onto it, she takes a few steps to the porch.
“Just stand here and watch.”
Once Penny unlocks the door and is safely inside, I breathe out and turn to Emmett, who’s watching me. “I keep reminding myself that this isn’t about me, but about her and that she can do it.”
He nods his head. “Does she see anything at all?”
“Not sure.” I shrug helplessly. “Penny was born with some nerve damage due to the fact that…” I look away, my throat closing up. I never talk about Mom’s addictions. She might not drink her body weight in alcohol every day, but she has a soft spot for it, drinking way more than she should. Then there was a time when she experimented with drugs. Anything just to fit in with the movie crowd and get in. Did she do it when she was pregnant with Penny? I was too young to know, but knowing her patterns now, it seems very likely. “Well, anyway… Sometimes she says she can decipher shadows, but if so, it’s very little.”
“Is there anything that can be done to help her?”
Isn’t that the million-dollar question? One I asked myself a hundred times in the past.
“I’m not sure, really, but even if there is, it probably costs a bunch of money, something we don’t have. And I’d rather help her with something that she might find useful, like making sure she goes to a school that specializes in working with blind and visually impaired kids and getting her a guide dog to make things easier on her than giving her false promises.”
Emmett turns toward me and just looks at me for a moment. I’m not sure how to decipher the look on his face. “You’re a good sister, Kate.”
A lump forms in my throat, but I push it down. “She’s my little sister. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her, no matter how crazy she drives me sometimes.”
Emmett chuckles. “I like when she drives you crazy. Especially, if it ends up with you in my truck.”
His eyes darken, if only slightly, and I know he’s thinking about last night.
“Emmett,” I sigh.
“Katherine.”
“Why… I can’t do this.” I’m not even sure what this I’m referring to. Maybe I’m totally out of line here, but I need him to understand this. “Now you know about Penny, I can’t…” I shake my head. “I won’t risk somebody hurting her.”
He frowns, seeming taken aback by my words. “And you think I’d hurt her?”
“What? God, no.”
If I’ve learned something about Emmett in this short time we’ve known each other, it’s that he’s kind, and he wouldn’t hurt a fly.
“Then?”
“You’re… well, you.” I push a strand of my hair behind my ear, suddenly feeling awkward.
“And what does that have to do with anything?”
“I might be new to town, but I see how people look at you. You’re the golden boy around here. People look up to you, and I…”
Emmett takes my hand in his. “You matter to me.”
I suck in a breath. “You can’t say things like that.”
“Why?”
Because you barely know me.
Because this is too fast, too soon.
Because I might believe you.
“Because it’s not right.”
“How can it not be?”
I shake my head. “It just can’t be.”
“So, all the things I’m feeling, they’re what? Wrong?”
“They’ll go away. You’re just infatuated with the new girl in town. But that feeling? It’ll go away sooner or later.”
With his free hand, he grabs my chin and tilts my head back. Our gazes meet, and I can see the frustration on his face. “Don’t tell me how I feel, Katherine.”
My throat bobs as I swallow. He lets go, his fingers tracing the column of my neck. “There has never been anyone that made me feel as crazy as you do. Since the moment I first saw you.”
“Emmett…”
“The worst part?” he interrupts me. “I don’t want it to go away.”
“I can’t,” I say softly. Please, don’t make me.
“You’re lucky I’m a patient man.” Emmett cups my face, his thumb sliding over my lower lip. “And you, Katherine? You’re worth waiting for.”
With that, he pulls back, his hands falling by his side.
We’re silent as he helps me get my things out of his truck and take them inside. Penny offers him sweet tea, but he apologizes and tells her that his dad called him and he has to leave. It’s a lie, but I don’t stop him when he turns on the balls of his feet and walks back to his truck, leaving me standing on the porch, looking as he drives away.
“I didn’t do something wrong, did I?” Penny asks quietly from behind me.
I turn around to face her. “No, of course not.”
It’s been all me.
But, it’s better that way.
Chapter Fourteen
KATHERINE
“What has you all scowling like that?” Becky asks, nudging me with her elbow.
“What?” I ask, startled. I force myself to turn around and look at her instead of staring at her best friend.
Since her previous class is right next to my locker, she has a tendency to pick up her things quickly before meeting me so we can walk to AP English together. Something I don’t appreciate right this moment.
Becky’s head is tilted to the side as she observes me carefully. She tips her chin toward me. “What’s with that face?”
Pushing my hair behind my ear, I shrug. “Not sure what you’re talking about,” I mutter, doing my best to act nonchalant.
I turn my back to her and blindly start grabbing books from my locker. I’m not even sure if I’m grabbing the right ones, I just need something to hold on to, and then I’m getting the hell out of here.
And you, Katherine? You’re worth waiting for.
So much for that being true.
The book I just grabbed slips through my fingers and falls on my foot. Pain spreads through my leg.
Ouch, that hurts.
“Oh, please, you all but drilled a hole through Emma’s head.”
Emma, Emmett, it’s all the same. I crouch down and pick up the book forcefully.
“Who’s Emma?” I ask instead, deciding to play dumb. My voice is tight even to my own ears, my throat closing in.
“That girl standing with Emmett and the guys? Perfect blonde waves and big blue eyes, wearing too short of a skirt Emma? Ring any bells?”
“Not really.” I grab the rest of my books—hopefully, the right ones for the remainder of my classes—shove them into my backpack and shut my locker before turning to Becky. “You coming?”