Page 44 of Blitzing Emily

“Rebound. He’ll be back.”

Emily did the best she could to keep the smile off her face. “You keep telling yourself that. I’m sure you’ll feel better, eventually.”

Anastasia dropped her cigarette into a coffee cup left on the end table. “I’m out of here.” She crossed to the front door and yanked it open. She stopped and looked at Emily over her shoulder. For the briefest instant, Emily thought she saw sadness in her eyes. Then they turned hard again and she snarled, “You’ll regret this, Emily.”

She stomped out, slamming the door so hard Emily heard the pictures on the walls shift.

Emily had never been involved in a scene like this offstage. For once, she said exactly what she wanted to say, at the time she needed to say it. What a charming woman. She must have been late for that dominatrix outfit alteration or something.

She could tell Brandon about all this later. Amy, of course, must know about it immediately. Emily grabbed her cell phone and hit Amy’s number.

Amy was transfixed by Emily’s story.

“She came over there? What’s wrong with her?”

“She says Brandon’s still in love with her.” Emily was opening every window in the house while she talked.

“Maybe you should’ve found out what she’s on, and we could get some, too. What the hell’s her problem?”

“She’s still in love with Brandon. Then again, is it possible for her to feel love? I don’t know. I’d never do that. She doesn’t know me at all, and she thinks she can stomp into my house and tell me how things are. She wassmoking,Amy. You know how I feel about that.”

“I still can’t believe she showed up at your house.”

Emily resisted the impulse to gloat. “She looks like hell.”

“What?”

“She had these huge violet circles under her eyes. Wait till Victoria’s Secret finds out about this.”

“They’re not going to care. They’ll just airbrush it out of the photos. You need to call Brandon,” Amy told her. “He needs to know she’s resorting to showing up at your house now.”

“It’s not that big a deal, Amy. It was mostly just annoying. I’ll see him later. I’m sure he’ll think this is funny.”

This was a new experience for Emily. After all, she’d never had anyone’s ex show up at her house before. She couldn’t understand why Anastasia would act like this, either. She’d said horrible things about Brandon on television, but suddenly she had decided she wanted him back. It was bizarre at best.

“So, where is your fiancé, anyway?” Amy said. “Are you guys sleeping together yet?”

“God, Amy.”

“You know you want to tell me,” her sister coaxed.

“He had some stuff to take care of today. He said he’d be by later.” Emily let out a long breath. At least the smoke smell in her house was dissipating. “Yeah, he’s been sleeping here, but nothing’s going on.”

“That’s interesting. What did you say to him?”

Of course Amy was mystified. Emily was a bit confused as well.

“I tried to kick him out, and he won’t go. He says he likes the house, the bed’s comfortable, I have beer ...” It sounded lame, even to her.

“That’s BS.” Amy’s voice was brisk. “He’s interested.”

“This is fake. It’sfake. Trust me.”

Chapter Nine

EVERYSUNDAYEMILYwas in town, she had dinner with her parents and Amy at her mom’s house. Amy, the Hamilton family’s peacemaker, had started it. After their parents’ divorce, the task of family healing began around a dining room table while passing bowls and platters of delicious food. Sunday dinners had been awkward at times, but things had been relatively calm for the past few months. She was also a bit surprised that both parents greeted her without a fusillade of questions about Brandon.

She sat down at the dining room table and spread a napkin on her lap. Her dad had been torn away from a basketball game on TV, but he didn’t appear to be cranky. Surprisingly enough, he beamed at Emily’s mother.

---