Page 46 of Blitzing Emily

“It’s good for my career. It’s good for Brandon’s career. It’s fine,” Emily said. “It works for both of us.”

“You think this is going to help yourcareer? This is an engagement. It’s not a date for coffee.” Her mother interrupted him.

“I don’t understand this at all.” She reached out to grab Emily’s forearm. “Emily, don’t you love him? There’s more to life than your career.”

“Mom, Dad, I don’t expect you to understand, but I do expect you to accept my decision. I’m an adult. Whatever agreement Brandon and I have is our business and nobody else’s.”

Her mother’s mouth dropped open. Her father leaned even closer.

“There’s something you’re not telling us. You got engaged to a man you knew—according to your sister—for less than seventy-two hours. We haven’t met him. You have no intention of planning a wedding. What the hell is going on?” he said.

Amy tried to look helpless. Emily knew her sister cratered under the Mark and Meg inquisition, but they’d be talking later. She put her napkin down beside her plate.

“Do you remember what James did to my career? I worked for years. I sacrificed everything in my life for this, and now I’m rebuilding. One man trashed my career, and another man’s reconstructing it. Do you know how many booking requests David’s had since Brandon and I announced our engagement?”

“Is it that important?” her mother said. “There must be something else that will make you happy.”

“Mom, do you know what it’s like to work your entire life for something and watch it ruined through no fault of your own?”

Dead silence greeted Emily’s comment. Shame engulfed her like a wave. She’d hit below the belt. After all, her mother sacrificed a promising career as a ballerina for Emily’s dad. Margaret Hamilton walked away from the thing she loved most to marry the man she loved most. No matter how tired Emily was of her parents’ meddling in her life, she shouldn’t have brought it up.

“Emily,” her father warned. Amy’s eyes got bigger, if that was possible, with shock and horror at Emily’s bluntness. Her mother dabbed at her face with a napkin.

“Yes, Emily,” her mother said. She looked beaten. “Yes, I do.”

“That’s enough.” Her father shoved his plate away, and rubbed his hands over his face again. “Emily.” His voice was hoarse. “It’s obvious what’s going on here. Your sister told us the engagement is fake, it started due to a misunderstanding, and you agreed to continue it for publicity purposes. What do you think will happen when someone finds out this isn’t real? There’s no way you can keep this secret. Have either of you even thought of that?”

Yes, she had, but she wasn’t going to share that with her father. “It’s not going to happen.”

He shook his head. “I’ve been proud of you your whole life. You worked so hard to get the things you wanted. I never dreamed there would be a day when you’d embarrass me.”

“Isn’t this what you wanted from me—to succeed?”

“Not like this.” He tossed his napkin onto his plate. “I am disappointed with you.” He got up from the table, and left the room. Emily’s mother followed him.

Amy let out a breath, shoved her plate away, and put her face in her hands. “That went well, didn’t it?”

“It will be fine. It will work out,” Emily said.

She could hardly force the words out over the lump in her throat. Her father’s words struck like a lash. She tried to tell herself that she didn’t need his approval to survive, but the fact he told her he was disappointed with her was worse than if he’d screamed at her. Maybe she was destined to “disappoint” every man in her life. Maybe she shouldn’t care.

No matter how hard she tried not to care, though, she did. It hurt more than he could imagine.

“I’m always with you, Em, but I don’t know what you’re doing here.”

Her voice was wooden. “I have to do this.”

Amy reached across the table and took her hand. “Then we’ll get through it together, won’t we?”

“Thanks, Ame.” She looked into her sister’s eyes. “What’s going on with Mom and Dad?”

Amy shrugged her shoulders. “Damned if I know. They’re awfully cuddly.”

Emily and Amy didn’t spend their whole lives conspiring against their parents, but they kept each other’s secrets from babyhood. Amy was also the only other person in the world who knew how hard their parents’ divorce had been on Emily.

Their parents had split up when Emily was sixteen, in a firestorm of arguing and bitterness. Now they’d decided they liked each other. It was inexplicable, as far as Emily was concerned.

Their parents argued about everything. Amy and Emily handled conflict differently. When Amy was upset, she couldn’t eat. When Emily was upset, she ate everything. As a result, Amy grew into a taller, even more beautiful blonde version of their mother, while Emily stayed on the short, rounder side. The ballet classes helped to keep her weight down.

---