Page 47 of Blitzing Emily

By the time their mother filed for divorce, Emily was living in San Francisco, and she had hardly noticed when her father moved out.

Well, of course she had noticed. She just tried not to think about it. She wasn’t going to get emotionally involved with a man, ever. Romantic love was nothing but pain. Men cheated. They sat in their recliners, watched sports, drank beer, and grunted once in a while in a woman’s general direction. They were gruff and uncommunicative. They made your beautiful mother cry and ask what she’d ever done to deserve being treated that way. Emily wasn’t going to let her heart be ground into the dirt under some guy’s dress shoes. Her career was enough. She could hold out forever. She didn’t need a guy to make her life complete.

Her mom’s voice brought Emily back to the present. She sat down again at the table. “Emily, you must not be hungry. You’ve hardly eaten a thing.”

“Mom, everything’s delicious, but I’m pretty full.” Actually, her stomach churned.

Meg reached over to pat Emily’s hand. “It probably wasn’t fun getting hurt, but it must have been nice to get a few days off.”

“Yes, in some ways. I got some rest, and of course, I spent some time with Brandon.”

Emily pushed her plate away. Now that dinner was finished, maybe she could escape from her mother’s house without answering more of her parents’ questions about Brandon. Maybe she could change the subject. Her dad reentered the dining room with mugs and the coffee carafe, and put Amy in the hot seat.

“Amy, tell us what’s new with the store,” he said, as he sipped coffee.

“It’s fine.” Amy stirred milk into her cup. “It’s a lot of work, but Valentine’s Day really helped me.”

“What happened with the balloons that got caught in the stadium roof?” Meg asked.

“Well, the removal made the news,” Amy explained. “I didn’t get fined. The police said that since they’d been delivered, it was out of my hands.” They all took another swallow of coffee, and Emily’s dad gave her a look. Uh-oh, the subject was back to Emily again.

“Did Brandon just let go of them? How did they get into the stadium’s gridwork?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she responded patiently. “When he comes over for dinner, you can ask him that.”

“Irresponsible. I’m not sure I like him, and I haven’t even met him. What would he have done if the police had charged Amy?”

Emily opened her mouth to protest, but he spoke once more. “We’re not done with this, Emily, but we’ll discuss all of it at another time. Thank you for a delicious dinner, Meg.” He rose from the chair and vanished into the family room. He’d take a short nap while he pretended to watch whatever sporting event was on TV.

The dishes were quickly dealt with, and Emily hugged her mother goodbye. It was hard to believe that her mom would be sixty this year. She felt so fragile, thin, and delicate in Emily’s embrace. Her dad was only a few years from retirement, too. Maybe the thought of being at a different stage of life had helped them overcome some of their differences. It was hard to say.

Amy and Emily headed into the family room to find their dad fast asleep in his chair. Emily kissed his scratchy cheek and whispered, “Bye, Dad.” He stirred, but didn’t wake. Amy kissed his other cheek and said softly, “See you soon.”

Amy reached out to hug Emily as they walked to their cars. “Well, at least nobody threw food.” She looked at Emily for a long moment. “Yet.” One corner of Amy’s mouth turned up. “They want to meet him.”

“I know. We’ll deal with it.” Emily fumbled for her car keys.

EMILY SPOTTEDBRANDON’SLand Rover in her driveway as she pulled in. He was sitting on the couch when she walked through the front door.

“How’d you get in here?” She dropped her keys on the hallway table.

“Greg’s at my house with his girlfriend. Plus, you have beer.” Brandon pulled a key from his pocket and waved it at her. Emily recognized it as the extra one she hung up in the kitchen.

“Did I tell you you could have that key?”

“I left you one of mine in return,” he parried.

“I don’t need to get into your house, do I?” Emily tried to grab the key out of his hand. She wasn’t fast enough. “I don’t even know where it is.”

Brandon got to his feet and held the key over his head. She could probably get it, if she had a ladder. “You might. It’s in Kirkland, and I’ll write down the address for you. Come over anytime.”

Emily shook her head, and immediately regretted the decision. The headache was almost gone, but it still didn’t feel great. “I must not be making enough of a point for you.”

He jammed the house key deep into his jeans pocket, and reached out to hug her. “Hello, sugar. It’s nice to see you.” He rested his cheek against her hair.

“It’s nice to see you, too. Give me back my key.” He just laughed. He finally let her go, and returned to the couch. “I don’t know if you’ve heard of this, but there’s a new invention called a grocery store. There are many varieties of beer available, and some of it is even cold,” she said. Emily sat down next to him. He was watching something he called “game film” on her DVD player. “I can’t figure out why you’re still here. Iknowyour life is more exciting than mine.”

“I told you,” he said patiently. “You have beverages, and my roommate Greg’s entertaining at home.”

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