Page 107 of Breaking Emily's Rules
But Sarah was gifted with every woman’s ability to talk a subject to death, plus she was apparently a bit psychic.
“Oh, I get it. The girl. She’s your ex. Am I right?”
“Why would you say that?” he asked, avoiding her gaze. For all he knew, his feelings were buried somewhere in his pupils.
“You men are so easy. Give me something difficult for a change.”
Just his damned luck his sister had once been a forensic sketch artist for the police department. She claimed she had facial expressions down to a science.
“Matt will be over soon. You can read him. Leave me alone.”
“I’ll just go back to my cataloging.”
“You do that.”
Sarah had taken it upon herself to document the entire history of the Mcallisters in photos. She had several albums to go through, and she kept finding more treasures in Dad’s junk.
Stone reached down to the second tool belt he’d attached to Winston, who lay beside him. Helping.
The poor dog was depressed. Stone had tried everything—new brand of dog food (one with vitamins), daily walks, even letting Winston sleep at the edge of Stone’s bed. He had to face the fact nothing was going to fix Winston but Emily, and anyone with half a brain would know that.
Sarah kept asking if it was normal for a dog to lie around like he’d been hit by a car. Stone didn’t have an answer to that, except that somewhere along the way, Winston had begun to read Stone’s thoughts, like he’d once read Dad’s. And why wouldn’t he lie around like an accident victim when Stone felt like he’d been hit by a truck?
One thing, at least, had gone right. For the past few days, he and Sarah had developed an easy kind of truce. The ability to sort of take up where they’d left off without much talking about how they got there. Then the blame wouldn’t have to be laid at anyone’s feet. It was the only way he could do it, and she finally seemed to appreciate that fact.
He’d spoken to his mother on the phone for the first time since Dad’s death. She’d cried, which had made him cringe, but then she’d regained her composure and the conversation had taken an easier and less emotional cadence.
She planned to visit Sarah for a couple of weeks. It wouldn’t be easy, and wouldn’t happen overnight, but somehow, between his mother and sister, he’d figure out Women Code. He was almost sure of it.
The problem was, he didn’t think he could wait that long.
He was either going to Germany next week or leaving the air force.
Six months ago this would have been a no-brainer. Not so much any longer, because of Emily.
It was clear he loved her; though, he almost couldn’t admit it to himself. He loved the way she’d tried to control everything but then finally let go for him. Took a risk even if it meant she’d been hurt again. That he’d been the one to do the hurting killed him.
A few minutes later, Matt was at the door as expected. “Hey. Sarah here?”
“You know she is.” Stone was going to try like hell and continue to ignore the fact that he often caught Matt lingering a little too long on Sarah while she did the same to him.
None of his business.
Matt followed him into the kitchen. “Heard you got your orders.”
“You heard right.”
“Does Emily know?”
“She knows.” He went back to measuring.
“How’d that go over?”
Stone slid him a you-must-be-a-dumbass look. “About as well as you’d expect.”
“Yeah. Got some news of my own,” Matt said, then waited a beat. “I’m not going back.”
“What the hell?” Stone had first met Matt in the air force, unaware until later that they each shared a connection to the small town of Fortune.
