Page 51 of After Everything
The hearing is scheduledfor April 18th at 10 AM. I'll send you the courthouse details and logistics next week. Thank you again for your help with this case.
Respectfully,
David Harrison
Professional,polite, distant.
I stared at the email thread for longer than I should have. Then I closed my phone and turned off the light.
Connor was a good man. Kind, stable, emotionally available. The kind of man who would show up when he said he would, who would communicate instead of hiding, who would never make me feel like I was competing with someone else for his attention.
He was exactly the kind of man I deserved.
So why was I lying in bed thinking about the way David had looked at me in that restaurant?
The surprise in his eyes. The immediate retreat. The way he'd deliberately given me space, hadn't intruded, hadn't made my evening about him.
Three years ago, he would have caused a scene. Would have made it awkward, made me choose between acknowledging him or pretending he didn't exist.
Tonight, he'd just... let me have my date. Let me be happy with someone else. Respected the boundaries I'd set.
That was growth, wasn’t it? Real growth.
And I didn't know what to do with that information.
I rolled over and forced myself to think about Connor instead. About his easy laugh and thoughtful questions and the way he'd offered to leave the restaurant without hesitation. About next weekend's date and the possibility of something good and uncomplicated.
About moving forward instead of looking back.
I fell asleep eventually.
But I dreamed about gray button-downs and surprised eyes and the way someone could change so much they became a stranger wearing a familiar face.
CHAPTER 16: DAVID
Isaw her before she saw me.
Emma, sitting at a table near the window, laughing at something the man across from her said. She was wearing a dark blue dress I'd never seen before, her hair down and loose around her shoulders. She looked happy and relaxed. Beautiful too.
And she was on a date.
I stood in the doorway of Marcello's for longer than I should have, frozen, my brain trying to catch up with what my eyes were seeing.
Emma. On a date. With someone who wasn't me.
Of course she was. Of course. She'd moved on. Built a life. Why wouldn't she be dating?
But knowing it and seeing it were two very different things.
Marcus appeared at my elbow. "You coming in or are we eating on the sidewalk?"
I forced myself to move, scanning the restaurant for where Marcus was sitting. The bar. Good. Far enough away that I wouldn't be hovering over Emma's table like some pathetic ghost.
Then Emma looked up and our eyes met.
For a second, I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Just stood there like an idiot, staring at my ex-wife who was clearly in the middle of a date with someone else.
Do something. Say something. Don't just stand here.
