I expected shock, maybe even anger and disgust, but Mom was a woman at the top of one of the biggest businesses in the world. She'd seen it all, and it didn't seem to faze her as much as I thought it would. "Oh. Oh, my."
"Listen, I know what you're thinking but we actually met before—"
"No, honey. It's not that, I mean, not really. I, um. I may have made a mistake," she explained, as if she were trying to already calm me down.
I held my breath, feeling on edge. "What kind of mistake?"
"I'm the one who told Emma about McKenzie. I didn't realize, honey, I'm so sorry!"
A light bulb went off in my head as I put two and two together. Emma ignoring me, refusing to speak to me… all of it lining up just right with the time that McKenzie tried to get me to sleep with her.
I was standing up without knowing why, the dishes clinking together as the table shook in response. Where did I need to go? How would I get her to listen?
"You have to go get her, honey. I've just given her the plane to fly her to Italy this afternoon!"
EMMA
Sitting in the limo provided to me by Sandy, I couldn't help but feel like it was a little easier to breathe. Getting caught up in the drama from my sorority sisters being upset with me ditching the Cabo trip, then the entire process of temporarily moving out of country for the summer, I was ready for some down time. I'd packed my bags and nearly ran to the car when I saw it parked out in front of the house.
Sandy was sweet enough to lend me a hand in my trip to Florence, letting me borrow her jet. "It's our company plane. Take it, it's yours!" she'd said, giving me a hug and telling me to enjoy my time in Italy.
I planned on spending the trip reading, something I hadn't had much time to do lately with everything going on. I was going to take it easy, but it didn't make it any less surreal to be headed to the damn thing, my stomach bubbling anxiously over what my summer would be like. It was silly but I imagined going all over the world with a wine glass in hand and a billion dollars in the bank, no questions asked. Maybe I should've been more excited to be included in the Shire family after all. Going to Italy was one thing… Flying over there in such fashion and comfort was something completely different.
But the truth was, it still stung to think about the Shires. One of them in particular, and every time I pictured Cory's face hovering over mine, those blue eyes trapping me within them, I hated myself even more.
Why had I been so over the moon for him? It wasn't like we'd spent that much time together. I mean sure, the time we did have were some of the best moments of my life, but maybe I'd be able to replace those slowly over in Italy.
Cory and I… we just weren't meant to be. Now that I had this fresh new start I should have been looking forward to it and not worrying about my past with him. It'd be hard to move on and forget him, but I had to.
I thought about how hard it was not to wrap my arms around him and let him swing me around like so many of my friends and their boyfriends did, right after graduation. Ha, boyfriend? Cory Shire was never my boyfriend… And walking across that stage and seeing his face in the crowd didn't make things any easier on me when I ignored him that night. Instead, I had focused on the after-party the Pi Beta Phi underclassmen were throwing for us seniors. All the beer in the world hadn't taken away from the pain that still stuck like a knife in my heart, though.
I knew I was being silly, sitting there thinking about Cory like that. It was easier getting myself caught up in the moment and romanticizing it, thinking we could be something magical. Real life never worked like that.
With Sandy's driver's help, I pulled my three suitcases and duffle bag after me along the tarmac, the plane looming ahead. This would be my chance to start over. To try again.
"Thank you." I smiled at the driver as he tipped his hat to me.
"Would you like me to get you anything else, Emma?" he asked in reply, gesturing to the rest of the plane.
"That won't be necessary, Gerard," a voice drawled before I could say a word. I spun around, my heart hammering in my chest.
It was like being trapped in what I thought was a nightmare I was trying to get away from, when really the moment I looked it in its eye, I realized that I was lying to myself. Cory stood at the door to the cockpit, leaning against a wall.
"Very well, sir. I hope you enjoy your trip, Emma," the driver, Gerard, said before heading off the plane. I barely waved, my eyes unable to move away from Cory's.
"What are you even doing here?" I asked him, wishing I could muster up some of that anger instead of all the hopelessness. "I'm leaving for Italy."
"I know," he said, taking a few steps closer. "But before you go, I need to tell you the truth."
I didn't know what kind of truth he was going on about, but it was damn near impossible to think of anything else. "Spit it out, then." Okay… so maybe the anger was there, too.
Cory dropped onto the nearest white leather bench seat, leaning forward with his elbows bent and fingers laced together. "My mom told me what she said to you about me and McKenzie, and you need to know that what she said is wrong. Me and McKenzie are not together, nor was anything happening between us back on the island."
Likely story. "Really? Because I saw with my own two eyes the way she was all over you at the rehearsal dinner, Cory. Besides… why would I care what you do?" I finished, trying desperately to hold on to the last shreds of my dignity. After crying night after night over him it was the least I could do.
His shoulders slumped, his expression unreadable. "I know, I know. She's never been one to handle rejection very well. I'll be honest with you. There was a time when I would've happily fallen back in the same routine with her had she given me the time of day. But not anymore. We're barely friends, much less lovers. She tried her best to get me to come back with her but I don't want her, Emma…" Cory said, his voice trailing off as he finally looked back up and met my gaze. The blue eyes I'd imagined every night since our first meeting almost looked haunted.
"Then what do you want?"
Cory stood back up, that stupid grin on his face that he must have known I couldn't refuse. "I want you, of course. I want to come with you to Italy because I don't think I could lie in bed at night knowing you're so far away when I'm so completely crazy about you. And I know that sounds crazy, I mean, it feels crazy too, believe me, but it's just how I feel. But I'm a patient man, Emma, and I know it's your time to explore your life and be whoever you want to be. I want you to experience all of that. All I'm saying is that I would just like to be there at your side. You, God, this sounds crazy, but you make me so happy I can't stand it. I feel things I've never felt before, not with anyone else. And I just feel so shitty about how you must've felt… please, let me make it up to you for giving you the wrong impression."
My breath hitched in my throat. These words I was hearing… they had to be too good to be true. "But?
? I mean…" I faltered, trying to find the right thing to say. "You want me?"
There was no question in my mind now, not when Cory crossed the space between us in two long strides, tossing his hat to the floor as he wrapped one arm around my waist and one tangled in my hair behind my neck, effectively dipping me back and kissing my mouth, hard. He tasted not like wine this time, but like hope.
A small noise escaped the back of my throat as I clenched his shirt in my hands, desperate for more of him. I'd let him have me right here if he wanted, every terrible gut-wrenching feeling from the past two weeks wiped away clean.
"What about our parents?" I finally asked when we pulled apart. As much as I wanted to get carried away, it seemed like something that still might be a problem.
Cory didn't seem to think so, judging by the way his hand snaked up my sides to cup my breasts, his words softly growled along my neck. "Out of sight, out of mind."
"Mmm, that sounds great in theory but…" My voice stuttered as his tongue gently traced a line down to my cleavage.
When he paused I almost lost it, but he looked up at me and smiled anyway with those mischievous blue eyes. "What's that saying? When in Rome…?"
I grinned back. "Well, yeah. But we're going to Florence."
His eyebrow quirked as he pulled me down into his lap on the bench, his words low in my ear. "Fuck it, then. When in Florence…"
“When in Florence.” I barely managed to whisper as our lips crashed into each other like a flood. I didn't speak another coherent sentence for the rest of the plane ride there.
* * *