Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“Figures.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t keep on cheaters or people who go behind my back.”
She opened her mouth to plead her case but his words gutted her. “Is that what you think I was doing?”
“What else should I think was happening when you walked out of a roadside motel room at nearly ten at night?”
“I don’t know, perhaps you could have let me explain instead of losing your cool and beating some guy as if you grew up on the streets.” Anger of her own pushed through her.
“What? Did you think your lover was going to make me believe that you weren’t fucking him? That he had honorable intentions when he followed you out of that room?” He stepped closer to her but his voice didn’t lower. If anything, it rose, carrying to any and all who wanted a front row seat to The Humiliation of Emma Henricksen Part II.
“You forget, Emma. I know him. I was with him when he would fuck multiple women in a night. I know exactly what that man is capable of. I didn’t know what you were capable of.”
This moment, right here, was the singular one she had feared ever since she’d agreed to pose as his fiancée. It was inevitable in her mind, but she’d hoped it wouldn’t be so public or humiliating.
She skimmed those watching with unabashed curiosity. Kids and parents. And Mr. Stevenson and his wife.
Figures this is how my life goes.
“Yeah,” she muttered, too mentally exhausted to even be shamed any more. “What I was capable of.” She pushed her hands in her pockets. “I have a few things in my desk. Am I allowed to get them?”
“Sure.” He waved a hand.
She slid by him, trying to keep her whimper contained. Even now, her body betrayed her to this man. It still longed for his touch. At the desk, she opened the second drawer down and pulled out her small leather notebook that Dawson had given her. Taking a moment, she dragged her fingertips over the quote stamped in the cover. There is no force equal to a woman determined to rise.
Well, here’s hoping.
Also on the cover was a picture of flowers rising to the sun. She’d nearly cried when Dawson had given it to her and almost did so now.
Glancing over the top of the desk, she found the pen that went with it and slid it in the holder. The pen had a quote on it as well. Think like a Queen.
With a careful move, she removed the ring and placed it on top of the folder he would need later tomorrow when the contractors came out to start on the rink. Standing tall, she looked into his eyes, which she couldn’t read any longer.
“Would you like me to stop Greer from returning?”
“I would never punish the child for the sins of the parent.”
She knew the next time she opened her mouth a sob would come out, so she kept her mouth clamped shut as she walked by him. Flora was at her side—why she didn’t know, but she appreciated the support—and tucked an arm around her, leading her from the building and to the passenger seat of her car.
Wooden, she needed help to get from the car into her home. When she walked in, she noticed that she wasn’t alone. Maria, Ruby, friends through Dawson, and a woman she’d only seen in passing, Mrs. Dani Wolcott of Wolcott Jams and Jellies, were all there.
Ruby gave her a warm smile as she tucked some fuchsia hair behind her ear. “Hi, hon. Dawson is at the center and she’ll bring Greer home at the end of the day. We thought we’d see what we can do to help cheer you up.”
Emma put the notebook down on the table by the couch and swallowed the bile trying to make an appearance.
“How about you three give us a moment. Fix up plates of that food I’ve been smelling.” Dani gestured to Emma and beckoned her to the couch before she sat beside her. Patting her graying hair, which was twisted into a low bun, she took a deep breath.
Emma stared at her toes. But Dani grasped her hand and held tight.
“Chin up, love.” When she obeyed, the woman squeezed once more. “Good. I want you to know this offer is not charity. It’s purely in self-interest.”
“Offer?”
“A job offer.”
“You want to offer me a job? I just got fired from my last one. And to be honest, I quit the one before that because my boss was an asshole.”
“I know.” A small smile. “Rock Falls, hard to keep any secrets. I need you and I want you out at Wolcott Farms.”
“Doing what?”
“My books. I have the organizational skills of a slug. I couldn’t pass it off before but now I’m older and, quite honestly, I want to spend my time making jam. Not remembering to send out invoices or pay this, that, and the other.”