Page 86 of Baby Girl
Hudson clearly had the same thought as me.
Big Daddy D:Maybe, but I don’t believe Emery is interested in him. As much as she allows him to flirt with her, I’ve seen herput distance between them on more than one occasion. Body language doesn’t lie.
Me:So, what do we do? Just let it play out?
Big Daddy D:That would be my suggestion. We stick to what we have planned. Like she told us before, she’s a big girl and can make her own decisions. If she chooses him over us, that is her right. We can’t force her to choose us.
I can practically hear Xavier’s growl through the phone.
When no one responds to that last message, I sigh, lock my phone, and place it on the table next to me before returning my attention to the canvas in front of me. Emmy’s profile stares back at me, her gaze staring off the edge of the canvas.
It’s a replica of one of the photos I took of her on that first day, when she was gazing out the window, sun on her face. The way the light played in her iris has fascinated me ever since I developed the images. I’ve replicated this same sketch more than a dozen times as I try to recapture that tiny detail.
I can’t get it quite right.
But that’s okay, that’s what this time is for. To learn, make mistakes, and learn some more.
We’ll get there. Eventually.
Chapter 49
Emery
“Ems!”
My phone flips out of my hand, the pom-pom flapping about crazily, and has the sort of clattered landing on the floor that makes me glad my room is carpeted, because that should for sure be shattered.
With all her sunshine energy, Oakley comes bounding through my doorway, a huge smile on her face. “Come have girl time with me!”
My heart is still pounding in my chest and my hands are a little shaky, which is why my ability to control my face deserts me for a moment and disgust pinches my expression. “Ah, pass.”
She rolls her eyes at me and props her shoulder against the doorframe. “Have you ever had girl time before?”
Shoving the blankets off my legs, I get up and retrieve my phone, careful to keep the screen aimed in my direction, then plonk my ass back on my bed. The last thing I need right now is to have Oaks see that I was scrolling through The Monarchs sub-thread. “No.”
She shoots me a side-eye before fiddling with the other half of the friendship necklace I gave her. “Have you spoken to any of them yet?”
“No.”
At least once a day, she asks me if I’ve talked to any of them yet. I’m always telling her no. But I have to admit, getting to yell at Darcy on the sidewalk the other day has released some sort of pressure valve inside of me, and there have been times that it has been a real effort not to pick up my phone and do some more yelling.
The only thing that has been helping, kind of, is seeing that their sub-thread on the forum and their Instagram has gone pretty quiet. Sure, there are still plenty of candid photos taken of them, and the posts with them talking to Oakley and then with me being carried by Derek are still receiving a lot of action, but even that is less than half what it was originally.
“Well, then, you can’t say no. You’ve never had a girls night, then you have to give it a try at least once, then if you still hate it, we never have to do it together again.” There is a thread ofauthority in her tone. Like, just because she is stating it, it has to be so.
When I stare blankly back at her, she sighs and basically skip jumps until she lands knee first on my bed like an overexcited puppy. “Come on, Ems. It’ll be fun, I promise. I got us each a face mask and some cute nail polish. Oh, and that dating show where there is one woman and a bunch of men she gets to pick from has a marathon of the last season starting in about fifteen minutes. We can watch it until we crash.”
That does sound good, actually.
My facial control must still be on the fritz because her eyes and smile both grow wide, and she claps her hands. “Yes! Let’s do this.”
Oakley grabs my hand and goes to tug me out of bed, but I pull back, butterflies swarming around in my stomach at the idea of being around Xavier after I let him sleep in my bed last night. “Can we do it in here?”
She is apparently a mind reader because understanding smooths out her features. “I asked him to give us the night. I’m pretty sure he’ll sneak back in once we’re asleep, but we have a few hours without him. And, before you ask, I’ve already covered up the cameras. Come see.”
This time, when she holds out her hand, I take it and let her pull me out of bed. Once we are out in the living area, she turns to me with a huge smile on her face and arms outstretched.
“Taa-daa!”
