Everlasting Love (Now & Forever) (15 page)

Eric smiled at her. “That’s awesome. I’m so happy that you found this lead.”

He continued to play with Emma as Emily talked
.
“I have to thank our art teacher, if she didn’t introduce me to Alex, I would have never had these opportunities.”

“Tell me about this Alex,” Eric said with a grimace on his face.

“He’s the curator at the art museum downtown. He’s ended up being a wonderful friend through all of this. I actually heard him talk for one of my art classes awhile back so it was great to finally meet him. He’s young but so intelligent and really accomplished. You should see his home, it’s breathtaking.”

“That’s where dinner was last night?” Eric asked a little skeptically.

Emily nodded. “He had caterers and everything. It was very formal, at least in my eyes. Of course, I’ve been buried in Emma’s toys for the past three years so just about anything seems fancy to me.”

Eric smiled strangely like he figured out a puzzle. “It’s him, isn’t it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your recent opportunities, as you put it earlier.”

Emily stared at him uncomfortably. “I still don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb with me, as you spoke of him, your face lit up and you were gushing. You like him, Emily. You have the nerve to yell at me for not being honest with you and for keeping things from you, but it sounds like you have been holding out on me too. If we want to work on our relationship and try to make this work one day, I want the same thing from you.”

Emily watched him and realized that she needed to be honest too. “Yes. I feel something for him but I don’t know what there is to it and I cert
ainly haven’t acted on it
because I put of our family first.”

“Does he feel the same way about you?” Eric asked.

“Eric, how would I know that? I can only tell you my side of the story.”

“Thank you for being honest with me,” Eric said disheartened as he went back to paying attention to Emma.

They played as a family for the next few hours; laughing, running around and playing house. When it was time for Eric to leave, Emma started to cry and begged him not to leave. Emily’s heart started to break for her.

Eric bent down so he was face to face with her. “Emma, I’m always here for you.
Daddy
needs to leave just for a little bit this time but next month I will be home and we will play more, I promise you.”

“I love you,
Daddy
.”

“Oh Emma, I love you too.”

Emily smiled at Emma and tried to keep a happy face as she ran away to watch television.

“Are you heading back to school tonight?” Emily asked.

“Yeah, I’m going to drive back in a few hours,” Eric said as he opened the door and stepped out on the front porch.

Emily followed. “Good luck with finals, can you believe that we are graduating in a month?”

Eric laughed softly. “Emily, do you realize that we broke up right before high school graduation? What the hell is our problem with graduations?”

Emily cracked a real smile. “That’s so true, what is that about?”

Eric reached out for her and hugged her tight, whispering softly, “I love you, Emily. That will never change
.
I will give you all
the time you need but believe that
I’m not leaving for Denver without you.”

Emily pulled away from him. “Eric, please don’t make this harder than it is. Just
let me know when graduation is.
I want to bring Emma out for it, ok? She should see her
Daddy
graduate.”

Eric nodded. “Of course and I would like to attend yours as well. I’m so proud of you, Emily. You finished college in four years while raising our daughter who is, by the way, the perfect little girl.”

Emily smiled. “Thank you
. S
he is pretty wonderful, isn’t she?”

Eric leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Talk soon, ok?”

Emily headed back inside and curled up on the couch with her sketch pad and watched Emma play as she drew a picture of her daughter having a tea party. Her mind was finally at ease. She finally told Eric how she was feeling and was proud of herself for standing her ground and insisting that they take a break from the all of the craziness. She felt good about herself as continue to draw with a smile of contentment on her face.

She heard her mom come through the side door as Emma went running across to greet her.

“Hey guys, what’s going on?” She asked.

Emily smiled at her as she entered the living room. “I’m just drawing and Emma has been having a tea party all day long, I’m sure she will invite you.”

Her mom laughed. “How did the talk go, Honey?”

Emily smiled. “It went well, I think. I spoke my mind and he spoke his
.
I finally heard about the party, at least the parts that I needed to know about and the end result was that we are taking a break for awhile. Just to clear our heads and figure out where we are going in life.”

“Are you ok with that?” Her mom asked concerned.

“Yes, it was my idea. I don’t want to resent him later on in life because we stayed with each other and never worked on our own lives. It’s important that we figure out our own paths and then maybe down the road, they will weave back together again.”

Her mother sat down next to her. “Sometimes I forget just how much you have grown up, Emily. You make me so proud to be your mother.”

Emily smiled at her. “Thanks. I’m very content right now and after we had our talk, we were able to play as a family and not have all that stress out there. It felt different, so maybe this was meant to be.”

“Have you thought about the fact that you may not get back together again?” She asked Emily.

Emily nodded. “We will always share Emma. He will always be in my life but if we can’t put the pieces back together, then it wasn’t meant to be,” Emily said looking down at her hand. “I guess I didn’t think about the ring though. Should I give it back to him?”

Her mother quickly shook her head
.
“No, put it in your jewelry box for now. I still have faith that you guys will work through this.”

Emily nodded as she got off the couch and headed upstairs. As she entered the bedroom, she looked around and saw a lot of Eric’s stuff lying around. She started to fold up his clothes and put them in her closet. She grabbed a few other items and put them with his clothes. As she passed by her nightstand, she picked up their senior prom picture. She sat down on the bed and tried to gather herself. She placed the picture inside her drawer as she felt her cell phone vibrate.

She looked down at her new text message
.
Just wanted to say hi and wish you luck tomorrow
.
–
Alex
.

She quickly typed back
.
T
hank you, do you want me to call you when it’s over?
–
Emily
.

Emily walked to her closet and picked out a simple outfit for tomorrow. She found a straight black skirt and a light blue top
. S
he placed them at the foot of the bed so she would be ready for the morning.

Alex responded.
Yes, I would love to hear about it
.
–
Alex
.

***********************

The following afternoon, Emily headed towards the lake to meet with Henry after her last class. His gallery was located right on Lake Erie and presented a beautiful backdrop for his small shop.

As she arrived, she fixed her skirt and double checked her hair. She was starting to feel like an adult. She walked up the front sidewalk and entered his shop.

“Emily, how wonderful it is to see you,” Henry said walking over to shake her hand.

“Good Afternoon, Henry. Your shop is so charming.”

“Thank you, my wife and I have owned it for almost twenty-five years now. We take great pride in what we display here.”

“I didn’t know you were married, how wonderful. Will I get to meet her?”

“Of course, we will make our way back to the office where she is, but first let me give you a tour.”

Emily smiled as she listened to Henry talk about the works that he displayed. His main gallery room had paintings throughout the room on easels and also hanging on the walls. His back wall was all windows overlooking Lake Erie, bringing in tons of natural light. Not only did he have paintings and drawings, he displayed sculptures and
all
types of media.

They finished up the tour downstairs and moved back towards the front of the store before continuing upstairs, when the front door opened. Emily smiled as she saw Alex walk in.

“Welcome Alex!” Henry said shaking his hand.

Alex smiled at him. “I was in the neighborhood and wondered if you had my print ready for me to pick up and I was hoping to see how everything was going here.”

Emily smirked at him, knowing he came to see her. “Hello, Alex. I would say that it’s going wonderfully
. W
e w
ere just about to head upstairs. W
ould you like to join us?”

Alex smiled. “Of course.”

As they walked up the stairs, Emily could feel Alex close behind her and started to get weak in the knees. She knew that her issues with Eric were on hold right now and she could work on her feelings towards Alex but it made her extremely nervous.

They walked around the smaller room that was upstairs as Henry explained each of the pieces while they made their way back towards the office. A cute older lady was sitting behind a desk going through paperwork.

“Barbara, I want you to meet Emily Stone. She’s the young lady that I’ve been telling you about and of course, you know Alex.”

His wife stood up and walked over to Emily and shook her hand as Alex leaned down and kissed Barbara’s cheek. “Emily, such a pleasure and Alex, I have your print framed and ready for you. Do you have room in that gorgeous car of yours?”

Alex laughed
.
“Yes Barbara, and I will pay you on the way out.”

“Emily, what do you think of our little shop here?” Barbara asked her.

“It’s so beautiful, I love it.”

“It’s been our baby for many years now and we have a very strong client base. Alex can confirm that for you. If you are willing to work with us, we can sit down and talk specifics,” Barbara explained.

“I’m definitely interested and would love that opportunity, but right now I’m in the process of finishing up everything that I need to do to graduate from college. Can we follow up in about a month to talk specifics?”

“Of course we can, Darling!” Barbara said
.
“Congratulations, that’s a wonderful accomplishment. We will be here ready to work with you when you’re done.”

Emily smiled as she said good bye to Henry and his wife and thanked them again for the opportunity to work together. As she headed downstairs she heard Alex say behind her
.
“I will
be right back to grab the print.
I’m just going to walk Emily out.”

As Emily approached her car, Alex was directly behind her. “Thank you for introducing them to me. They are a wonderful couple.”

Alex looked at her with that breathtaking smile. “You are very welcome, I’m happy that this relationship is going to work.”

“Now, I just need to finish up my classes and get that degree so I can start the next chapter in this long life of mine,” Emily smiled and laughed at him.

“You seem very different today
.
I haven’t seen you like this, well, ever.” Alex laughed.

Emily smiled. “Eric and I talked yesterday, we cleared the air about certain things that needed to be said and heard.”

Alex nodded as he leaned against her car. “What’s the verdict?”

“We decided to part ways for now
. I
t’s the best solution. Of course, we will see each other because of Emma but we need to find our own paths. I need time to work out some things. I have a lo
t going on in my mind right now.
” Emily smirked at him.

Emily could tell that Alex was trying to hold back his smile as he spoke. “If you need to talk, you can call me.”

“I know and I appreciate it.”

“Can I ask you something, Emily?”

“Of course,” Emily said as leaned on her car next to him.

Eric sighed, "You are so beautiful."

"That's not a question, Alex."

Alex smiled. "Will you go out to dinner with me?"

Emily smiled and looked down at the pavement before responding. "I want to say yes, but I can't, not yet, Alex."

He nodded at her. "I can understand that."

"I'm sorry. I just need to finish college. I'm in the homestretch."