Everlasting Love (Now & Forever) (18 page)

“We will
just have to continue this
,” she said as she turned back to the main corridor, making sure Alex was watching her as she left.

Alex followed her. “Oh Emily, you amaze me. For our next journey, we will head upstairs. I have a surprise for you.”

Emily smiled as she wrapped her fingers between his and grasped his hand. They walked up the stairs in silence until they reached a small room.

“This is where your surprise is
.
I wanted to make you feel special tonight, Emily,” he explained.

“You have already accomplished that, Alex. What else could you possibly have up your sleeve?”

Alex smiled as he opened the door. In the middle of the room
,
highlighted by a spotlight
,
stood an easel displaying her painting.

Emily entered the room and stood in front of her artwork. “Alex, this is the painting that I donated to the school. How did you get it?”

“I bought it. I told you that I loved it and I wanted to own your first public piece. So, I attended the school auction and bid on it.”

Emily had tears in her eyes as she processed everything he had done for her and how thoughtful he was. She looked back at the painting and realized that she dreamt of the day that her paintings would be on display like this and Alex had made her dream come true.

“Alex, thank you. I love seeing this here. Not just my artwork, but my little girl on display in this painting. It reminds me of how far I’ve come. I remember how afraid I was of being a mother. I had a hard time adjusting to life as a young mom and basically a single parent with Eric away at school; and trying to keep up with everything that I needed to give her. Then I discovered that when I drew Emma, it helped me to become a better mother. I felt like it was my way of connecting with her.”

Alex walked up behind her and placed his hand on her hips. She leaned back against his chest and closed her eyes. Being able to reflect back on how she got here, Emily realized that this is exactly where she wanted to be.

“How did I do for our first date?” Alex asked kissing Emily’s hair. She turned around to face him. She pressed herself against him and kissed him.

“It was perfect. I have never been on a date like this, I will always remember it. Thank you.”

Alex smiled. “You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that. Now, let’s see what kind of dessert we have waiting for us before I have to take you back home,” he said as they made their way back downstairs.

As they drove, Alex placed his hand on Emily’s thigh, his fingers traced lightly against her bare skin. It was dark so she couldn’t see his face but she glanced over and smiled. “Tonight was wonderful, I’m so happy that we did this, Alex.”

“I am too, Emily. I haven’t been on a date in a long time, I wasn’t sure if I remembered how to do it correctly.”

Emily laughed
.
“
I’d say, y
ou hit it out of the ballpark.”

Alex pulled into her driveway and turned his car off. “You are leaving for Syracuse tomorrow, correct?”

“Yes, I will back on Sunday morning.”

Alex nodded.  “Please travel safe. Can I see you when you return?”

“Of course, would you like to be my date for my graduation next week?” Emily
asked
nervously.

“I would love too but do you think it would be awkward for you with Eric there?”

Emily shook her head. “Doesn’t matter, you are a part of my life now and I want you there.”

Alex leaned over and kissed her soundly. Their lips moved in sync again as their tongues explored back and forth. Emily moaned softly as she took a tug at his lower lip.

“You better go, Emily,” Alex laughed
.
“I’m running out of willpower.”

Emily smiled. “Me too. See you when I return.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The next afternoon, Emily and Emma headed to Syracuse for Eric’s graduation. Once they arrived
,
they met up with his parents and checked into their hotel.

Emma ran around the room as there was a knock on the door. Emily opened it to Emma’s squeal, “
Daddy
!”

“Hey little girl, how are you?” Eric asked as he picked her up and twirled her around.

“Good, wanna see our room?”

“Sure,” Eric said putting her down and looking at Emily.

“Hi,” Emily said. “Congrats on your big day.”

“Thank you for coming and bringing Emma. It really means a lot to me to have you both here.”

“Sure, I’m happy that we are going to be a part of it. How are the Denver negotiations coming along?”

“They are going great. I just came back from rookie training camp and after your graduation I’m flying back out there for some mini camps.”

“That’s so exciting, Eric. Have you looked for a place to live yet?”

Eric frowned.
“I have an appointment but I refuse to buy a house until you decide to come back to me. It needs to be our home.”

Emily looked down at the floor. “Eric, I don’t know what our future holds right now and you need to do what you need to do to get settled in Denver.”

“
Daddy
, come here!” Emma called from the other room.

Eric smiled at Emily and left the room to see his daughter. Emily didn’t have the heart to tell him about her date with Alex last night and in a way she didn’t want to ruin the memory of it by having an uncomfortable conversation with Eric about it.

She walked across the room and reached for her cell phone to call home. She let them know that she was there safe and sound. As she hung up, she checked her text messages.

Hope you had a safe trip. Thx for last night
.
–
Alex
.

Emily smiled thinking back to her date. They had a wonderful time and to have the opportunity of seeing her painting on display, there were just no words to describe it.

“Why are you smiling?” Eric asked as he walked back into the room.

“No reason. Shouldn’t you be getting ready? I’m going to head over with your parents shortly.”

Eric nodded as he bent down and kissed her unexpectedly. His hands slid up into her hair and tightened a
nd
she found herself kissing him back. Once her mind caught up with what had just happened and current events she pulled back immediately.

“No Eric, we can’t do that.”

“Why not? I’m pretty sure you were just kissing me back.”

“I’m sorry for that, habits are hard to break. I should have stopped you.”

“Fine, hide your true feelings, Emily. I still find it amazing that you can’t be honest with me or yourself for that matter,” he said as he left her room.

Emily took a deep breath and grabbed her phone again. She noticed it was around noon but didn’t know if she should bother Alex at work. But, she felt that she had to talk with someone. She decided to call Sam instead.

“Emily, are you here?” Sam asked picking up.

“Yeah, I’m at the hotel. Where are you?”

“I’m at Rob’s right now. We are packing up his apartment and then heading to graduation. Did you want to meet at the main entrance?”

“Yeah, sounds good. I need to tell you about last night,” Emily explained. She went over the events of the evening from the romantic dinner to her painting on display.

“Wow Emily, that’s just amazing. It sounds so beautiful. I’m speechless. Did you kiss him?”

“Yes, I can’t even describe it. He’s different than what I’m used to,” Emily said smiling. “Then I got here and Eric kissed me.”

“Damn, Emily! You are just Miss Popular, aren’t you?” Sam laughed.

“Sam, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”

“You are finally living your life, Emily. Just enjoy it, ok? Hey, I need to run. See you in a couple of hours.”

Emily gave Emma a bath and got her dressed into her beautiful yellow dress with her patent leather Mary Jane’s. Eric’s parents showed up early and asked if they could take Emma with them so that she could meet some of their extended family who was in town for the big day, leaving Emily alone with her thoughts. She glanced at her watch again and decided to call Alex before she left for the ceremony.

“Emily?” Alex said as he answered.

“Hi, I hope I’m not bugging you at work.”

“I told you that you never bug me. I take it you arrived safely?”

“Yes, I’m about to head over to the arena
right now.”

Alex didn’t say anything for a moment then asked, “Have you seen Eric yet?”

Emily softly whispered, “Yes, earlier today.”

“How did it go?” Alex asked concerned.

“Well, he kissed me.”

Alex was quiet at first.“And?”

“I told him it was wrong and stopped it. But, I wanted to be honest with you because it felt weird to keep that from you.”

Alex’s response was much quicker and the tone of his voice was different. “Thank you for that, Emily. Well, I won’t keep you. Have fun and we will see each other when you return home.”

“Alex, are you mad at me?”

He paused before he spoke but kept the same tone as before. “No, Emily. I’m not upset with you. I just don’t like when someone touches what is mine.” Emily felt a chill race through her body and didn’t speak. Alex responded instead, “And your lips, those are mine.” Then he was gone.

Alex made her feel different about herself. He gave her a stronger confidence that she didn’t have before she met him or when she was with Eric. She looked in the mirror and straightened her dress.

The next few hours consisted of lectures, speeches and names being called out. When Eric’s name was read, the entire arena erupted in applause. Emily couldn’t help herself as she smiled ear to ear for him. Emma clapped along with everyone else.

After all the festivities were over, Emily, Emma and Sam headed towards the college graduates. Eric ran over and grabbed his daughter, kissed her little cheeks and smiled at Emily. His parents congratulated him and so did his relatives. Emily noticed that Sam was in Rob’s arms as he introduced her to his relatives. She looked so happy.

“Emily, can I take Emma over to introduce her to some of my friends?”

“Of course,” Emily replied as she watched them walk away.

A bunch of guys walked over to them and she could tell that they were from the football team. Then she glanced to the other side of Eric and Emily spotted the girl from the photograph, Nicole. She was laughing and smiling at Eric then she touched Emma’s hand and Emily lost it. Something inside her exploded, her face became red with anger and she wanted to scream, punch something, anything. That girl had the nerve to touch her daughter. No, no, no. Sam must have read Emily’s face and ran over to her. Emily nodded her head in Eric’s direction and it was clear to Sam what the problem was.

“Give me a minute,” she said as she walked over to Eric and said something to him. She took Emma and headed back with Eric following behind her. Emily’s eye met the girl’s eyes and she quickly turned away from Emily and left.

Sam was playing with Emma to distract her when Eric reached Emily. “I’m sorry, Emily. She shouldn’t have been there.”

“Are you still seeing her?” Emily asked.

“You broke up with me, Emily.”

“So that kiss from earlier, are you cheating on her now?” Emily yelled.

Eric started yelling back at her, “I can’t have this argument again. If you can’t be honest with me then I don’t have to be honest with you.”

“What are you talking about, Eric?”

“I can see it on your face, Emily. You smiled at your phone after reading a text from someone. You are seeing that Alex guy and you don’t have the decency to tell me the truth. So here, I will take the higher road and tell you, yes, I’m seeing Nicole and I’m having a blast. How’s that?”

“Fine, Emma and I are leaving tonight. I can’t be around you right now. We can’t even have a normal discussion. When you get home, if you want to see Emma, just call and make an appointment. For the record, yes, I did have one date with Alex, nothing more. I never cheated on you and I never dreamt of hurting of you the way you continue to hurt me. To think, I honestly believed that we would be getting married this time next month. But, seeing how we can’t even talk to each other right now, I think my decision to break up with you was the best thing we could have done.”

With that, Emily grabbed Emma, turned and left. She drove the three hours back to Buffalo and fell asleep on the couch.

When the morning arrived,
Emily rolled over and fell onto the floor, forgetting that she was on the couch instead of her bed. She sat up and leaned back against the couch. Her mother rushed into the living room when she heard the thud. “Oh Emily, what happened now?”

Emily started to cry. “We had a screaming match right after the ceremony in front of everyone. I can’t do it anymore, Mom. We don’t see eye to eye on things anymore. He kissed me.”