CHAPTERSEVEN
Cole
I hum a tune,my heart lighter than it's ever been. I love my job, but I couldn't wait for the day to end so I could have Emily back in my arms again. I've been jonesing for her all day, like a junkie needing his next hit.
I take the steps up to her cabin two at a time in my haste to see her. I recognize the woman who answers my knock as Emily's mother and greet her with a respectful, “Good evening, Miss Haskins. I'm here for Emily.”
“Em’s not here,” the woman tells me coolly.
I blink at her tone, wondering what crawled up her craw. “Okay, where can I find her? Did she go up to the main lodge?”
The woman gives me an assessing glance. “Look, Mister…?”
“Cole,” I tell her. “You can call me Cole.”
“Cole.” She nods. “Emily went back to New York.”
My heart falls to my feet, and blood rushes in my ears. “What?”
The woman blinks. She looks taken aback before she schools her features and shrugs. “Look at it this way. You don't have the awkwardness of ending your fling now.”
I glare at her. “Emily is not a fling. She's everything to me.”
Emily’s mom snorts. “Yeah, you're in love with her after what? Two days?”
My heart hammers against my rib cage. I don't have time to explain myself to this woman. I need to find my woman. “Where can I find her in New York?”
Ms. Haskins blinks again before she sniffs and asks, “And why should I tell you that? So you can go up there and break her heart whenever you decide you're done with her?”
I study Emily's mother in a new light. I see the old pain hiding behind her eyes and realize she's speaking from experience. I work to keep my voice gentle when I tell her honestly, “I would never hurt Emily. I know it seems fast, but I am in love with your daughter, ma’am. The first time I looked into her pretty blue eyes, I was a goner. Call it love at first sight. Call it obsession. I don't care what the fuck you call it. All I know is I feel like I'll die if I don’t see her again soon. So, you can help me out, or I'll have to waste a bunch of time searching every motherfucking inch of New York City to find her. But make no mistake, I will not stop until I do.”
Ms. Haskins’ eyes are brimming with tears at the end of my speech. She covers her mouth with her hand before she nods and then rattles off an address.
I grab her hand and kiss the back of it before I swear to her, “You won't regret helping me. I promise you.”
She nods and gives me a watery smile before warning, “You better not hurt her.”
“Never,” I vow to her and myself.
I hop in my truck and call my sister, telling her to cancel all my appointments for the upcoming week.
I drive as fast as I can to catch the next flight to New York.
I’m coming, darlin’.
* * *
Emily
I sit alone in my apartment, wallowing in self-pity and eating strawberry ice cream straight from the tub like they do on those cheesy rom-coms when a girl goes through a breakup. It always makes the girl feel better, but it's not working for me. It's a good thing the ice cream melts in my mouth because I don’t have the energy to chew.
I put the tub back in the freezer, abandoning my effort to eat my emotions away. It doesn't work. Some girls can eat their way through the tears, but not me. I lose my appetite and have to starve my way through my emotional turmoil.
Tears spring to my eyes when the cowboy on the screen calls the Southern belle “little lady.”
Yeah, I suddenly have a penchant for old western movies. So shoot me. It has absolutely nothing to do with the heroes reminding me of a certain horseback riding instructor from Virginia. Nope, nothing at all.
Fresh tears sting my eyes. I'm such a liar. It has everything to do with him.