Chapter Text
It took only a glimpse to realise that Emily was beautiful, but not the type of beautiful I was used to. The women in the small town were very meek, and it showed in the way they spoke and the way they held themselves. Even the more outspoken women seemed to hunch in on themselves.
Emily was different though. She stood tall and confident, her strong presence causing everyone around her to stop and stare. I was even more enamoured by her beauty than most, and I gravitated towards her as if Emily was the sun and I was the Earth.
Once Emily reached the entrance to the school to pick up her son, I was close enough to see the ice in her eyes and the twisted tilt of her smile that showed the darkness within. Her cutting words and dismissive attitude should have caused me to run away from the woman as fast as possible, but for some reason it just had me more fascinated with the mysterious blonde.
Despite rambling about chocolate martinis and making a total fool of myself, Nicky's persistence finally wore his mother down and she begrudgingly agreed to a play date. I was thrilled to spend more time with Emily, but I tried to hide my excitement to save myself from further embarrassment.
Soon enough we had reached Emily's house and I looked around in amazement. The house was huge and immaculate, something that I didn't think was possible with a small child in the house. As we walked into the foyer, I came to a sudden halt, gaping at the massive painting on display.
"Do you like it?" Emily asked. She seemed totally unashamed of the vivid painting of her very naked and exposed body.
"How could you not?" I replied shakily, still staring in shock at the painting. I couldn't look away, my eyes tracing every inch of Emily's body, wondering if that's what she really looked like underneath those suits. I became very aware of how close Emily was standing, my heart beating faster as I felt the body heat of the beautiful woman next to me. I felt the urge to reach out and touch her, wanting to see if her skin felt as soft as it looked. I resisted though, chastising myself for having such thoughts about someone I had just met, and was also married.
We walked into the kitchen and Emily let out a casual curse.
"Oopsie." I said without thinking, quickly realising my mistake when Emily looked at me with confusion. I was then forced to tell Emily about the 'oopsie jar', and started apologising profusely.
"Don't say you're sorry. You don't need to do that. You don't need to apologise. It's a fucked up female habit. You don't need to be sorry for anything ever." Emily's face was deadpan as usual, but there was an intensity in her eyes that made me take the advice to heart. I tried to imagine a life where I wasn't constantly apologising for everything I did, a nasty habit I picked up after I married Davis. After all, if I just caved to his wishes, then I figured he wouldn't push for answers about Chris. Looking at Emily though, I found myself wanting to try, after all, it definitely seemed to be working for her.
"That's great advice, thank you." As I spoke, i found I was unable to take my eyes off the woman in front of me. I already felt a strong connection to the enigma that was Emily, and wondered how I would survive once she inevitably got bored of me and left. It scared me to notice just how attached I had gotten in less than an hour, but the fear wasn't enough to make me pull away.
Emily left me in the kitchen while she wandered off to find booze, and I got caught up in the soft but sensual music that was playing through the whole room. Without thinking, I started to sway my hips, the rest of my body quickly joining in the impromptu dance. As I turned around, I noticed Emily standing there watching me. I quickly stopped and started to ramble again, my cheeks going bright red as I wondered how long she had been standing there.
"Come on, give me a little more." Emily said with a cheeky smile. I returned the smile, and unable to say no to her, began dancing a little more before laughing and joining Emily at the kitchen counter.
Somehow the topic of conversation turned to the untimely death of my husband and brother, and how I lost the two most important men in my life.
"Normally sad stories don't get to me, but that one...that one did. That was brutal." Although Emily's face remained impassive, there was a slight edge to her voice that proved that Emily was not unaffected by my story. I realised that such a depressing topic probably wasn't the best conversation choice, especially since it was the first time I'd actually spent time with Emily. Attempting to backtrack, I once again starting apologizing profusely.
"Baby, if you apologize again, I'm going to have to slap the sorry out of you." Emily responded sharply, but I could sense the teasing in her tone. More than that though, I was focused on the fact that Emily had just called me baby. I figured that it was just something that Emily said to everyone, but still couldn't help being affected by it. I shuffled in my seat and there was a glint in Emily's eye that showed that she knew exactly what I was thinking. We spoke a little more before Emily caught me off guard again, making me wonder if she actually was doing it on purpose.
"So are you dating anyone?" Emily asked, looking me dead in the eye, waiting for a reaction. Of course, I started rambling about my poor attempts at dating and my hesitation to continue using dating sites after a lady's head was found in a trash can. My rambling caused a rare smile to appear on Emily's face.
"Come on baby, you're too sexy to give up." Emily held eye contact until I was forced to look down at the kitchen bench as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world. I hoped Emily couldn't see my incredibly red face, but knew that she definitely had. I tried to respond as casually as I could, but I'm pretty sure Emily could tell just how much the compliment affected me.
"That's nice. I don't know..." I didn't know how to finish my sentence, but Emily swooped in to save me from having to try.
"If your head's gonna turn up in a trash can, then your head's gonna turn up in a trash can." Emily's response was so glib that I only just managed to hold in a laugh, once again shocked but also highly fascinated by Emily's attitude towards pretty much everything.
The conversation flowed so easily between us, even hard topics seeming easy with Emily. It seemed like she felt the same from her easy posture, although I couldn't know for sure. I spoke about my late husband's life insurance and Emily about their inability to sell the house. I was shocked that Emily wanted to sell the house and joked about how I would love to live there.
"Then you should move in." Emily handed me a martini as she spoke, and I almost dropped it in surprise. Emily's tone made it sound like a joke, but her smile and burning eyes said otherwise. I imagined living in this house with Emily, spending the days with our kids and the afternoons drinking martinis while talking about anything and everything. I also couldn't help thinking about how we could spend our nights, conveniently forgetting Emily's husband.
I was torn from my daydream when said husband barged in, interrupting our conversation and complaining about a car blocking the driveway. Not wanting to be rude, I quickly piped up.
"Oh that's mine, I'm sorry!" I said without thinking, quickly being cut off by Emily.
"You're what?" Her voice was sharp, and I winced at my mistake. I explained to Sean that Emily was trying to teach me to stop apologising, and Sean pulled Emily closer to him, commenting that maybe Emily should apologise more. I found myself disagreeing with him, thinking that there was a certain sense in not apologising to anyone, especially over trivial things. The habit would be hard to break though. The couple held onto each other, alternating between kissing and talking to me. Meanwhile, I sat there like an awkward third wheel, trying to ignore the jealousy burning through my blood. I tried to sound unaffected in my responses, and while Sean seemed blissfully unaware of my discomfort, Emily looked at me like she could see right through me. It simultaneously scared and invigorated me knowing that Emily could read me so easily. I soon realised that Emily was doing it on purpose, the cheeky looks thrown my way proving my suspicions that Emily wanted me to be jealous. The question was why?