Chapter 4

Em

A little while later everyone had left. Em didn’t even go outside to watch them sitting the building at the side of their house. She didn’t want to be around Quinn, or John.. Quinn’s dad, or even her mom. And she sure as shit didn’t want to watch them moving their stuff over.

Aspen had gone home and Em was just about to go downstairs and get some ice for her leg. Her leg that had bothered her nonstop since the accident and surgery. Not to mention she had been overdoing it with the dancing. She was pushing herself, trying her hardest to stay busy so she couldn’t think about things. Her body was paying the price. Even though she had healed for the most part, gotten her stitches out, and even done a couple of physical therapy appointments (just to appease her mom) things weren’t like they used to be.

So every night she was icing her knee… hoping no one noticed the constant pain she was in these days. And it wasn’t just her knee, her shoulder felt like it had been through a meat grinder, and she was getting frequent headaches. All of this was expected though. Her doctor had warned her before she left the hospital. He had also told her she might need to see a therapist to deal with the trauma. Joke was on him she was ten steps ahead as far as a therapist went.

Em wasn’t expecting to see her mom when she went to get the ice from the kitchen. Things were very tense between them, and had been for days now, ever since the announcement. They’d barely spoken to each other. Em did her best to avoid Carol at all costs. Her mom had always put her and her brother first. She had stood by Em fiercely when everything happened with her ex boyfriend River. So her sudden complete disregard for Em’s feelings was beyond confusing.

“Oh I didn’t know you were in here.” Em said by way of greeting.

“Em…” her mom started. “Can we talk? Please?”

Em has been so upset with her mom she had said barely five words to her in the last couple weeks. And she wasn’t prepared to start now.

“Not right now”. Em said.

She started to head out of the kitchen when she heard her mom sniffle. This caused her to pause and turn around. Her mother sat there at the island, tears running down her face.

“Son of a fuck ball” Em said. Then she turned around and went back to sit on one of the barstools. She looked at her mom, still very angry and confused, but also feeling guilty. She never liked to see Carol Parker cry.

Her mom looked up at her and smiled, then dabbed her face with a tissue that she had apparently been using for a while .. making Em feel even worse.

“Em. I don’t think you know the whole story. And I need you to know.. and to understand.”

Em said nothing.

“First of all, had I known that you… loved… Quinn, which I had no idea, I never would have even thought of dating John.”

But Em didn’t want to hear that. She interrupted her mom.

“But that’s not true mom. You can’t sit here and say you didn’t know we were serious. You joked with me about it!”

Her mom nodded and started to speak but Em wasn’t finished.

“He sat at my bedside in the hospital for THREE days! He CRIED! He hung on to me for dear life and he literally pulled me back. He brought me back to life not once, not twice, but three times!”

Em was referring to after what had happened with River.. then with Quinn’s own brother Huxley, and then the accident.

“And what about Quinn, mom. He had JUST got back in good graces with his dad. They were working it out… what do you think this is doing to him??”

Quinn and his dad had been in a bad place for years. Ever since Huxley had been sent away…. even before that really. After their mother had died, John threw himself into work. He didn’t take time to notice how bad Huxley had gotten. But they’d been working it out.. doing better. This would probably set them back too.

And now she was also crying. She was so angry and confused. She was hurt, and she felt betrayed by the only parent she had left. Em couldn’t deal with this so she started to get up and leave.

“Em wait!” Her mom said to her.

“Please listen a minute. I didn’t know. I didn’t know how much he meant to you… in that way. Aspen also sat at the hospital and cried for days. So did Asher.”

Wait. What?

“The point is I knew you were close but I didn’t know you loved him. Not like that. I never.. in a million years.. would’ve started this with John had I known. And at first I didn’t even know who he was to Quinn, not at first…. I found that out much later after we were already… “

“In love?” Em said.

“Yes. I don’t know what I can do to make you forgive me. But Em, he is it for me. And there’s … other things. Things that I can’t tell you, not yet. But one day I will be able to and then you will understand everything I promise. But I do love him Em. There won’t be another. I’ve loved two men in my life.. one was your dad… the other is John. You’re young .. you haven’t even been to college yet. There’s no way that you won’t meet someone else, you’ve barely even dated…..”

Em cut off her mom with a scoff.

“So that’s your reasoning? Who even are you right now?? You think because I’m 18 that Quinn isn’t it for me? Maybe he’s not but that wasn’t your right to take that choice away from me.”

Em stood to leave but then stopped. She turned and looked at her mom again, hurt etched on her face.

“He told me what you said, in the hospital? About me giving him my heart? You told him to treasure it. So don’t sit here .. and act like you didn’t know. Or that you didn’t just take that same heart you told him to be careful with, and break it all to pieces.”

Em then left the room and bounded up the stairs to her bedroom. She went in, slamming the door and fell onto her bed. A second later she heard the door open.

“Not in the mood!” She said to the intruder.

“Em?” A small voice spoke.

She sat up and turned around seeing her little brother standing there. Ah hell on wheat bread.. she hoped her and her mom fighting hadn’t woken him. That’s the last thing in the world he needed.

“Heyyy Saw-law” she said quickly drying her eyes and trying to put on a happy face. “What are you doing up?”

“I had a bad dream.” He said. “There was yelling, and screaming and then a car crash. And dad was there.. then he wasn’t. Then mom and you were both there, then you both disappeared too.”

Em felt her stomach lurch. Her poor brother had been through absolute hell at the ripe age of seven. He used to have nightmares every night right after her dad died. He only just recently stopped, and she would be damned if they started up again because of her.

“Hey Saw, you wanna sleep in here with me tonight? I’ll turn on Despicable Me.” She told him.

Sawyers face lit up and he quickly ran across the hall to grab his blanket and bear.. then bounced into bed next to her.

She looked over at him, seeing his smiling face, and knew she had to protect him at all costs from this crazy fucked up world they lived in.