47

“Bentley, you need to understand something. Even though she shows a different façade to the world, Emmy, in many ways, is more controlled than you are. People think she is carefree, humorous, and even flighty. She rarely shows her true feelings. She hides them under a smile or a laugh.”

“I know. There is much more to her than one sees.”

She tilted her head in agreement. “That’s what she lets them see. She is intensely private, and she doesn’t allow people in easily. The only way she survived being abandoned not once, but twice, was to take charge of her life. Be the one to make decisions about it. Where she lived, what she did, how much money she had. She has refused to depend on anyone for anything. Even Cami and myself.” She shrugged ruefully. “She didn’t expect you and the huge dilemma you present to her.”

“I’m sorry—I’m a dilemma? I don’t understand.”

“You are her greatest desire—the one she would never admit to having—and her biggest fear. The one person she can be herself with,