Not You Again! | Sample Only

Chapter Two

"Aw, Mom, do I really have to?" Mya complained.

"As much as it sucks, we both have to go."

"Can't we just pack up and go somewhere?"

Emma brushed the hair away from her daughter's face, and let her palms rest on her cheeks. "I'd love nothing more than for you and me to take off somewhere, but I can't take anymore vacation time until the summer."

"I don't just mean a vacation, Mom. I want to leave this house, leave this town. I don't want to be here anymore," she said softly, tears glistening in her eyes.

"Oh, darling." She pulled Mya into a hug. "I wish we could."

The house was a constant reminder of some memory they'd had as a family, every room carried its own depressive weight. She wanted to smile at the good times, but she couldn't bring herself to do it yet.

"Let's just do it," Mya begged.

"I wish it were that easy, pumpkin."   She didn't think she could handle a move, amidst all the estate crap she had to start dealing with soon. Lawyers, funeral directors, insurance companies, she was so overwhelmed that her throat clogged just thinking about everything.

"I'll do anything, please," her daughter pleaded.

"We have to wait and see what the insurance company decides."

If they decided it was her husband's fault, then she wouldn't get anything from them and be forced to pay for all the funeral expenses. She wanted to hide, to disappear, and not have to deal with the ramifications of what the future could hold.

Placing the lunch she made for her daughter into a paper bag, Emma held it out to her. "Here."

Mya looked inside and rolled her eyes. "Ham again?"

"I know. I promise to go shopping after work." She grabbed her own bag and walked towards the door. "Come on."

"You said you were going to go shopping yesterday."

"I know," she said, locking the door. "I'm sorry."

Fighting to keep control, Emma made her way to her blue Honda ahead of her daughter. She'd been a failure as a mother lately, unable to do even the most basic of motherly duties, like grocery shopping.

Turning the key, the vehicle sputtered and refused to turn on. Please don't do this. She tried again and the result not much better. With water pooling in her eyes, she placed her forehead against the steering wheel.

Her husband's voice rang clearly in her head. 'I think you need a new battery before it leaves you stranded somewhere.'

"Oh, Peter," she murmured, her shoulders shaking as everything built up inside her all over again.

"It's okay, Mom. Please don't cry," her daughter said, wrapping her arms around Emma.

Her entire world was coming crashing down and there was not a single damn thing she could do about it. Giving Mya a quick hug, she grabbed her purse and climbed out of the car, a drop of rain landing on her glasses.

Great! Even the heavens decided to join in her misery. Grabbing the umbrellas off the backseat, they briskly walked towards the bus stop.

Mya plunked herself down on the bench, crossing her arms. "I want to stay home."

Turning away, Emma took in a slow deep breath and then let it out. It was mornings like this that her patience was shot and she really didn't want to get upset with her daughter, life was hard enough already without them fighting.

They arrived at Mya's school and as soon as she was safely inside, Emma returned to the bus stop, waiting to go to work. Her phone dinged in her pocket, making her heart race. She knew it would be him again. No one ever messaged her. Picking up her phone, she looked at the screen.

'How are you doing this morning?' – Devon Mathews.

Groaning, she lifted her head towards the sky and began typing, 'Off to work.'

'That's good, but that doesn't tell me how you're doing.'

Persistent son of a gun.

'Why do you want to know?'

'Because I care about you.'
Her breath hitched and her hands started to shake as she attempted to type back, 'You do?'

'Did you think I stopped?'

Emma bit her lip as she wrote back, 'Kind of.'

'I never stopped caring about you.'

A large vehicle drove by, making her light brown hair fly in her face. As Emma looked up, she noticed the bus was only about a half a block away from her. She stood up and waited behind an older gentleman who was standing close to the bus sign.

She had remained friends with Devon after they broke up, but that was mostly because they had mutual friends. At least, that's what she told herself anyway, yet she knew that her heart was still lost. Maybe that's why she moved away after high school. She couldn't stand to see him and not be with him.

'I still remember our last date.' - Devon

Before she realized it, she found herself writing, 'You do?'

'Yes. It was Valentine's day and I wanted to take you out to dinner down where I worked. My boss helped me with my tie and ribbed me out because I bought you fake flowers. I told him it's because you were allergic to real ones. Afterwards, we took a walk and held hands.'

Her face warmed as she read the text. 'I wore my black graduation dress.'

'Yes.'

'We'd broken up by then, but you still kept your promise to take me out and that meant the world to me.'

'You were the one I wanted to spend the day with.'

'I thought you just did it out of obligation.'

'I never did anything with you out of obligation.'

Emma placed the phone on her lap, unsure of how to respond. Guilt flowed through her. Here she was talking to her ex-boyfriend about the past and her husband had barely been gone a week.

'I gotta go,' she typed quickly, then shoved her phone in the pocket of her windbreaker. Glancing out the window, she blinked rapidly. The buildings were unfamiliar to her, not the same ones she passed every morning.

"Crap."

She missed her stop.