Embracing Emma (Companion to Brisé) Read Online Free Page A

hesitate, letting the nerves get the best of me.
    “My parents won’t go for the dessert before dinner. We tried that for my thirteenth birthday.”
    You have to have the patience of Job to deal with her. She can’t just go with it. My planner, my over-thinker, my destructor of spontaneity.
    “I’ve talked to your dad.” Her eyes grow wide, causing me to fumble. “I thought doing the dessert first would leave more time for us to go to dinner. Alone.”
    “Like a date?” I see her dimples before her lips turn up.
    “Exactly like a date.” I feel the nerves slowly leave my body, and unwavering desire takes its place.
    Her cheeks tinge red, lifting as her lips upturn into the biggest grin. My smile. “Yes,” she says while nodding her head. I didn’t realize the tension I’ve been carrying for days until I feel how loose my shoulders become, my arms automatically wanting to reach for her.
    “You pick wherever you want to go.”
    “You suck at dates. Aren’t you supposed to plan them?”
    I take a deep breath. This girl is challenging. “And you’re the expert?”
    “Nope, you’d be my first, but oh worldly one, you should be prepared.”
    “Ems . . .” Her giggle makes me chuckle and forget how trying she can be.
    “One request.”
    “Anything,” and I mean it. I’m determined to make every dream of hers come true.
    “We still end up at the dock.”
    “Sure, but that’s a dull end to your first date.”
    “ Our first date, William. And it’s perfect. I’d like my first kiss, our first kiss to be where I first realized I had a crush on my best friend.”
    I close my eyes and inhale. “Ems, get out of the truck and go home before our first kiss is in the front seat of my truck, in the middle of our neighborhood, with our parents staring out the windows.” I hear her laughter, the melody hitting me straight in the gut, and when I hear her door shut, I gradually exhale, fighting my body to capture her and haul her back to me.
    I feel I’ve waited my entire life for this day. Fishing, ballet classes, cookouts, birthdays, Christmases, and every other holiday…it’s all brought me here. My future.
    Our future. It’s like it was pre-destined. We are following her parents’ story minus the cancer and Emma being a ballerina. That girl can’t walk and chew gum, let alone twirl on her toes.
    I shut the front door. “Is that you William?” I roll my eyes—who else would it be.
    “It’s me. Expecting someone?”
    “Phoebe may stop by, but I wanted to talk to you for a minute.” Subtlety isn’t a trait my dad carries. Well one has it, James, but right now I’m dealing with Brett. It used to be so easy between us; he knew my every thought because there was never a hesitation in me to share them. He was at every sporting event I participated in, every school activity . . . until I asked them to stop coming. Pretty shitty of me, but you try being a teenage boy with two fathers. I couldn’t choose, and everyone knew the situation, so I just sat them both down and told them it was embarrassing to have my parents there. The looks on their faces made me feel worse because it wasn’t just devastation, but disappointment, too That was three years ago, and I’m still waiting for them to give up on me. I’m embarrassed I took the easy road, but the insults and name-calling were too much. It became me against every one else, and that was a load I didn’t know how to carry.
    “What did you need, Dad?” Brett’s always been Dad. James is Pop.
    “Why didn’t you tell me you were taking Emma on a date tomorrow?” I just asked her. I’m positive Luke told Phoebe, Phoebe told Brett, and here we are.
    I shrug my shoulders and am met with his determined stare. Face stoic, no muscle twitch, he’ll wait all day. “It’s not a big deal.” I cringe internally because it’s the biggest fucking deal of my life.
    “No big deal? Is she just another girl to you?” His voice is laced with astonishment. If