The Affair: Week 5 Read Online Free Page A

interrupting her chaotic thoughts. “I still can’t believe it. Vanni Montand. You always did have all the family luck.”
    Emma blinked.
“I
did?”
    “Sure,” Amanda said, giving her a slightly startled glance before she set her backpack down on the entryway bench.
    Emma gave a short laugh. “You’re the gorgeous one. You’re the brilliant doctor-to-be.”
You’re the one who my ex-boyfriend preferred.
    Amanda’s smile faded as she took a step toward her. “Do you ever really see yourself in the mirror, Emma?” Emma just stared back at her. “You’re beautiful. And what’s more, you don’t even have to
try
and you are. It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that you snagged Montand’s attention.”
    “Thanks,” Emma muttered, avoiding her sister’s stare.
    “And you know you’re every bit as smart as me. You took that incredible load in nursing school and still aced all your classes and clinicals. And
lucky
?” Amanda shook her head incredulously. “You beat death, for God’s sake. Mom used to call you her little miracle.”
    “I didn’t beat anything,” Emma said. “It just . . . happened.”
    “You walk in grace.” Amanda shrugged when Emma gave her an incredulous glance. “Colin said it—after all this stuff with you finding us . . . you know. Together. And it’s true, Em. No one would have handled this situation as gracefully as you. “You’ve been so reasonable about the whole thing. I have a feeling you’re being so patient because you’re thinking of what Mom would have wanted. But no matter what the reason, I know it took a very big person to react the way you have. And I appreciate it. I just . . . wanted you to know.”
    “Thanks, but I think you’re both being a bit too generous with the praise,” Emma said shortly, taking a step toward the door.
    She glanced back when Amanda grabbed her hand. “I’m not being too generous,” Amanda said steadfastly, her lower lip trembling slightly. “Emma . . . I’m so, so sorry.”
    “For falling in love with Colin?”
    “No. For falling in love in this way. It’s the last thing on earth I wanted.”
    It was Amanda who stepped forward and hugged her. Emma stood stiff in the embrace at first. Something gave in her. She returned the hug every bit as warmly as her sister gave it. She shut her eyes and squeezed tight as emotion flooded her.
    Abruptly, she backed away and reached for the door.
    She’d missed Amanda
so
much.
    * * *
    It was going on two o’clock by the time she got off the subway and took the stairs up to State Street. She paused in the lobby of Macy’s when a woman offered to spritz her with a brand of perfume that she knew she liked, but couldn’t afford. She was in the process of rubbing her wrist on her neck, when her phone began to ring in her purse. Plucking out her phone in a distracted, unhurried fashion, she noticed the number.
    “Hello?” she asked quickly, worried she’d taken too long and he’d hung up.
    “It’s me,” Vanni said. “Where are you?”
    “Downtown,” she said, her voice ringing with amazement not only at hearing his voice, but also at his brisk question. “I’m at Macy’s.”
    “I know,” he said. “But
where
?”
    “How did you know I was at Macy’s?”
    “Emma?
Where
?” he growled softly.
    “Okay,” she said, hearing the amused warning in his tone. She looked around the setting of the vintage, huge department store. “I’m in the perfume section on the first floor. Why?”
    She glanced up, noticing that the salesgirl who had sprayed Emma’s wrist was staring in wide-eyed fascination over Emma’s shoulder.
    “Because I’m looking for you,” Vanni said.
    Emma’s mouth fell open in shock. She’d heard
him
speak in addition to hearing his voice on the phone. She looked over her shoulder.
    He was hanging up his phone and slipping it into his back pocket.
    “There you are,” he said briskly, blue-green eyes lowering over her in a satisfied