Page 113 of No Such Thing as Serendipity

“I’m not on my home turf. If I were in New York, I’d have it all figured out. I date all the time.”

“Yet it’s been a long time since you’ve gone on a date with a girl you’re into.”

“Girl? Are we in high school?”

Emma glared at me. “You know what I mean. You’re just avoiding the truth.”

“And what would that truth be?” I shouldn’t ask, but I needed to hear what I already knew.

“That Robyn is different. That she makes you feel things you haven’t for a really long time. She scares you.”

I sat up straighter. “Jesus. I’ve got ice water in my veins. I’ve closed so many deals that nobody thought possible because I never blink, so I doubt I’m scared.”

Emma smirked and sat back in her chair. “You’re scared.” Her tone held a note of finality.

“Any suggestions where I should take her?”

Emma bit her bottom lip and said, “I have a novel idea.”

“What’s that?”

“Ask her?”

I narrowed my eyes, trying to understand Emma’s meaning. Surely, she wasn’t telling me to ask Robyn to marry me. That would be absurd. “Ask her what?”

“What she wants to do.” Emma studied me. “What did you think I meant?”

I waved my hand and hoped my face hadn’t reddened. “I asked her out, so I need to figure it out.”

Emma shook her head. “Remember why you’re here?”

Realization dawned on me. “Oh, you want to choose where we go?”

“No!” Emma practically shouted. “I want you to relinquish control and let Robyn have some say. Instead of me.”

“Oh.” I let out a deep breath. I supposed I could text her and see. “This new me is going to take time to get used to.”

“Don’t think of it that way. It’s not a new you. It’s you returning to the you that you always were.”

“I like that.”

Emma pointed at me. “But don’t think that you’ve made me forget my original question. Why are you pounding on the table and swearing?”

“That.” I turned up my nose as I glanced at my journal. “Trying to determine what I should do with it. Maybe it’s time to get rid of it.”

“Absolutely not!”

Her adamant tone caught me by surprise. “How do you really feel?”

“It’s a piece of Auntie Bess. The last piece of her. Why would you get rid of it?”

“Why would you pretend to rip it up?” I shot back.

“I was just trying to get your attention, but I’m so sorry.”

I waved off her apology. “You’d did nothing wrong. Maybe I need to do it to set myself free.”

“Do you want to be free of Auntie Bess?”