“Nothing,” Emma said. “I thought you were someone else.”
“Oh.” Daniel sounded disappointed.
“So, what’s up?” Emma forced herself to sound bright and breezy, aloof even. Like she didn’t care that he’d suddenly called her out of the blue.
“I-I wondered how you were,” Daniel stumbled. He never stumbled over his words. He was always cool and collected, instinctively knowing exactly what to say.
“I’m good,” Emma said as she paced over to her window and glanced out towards his apartment building, wondering if he was currently looking back at her.
“Did you get the gifts I sent?”
“Yeah.” Emma nodded. “There was quite an assortment.”
“I just want you to know how sorry I am.”
“I got that.”
“I want to take you somewhere,” Daniel declared.
“Where?” Emma asked dubiously. “If you’re planning on us jetting off to some tropical island, then you’ve completely misread things. I’m not some floozy whose affection is for sale.”
“It’s not like that,” Daniel reassured her.
“Okay, then, where do you want to take me?”
“It’s a surprise.”
Emma frowned and pursed her lips. A Daniel Richmond surprise usually meant dinner on a luxury yacht or a chartered helicopter ride over the countryside. He didn’t know the meaning of the words subtle or understated.
“I don’t like surprises,” Emma objected.
“You’ll like this one,” Daniel insisted.
“I’m not so sure.”
“Please, Ems,” Daniel urged. “Let me take you out this afternoon. After that I won’t bother you ever again.”
“Really?” Emma lowered herself down onto the sofa as she thought it over. “Okay, fine, but promise me you’re not taking me anywhere dodgy like a swingers’ party or something?”
She heard the crackle of Daniel’s laughter on the other end of the line, and her heart swelled. She missed that laugh.
“I’m not taking you anywhere dodgy, I promise.”
“Okay then.”
“Be ready at three.”
“Three?” Emma looked at the clock hanging in her living area. It was only ten in the morning.
“Oh, and make sure you wear sensible shoes.”
“Sensible shoes?” Emma repeated in confusion, but the line had gone dead as Daniel had hung up before she could recant her decision to go with him.
PROMPTLY AT THREE, Emma’s doorbell rang. She opened it with a beating heart to see Daniel standing there wearing dark denim jeans, a crisp white shirt, and a knowing grin.
“So, where are we going?” Emma asked, placing her hands on her hips. She’d followed Daniel’s advice and put on her gray tennis shoes with skinny jeans and a gray off-the-shoulder T-shirt.
“It’s a surprise,” Daniel told her mysteriously, his grin remaining.
Emma raised a dubious eyebrow at him. “If this is one of those scenarios where you’re hoping to impress me by whisking me off on a private jet for dinner in Rome or something, let me stop you right now.”
“We’re not going anywhere nearly as dramatic,” Daniel said. “Though I’m hoping you’ll be suitably impressed.”
As Emma followed him out of her apartment and down towards his waiting car, she couldn’t help but be intrigued.
“It’s a bit of a long drive,” he said as she buckled her seat belt.
“How long?” Emma frowned. Where on Earth were they going?
“Couple of hours,” Daniel said nonchalantly as he turned the key in the ignition, and his car roared to life.
Emma settled back in her seat in anticipation of the long drive ahead, still unsure where they could possibly be going.
TWO HOURS LATER, THEY stopped at a gas station to refuel, and Emma glanced around at the seemingly endless fields surrounding them. They had left the skyscrapers of the city, entered a more rural part of the country, and had even crossed state lines. Still, Emma couldn’t figure out where they were headed.
“Are we nearly there?” she asked Daniel as they wandered towards the station to stock up on supplies. Emma’s stomach had started growling a good half hour ago.
Daniel paused to glance at his designer watch. “Nearly. Less than an hour to go, I reckon.”
“Less than an hour?” Emma mulled over the snippet of information, but her train of thought was broken when they entered the store and her hunger got the better of her.
LADEN WITH BAGS OF potato chips and Twizzlers, they returned to Daniel’s car, and Emma eagerly broke into the closest bag to her.
“Don’t stand on ceremony on my account.” Daniel laughed as he pulled out of the gas station, and Emma shoved a handful of chips directly into her mouth.
“I’m hungry,” she mumbled in reply. As the salted snacks began to satiate her hunger, she realized how Daniel was one of the few guys she could comfortably stuff her face in front of. Arguably she could do it around Damion and Nick too, but they didn’t make her heart race like Daniel did. They were friends first, but there was something else between them, something more. But Daniel had missed his chance to redeem himself. She was on this road trip just to humor him. Then she saw the sign.
“Arlington?” Emma gasped as she read the name of the small town they’d just entered.
“Seem familiar?” Daniel smiled.
Emma pressed herself up against the window to look out and see what had changed. She should have realized; three hours outside of the city she lived lay the prep school where she had grown up, where she had first met Daniel and Damion. Daniel was taking her back to Saint Jude’s School for Academic Excellence. But why?
“We’re going back to St. Judes?” Emma exclaimed, feeling both excited and nervous at the same time. She hadn’t laid eyes on her old school since she’d graduated almost ten years ago.
“Yep.” Daniel nodded at the wheel. He drove through the tiny, yet eerily unchanged town of Arlington. Emma recalled driving that same route with her father behind the wheel. As they drove past the local Wendy’s, her stomach twisted itself into elaborate knots, as she knew she was less than ten minutes away from school.
But Daniel turned off early, down a dirt track instead of staying on the main road that led up towards the school.
“I thought we were going to St. Judes,” Emma commented, flashing a confused look at him.
“We are,” Daniel confirmed. “Sort of.”
“Sort of?” Emma challenged. “What does that mean?”
Before she could press Daniel for more details, the car had stopped on the side of the dirt road adjacent to a large field full of long grass. He got out, stretched, and began walking towards the field. Quickly Emma followed.
“Daniel, where the hell are you going?” she demanded tersely. Above them the sky had started to darken, night would soon be upon them. Emma remembered how suddenly the night came in Arlington. In the blink of an eye, the world would be cast into darkness as the moon replaced the sun.
Daniel ceased walking and turned to look at her.
“Recognize anything?” he asked, pointing slightly ahead to a solitary tree that stood in the field. It looked lonely and majestic as it hovered like an unearthly giant over the quivering blades of grass.
Emma looked at the tree, and her mouth fell open slightly. She did indeed recognize it. She ran forward, grateful of her choice of sensible shoes. She didn’t stop running until she was at the tree. She ran her hands down its trunk, remembering the way it felt, the way the ground around it smelled.
She searched the trunk with both her hands and her eyes, and then she found it. Neatly carved halfway up the tree were two initials held together within a heart.
D + E
The only part that was missing was the customary 4eva. Back then, it was as if they were wise enough to know not to promise one another eternity.
“Remember that?” Daniel came and leaned against the tree, glancing at the
carving.
“Yeah.” Emma nodded, smiling. “I do.”
As Emma looked at the tree, she blinked back tears. She couldn’t believe that Daniel had remembered; they’d never spoken about the tree since that day. Then, Daniel lifted a penknife from his jeans pocket and began to amend the carving.
Emma watched in disbelief as he added 4eva beneath their names.
“Daniel.” She placed her palm over the inscription as Daniel placed his strong hands upon her hips. He spun her around so that her back was now against the trunk of the tree. Leaning down, he kissed her. At first, the kiss was soft and gentle, as it had been when they were fourteen, but it quickly deepened. His tongue pressed up against hers and massaged it as Emma’s entire body turned to jelly.
As passion built and their kisses deepened, the rest of the world fell away. Emma forgot about her anger, her hurt, and knew only that she loved Daniel and wanted him. Reaching forward, she began to unbuckle his jeans, making Daniel give out a low moan.
She pulled down his jeans and boxer shorts, and he did the same to her. Then he lifted her up and pressed her hard against the tree. Emma wrapped her legs around him, drawing him to her.
He began sensually kissing her neck as Emma groaned with desire; she was already close to climaxing. She’d forgotten how soul-affirming sex with Daniel could be.
As he kissed her neck, he slid himself inside of her, and Emma gasped with delight.
For almost twenty minutes, he made love to her against the tree on which they had carved their initials. The whole encounter was soft and sensual, not rushed and heated as their other moments had been. Daniel wanted to slow the world down and enjoy being together, enjoy being as one.
They both came together, panting hard into the twilight air around them.
“That was...” Emma had no words. She untangled herself from Daniel and wriggled back into her jeans.
Daniel didn’t say anything; instead he looked intently at the updated carving in the bark.
“Are you okay?” Emma reached out and took his hand in hers. He looked back at her, his expression open and vulnerable.
“I mean it,” he said. “I mean forever.”
“I know you do.” Emma stepped towards him and leaned up to tenderly kiss him upon the lips. He tasted of salt and memories.
“I wanted to show you this.” Daniel used his free hand to stroke Emma’s cheek. “I wanted to show you that I remember and that I care. That I love you.”
Emma shuddered as she heard the words. They were so small, but they meant so much. They possessed the impact to change everything.
“I love you too,” she replied as hand in hand they walked back to Daniel’s car.
“I can’t believe we’re here,” she continued, squeezing his hand. “Back at St. Judes. Do you think it’s changed much?”
“I doubt it.” Daniel opened his car door and glanced back at the tree, which was about to be consumed from view by the approaching darkness of night.
Beyond the field, beyond their horizon, was the impressive structure that was St. Judes. It was a place Daniel loved and loathed in equal measures. He’d found his best friend there, his first love, but like many private schools, they pushed their students vigorously, and Daniel learned back then as a teenager that he didn’t deal well with authority.
Back in the car, Emma leaned back contentedly in her seat and smiled softly at Daniel.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” she whispered.
“My pleasure.” Daniel smiled as he backed down the dirt track and towards the unchanging town of Arlington.
ON THE RIDE BACK TO the city, Emma drifted off to sleep. The rhythm of the car and the fresh air in her lungs sent her into a deep, satisfying nap. When she awoke, the open fields were gone, replaced by concrete giants and garish neon lights. They were back in the city.
Rubbing her eyes, Emma looked out at the familiar streets and longed for the open freedom of the countryside. Her time at St. Judes had shown her a different kind of life, a life away from the hustle and bustle of city life. She’d forgotten how much she loved wandering through the open fields, letting the grass tickle the tips of her turned-down fingertips.
Groggily she turned and looked at Daniel, who was staring ahead as he drove towards her apartment building. He was so impossibly handsome. He looked as though he’d just stepped off the set of a Hollywood movie.
And the feeling Emma had each time the young lovers parted suddenly rose in her chest, making her eyes water. When they returned to the city, they could never sustain what they had at school. Life in the city was too real, too complicated. It was as if what they had back at St. Judes had been but a dream.
Tensing, Emma turned away from Daniel to look back at the passing lights. She feared that already the spell of the tree had been broken and that her rekindled love for Daniel couldn’t survive in the harsher, unflinching environment of the city in which they lived and had returned to.
THE SHARP SOUND OF her phone ringing bounced off the walls of Emma’s apartment. Turning up the sound on the television, she tried to drown it out. She knew who would be calling. Glancing briefly at the ringing phone, Emma sighed. It had been three days since the visit to the carved tree, three days since she and Daniel had made love up against its rough bark trunk. It had been three days since they had spoken. She wanted to continue the illusion that existed around the tree, to pretend that everything was fine, to go back to how they had once been, but she couldn’t.
Too much had happened between them for Emma to just wipe the slate clean. For her, the worst betrayal of all was when Daniel left for England. A part of her feared that if she answered his call, he’d tell her that yet again he was leaving and didn’t know when he’d return. Emma wasn’t prepared to let him break her heart yet again.
The phone was still ringing when a knock came at her door. Frowning, Emma stood up, wandered over, and looked through her peephole. She saw a distorted image of Damion standing in the corridor, hands in pockets, glancing nervously in the direction he had just come.
“Hey.” Emma opened the door and smiled at him.
“So you’re alive, then?” Damion quipped as he stepped inside and caught the last few rings of the ignored call before the answering machine kicked in.
“It only just started ringing,” Emma said quickly.
“Really?” Damion raised a dubious eyebrow.
“Fine.” Emma shut the door, crossed over to the kitchen area, and flicked on the kettle. “It’s been ringing nonstop for the last few days.”
“And you keep ignoring it?”
“And I keep ignoring it.” Emma nodded.
“I don’t get you two,” Damion declared as he dropped onto Emma’s sofa and waited for his coffee. He didn’t even need to ask for the drink; Emma would instinctively make it, knowing just how he liked it, a dash of milk and one sugar. His visits to her apartment had become routine and familiar.
She handed him a mug of fresh coffee and sat down beside him with her own.
“I don’t know what you mean,” she said, blowing into her mug to cool the coffee.
“You and Daniel,” Damion clarified although he knew he didn’t need to. Emma knew exactly what he was talking about, she always did.
“There is no me and Daniel.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
“Then you heard wrong,” Emma snapped, feeling her eyes start to moisten.
“Sorry, Ems, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Damion said, his tone apologetic. “Daniel was just raving about what a great time you two had the other day. In his mind, you’ve reconciled your differences and are together again.”
“Well, he got the wrong impression.” Emma lifted her long legs up beneath her and sent a furtive glance out of her window, up towards Daniel’s looming apartment building. Its presence now seemed oppressive rather than comforting, like she couldn’t get away from him.
“I thought you wanted to get back with him, I mean, ultimately.”
“I thought that too,” Emma admitted, hanging her head. “But... I don’t know. I thought I could trust him again, but I’m not so sure. I keep waiting for the punch line, for the part where he says it was all for show, and he’s leaving for England in the morning never to return.”
Damion’s face was pinched with concern and understanding. He too knew the pain of being suddenly abandoned by Daniel Richmond.
“I wish I could forget it all and just move on,” Emma continued. “But I keep thinking what if he hasn’t truly changed?” Her eyes bore into Damion’s as if she were searching the inner confines of his mind for the answer.
“He has changed,” Damion told her, though his voice lacked conviction.
“I don’t see it.”
“I know he’s desperate for you two to work things out.”
“He left us, Damion,” Emma said, recalling the painful memory of his leaving. “We were about to start Delacourt Designs together, as a trio, and he left. He stole away to another country without as much as a goodbye. All because I wanted to save my father’s life. What kind of a person does that?”
Damion had no words. He couldn’t imagine what sort of a person would do that, as he never would. He’d stand by Emma until the end of time. His loyalty for her was, and always would be, unconditional.
“I can’t let it go,” Emma whispered. “I can’t forgive him. I just can’t.”
“I know he’s made mistakes.” Damion leaned forward and placed a comforting hand upon her knee. “More than most,” he added wryly. “But he does love you, Ems. I do truly believe that. Perhaps instead of dwelling on the stuff that went wrong between you two, you should focus on the good stuff, the stuff that made you fall in love with him.”
Emma thought of the tree, of their inscribed initials. She tried to conjure up other, happier times with Daniel, but they were constantly overshadowed by his departure to England. Giving up, she shook her head sadly at Damion.
“I think he burned too many bridges,” she declared.
Designing Emma (Volume 6) Page 4
