Never Say Never by Rachael Sommers (books to get back into reading TXT) 📕

sound of Emily’s moans echoing in her head. And when she closed her eyes, all she saw was the hurt on Emily’s face as Camila walked away.

Her resolve nearly crumbled when she heard Emily sobbing, the sounds wrenching through her chest, and she shoved herself away from the door so she wouldn’t hear any more.

It was for the best, she told herself, yanking off her dress, the dress that now smelled like Emily, still rumpled from where her hands had been, and she crawled under the covers.

She knew she wouldn’t sleep, not when her mind was racing, not when she knew Emily was upset, not when she was upset, and she didn’t remember the last time she had cried but she was close to it, her eyes stung, and she didn’t fight the tears when they started to fall.

She had been reduced to a lovesick fool, crying over a woman half her age, and she had no idea how Emily had found her way into her heart.

She had never felt pain like this, even when Chris left her for someone else, but that had probably been inevitable, as had the divorces that came before. She had felt them all slipping away, had known the end was near, but this…

Emily had blown into her life like a hurricane, waves crashing into her heart, leaving a void that could not be filled.

The best thing, the only thing to do was to fire her.

For the first time she contemplated what it would mean—it would hurt Jaime, and he’d probably hate her for a while, but Emily would be out of her life, she would be out of Emily’s, and maybe then things could go back to the way they had been. The scars would linger, but she wouldn’t have to see her every day, and with distance and time, Emily would heal and move on, even if Camila never did.

But she didn’t have the heart to do it—she didn’t want to hurt Emily any more, didn’t want to push the knife any deeper than she already had.

She would have to go back to keeping her distance, only this time she wouldn’t slip, wouldn’t encourage Emily ever again, would treat her like she treated her other employees, like she didn’t matter.

But God, she did matter, she mattered so much that Camila could hardly breathe, and she just didn’t know how this had happened. How did someone like Emily, so special, so perfect, even exist in this cruel and unforgiving world?

She would keep her distance, keep Emily at arm’s length, and maybe, just maybe, they would get through.

Or at least Emily might.

Because it might be too late for her.

She was in love, didn’t know when it had happened, when she had fallen, but she had, hard and fast and so dizzyingly deep that she would never be the same again.

Chapter 20

Emily didn’t sleep at all that night.

She didn’t move from the couch, didn’t change out of her clothes, and didn’t get a blanket. She just lay there falling apart and promising to put herself back together in the morning, try to function enough to get home, to not let Camila see how much she was hurting, and when the sun started streaming in through the window, she was still lying there, staring at nothing.

They were supposed to meet Jessica at nine to leave for the airport, but at eight o’clock, Emily still hadn’t heard any movement from where Jaime slept, so she had to pull herself together and make sure he was up and ready.

The task created a welcome distraction, and she quickly changed into some fresh clothes before waking him up. She probably looked like shit without makeup, but she didn’t care, especially since she was going to spend the next eight hours on a plane anyway.

She forced herself to act normal around Jaime, getting him dressed and fed and making sure their luggage was packed and ready. Just as she thought she would have to check if Camila was awake, her door opened. It was exactly 8:59.

Camila appeared a moment later, rolling her suitcase behind her. She told her son good morning and asked if he was ready to go. She never looked at Emily.

Jessica was already in the lobby, so they checked out and loaded into the town car that was waiting for them. The silence was stifling, but Emily didn’t know what to say.

“Is, um—” Jessica broke the silence, glancing nervously between Emily, who was staring out the window, and Camila, who was tapping on her phone. “Is everything all right?”

“Fine,” Camila replied in a voice that didn’t invite further discussion. Emily felt Jessica watching her, but she didn’t turn around, sure she would break if Jessica said anything to her.

The traffic was light, and the journey didn’t take them as long as when they had arrived. After getting through security, Camila disappeared into the first-class lounge with Jaime, and Emily breathed a little easier.

“Emily?”

Jessica lightly touched her arm, and Emily turned around to face her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Everything’s fine.” But it wasn’t, and she knew she didn’t look like everything was fine. She had barely said a word all day, she probably looked like she hadn’t slept, and she hadn’t even tried to fix her face. But she also didn’t want to have this conversation outside of the duty-free store as passengers hurried by.

“Emily…”

“I said everything’s fine. I’ll be fine,” she added, because then at least she wasn’t lying. At least she hoped she would one day be able to look at Camila without feeling like she wanted to burst into tears.

She turned to walk to their gate. Jessica trailed behind her, but once they were seated next to each other waiting to board, any hope that Jessica might drop the subject faded.

“Did something… Did something happen last night when you guys went out?”

“Why would you ask that?”

“Come on, Emily, I’m not an idiot. You were both fine yesterday, and now you and Camila can barely look at each