Farm Girl Has Bad Boy (#3)

Chapter Seventeen

The next few pictures are in a collage of Emery’s preschool years. In almost every one he wears a pouting face and I can’t help but wonder if our daughter is going to carry the same expression. Before I can even finish the thought, Emery turns the page again and I burst into laughter.

“What’s on your face?” I ask, covering my mouth with my palm. Emery’s covered head to toe in what seems to be chocolate. For once, he’s grinning and I feel really bad for his mom who has to clean him up.

“For Christmas one year I got a giant chocolate Santa that was taller than I was.” Emery shakes his head, laughing lightly. “For some reason I put it on the kitchen floor beside the vent and it started to melt.”

I roll my eyes. “Let me guess, you couldn’t waste that much chocolate?”

Emery punches my arm playfully. “That and I decided when I couldn’t eat anymore I would just roll in it.”

For the next twenty minutes we look through more pictures of Emery, half of them containing Alana who I continue to glance over. They’re mostly of his childhood and as we start to approach his early teen years, I can’t help but start to actually look at Emery’s childhood friend. As each page turns, the way she looks with him makes my heart ache.

I wish I could have been the one to grow up with Emery, not her. However as I stare at the way she’s looking at Emery in one of the more recent pictures, I can’t help but realize that maybe I have been right all along. I quickly turn the page and the next photograph confirms my suspicions.

Emery sits on a picnic table, grinning at the camera. Alana is on his left, leaning towards him as her lips stay pressed to her cheeks. Even though it had to be at least three years ago, my heart breaks in half.

“I know what you’re thinking.” I blink a few times, realizing Emery’s talking to me. “And no, nothing more happened. We’re just best friends, River.” He places his right hand on my left shoulder and gives me a sincere look. “Besides, I’m in love with you.” He leans over, much like Alana is in the picture, and places a kiss on my lips.

“River!” Emery and I quickly pull away at the sound of someone calling my name. “Someone is here for you!”

On shaky legs, I rise to my feet. If Mary was here, she would have just walked right in. So that only really leaves one other option. Alana.

“Want me to come?” Emery asks, brushing his hair out of his eyes. By the way he’s looking at me he knows I’m worried about talking to Alana alone; however I still shake my head.

Downstairs, I stop at the front door and take a deep breath. Mentally telling myself that it’s going to be fine, I push open the door and step into the warm afternoon. I don’t make it two steps when I stop in my tracks, all my fear and anger turning into plain confusion.

“Hey River,” Daniel smiles, giving me a small wave before shoving his hands in his pockets. He leans against his car, squinting in the sun.

“Hey Daniel,” I reply, cautiously walking over. “If you’re looking for Mary, she’s not here.” I fold my arms across my chest and lean to one foot, wanting to go inside the cold house instead of standing in the hot sun.

“Oh, I know,” he laughs lightly, flashing me a grin. “I came to see you, actually.”

For a moment my face scrunches in confusion but I quickly change it to a plastic smile. “Oh, why’s that?”

“Well,” Danny smiles, pulling a small box out of his back pocket. “My mom was going through family jewelry and was planning on selling the things she doesn’t want. But I figured that maybe you’d want this.” He holds open the small, gold box to me, revealing a necklace. Only it’s not an ordinary necklace, the chain looks like real gold and it holds three, perfect pearls at the end. In the middle is a regular white pearl and on either side is a light pink.