Flirt (Chasing Hope Book 1)

by Lavinia Leigh

  She clung to him, digging her fingers into his back, never wanting to let go. Tears began to stream down her face as she wrapped her arms around him He placed his hands firmly on her bum, squeezing. She knew that she couldn’t let him go, there was no way. She would have to make this work. She needed to.

  He pulled away slightly. “Oh, baby, I can’t do this knowing that you’re just going to walk away. Please tell me before we go any further that this is the beginning and not a goodbye.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she said, leaning in to nibble on his ear. “I can’t, I think I might just love you.”

  “Love, that’s it! I love you, Emmeline. I don’t think I knew that until this second. I love you, I have since before I knew you. You were the one I was dreaming would come into my life.”

  Emmeline giggled and they kissed again. How was she going to explain this to Ginny? She had just spent the whole night complaining about him.

  Yet again, my mouth has made me look like an idiot.

  Emmeline didn’t make it home until after two in the morning. She found Ginny fast asleep on the couch, with Millie draped over her. Emmeline felt a tinge of guilt for not being there when her daughter woke up in the middle of the night, but it was obvious that she was okay. Emmeline picked up her sleeping kid, wearing her princess jasmine top and a white tutu with rhinestones freshly sewn onto the hem. She must have been up for a while and convinced Ginny at bedazzle a few more things. She carried Millie up the stairs to her room and then returned to cover Ginny up with a blanket before going into the kitchen for a drink of water. She was tired and raw. The whole day had been a rollercoaster of emotions.

  The kitchen looked freshly scrubbed and organized. Emmeline couldn’t help but be in wonder of Ginny; she was a force. Emmeline couldn’t understand how she could get so much done in so little time. It blew her mind. Part of it was that Ginny never questioned what she did, she just did it. She was kind of like Pernella that way. Just do, consequences be damned. Emmeline wished she was more like that. She thought about everything too much.

  Even the pile of papers on top of the fridge was freshly organized. There was a stack of unopened letters on the table with a post-it note that said, “Read these,” and another stack with bills and a note that read “Really, you don’t even open these?” One more was set aside, and Ginny had scribbled on the envelope, “Open now!”

  It was bad enough that she had to leave Joel in the first place, but to come home to the brutal reality of bills was too much. She climbed the stairs, undressed, and slipped into bed. There was no doubt she would sleep well tonight.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Morning came far too early. Even though Millie had gone to bed late the night before, she still came bounding bright-eyed into Emmeline’s room before seven. Emmeline groaned, wishing she could go back to sleep, feeling as though she had just closed her eyes, but avoiding the temptation to pull the quilt back up over her head.

  “Morning, sweetie,” Emmeline mumbled as she forced her eyes half-open. She closed them and then tried opening them again. Millie was sitting on the bed with red lipstick plastered from one end of her mouth to another, and her whole face was dusted in a dark cream-colored powder.

  “What did you do?” She sat up in bed and noticed the smear of black eye shadow that painted Millie’s eyelids.

  “I was thinking that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been done a million times.” Millie bounced on her hands and knees around the bed with excitement.

  “Probably, it’s a classic.” Emmeline tried unsuccessfully to suppress a yawn. How on earth do kids have so much energy in the morning?

  “Aren’t people sick of it? Everyone has read the book, seen the movie, and watched the play.”

  “What are you getting at?” She was a little nervous as to where this kid of hers was going with this train of thought.

  “Wouldn’t it be more interesting if we did a zombie version? What if all the chocolate that Willy Wonka makes turns people into zombies? Can’t you see it, the entire cast walking around saying ‘Chocolate, chocolate.’” Millie acted out the scene, walking back and forth on the bed.

  Emmeline burst out laughing. Chocolate pretty much had that effect on her.

  “When did you come up with that?”

  “Sometime last night.”

  “And where did you get all that makeup?”

  “Ginny’s suitcase. She’s up, you know. She’s downstairs burning toast for breakfast. I think you might need to go downstairs before she actually tries to eat it.”

  “Deal. Go wash that stuff off, and I’ll rescue Ginny from her toast and make some pancakes.”

  “Pancakes, yes, but I need to perfect the zombie look before I tell our director about this. It has to be great, or he won’t be happy. He gets so upset over these little changes I try to make.”

  “Turning his play into a zombie horror show isn’t a little change. That’s a completely new play. You might have to give up on this one.”

  “He has no imagination!” declared Millie, throwing her hands up in the air before stomping off toward the bathroom.

  Emmeline rolled her eyes, threw on a housecoat, and went downstairs, catching Ginny as she was about to put a charcoaled piece of toast in her mouth.

  “Stop!” Emmeline ordered. “Give that to me. Friends don’t let friend eat that sort of thing.”

  Ginny laughed. “I’ve had worse.”

  Emmeline took the piece of toast out of her hand and tossed it into the garbage. She poured herself a cup of the coffee that Ginny managed to make, and then pulled out a red bowl and set to work putting together the ingredients for pancakes. Ginny watched, relieved, from the other side of the counter.

  “You were home late,” she prodded with a mischievous smile that would make the Cheshire cat jealous.

  “I’m an idiot,” Emmeline started. “I went to tell him it was over and ‘I love you’ came out of my mouth.”

  Ginny started to laugh uncontrollably. “Remind me again to never to let you become a lawyer.”

  “That’s why I have you around. Can you even imagine?”

  “So, did he say it back?”

  “Yes,” Emmeline said, feeling her cheeks go red.

  “So, am I supposed to like him now?”

  “Very much.”

  “Good. Do I get to meet him?”

  “I hope so. We didn’t really have a chance to talk about when or how we were going to reintroduce Millie to him.”

  “Mouths otherwise engaged, I take it.”

  “Ginny!” Emmeline chastised her, but then confessed, “Pretty much. Did you know that Millie got into your makeup this morning?”

  “Yep. Actually, I bought it for her; stage makeup. I thought perhaps it might encourage her to get more excited about being on the stage. She’s so into sparkles, makeup is the next logical progression. She told me she was going to practise putting it on this morning.”

  “Practice. That she did all right,” remarked Emmeline. “And then decided to turn the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory play into a zombie play.”

  Ginny snorted coffee out of her nose.

  “Tell me about it!” Emmeline said. “Is Pernella up yet? She’s normally the first one up.”

  “No, I haven’t seen her yet,” Ginny answered, looking slightly concerned as Millie came downstairs with her Verruca Salt costume on and her zombie makeup ready for her play practice. “Beautiful, Millie, I love it! Director Anthony would be an idiot not to change the play. Charlie and the Zombie Chocolate Factory is much more interesting.”

  “Don’t encourage her!” hissed Emmeline, pulling out a frying pan to start cooking the pancakes.

  “Did you see the letters on the table?” Ginny asked. She walked over to the table and picked them up, glancing through them again. “It looks like you never open your mail.”

  “I saw, but I haven’t gone through them yet. Open them if you want.”

  Ginny opened the letter whil
e Millie practised her zombie grumble back and forth from one end of the kitchen to the other. “It says that you need to call this lawyer, something about your great-grandmother Emmeline’s estate.”

  “But she’s been dead for years,” said Emmeline.

  “I don’t know, maybe it’s a hoax. Identity theft or something like that. Either way, you need to call him first thing Monday morning.”

  “Millie, breakfast is almost ready. Can you wake up Grammy Pernella?”

  “Sure,” Millie said and ran off.

  A few seconds later, Millie’s screams echoed through the halls. Emmeline ran to find Millie collapsed on the floor just outside Pernella’s room.

  “What’s going on?”

  “She can’t, she can’t…” Millie tried to say.

  Ginny and Emmeline both rushed into Pernella’s room and found her half unconscious, babbling incoherently.

  The ambulance came fifteen minutes later.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Pernella was conscious, but barely, as they took her away in the ambulance, lights flashing. The two ambulance attendants in their uniforms made the whole thing seem rather like business as usual while they were around the house. One did an assessment of Pernella, taking her vitals, then prepared her for the transfer to the hospital. The other grilled Emmeline and Ginny on what they knew about her condition. How they found her, what she had been like lately, anything else they should be worried about.

  Guilt raked through Emmeline’s body. She didn’t know, she had thought that everything was fine. Pernella was Pernella. She didn’t complain, she just did things the way she wanted—no matter what anyone told her. Emmeline hadn’t noticed anything unusual. Just her not being up early this morning was off. But then again, she had been so busy focused on herself, what she wanted, Joel, that she hadn’t been watching Pernella. What if she could have stopped this? It was all so confusing. She hadn’t been doing her job, the entire reason why she was supposed to be there.

  She and Ginny gathered up Pernella’s pills and a few other things that they knew Pernella would want and packed them in a sixties style bag with Lucite tortoiseshell handles. Emmeline was sure they were forgetting a few things, but they could always come back. It was hard to stay focused and think about the tiny details.

  They watched Pernella being loaded up into the ambulance. Emmeline strained to hear if Pernella was giving the attendants crap about not needing help, telling them they should go away. She hoped she would.

  The lights and commotion terrified Millie, who found refuge in Emmeline’s arms. She put her head down on her mother’s shoulder and silently shook. Emmeline sniffed and tried to console her. She took her to the bathroom, where it was quiet for a few minutes, and washed the zombie makeup off. “We don’t know what is happening yet, okay, Angel Face? I don’t want you to be scared. She is going to where the doctors can help her.”

  Millie didn’t answer. Ginny went and got the keys to her car, and then opened the back door so that Emmeline could sit with Millie, who still clung to her in her arms. Lastly Ginny handed Millie her blae-blae blanket, and she immediately buried her face into the soft fabric. Emmeline couldn’t have been more grateful. Ginny always thought of everything. They pulled out of the driveway moments later and followed the ambulance to the hospital.

  The emergency room parking lot was full, and they were lucky to get the last space. They grabbed everything that they had thought to bring for Pernella and rushed inside. The chairs were mostly full of downtrodden people, with red noses and blurry eyes, all waiting restlessly for their turn to be called. Emmeline went straight up to the desk and found a tiny lady with laugh lines deep around her eyes.

  “We’re here to see someone who has just been brought in by ambulance.”

  “Where is she?” Millie asked, pushing her mother out of the way to stand in front.

  “Who are you looking for?” the lady asked. The word “Volunteer” was written above her name on the ID tag she wore.

  “My Grammy Pernella,” she answered as if it was the most logical answer.

  “Let me see…”

  “You lost her? She’s only been here a few minutes and you already lost her? Mommy, how could they do this to us? The people who came and got her promised they’d take care of her.”

  “Millie, we have to give the lady a chance,” Emmeline answered before mouthing “I’m sorry” to the volunteer.

  “We haven’t lost her,” said the woman. “I just need a second to find out what room she’s in.” She looked down at her computer and started typing.

  “But what if we never find her?” Millie’s bottom lip started to quiver, so Emmeline reached down and picked her up, worried she might start crying again. Millie was a little big to pick up like this, and within seconds Emmeline’s back began to protest. Millie wrapped her arms around her mother and held on tight, whispering, “They lost her, I know they did, we’ll never find her again.”

  “I got it!” the volunteer said. She directed them through a wide pine door, and then down the hall.

  “It should be easy to find her, but if you don’t, just ask at the nurse’s desk.”

  “Thank you,” Emmeline mouthed to the nurse as she turned her attention to the next patient.

  They followed the hall and turned right as they saw the familiar ambulance attendants leave a room and a woman in yellow scrubs walk in. They followed after her and introduced themselves as she took Pernella’s vitals.

  “The doctor will be here in a few minutes,” she said, noting the results on an electronic tablet.

  Millie struggled to get down, and Emmeline gratefully let go, stretching her back and grimacing. It wasn’t near as easy to carry Millie as it had once been.

  “Just give Grammy some space, Millie.”

  Millie nodded and cautiously reached out her hand to place it on Pernella’s. The doctor came in, a woman probably in her fifties with short dark hair and heavy lines around her eyes. She promised that she would update them as soon as they ran some tests. Ginny and Emmeline reluctantly left to give her room to work.

  “Pernella, we love you,” Emmeline said before left. She wasn’t sure if she heard her or not.

  Together they found seats and tried to make themselves comfortable. Ginny immediately got on the phone and started to call the family to let them know what was going on. Emmeline listened as Ginny consoled them, and as always was amazed at how competent she was. Emmeline longed to be like her. She still let too many small details get in the way from what she wanted. Perhaps if she didn’t she’d be well on her way to accomplishing her dreams of having her own bakery, instead of still working for Kathy.

  As the hours ticked away, Millie complained she was hungry, and Emmeline absentmindedly gave her some coins for the vending machine. They watched as people came and went, some smiling, some with pain coloring their eyes. The nurses updated them from time to time, insisting that Pernella seemed to be in stable condition at the moment, but mostly they waited.

  Emmeline, bored, glanced through her phone and decided to call Callum to let him know what was going on. He promised he would come as soon as he could and take Millie home. The afternoon traffic might be a problem, but he was sure he could get someone to mind the shop for a few hours. Emmeline told him he didn’t need to, but he insisted. Millie didn’t need to be there waiting.

  She hung up, grateful that again Callum was coming to the rescue, but then awkwardly realized that she hadn’t even bothered to tell Joel. It didn’t seem like something for him; this was a family thing. But if she was really going to invite him to be part of her family, then perhaps he should know.

  She left Millie with Ginny, volunteering to go for coffee for the two of them, and then dialed his number. It went straight to voicemail.

  “Crap,” she mumbled. She didn’t want to leave this news on voicemail, but then wondered why not. He didn’t know Pernella, they hadn’t even met. He didn’t have the emotional ties. She heard the phone beep on
the other end, indicating that her space for her message was used up. “Crap!” she said again, realizing that she had just left a two-minute message that only had the word “crap: in it and silence. She must sound like some sort of prank caller at best and a serial creep at worst.

  Where was he? She instantly wanted Joel there. She wanted to feel his body next to hers, she wanted him to wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything would be okay. A worrying thought entered her mind: maybe he was with someone else. She immediately shoved it away as ridiculous. She knew she was the only one. Didn’t she?

  Emmeline found the cafeteria, where she ordered two extra-large coffees and bought a sandwich for Millie, thinking that she couldn’t keep feeding her Kit Kat bars. She slowly headed back to the waiting room, hoping Joel would call back.

  By the time she returned, Millie had made a fort out of her blae-blae and was underneath reading a Cosmopolitan magazine that looked like it was from 1982. Emmeline grimaced, wondering what sort of information she would be reading in there, terrified it would be something like How to make your lips look like a guy would actually want to kiss them, or some other article pigeon-holing woman. She snatched the magazine away and handed her the sandwich instead.

  “Anything new?” she asked Ginny.

  “Not yet, but—” started Ginny, and then her eyes lit up. Emmeline turned to see the doctor coming into the waiting room. She motioned for them to follow her.

  The doctor led them to a small room with a plastic rose-colored couch and dim lighting.

  “Well, what’s going on?” asked Ginny impatiently.

  “Sit, please,” the doctor said, offering the couch and taking a wooden chair for herself. “It looks as though Pernella has had a stroke.”