CHAPTER 3
Emma
My whole body shook, completely disconnected from my surroundings. Words and small phrases were floating around in my head. I couldn’t quite put anything together.
“Involved in a car crash…”
“Ma’am, your husband is dead.”
How was that even possible? I had sent him to bed the second that he had gotten home, and I thought he had stayed there even when I went to bed. After attempting to console me, the officers got up to leave, and all I could do was stand in the middle of the living room, frozen in place. When I heard the door click behind them, I was brought out of my trance and did the only thing I could do, call my sister.
Elizabeth picked up on the first ring, like she always did. Being my twin, she somehow had always been able to sense when I was calling.
“What happened?” she asked, knowing immediately that something was terribly wrong.
“Will was in an accident…”
Before I could even finish telling her the rest of it, she cut me off. “I’ll be right over.” She hung up with a fast click.
I fell back on the couch and let my mind wander. How the hell did this happen? What was I going to tell Mia? I closed my eyes tightly as panic started to creep through my body. I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew, Elizabeth was sitting next to me on the couch, gently touching my shoulder. I had given her a set of keys years ago, so I was not startled by her presence. I moved my body over on the couch and fell lightly into her open arms.
“Maybe it’s for the… best,” she sighed. As the last word escaped her mouth, she avoided my eyes. I had always known that Elizabeth never liked Will. In the past several years, when his drinking spun out of control, it became harder for her to keep that to herself. Our marriage had originally started out as a happy one. We were high school sweethearts that fell in love and then got married when we found out that Mia was on the way. At the time, everything seemed so simple and perfect. Until it wasn’t, and everything fell apart.
I felt numb, not sad or confused—just numb. Still, I was convinced that I would wake up at some point and realize this was all one big nightmare.
Elizabeth had always been the more sensible one of the two of us. She did not get married young like I did, and she practically lived in some mansion looking after a billionaire family as their personal assistant. She had her own studio apartment, but due to her work schedule, she might as well have had her own room at their office. I sometimes asked her what it was like, and she’d tell me that the Johnson family was wealthy, but seemed very unhappy.
I looked around my small house and wondered what would become of it. Will stopped earning a salary a long time ago. His company had given him a second chance with the office job, but he’d ended up fucking it up. His drinking problem caught up with him and it started to affect his performance at work. Since then, I’d been paying the bills and the mortgage for months now, working as both a teacher and a waitress to cover our expenses. I took a long gulp as I realized I would have to quit the job at the restaurant now that Will wasn’t here to look after Mia in the evenings. My mom was still working, and I couldn’t ask her to take on looking after Mia. The numbness took over my body completely, to the point where I no longer felt like myself.
I squeezed my eyes shut and leaned my head back onto the beat-up leather sofa that Mom bought for us when we first got the house. This sofa had been the subject of so much abuse. I couldn’t even try and count the number of times Will punched the damn thing. Sure, he had never been violent with me or Mia, but Mom was always quick to suggest that it was only a matter of time.
People would tell me it was because Will had lost his job. Or the fact I got pregnant before we were supposed to get married. I had always hated thinking that, because Mia was the best thing that ever happened to us. I could never blame her for causing all of this pain. Will was the one that destroyed us. Not Mia.
All of those years of studying and trying to do something with my life… Teaching had always been a passion of mine. I knew from a young age that I wanted do it. However, when I graduated from college, new teaching positions were hard to come by. It had been a point of contention between Will and I for months about what I would do and how we would pay our bills. After several weeks of searching, I finally found a position as a teaching aide for a second grade class. It barely paid minimum wage, but I saw it as a foot in the door. Will saw it as a roadblock. He was the one that forced me to get a job at the restaurant, claiming that my first one wasn’t enough to support us. With Will’s job and the two of mine, we were finally starting to save.
Some months were good, and there would be no need for me to go to the restaurant to work. Will would spend within our means and not splurge on crap we didn’t need. He would actually do things around the house, like look after Mia more so I could Will papers and do some chores. Those were the golden days. They felt so distant now.
Then, after Will lost his job, he started to lash out, which was why nearly every bathroom door in the house had a dent, and almost every glass was broken. I remembered my mom looking for a glass in the closet one day, and she shook her head, not being able to find one that wasn’t chipped in some way. I could tell then that she knew why we’d started using plastic.
“Someone’s at the door,” Elizabeth said. She slowly took my hand and led me over to it. “Take a deep breath,” she instructed.
I opened the door with a shaking hand, revealing a short, stubby man with a look of remorse on his face. He had a hat, which he must have been wearing to keep the summer heat off his forehead, and next to him was a bubbly, too-skinny blonde. They looked at me and stared for a moment. I turn back to glance at Elizabeth, who shook her head. She seemed more distressed than I felt.
“Mrs. Emma Harris?” the man asked.
I nodded, feeling like this was déjà vu from last night all over again.
“We are here to serve you notice. You have twenty-four hours to evacuate the premises. The notice expired today. However, your sister had informed us earlier about the death of your husband. Under the circumstances, we will give you an extra day to handle your business.”
What notice? I shot a hard glance over to Elizabeth.
A cold chill came over me, and I realized Will must have known all along. “That fucking bastard,” I whispered under my breath.