What The Heart Knows (12 page)

She
froze, her arms falling numbly by her sides. She blinked twice,
thinking she might have finally just lost it. She was seeing things.

“Heya
sweetheart,” he said, smiling.

“Hey,”
she said then shook her head as if to try to clear the fog that had
settled in it. “When did you get back?”

“A
couple of hours ago,” he said, shrugging.

Emily
looked accusingly over at Devon who shrugged apologetically. “I
was gonna say you could go home for the day,” she said,
watching his eyes light up. “But now your ass is stuck here,”
she finished, laughing when he squinted his eyes at her. She turned
back to James, pasting a hospitality smile on her face. “How
was your business trip? Make millions of dollars?”

“Yes
actually,” James said, smiling wickedly. “Well... EM Corp
made millions. I just get my five percent cut.”

“So
just half a million then,” Emily said, raising her brows
comically. “how will you ever survive?”

“Well
you know... I'll have to cut coupons and get on a budget plan. Only
four star hotels from now on.”

Emily
smiled. “Poor baby. So are you heading back to the city for
Thanksgiving?”

“God
no,” he laughed. “Hannah's idea of good food lately is
graham crackers smothered in Nutella with rainbow sprinkles.
Everything is tooth-achingly sweet. I cant imagine what horrendous
thing she would do to a turkey.”

“Well
if you're staying here,” Devon chimed in, putting down his
phone. “she's going to put you to work,” he warned.
“scrubbing dishes, taking trash out, sweeping the floors...”

“We
do Thanksgiving?” he asked, brows drawn together.

Emily
ignored the little flutter when he said the word 'we'. “Yeah,
it's actually really busy for us. And we are down to a half or third
staff so we have to multi-task.”

“Well,”
James said, tilting his head. “I think I can handle some
sweeping. A broom... that's the long stick thing with bristles,
right?” he laughed. He looked at Emily for a second. “You're
not visiting your family for the holiday?”

“Well,
that's my queue,” Devon said, walking out from behind the desk
and going toward the kitchen, patting Emily's shoulder as he passed.

“Sore
subject?” James asked, stepping back and gesturing toward the
front porch.

Emily
followed him out, unsure why she was. “Well happy households
don't usually lead sixteen year olds to hitchhike for weeks to put a
few states between them.”

James
turned to her, watching her face: guarded, hesitant. But she was
telling him anyway. That seemed like progress. “You have no
contact with them?”

“Well
my father was always in and out of the picture. And my mother died a
few years ago.”

“I'm
sorry,” he said, feeling a pang at the memory of his own
mother, dead in a car crash before Elliott became the massive success
he was.

“Don't
be. She died in the bottle of a bottle. It was where she was always
happiest anyway.”

“No
siblings?” he asked, a little uncomfortable with the cool
detachment she had with regard to the death of the person who gave
her life.

“I
had an older brother. He flew out of there the day he turned
eighteen. I never really heard much from him again.”

There
was a sadness in her voice then. A certain level of fear at the idea
that she had no clue if her brother was even alive. “Well, it
seems like you found a new, better family here,” he said. At
her surprised look, he gestured out toward the town. “Stars
Landing. You seem to know everyone and them you. It's like one big,
crazy, super close family around here.”

“Yeah,”
Emily agreed, shifting her feet a bit. He was right. He touched on
the feeling she had always had with regard to Stars Landing. No one
had rejected her when she showed up penniless and a bit wild as a
teen. Everyone had just taken her in with open arms, like she had
been there all along, like her sharp edges didn't cut them every time
they tried to get close to her. Stars Landing was her family.
Every
kooky, warm, silly, outrageous, funny, serious member of that town
was a part of her ridiculous family tree. Marion had always been
right there, the epicenter of her world. Mother. Mentor. Then Hannah
was like a sister, Eric like a brother. Maude had been the crazy aunt
who told her all about sex and the divine art of making men eat out
of the palm of your hand. Hank The Friendly Grocer and Aiden had
always gone out of their way to try to protect her, offer unwanted
advice, and altogether act like father figures to the orphaned girl
who needed direction.

She
couldn't imagine a life anywhere else. A family any less absurd and
varied. It made her heart hurt to even consider it.

“You
made a really nice life for yourself, Emily,” James said,
sounding uncharacteristically serious. Her eyes found his, deep and
almost unhappy. “I mean it. I cant imagine having been so
decisive and responsible at sixteen. Hell, when my mother died, I
went into full-on angsty teenager mode. Being a dick to Elliott who
was trying to put himself through college and get a life together for
us. I really should say thank you for that. Or, you know, show up to
work in a suit once in a while.”

Emily's
hand reached out and found his, squeezing. “You were a kid,”
she said.

“So
were you,” he said, attempting a small smile.

“I
was never a kid,” she said, pulling her hand away and moving
away from him. She walked back toward the door. “You should
sleep for the next few days. You're not accustomed to the kind of
work you are going to need to do on Thanksgiving.”

–

He
actually surprised her. He surprised everyone. Including himself
probably. He had already been up before everyone else, standing in
the kitchen with the coffee already brewing, wearing an absurd bright
yellow Stars Landing t-shirt and looking completely rested.

He
clapped his hands together when Meggie, Devon, and Alec joined them.
“Alright,” he said, sounding entirely too eager. “when
is everyone getting here?”

They
all looked around at each other and Emily smiled. “We are
everyone. It's just the five of us.”

“For
that whole dining room?” James asked, his eyes wide.

“Yup,”
Emily said, enjoying his shock. “And you are perfectly right to
look that petrified. It is a rough day. But then when everything is
all calm, we come in here and open some wine and stuff ourselves
until we need to be rolled back home.”

“Well
at least there's that,” he said, trying not to lose his
enthusiasm.

He
held it together for the first sitting, greeting tables, being his
usual charming self. He ran food. Mostly to the wrong tables, but he
tried his best. He rolled up his sleeves after the last table left
and loaded the dishwasher. He refilled the table caddies. He mopped
the floor. All while maintaining his jovial, calm demeanor.

Then
the dinner seating came in and all hell broke loose. And he lost his
shit. Emily watched as she rushed past, quick but efficient. Almost
effortless from years of practice. He kept running his hands through
his hair, making it stick up in odd ways as he fanned himself with a
server book that he had dropped at three wrong tables already. He
piled used plates up in arms cradled like a baby, making the contents
smash up against his belly and cover his shirt. He hadn't been paying
attention when he was rinsing dishes and sprayed himself in the face.

Emily
walked into the kitchen as he scalded his hand on a boat of gravy,
cursing, and dropping it. It fell in slow motion, spilling and
splintering across the floor. He stood there, eyes wide, panicked. A
hysterical, hiccuping laugh burst out of her, making her bend
forward, forcing tears to run down her face. God, he was a mess.

She
looked up to see James looking at her like she lost her mind.
“Sorry,” she strangled out, wiping her cheeks. “Sorry...
you just... really suck at this.”

“Gee
thanks,” he said, his face looking all the more strained.

“No,
really. You're like the worst server I've ever seen. But you do it
with such enthusiasm.”

“So
I'm an amusing failure?” he asked, his lips quirking up a bit.

“You
failed so hard at this,” she agreed and then he was laughing
too. Meggie joined in, not understanding why, but laughing simply
because they were so worked up.

Alec
stormed into the kitchen, all long hair in his gorgeous man-bun and
his perfect, manicured beard making him look like some kind of
lumberjack model. He stopped cold, looking around at them like they
lost their minds. “You all know we have a full dining room,
right?”

They
all sat down to dinner sometime after nine that night, everyone
looking ragged, moving around like they were in pain. It had taken
hours to get the kitchen and dining room back to order after the
guests had left.

Meggie
piled all the leftover food into bowls and they all plowed into it in
greedy silence. James was across from Emily and when her food was
half way picked through, she extended her leg and kicked his foot
under the table. “So did you enjoy your first real work
experience?”

“I
have blisters on my feet,” he groaned. “and burns on my
arms.”

“And
you kinda smell like crap,” Devon added, sitting next to him,
wrinkling his nose. “Sorry,” he said at James' horrified
expression. “but it's true. Alec needs to take you out back and
hose you off.”

Alec
shook his head, waving his fork. “He wasn't that bad,” he
said, making Meggie, Devon, and Emily break off into laughter.
“Alright, fine, he was complete rubbish. But he did it with
flair. I think half of those women would have left their husbands for
him. Even when he brought them the wrong food for the fourth time.”

“Incompetence
is in,” Emily agreed, throwing a bit of dinner roll across the
table at James.

“Alright,”
Meggie jumped up, seeming boundless in her energy. “I'm gonna
load the dishwasher one last time and we can call it a night. We are
gonna be super dead tomorrow so we can catch up on everything then.”

“Why
are we going to be dead?” James asked.

Emily's
eyebrows drew together and lowered. “Seriously?” she
asked. He gave her a genuinely uncomprehending look and she shook her
head. “Tomorrow is black Friday,” she explained.
“everyone will be heading into the bigger cities to do some
Christmas shopping.”

“Oh,”
James said, feeling stupid. That made sense. The town really didn't
have a lot of options for holiday shopping.

“So
you can soak your tired feet,” Emily smiled.

“I
have a better idea,” he said, standing and reaching into his
pocket. He drew out a pamphlet and handed it to Emily. “I want
to go there.”

Emily
took the folded paper with a furrowed brow. “The lodge? Why do
you want to go to the lodge?”

“Elliott
is in some kind of negotiation with them. I'm just curious. I need a
guide.”

Emily
looked over at Devon who lifted his hands out like he had no idea
what he was talking about. “I think Dev would be a better tour
guide,” she suggested. “seeing as his family owns it.”

“Oh,
hell no, boss lady,” Devon said, shaking his head. “I am
not going up there. That's all on you,” he declared, kissed
Meggie on the cheek, and headed out the back door.

James
sent her a confused smile and she shrugged. “Family,” she
explained. “So when do you want to leave?”

“Tomorrow
morning. Eightish? We should be back by dinner time.”

Eleven

She
walked into the kitchen at seven, bent on getting a few cups of
coffee in her before they hit the road. She hadn't expected to walk
in and find James already there, arms of his blue sweater rolled up
to his elbows as he carefully stacked the dishwasher with the rest of
the dishes from the night before.

“Hey,”
she said, her tone curious.

He
glanced over his shoulder at her. “It didn't seem fair to leave
Meggie with all the work. I thought I would get a head start on it
before we go.”

Emily
nodded, walking over to the coffee machine. Of course he was up and
doing the right thing. Because underneath all the charm and
confidence, there was an actual decent human being.