Emma
For one terrible second, I was back in Derek’s house.
Not physically. I could still smell motor oil and tacos, could still see Jake standing ten feet away with grease on his cheek and Raven frozen beside the counter.
But my body didn’t know that.
My body heard Derek’s voice and remembered.
“Come home. We need to discuss our child.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
Jake took one step toward me.
Then stopped.
I knew exactly what he wanted to do. I could see it in the hard line of his shoulders, the way his hands curled at his sides.
He wanted that phone.
He wanted Derek.
But he stayed where he was.
“Emma?” Derek said. “Did you hear me?”
I swallowed.
“How do you know?”
A pause.
Small.
Barely there.
But I knew Derek’s pauses.
They meant he was deciding which lie
