It's Never Too Late

Chapter 14

            That evening she decided to go out with Stanley for the last time. She hadn’t felt anything for him when he kissed her the night before and she was just hurting herself when she lied to David.

            She called Stanley, and they went to a restaurant. Emily was nervous. He has a right to know. Helen is right he has to know, I have to break up with him.

            Stanley was a great guy but she loved David. She sat across from Stanley and thought of David, why does he appear in my mind like that?

            Emily was thankful for the menu that covered her face from him. She placed it back down, “Stanley, I need to talk to you.”

            “Those words are never good, what’s up?” Stanley looked concerned.

            “The reason I called is because I want to talk about us, I don’t want to make you to be honest with you, Stanley, I don’t love you. I like you as a friend, nothing more,” Emily looked saddened she didn’t want to hurt him.

            “I was expecting this, I saw it yesterday when I kissed you, you weren’t kissing me you were thinking about David. Can I ask a favor from you?” Stanley said.

            “Anything,” Emily said.

            “Let’s make our last date unforgettable. What do you say we go to the ice ring? There’s an ice ring around here I can take you to.” Stanley said.

            Emily decided to grant him his wish, “can we still be friends?”

            Stanley cleared his throat, “of course,” he was disappointed. He never expected to fall in love with her knowing she loved David. Her words would resound in his head, he wanted to make his date last. They went to the ice ring, Emily was graceful, she knew how to skate, it was as if she had years of experience.

            After their date, Stanley dropped her off, as he saw her going up to her door, something urged him to walk up to her, she turned to his footsteps, his arms came around her and pulled her close.

            David heard struggling and he opened the door wide, he saw Stanley kissing her. David closed the door again, it bothered him to watch them together, but this, tipped the cup over.

            “Emily, I’m sorry I don’t know what came over me,” Stanley was shocked by his own actions and they were both breathing heavily.

            Emily was still stunned, I wasn’t expecting this! Her cheeks drained, “I have to go, David- I mean, Stanley.” Emily opened the door and ran upstairs. David saw her, but she didn’t see him, and he intended to leave it. Stanley’s her boyfriend. I’ll keep seeing Terry I’ll get over Emily.

            Emily couldn’t believe it, how could I be so naïve not to see that Stanley had fallen for me? I should’ve known. Yet again…she’d tell her sister in the morning, Helen needed the rest. She hadn’t rested the night before trying to console her and she needed to rest too, she had to go to work the next day.

            Emily lay in bed, Helen opened her eyes wide “did you just get back?”

            Emily was startled by her, but answered, “yes.”

            “How did it go?” Helen wanted to know.

            Emily told her sister about it and Helen widened her eyes when she told her Stanley kissed her. “I’m sorry, if I hadn’t set you up it wouldn’t have happened.”

            “If you hadn’t done that, I would’ve never met a great friend, I wish I felt the same. I’ve become stronger now that I know him,” Emily said looking at the ceiling while she lay on the bed. 

            David couldn’t sleep, wondering what Emily had done out all that time. He knew he was being very protective of her, had that caused her to want to leave? She never took vacations because she wanted to. Normally, Emily was forced to take them, sometimes he thought she hid something, he was afraid of never finding out.

            David went to the kitchen and grabbed a soda from the fridge. He sat on the stool and thought that by this time he’d figure her out, but seemed far from it. Why should I care? He couldn’t stop thinking though. He couldn’t control himself, when he closed his eyes he had the mental picture of Emily and Stanley kissing, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. It drove him nuts!

            The next day, Mr. Emerson found David in the kitchen, sitting on the stool, with his head in between his hands. “David? What are you doing?”

            David woke up to his father’s voice, “what time is it?”

            He looked at the clock, it was time to get ready for work, they would announce that they were hiring a temp reporter, it would be a busy day. David went downstairs and didn’t see Emily or Helen anywhere, “where are the girls?”

            Helen came out around the corner, “I’m here, I was just using the computer in the office. Emily left to work.”

            Mr. Emerson looked worried, “David, are you ok? You slept here last night you seem to be more worried since—”

            “I’m fine dad.” David didn’t want Helen finding out that he was worried for Emily. When he remembered Stanley and Emily together, he would get jealous, he clenched his knuckles until they turned white.

            It was a week from New Year’s and time was running fast, which meant it would soon be the day when Emily had to appear in court, as a witness.

            David had an eerie feeling like something could happen. He’d tell himself he was being over protective. He looked for her number in the contact list of his cell phone, he stared at it not knowing if he should call or not.

            Mr. Emerson noticed that his son was acting weird, not only did David sleep in the kitchen, he had been acting strange, since the day after coming home from meeting with Emily and Helen.

            David dialed and left the room so his father wouldn’t hear, Mr. Emerson wasn’t dumb he wanted to know what was going on so he stayed close behind him to listen. “Emily? Are you still going through with it?”

            “I think it’s about time Sam got what he deserves right?” Emily said decisively.

            “I know you have good intentions I don’t want anything to happen,” David said.

            “Nothing’s going to happen,” Emily insisted.

            “Will you just listen! I have this feeling that something’s gonna happen, I fear for you Emily. Are you willing to do this?” David sounded concerned.

            Emily felt the same way, but had to have courage, “I have to, it’s the only way David, wouldn’t you do the same?”

            David sighed, “I know you tell me not to worry, but…” he saw his father standing beside him, “gotta go.”

            “Are you going to tell me or do I ask Jacob?” Mr. Emerson asked sternly.

            David looked concerned, “dad, remember what the doctor said, you can’t—”

            “I’ve had it with doctors! I want to know what you were talking about with Emily or I’ll figure it out with or without your help.” David couldn’t answer. Mr. Emerson was growing impatient, “so this is how it’s gonna be!” He glared at David, as he walked passed him and grabbed his keys.

            David followed, “Dad! Wait up, you can’t leave, what if something happens?”

            “Nothing’s gonna happen, stop worrying will you?” Somehow he reminded him of Emily. Mr. Emerson got in the car.

            David, didn’t want to worry him, he’s just as stubborn, won’t listen, “I’ll tell you, but promise me you won’t go berserk, relax, or you’ll go back to the—”

            “Just say it!”

            “Emily has to go to court as a witness in Sam Sanderson’s case. It may be the only way to put him away for good. Sam might lose it when he sees her. He might—” his father turned the car on and drove off.

            David resented telling his father about Emily but if he hadn’t he’d figure it out somehow. He was driving fast after him. They came up to a stop, David blocked him so he wouldn’t leave. “David, get out of the way!” Mr. Emerson glared.

            “No, dad this is silly, look it’s alright,” David tried to sound calm.

            Mr. Emerson got out. “What do you mean it’s alright? You think you can tell me, your sister may be in danger and I’m alright? I know she’s not really my daughter but—”

            “Dad she will be alright, Sam’s going to be surrounded, she will be ok.”

            Mr. Emerson sighed and scratched his head, “fine, let’s go to the office, before we make traffic.”

            When they got to the office Emily was there, “hi, where have you been?” She couldn’t be more radiant, David imagined it was for Stanley.

            Mr. Emerson answered, “we were busy, what happened?”

            “The girl is fine, the one Sam hit she remembers everything! David we have to interview her,” Emily was excited.

            “Ok, let me just put this down and I’ll come with you,” David said.

            He went to his desk and saw a note it was from Terry asking him to give her a call, I’ll call later. It’s going to be a busy day and Emily is waiting for me to write the story.

            When they came back, Jimmy met David before entering the office. “Terry is here, she said something about leaving a note, she hadn’t heard from you.”

            David sighed, went in to meet her, Emily was talking to Mr. Emerson about the girl she had remembered what happened and identified Sam Sanderson as the one who caused the accident, that is something else against him!

             The young girl agreed to go to court and testify against him. Emily wished David and Mr. Emerson supported her, as the girl’s parents. Emily noticed Mr. Emerson was tense, he told her he found out about her having to testify and to be careful, he didn’t want anything to happen to her.

            Emily was surprised she couldn’t help but think he’d find out, but was glad to have his support. I need David by my side, he’ll only try to protect me, I don’t need protection. I need his support, how hard can that be?

            She went to write her story, she’d kill two birds with one stone David had to support her. After all, he was going to be there with her. What she saw when she got there surprised her, David and Terry kissing with so much passion, or maybe even anger.

            She closed the door behind her and leaned against the door, she kept her composure. Jimmy saw her, “are you alright?”

            Emily looked at him, “of course,” she was leaning against the door, maybe to cover for him. It wasn’t surprising Terry was there or that they were kissing they always kissed, but the way they were doing it, like if they hadn’t seen each other for years.

            Jimmy moved her aside and watched through the window, “why don’t you come with me? I need help with something.” Emily knew he lied, she was glad to leave. Jimmy looked like he wanted to talk to her. He waited until he knew it was safe, “I’m his friend as I am yours, do you still love him?”

            Emily looked at Jimmy and sighed, “is it that obvious?”

            “I knew it! Well you have to let him know before it’s too late,” Jimmy said.

            “It’s already too late,” Emily said frustrated.

            Jimmy looked at her thoughtfully, “you think that, you might be surprised, if—”

            “I gave up on him Jimmy. I don’t want to get hurt again.” Emily said angrily.

            “But he…” Jimmy stopped himself.

            “I’m leaving temporarily, it will do me some good,” Emily said decisively.

            “Since when have you been planning this? Does he know?” Jimmy asked shocked.

            “Since I couldn’t get over him, I’ll come back a new person, he knows. Isn’t there a sign saying anybody can try out to be our next TV reporter? They should have it today, they will choose the temp reporter on Friday, possible advancement to morning news. David is going to do the afternoon news when I get back.” Emily sighed.

            “David, or David and you?” Jimmy looked shocked.

            “David and me,” Emily corrected herself nervously.

            David came into the office, “Emily I was looking for you, let’s start working on that story.”

            Emily turned to David, for a moment she could have sworn that he was looking at her longingly. She cleared her throat, “excuse me Jimmy.”

            They went to their office, she started typing, suddenly she heard, “Ms. McAllister, for you.” it was a large box and she had to sign it, there was no return address but she signed. Curiously she opened the box and found a note. There were flowers, a bouquet of roses, Stanley wanted to see her again. David looked at her, “from Stanley?”

            “Yes, he wants to go out tonight,” she was serious, I can’t go, I won’t! She looked at the bouquet, placed it behind her computer, turned to begin typing.

            “Are you going?” David looked at her.

            “Some other time, if I don’t do this today I’m not going to finish,” Emily kept her eyes on the computer. She was working hard, she learned long ago that if she kept working it was easier to keep your mind off things.

***************

            Jimmy wished Helen wouldn’t have to leave for so long. He had missed her when she left, he didn’t want to say goodbye again. After all, she wouldn’t come for another five months, and that’s if she passed a test to be a doctor.

            He wanted to support her, after the school year she would move back. “Jimmy what’s on your mind?” Helen broke the awkward silence between them.

            Jimmy looked at her pleadingly, “Helen, I was thinking, what if you didn’t go back, you could start school here, and—”

            “I can’t Jimmy because I have to finish this school year in Vanderbilt,” Helen explained. Why this sudden change?

            “Helen, I missed you this few weeks I don’t like waiting for you I feel like our time evaporated. I don’t know if I can keep waiting,” Jimmy met her eyes sternly.

            Helen looked deep into his eyes confused, “what are you saying?”

            “I can’t keep waiting for you. I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Jimmy scratched his head, “I love you, don’t get me wrong, but I had bad experiences with long distance relationships, I can’t wait for you. I want to break up.”

            Helen turned away from him, “I’ll go home, don’t follow.”

            Jimmy was confused and hurt when Helen walked away, “Helen wait!” He tried to follow. Helen drove off, he tried following her and failed miserably, his heart sank as he kept looking for her and didn’t find her.

            He tried calling, but she didn’t answer, I just want to see that she got home. When Helen came home she ran upstairs crying and locked herself in the room, she wanted to be alone, that’s not fair! I’d support him.

            Jimmy saw Helen had gotten home, he felt empty. I can’t believe he’d just did that but I won’t go through it again. He would go to the office and call her from there to explain why he was doing this.

            He had gone out with a girl before he graduated college a year ago, they dated since tenth grade. She moved to New York to study, when she came back they decided to move in together. It was the happiest day of his life, two days before their wedding her ‘friend’ from New York visited. Jimmy caught them in bed, he was left heartbroken. He wished she wouldn’t have to go for so long. It was hard to trust anyone after that.

            Jimmy needed to talk to someone and he needed someone to understand, he needed a friend, “David, do you have a minute?”

            David noticed something was wrong he seemed sad like he had something on his mind. He stopped working on his computer and turned to him, “what’s up?”

            “I was with Helen, but something happened—” Jimmy said concerned.

            David looked at him more tensed than before thinking the worst, “what?”

            “I can’t believe I just did that, I feel awful! I couldn’t take it! I don’t know what I was thinking!” Jimmy said hurriedly.

            “What did you do?!” David asked accusingly.

            “I lost it, I just broke up with her.” Jimmy said.

            “What?!” David said loudly.

            “Don’t you remember what happened before? I was afraid of getting my heart broken. Do you think I was wrong? I tried calling, she left before I could explain, I feel awful.” Jimmy finally said.

            “Why don’t you call her now?” David asked.

            Jimmy looked desperate, “she’s going to hang up, I left a million messages and when she answered she told me she doesn’t want to speak to me, but if I just explained, she’d understand why I acted that way.”

            “Jimmy, I think I have an idea.” David said brightly.

            “What?” Jimmy looked at him.

            “I’m going tell her for you. She is not mad at me, right?” David said.

            “I guess,” Jimmy said.

            “I will tell her to meet me and you will be there, I could convince her to listen to you, once she’s there she will have to.” David said.

            “I don’t think it’ll work, she was pretty mad when she left, I broke up with her and she left. God! I’m so stupid! How could I have said that? She drove off!”

            “Jimmy! Did you go after her?” David asked.

            “Of course, I wanted to make sure she’d be fine, I didn’t know what to say.” Jimmy plopped himself down on the seat and put his head between his hands. “I’m always telling you to tell Emily how you feel, now I do this. Who am I to give advice?”

            “Jimmy, relax I know.” David said.

            “I can’t! I offended her, I’ve tried calling, left messages,” he banged his fist on his desk, “she just won’t answer, she’s driving me nuts!” Jimmy said.

            “I know what you mean.” said David thinking about Emily, “Emily drives me crazy, especially after finding out that she’s leaving for a three month vacation.”

            Jimmy remembered Emily told him about it, yet I couldn’t believe it was a vacation. “Vacation? Is that what she said?”

            David looked surprised, “yes, why?”

            Emily came in, “hey you guys, you have to…” she noticed Jimmy was sad, “Jimmy are you alright?”

            “Yes, how about you? You seem cheerful?” Jimmy said with a fake smile.

            David looked at him, “he broke up with your sister.”

            “What? Why? What happened?” Emily sat on the chair next to him.

            “I got my heart broken because of a long distance relationship before. I just wanted her to move to a closer school. I got scared she’s leaving, the worst part is, I couldn’t explain she drove off and she’s not taking my calls.” Jimmy seemed desperate.

            “Well, that explains it,” Emily said.

            “What?” They asked in unison.

            “She called and told me not to say anything. I know where she’ll be tonight. We’re going to the new night club they opened up. Helen said she wanted a girl’s night out after she had planned to be with you. Helen’s trying to hide her feelings.” Emily knew she did the same with David.

            Jimmy made a fist and brought it to his forehead, “How could I?”

            “You could ‘coincidently’ be there and talk.” Emily said.

            Jimmy looked up at her, “I’ll be there!”