Intercepting Love (Second Chances #5)(59)
Before he could shut off the camera, he looked into it one last time, and it was as if he was finally at peace. I reached out and touched the screen, tracing every single line of his face. For so long I didn’t have the answers I needed, and now I did. I just wished I had known, so I could’ve been there for him and taken care of him.
“I love you,” he whispered, and after a few seconds of staring into the camera he was gone. There was no more …
I love you, too, Scott. Always.
I watched Scott’s video over and over until the sun rose the next morning. My eyes were swollen and sore from crying all night, but my heart felt ten times lighter. I got the answers I needed from Scott, but there were still answers I needed from his family.
Emily Easton was one of the last people on earth I wanted to see, but in order to get closure I had to. The team had an away game this coming weekend in Arizona, and our flight to leave was scheduled for early afternoon. Cooper and I had already packed our things, and since we had the morning to ourselves, I knew it was time I faced Emily.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Cooper asked. “You could always wait until we get back home on Sunday night.”
I dialed the number Emily had left on the piece of paper and waited for her to answer. “I have to talk to her,” I told him. “As much as I don’t want to, I know I need to. It’s time to get everything out in the open. Once I speak to her I’ll finally be able to put all of this behind me and really move on with my life.”
“Hello,” Emily answered, her voice soft and trembling.
“Emily, it’s Kate. Can you come over this morning? I need to talk to you.”
She gasped, “Sure. Should I head over there now?”
“Yes, that would be great,” I said. “I’ll see you when you get here.”
Quickly, I hung up my phone and laid it on the dresser. The last time I saw Emily was at Scott’s funeral, and I still remembered the way she glared at me in disdain. I wasn’t allowed to sit with the family during the service, nor was I even acknowledged as someone special in Scott’s life. The scars of that day would never go away, and I planned on making sure Emily knew exactly what it felt like.
About twenty minutes later, I heard a familiar sound coming down the street … it was a sound I didn’t think I’d ever hear again. Rushing to the window in the spare bedroom, my heart almost fell to the floor when I saw Scott’s black Ford Mustang pulling into my driveway.
“She’s here,” Cooper called from the kitchen. “Do you want me to let her in?”
Hurrying to the door, I stopped him by placing my hand on the door before he could open it. “No, I’m going to talk to her outside. I don’t want her inside of my house after everything her family has put me through. I still don’t know if I trust her.”
Cooper nodded, his blue gaze full of concern when he stared down at me. Taking his face in my hands, I smoothed my thumbs over his stubbly cheeks and kissed him gently on the lips. “I know things have been crazy the past couple of days, and once this is over I’m going to make it up to you … I promise.”
He smirked and bit his lip. “I’m going to hold you to that, love. As soon as you get back in we’ll eat breakfast and who knows what else.” Cooper kissed me on the forehead and went back to rummaging through the refrigerator. “I’ll keep my eye on you. If I notice anything strange I’ll come out there.”
Before walking out the door, I took a deep, calming breath and held my head high. “Thank you. Hopefully, it won’t come to anything like that.”
The doorbell rang, but I decided to go through the garage door and meet her out front. When I turned the corner, I saw that she stood by the door, fidgeting on her feet nervously.
“Hello, Emily,” I announced, startling her.
Quickly, she turned around and grabbed her chest. “Hey, you scared me. I didn’t know you’d be coming up behind me. How are you?”
“Better now,” I said, crossing my arms at the chest. “After last night a lot of things finally cleared up for me, but I still have a lot of questions.”
Emily slowly crept down my front steps and approached, making sure to keep adequate distance. Emily was a petite woman with short bright, blonde hair and reminded me of a life-sized version of Tinker Bell. When Scott introduced me to her, I told him that she looked like the fairy, and ever since then he had always called her by that nickname. I called her that too, at least on up until his death.
Emily sighed and crossed her arms at the chest as well, mirroring my stance. “What do you want to know?” she asked.
Not wasting any time, I went straight to the point. “Why is your mother still messing with me when it’s obvious that I wasn’t the reason for Scott’s death? You all blamed him being miserable on me.”
Nodding quickly, she lowered her head and sniffled. “Yes, I know we blamed you, and I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am for that. I found out about Scott’s illness a couple of weeks ago, and when I tried to tell her she wouldn’t believe me. Right after that was when she took off.”
“Why did it take two years to figure out what happened?” I asked incredulously. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
Defeated, Emily sighed and flung her hands in the air. “I know it doesn’t make any sense, but after Scott died we had all of his things packed up and put away. None of us knew that Scott was sick, and since we were living in Ohio at the time we never saw him. He always sounded exactly like himself when he called to check in with us. Mom was too heartbroken to go through it all, and I was too busy trying to take care of her. It wasn’t until recently when I decided to start going through his things. I regret not doing it sooner, at least maybe then it would’ve spared all of us the senseless heartache.”