Emily and River meet in Miami, where they have the time of their lives, but it isn't meant to be: the next morning, Emily leaves for San Francisco, leaving both their hearts broken. They don't think they'll ever see each other again.
Emily goes back...
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She closed the door and stood with her back to it. "My parents are going to be mad when they find out the reason you're here," Emily hissed, "so it better be a really good reason."
Why had he shown up here? He couldn't have picked a worse time! With only forty minutes until the wedding ceremony began, she didn't have much time to talk and didn't want to be distracted—especially not by River. She still was afraid of him changing her mind about the wedding, not realizing he'd already done so. She didn't want to get married to Jason.
But she wasn't about to tell River that, so she walked away from the door and had a hand on her hip while she waited for him to answer.
He didn't dare to move as he remained close to the door. "We need to talk," was all he said.
"We already have," she said. The ticking clock seemed to be engraved in her brain, making her aware of every passing second, so in an attempt to get her mind of things she started to clean her room.
"About something else," he said, and he watched her pick up stuff from the bed and organize items into neat stacks. Did he have to watch her? It made her self-conscious, and she didn't like it. She was in her wedding dress too, and didn't like it that he was the first one—besides Laurel—to see her like this. She'd wanted Jason to be the first, when she walked down the aisle, and she was in no way pleased River was here instead to steal her big moment.
"What's that on your wrist?" he asked her then, walking closer to her.
She glanced at her wrist although she knew what was on there. Unintentionally, she'd shown him the scars—her reminder of Those Three Years.
"Stay away," she said, and she scared herself with her sudden harsh tone. She hadn't had the time yet to put her silver bracelets on before River had come in. "It's none of your business—and if you don't have anything important to tell me, I want you to leave."
He'd started taking small steps, getting closer to her, but froze in place when those words left her lips. He was hesitant and seemed to think of something to say. "I know, Emily."
She stayed silent and tried to hide her panic by continuing to clean. He couldn't be talking about her kidnapping, right? It was the first thing that came to mind, but it was the last thing she wanted him to know. She liked talking to someone who didn't know, but she couldn't hide big secrets like these even if she tried really hard. Even now, a slight hesitation took over her stacking motions. How could he have found out?
There were a million ways in which he could've found out. Why was she pretending it was a secret? It was all over the internet! Although she wished it wasn't Those Three Years he was talking about, she had to be realistic. And if it wasn't, what was he talking about?
He cleared his throat when she didn't reply. "Or shall I say, Emily Abbington."
She stiffened at her emphasized name. He knew. He'd discovered the one thing she'd tried to hide from him because he was the only one in her life with whom she could talk normally because he didn't know.
