Christmas sucks.
When Emily Shepherd's boss boyfriend cheats on her with her best friend, she loses everything in one night-love, friendships, job, and home. In a weird fit of desperation (or some deep-rooted need to punish herself even more) she m...
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Madison waved to her as she entered the gymnasium. She was sitting in the middle of the bleachers, about halfway up. She had the baby on her lap and a smaller child was playing with a tablet next to her. Another child was climbing to the top of the bleachers, then down to touch her on the back, then back up the bleachers again. These other two boys were just older versions of the baby in her lap. Emily wondered if they would be as indistinguishable once they reached adulthood.
She made her way over and up the bleachers. Meanwhile children ran and vaulted on the gym floor below while various sections of the small crowd reacted with enthusiasm.
"Hi." She sat down next to Madison and peeked around her at the child on the tablet. "Hi."
He glanced up momentarily, then looked at his mom for confirmation. Then, he responded, "Hi."
"Hi little man. Remember me?" She tugged at the toddler's sleeve, but he turned his face into Madison's shoulder.
"He's just pretending to be shy," she told Emily. "Believe me, at home he doesn't want to have anything to do with me."
"It's okay." Emily shrugged her coat off and lay it across the bleachers with her purse. She looked out at the children on the floor. "Which is yours?"
"Tyler is there, he's up next." She pointed to a blonde-haired boy, then another. "And Logan is there on the end of the bench."
Emily smiled. Even without being told, she could have picked Madison's boys out of the entire gymnasium. They all looked the same. She could probably pick their father out of a lineup, too, based on her sons' appearance.
"So you married...?" She raised her eyebrows in question.
"Mark Hightower," Maddy laughed and held up her ring hand. "Pretty much right out of high school, although we never even spoke to each other until after I graduated."
Mark Hightower, hm." Emily tried to remember. It had only been a little more than ten years. Why did she have such a problem remembering this place? "Did I know him?"
"Tall, blonde, basketball player?" Maddie said. "Older. He was a senior when we were freshmen."
Okay, yeah. She was starting to remember. "Didn't he used to go with that girl with the big boobs?"
"Heather Mitchell," Maddie smirked. "But look who got married to him."
Emily laughed. "How did you get together?"
"He went away to college. I didn't. He came home after college and I was working at the coffee shop." She smiled wistfully. "He kept coming back and telling me I messed up his order. Every day, sometimes more than once."
"Aw, that's cute," Emily said. "He kept coming in to see you."
"It got me fired," Maddie laughed. "My manager thought I was either giving away free coffee or I was too incompetent to make even the simplest orders."
