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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Lying in bed, she stared up at the ceiling and thought about how much her life had changed in a little over a week. If she were back in Tinley Park, she would have had a very busy, stressful day at work. Then she would have come home to a beautiful condo, decorated with tasteful holiday ornaments. If Jake was home, they would have had a glass of red wine with dinner from one of those chef boxes, maybe. And then she would watch a little tv or look at her phone until she fell asleep.
And what would Jake do? She thought about it for a moment. A lot of times, he didn't even come to bed at the same time she did. A lot of times, he didn't even come to bed before she was asleep. And, if he did, he was on his phone. What was he doing? Was he texting Mika? Were they laughing at her?
She frowned. Why did she care? That was over. She had been stupid. But she wasn't stupid anymore. She was just... jobless. She needed to find work soon or she didn't know what she would do.
She sighed. She would have to call Mom and Dad and ask for help, probably. And their help would be "Just come out here to Colorado." And then she would have to move again. She would have to break her lease and move away from...
She smiled slightly at the realization of why that stressed her out. She would be moving away from Leo. And for some strange reason, after less than a week, she had grown so attached to him that she couldn't bear the thought of leaving him.
"Which is ridiculous, Em," she whispered. "You don't even know him."
But she should, shouldn't she? According to Madison, she should remember him from high school. But, for the life of her, she couldn't. She couldn't remember any of the things Madison had told her about him, about his grandfather, the principal, about him being big in the choir.
Although, that part made sense. Emily had been in Concert Choir, along with about fifty other kids, for about a month during her freshman year. In fact, she had actually liked the choir right up until their first concert.
Her stomach began to churn at the thought of it. It was still the most traumatic point of her youth. Looking back on it, however, it seemed pretty small compared to her current situation.
"Argh. Stop," she told her brain. "Sleep."
Madison remembered it. Emily was sure she did. She must. Everyone remembered it, right? Did Leo remember it? If he was a choir nerd, then he would have been there that night. He would have remembered.
She felt herself shrink under the weight of that horror. She could remember it so clearly. The nervousness, the abject terror. She did not want to perform solo. That was Ms. Cuzak's personal torture for them. They each sang a line, either separately, or in duet with another student. She called it "trial by fire," her way of inuring them to the rigors of public performance. She had begged to at least be allowed to sing with another girl, but Ms. Cuzak had insisted Emily, more than anyone else, needed to sing solo—to get it out of her system.
