“Is Daisy your nanny, Emmy?” she asked, and I had to fight the incredibly strong urge to dump Jade’s sickly pink cocktail down the front of her flashy blouse.
“No,” Emmy shook her head. “She’s Uncle Caleb’s girlfriend.”
It was hard to tell who was more shocked. Caleb, Jade, or me. I immediately felt my face turn hot pink, matching the shade of Jade’s cocktail. Caleb’s eyes went wide and I couldn’t decide whether he looked more flustered or pissed.
“That’s not true, Emmy,” Caleb said sternly. Then he turned to Jade. “Actually, Miss Wright is just Emmy’s pre-school teacher.”
And there it was. The truth.
The ugly, bitter, undeniable truth. Whatever happened between Caleb and I behind closed doors. Whatever fantasy world I had been living in, where we had homemade spaghetti dinners and hot sex after bedtime, it didn’t matter. Because in the real world, I was just the teacher. Nothing more.
I was not usually one to be at a loss for words, but as I stared down at Jade and Caleb, fighting back to the tears that were stinging at my eyes, that was exactly what I was. I was speechless. There was no witty, biting retort on the tip of my tongue. So I grabbed Emmy’s hand and pulled her out of the cafe.
The rest of the class had already moved on. I saw them a block ahead of us, following Raven as she took over leading them to the museum. I reminded myself to thank her for that later.
“Let’s go, Emmy,” I said, softening my grip on her hand and using my free hand to wipe the tears from my eyes, hoping to be subtle.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, squinting up at me. “Why did Uncle Caleb lie?”
“He didn’t lie, Emmy,” I said, as I felt the stab of pain rip through my heart again. That was the kicker, he didn’t lie at all. “I’m not his girlfriend.”
“You are,” Emmy insisted. “Boyfriends and girlfriends love each other.”
Before I could correct her, I heard footsteps slapping on the pavement behind us.
“Daisy, wait,” it was Caleb. He just ran from the restaurant and chased us halfway down the block.
“Please,” he said. “Let me explain…”
“There’s nothing to explain,” I said, aware that Emmy was listening. “Because, as I was just telling Emmy, there’s nothing going on between us. You said so yourself, I’m just the teacher.”
“Daisy…”
“I’d prefer it if you called me Miss Wright,” I said. Then I took one last look at the sadness softening through his face before I turned my back and led Emmy away.
18
CALEB
“Ta-dah!” I said, sliding a plate onto the kitchen table across from Emmy with a dramatic flourish. “Grilled cheese!”
Emmy’s nose wrinkled as she eyed my charred-black attempt at a sandwich.
“I miss Daisy,” she said, her shoulders slumping down in her seat. “Why can’t she come over for dinner anymore?”
I miss Daisy, too, I thought sadly. But I couldn’t say that. That would just make things more confusing for Emmy. Instead, I had to put on a brave face.
“Miss Wright is your teacher,” I said carefully. “You see her at school.”
Emmy had been asking for Daisy every night that week, ever since our encounter at the museum. Every day, Emmy had gotten more and more desperate for Daisy to come over for dinner or a Disney movie marathon, and every day, it had gotten harder and harder for me to explain why Daisy wasn’t coming around anymore. I had been trying to keep my explanations vague, but I knew Emmy was losing patience with me.
Emmy wasn’t the only person I owed an explanation to. I needed to tell Daisy the truth. But ever since our encounter at the cafe, she had all but vanished. She was not on the playground when I go to pick up Emmy. She wouldn’t return my calls or texts. She had cut me off, cold-turkey.
And honestly, I couldn’t even blame her. I knew the second I walked into the cafe that agreeing to meet with Jade Jeffrie
s for a second time had been a mistake. Jade had practically begged for a second meeting to finish up where our last interview had been cut short. She had insisted that she still had questions she needed answered for the profile she was writing for the Times and since I knew it was my fault for walking out on our interview, I had reluctantly agreed.
I had thought meeting in a public cafe would spare me from her blatant attempts to get into my pants, but I was wrong. As soon as I sat down, she made it very clear that the only ‘unfinished business’ she was interested in was her quest to fuck Caleb Preston.