Incredible Beauty (So Many Reasons 2)

“I don’t know if that’s enough Cass. I think I need time to think. I need to clear my head,” I whispered, running my nails along my scalp. “Can you call Simon? I-I need a day…or two. If he comes home now I might say something I regret.”

“Whatever you need, Em.” Cass hugged me.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Simon

“Cass, is everything okay?” I asked alarmed. Cass wouldn’t be calling me for an afternoon chat.

“Simon, Em knows Claire kissed you.”

What? I almost dropped the phone in shock. The only people who knew were myself and Claire and I sure as hell hadn’t said anything.

“How did she find out?” I rasped. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“Claire sent you an email and Emma found it by accident. For what it’s worth, I believe you Simon, but Em, her head is all messed up as it is. You need to give her a few days to figure things out.”

“What I need is to speak to her and explain-.”

“Listen, Simon! If you come home now, you’ll make things worse. I promise you that. Go stay at a hotel, or go to my house. I’m staying

here with Em and Mirabella, Tom’s home, but he won’t care if you’re there.”

“Fine. Can you call me later and tell me how she is? Cass, you need to make her see how much I love her.”

“I’ll try, Simon, I really will.”

I pulled the car over, three blocks from home. That’s how close to seeing Em I was. It took all of my willpower to turn the car around and drive away. I knew Cass was right. Em needed space right now and not giving it to her would be a bad move.

“Fuck!” I yelled, hitting the steering wheel. She needed space, I’d give her space. Throwing the cell into the back seat, I headed to Claire’s.

“Simon,” Claire looked shocked as she opened the door and saw me standing there, “come in,” she added. I brushed past her, trying to remain calm.

“Emma knows, because she saw the email you sent me. Why the fuck would you think it would be a good idea to email me?” I demanded.

“Because you wouldn’t answer your damn phone,” she replied, walking into the kitchen. “Keep your voice down, Maddie is outside.”

“Look, I need to get away for a few days. I want to take Maddie to my moms.”

“You want to take her now? She has preschool, Simon and other things. You can’t just take her with no notice.”

“Please Claire. Em needs space and I need to clear my head. Besides, mom hasn’t seen Maddie in ages,” I pleaded.

“Okay, you can take her,” she finally agreed, “but only two nights, okay?”

The drive to mom’s house was just over two hours of listening to Maddie chat non-stop about everything and anything. It was great. This is exactly what I’d needed, time away from everything with my daughter. As much as I wanted to give Em the space she needed, being away from her and Mirabella, even for just a few days was going to be hard.

We arrived at moms just after four and I was looking forward to surprising her with the unscheduled visit.

“Can I ring the doorbell daddy?” Maddie begged, jumping up and down on the front step. Laughing, I nodded as she squealed and pressed the button.

“Simon? And Maddie!” Mom cried, kneeling down to hug Maddie.

“Hi Gram-ma,” Maddie sang. In the two hours in the car I’d quickly learned she was in a singing phase. I hoped she was out of it by the time we had to drive home.

“Hey mom,” I smiled, kissing her cheek. She pulled me into a hug.

“What are you doing here? Is Emma and the baby here?” she looked over my shoulder at the car. I shook my head, nodding towards Maddie. This was a conversation I didn’t want to have in front of her. “Come on in,” she pushed us inside and shut the door.