(Emily, I'm Sorry)
ACT ONE—CHAPTER TWO

2021

What better to escape your past, present, and future than in a book?

That's why Emily surrounded herself by them—she owned her very own book shop, that doubled as a cafe.

However her tactics to escape didn't always work. That's how she found herself here. Staring at the business card of some journalist digging into her past.

A place that no one wanted to visit, yet she did every single night in her sleep. Emily's past always found a way to seep into her present, she was so tired of pretending.

She tried to be strong and perfect for her daughter, but she was living a lie.

Just like her parents had when she was a kid. She tried to be better than them. More supportive, more happy—but she just couldn't do it.

A shrill ringing pulled her out of the darkest bits of her mind. "He—hello?"

"Is this Mrs. Clark?"

"Uh—formerly, yes." Emily answered picking at the skin around her thumb.

Emily had been married to Aidan Clark, a guy she had gone to high school with. It didn't work out...she had never quite been in love with him.

"This is Daisy's school. Can you come get your daughter, please?"

"Why? What happened?" Emily asked, panic seeping into her tone.

Emily was always waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since she arrived home.

"She seemed to have punched someone."

"What—you know what, I'm on my way." She sighed, grabbing her keys from the counter, "See you soon."

Emily turned over her shoulder, "Hey Alison?"

The twenty-two year old turned to face Emily, "Yeah?"

"Do you mind if I step out, my daughter got herself into some trouble." Emily spoke, and the girl nodded, "Yeah, I've got this."

"Thanks, you really deserve a raise." Emily smiled, "Well, you're the boss." Alison stated.

"I am yes, I'll have to see what I can do."

——

"Alright, you have two minutes to explain yourself." Emily crossed her arms over her chest looking at the teenage blonde who held ice over her fist.

"Callie is a bitch."

"Daisy." Emily warned, "Just tell me what happened."

Callie is Shauna's daughter, and was Daisy's best friend. Emily wasn't entirely sure what was going on between the two of them, but there had been nothing but verbal fights the past few weeks.

Daisy shook her head, "I already told you. Callie is being a bitch."

"You know I'm going to find out anyways, so why don't you just tell me?" Emily tried to reason with the teenager.

"No." Daisy frowned.

"Go sit down," Emily sighed, giving up. The next thing she knew in comes Shauna.

"In Daisy's defense," the woman started, "She was being a bitch."

"Shauna—that's your daughter." Emily sighed, and the other woman shrugged, "I'm just saying."

Emily sighed walking away from Shauna and sitting next to her daughter. "She kissed my boyfriend."

The blonde woman sighed, at this point she simply wished she had never asked, and to make things worse the school also seemed to have called Aidan.

"Emily." He greeted.

"Aidan." She spoke dryly, the woman was not entirely happy with him at the moment.

"Really? You guys are still fighting?" Daisy exclaimed, "You're already divorced can't you just act civil for like five minutes?"

Aidan had been fighting Emily on the custody agreement, trying to take Daisy for the summer. Emily on the other hand was having none of it.

Which was only partially because he planned on taking her to Italy. Which would have been fine. If it didn't involve a plane. There was no way in hell she was letting Daisy get on any plane.

"The two of you have barely said two words to each other in weeks! Can't you just make up already?"

"Daisy." She warned.

"Sweetheart, this isn't the time or place." Aidan spoke up, and the curly-haired blonde drowned crossing her arms.

"Whatever."

The meeting with the principle went as expected. Daisy ended up with a suspension, and they were on their way.

"What's going on with you recently?" Emily whispered as they drove down the road.

Daisy rolled her eyes, "What do you think is going on? You and Dad got a divorce, Callie has barely been talking to me."

"Well you did punch her—"

"I mean in general, Mom." Daisy cut her off, and then there was a small pause of silence, "Did you even ever love Dad?"

"Honey," Emily spoke with a sympathetic tone, "Of course I loved your Dad."

"Really? You didn't just marry him to make grandma and grandpa happy?"

Emily was conflicted on how to respond to her daughter. It wasn't that she didn't love Aidan, she did. For awhile. But she was never in love with him.

She was pretty sure the only time she had ever truly  been in love was when she was a teenager. Emily hadn't felt that way since that one girl.

When Emily knew she probably wasn't going to feel that way again, so she settled. And she settled for what her parents wanted, she had already put them through so much.

"Daisy, I would never marry someone just because that's what my parents wanted. That's ridiculous."

Wow, back to lying. Emily smiled softly at her daughter.

"Okay." Daisy replied, seemingly letting it go for the moment.

Emily of course knew the comment would resurface at the least convenient time but for now she'd just enjoy the peace.

Peace however never lasted long for Emily, in fact she arrived to her home address with a mysterious postcard lurking in her mailbox.