"Emilia, wait!" Beard Guy says again, following after me. It turns out he really does know my name.

"You won't even give him a chance to explain?" he asks, but I don't stop to answer him. I need to get the hell out of here. I need to forget that Cal Jones was ever a part of my life.

"Emilia, please, you can't do this to him!" he calls after me. When I keep walking, he stops following me and says, "Why did you come find him, if you were just going to leave him again? It doesn't add up. The girl Cal talks about wouldn't be that cruel. So did he remember everything wrong, or are you going to quit running, and give him a chance to talk to you?"

I turn around to look at him and loudly exclaim, "I never fucking left him!"

A young mother, walking near us with two small boys, stops in her tracks to glare at me.

"Good evening, Annie," Beard Guy greets her, drawing her attention over to him, "I'm sorry about that. It's been a rough day for some of us." He gives her a charming smile, then looks down at her sons. "But that's no excuse to swear, is it boys?" he asks them with an easy smile.

The boys shake their heads, and then look back to me.

"We all fall short at times though, don't we?" Beard Guy continues, drawing their attention back to him, along with more head nods. "All the same, we're truly sorry you had to hear that. There's a lot of better words to say when we're having a rough time, aren't there?"

"Mom says fudge," the older of the boys says.

"And she called dad an asshole last week," the younger one supplies, to the absolute horror of his mother.

Her eyes go wide and she grips her youngest boy's arm with an awkward laugh. "No, Samuel, I said sasshole!" she denies.

"Nuh uh!" her eldest son exclaims, "I heard asshole too."

Beard Guy is obviously trying to suppress a grin. "Well, as I said, we all fall short," he says with a small shrug.

Annie looks at him like she's not sure whether to be humiliated, grateful, or annoyed. "Well, uh, good to see you, Theo. Boys, say bye to Mr. Morrison!"

The boys wave and smile and Beard Guy, or Theo, returns the gesture. "See you on Sunday!" he calls after them.

I have no idea why I stood around for all that. I give my head a small shake and then turn to walk away, but Theo steps in front of me.

"Emilia, please. Talk to Cal. You can't disappear on him again."

"Why? He's moved on. He's obviously happy, and I'm already causing issues for him. Did you not just see the look of pain on that girl's face?"

"That's exactly why you need to give him a chance!" Theo exclaims. He stares me down with an intense expression that is almost frightening. I notice he has a scar over one of his dark brown eyes. It streaks through his right eyebrow, narrowly missing the outer corner of his eyelid. It adds to the cynical look on his face. It's like I'm dealing with a completely different character than the charming man who had spoken to Annie and her boys.

"She's getting older," Theo continues, looking over in the direction of Cal and his daughter. They're making their way back toward us, hand in hand. "Look, I don't exactly like the idea of you being here, but if you leave now, there's no telling how Cal will react, and there will be no way to hide it from Emy this time. If you don't want a little girl to see her dad unravel, you need to stick around, at least long enough to let him talk."

I frown while I study him. "What's it to you? Are you the one who managed to marry him? I never expected Cal to switch sides..."

Theo looks taken aback, then cocks his scarred eyebrow and ever so slightly smirks. He's realized I'm fucking with him. "No. That would be my sister who married him," he replies, "which makes the little girl we're talking about my niece. So please, Emilia. I know this must be hard, but I'm desperately hoping that you're the sweet, selfless woman that Cal has spoken about."

My eyes meet Cal's as he continues to come closer. He smiles at me when he notices that I'm looking at him, and I know that my mind has already decided.

I could never walk away from that smile.

I may not be that sweet woman anymore, but apparently, I'll still do anything for this beautiful man...

----------

When Cal and Emy reach us, the little girl stares up at me. "I'm sorry I shoved you," she apologizes.

I was not expecting that. I give a small shrug. "Uh, I guess I deserved it, so that's okay," I answer.

She nods. "Yeah, ya did, but I'm still not supposed to use my hands to hurt." She gives me a pointed look.

I stare at her, then slowly look up at Cal, who has the slightest smirk on his face, while at the same time looking a little embarrassed.

Why is he looking at me like that?

"Welllll?" Emy pipes up, bringing my attention back to her, as she releases Cal's hand and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Well, what?" I ask. I don't like the way this tiny thing is talking to me like I'm the child here.

"Aren't ya gonna say sorry to my dad? You used your hands to hurt him. That's not nice."

"You're right, Monster, that's not how we do things, but—" Cal starts to make excuses for me, only for Theo to speak over him.

"Great idea, Emy! I'm sure your Dad's friend would love to apologize to him!"

Cal and I both look to Theo. Cal looks uncomfortable, and I'm sure I look pissed.

Theo raises his eyebrows and then gives a slight nod of his head, like he's trying to encourage me.

I hate this guy. I would punch him right in the face, if I wasn't worried my hand would get lost in his mountain man beard.

Emy stares up at me expectantly, and I clench my teeth together. "I'm sorry for punching you, Cal," I say eventually.

Cal looks shocked that I actually apologized, but he quickly replaces the look with a smile. "That's okay, Em. I know I deserved it," he mimics what I said earlier, when his daughter apologized to me.

Emy claps her hands together. "So, you're still friends?" she asks, excitedly.

There's that word "friend" again. It feels so wrong. It hurts.

Cal's eyes meet mine while he answers his daughter, "Of course, Monster. Emilia has always, and will always, be my very bestfriend." His eyes look watery, when he adds, "Even when she had to leave me, I always knew that."

My eyes fill with tears at his words, and how fucking wrong he has it. Yet, I feel relieved at the same time; that even though he had been lied to, he still knew that I cared. "Cal, I—"

"Do you want to come over for supper?" Emy asks, before I can continue. "Dad has a meeting, but Uncle Theo is making pancakes!"

Theo looks at Cal with alarm. "Your meeting!" he exclaims, like he's just now remembering.

Cal frowns at him. "Theo, there's no way I'm going to that meeting still. I'll make it up some other time."

"Cal," Theo warns, not looking impressed with the idea, "I know this is important, but don't you think—"

"It's fine," Cal interupts. "Really, Theo, it's all good. I'll get the next one. Promise."

Theo scowls at him, but then sighs and nods his head. "I'll still take Emy back home. You can take my truck, so that you and..." he gestures to me with a less than friendly expression on his face. He doesn't finish his sentence.

Emy claps her hands again. "Daddy gets chocolate chip pancakes too, now?! Yesss, this day is awesome!"

Cal smiles down at her, then nods at Theo and says, "Thanks man." He looks at his daughter next and kneels in the grass to hug her. "See you at home, Monster. Make sure Uncle Theo puts extra chocolate chips in my pancakes, please." He kisses her forehead as she giggles, and moves back to his feet.

His eyes move to me, and he rubs the back of his neck. The familiar gesture, which shows me how nervous and uncomfortable he is, sends little pain signals ripping through my heart. It must be the hundredth time I've felt them today. "What do you say, Em? Do you want extra chocolate chips in your pancakes too?"

I stare at him. I still can't figure out if this day is even real. "No," I say eventually, causing Cal's hopeful expression to immediately fall. "Do you have any blueberries though?"

Realizing that I'm not turning down the dinner invite, Cal's face lights up again.

"Yup!" Emy answers, "Mom likes blueberries in her pancakes too."

This time it's my face that falls.

Fuck. I had forgotten about there being a mother... Cal's wife.