Best Dating Rules by Tamie Dearen (story books to read .TXT) 📗

“Charlie will be here soon,” said Steven in an effort to cheer her up.

“Ughh! Charlie will never let me live this down. I was way more irresponsible than she’s ever been.”

Anne chuckled. “I’m afraid you may be right about that. Once she gets over almost losing you, she’ll probably hold this over your head for the rest of your life.”

Emily moaned. “And I’m missing work. I never miss work. I had something I really needed to finish today.”

“Work will wait. Although I hear your boss is something of a tyrant.” Steven winked at her.

“She’s usually a lot harder on herself than any boss,” Anne remarked.

“Well, do me a favor,” said Steven. “Cut yourself some slack here. You’ve discovered you aren’t perfect and you actually make mistakes. I know from experience that’s a hard lesson. Forgive yourself. Learn from it and move on. And you’ll find yourself much more forgiving when others are less than perfect.”

Emily nodded at Steven. But she knew she could never forgive herself. She would do everything possible to make up for her mistakes, but she would never let herself forget. And she would never quit punishing herself. If she did, she might make another mistake, and it might be worse than this one. Look how many people she’d hurt by her reckless actions. She didn’t deserve to be happy.

“Thanks, Steven. Thanks, Mom. You guys go home and sleep. I’ll be fine. I’m planning to go to sleep, too.”

“Are you hungry?” asked Anne.

“No,” she said emphatically. “I don’t think I’ll ever be hungry again.”

Anne chuckled. “I know the feeling, Sweetie. We’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Charlie will see you,” corrected Steven. “Your mom won’t be back until after five.”

“When will I get to leave here?” asked Emily. “I don’t want to spend the night.”

“I don’t know,” Steven said. “It’s possible you’ll get out today or it might be tomorrow. You’ll do whatever the doctor says. Right?”

“Yes, I won’t cause any more trouble.”*****

Spencer tried to sleep. He was so exhausted he thought he’d sleep all day. But when he closed his eyes, he saw images of Emily in his head. Her surprised face when he saw her sitting with Asher Denning. The picture of her with her eyes closed leaning against him, tucked inside his arm. Her limp body as he tried desperately to give her CPR in the back seat of the taxi. Her helpless form with wires and tubes coming out of her and a machine pushing air into her lungs. Her frightened eyes when she finally woke up with no idea what had happened.

He’d waited all night to see her wake up, but he couldn’t bring himself to stay and talk to her. He didn’t want to hear her meaningless apology. Oh, he was certain she would apologize. She was certainly sorry this had happened. She hadn’t meant for Spencer to see her with Asher Denning. She hadn’t meant to swallow a drug-tainted beverage. She hadn’t purposely stopped breathing. But she’d made a conscious decision when she went out with Asher. She’d chosen him.

Grace had told him about Denning. He knew he was an art teacher. He knew Emily had only met him once, that she hardly knew him He was older and artistic, blond and handsome. He had an English accent and all the girls in his art class were hot for him. He was smooth and sophisticated. He was obviously a weightlifter. He was the polar opposite to Spencer. So, Emily had made her choice. It hurt, but he’d learn to live with it. If only she’d been honest with him. He was humiliated to find out the way he did.

Spencer gave up on sleeping and went into the office instead.. At least he could keep his mind occupied and not think about how much he was hurting. His phone buzzed again. Becca continued to call and text, over and over. He was sick of her. He wasn’t sure, but he suspected she’d known Emily would be at the Green Scene last night. He glanced at his phone, expecting to see Becca’s name again. But it was Candace. Finally, she’d gotten the nerve to call him. He answered quickly before she could hang up.

“Candace?”

“Hey, Spencer. I got all of your messages. I’m sorry, but I just got them. I’ve been in Mexico since Monday night. I guess you’re not a Facebook friend, or you would have seen my posts. What’s up? What’s so important?”

“You went out of town on Monday and just got back today?”

“Yes. Me and Sherry and Brianna. Why?”

“Becca said you might be at the Green Scene last night.”

“Really? She must have forgotten I was in Mexico, but she knew I was there. She even posted several comments on my pictures. Why? Was I supposed to be there last night?”

“Do you know anything about a picture that was in the NYC Word on Tuesday?”

“You mean Monday? The one I called you about?”

“No, I mean the one on Tuesday. A different picture.”

“No. I admit I usually read it, but I didn’t read it this week. What was it?”

“A picture of the Gherrings, taken when she was coming off the hiking trail last Saturday.”

“No way! Becca put that in the paper? Did she put any of the others in? She took quite a few. I promise I didn’t know she was planning to do that.”

“You saw her take the picture?”

“Sure. You mean, when we were standing around waiting for them to come back to the parking lot? She took several pictures.”

“That’s interesting. She denied it and suggested you must have taken the picture.”

“I can’t believe it! We’re not really close friends, but I thought I knew her better than that. I promise I didn’t take it. I don’t know how to prove it was her, but I promise it wasn’t me. I felt really bad for Mrs. Gherring. So was the paper right? Is she sick?”

He sighed. “Well it’s old news now, but she’s actually pregnant and