Clifford Arbor: Savouring Emily Read Online Free PDF Page B

stared at the occupants. Chase spotted her first. Her back was bare and the summer dress didn’t leave much to the imagination.
    “Well, two tasty men come into my diner. What would you like to eat?” Mavis, the woman that owned the place sent them dirty looks. Chase frowned and moved passed the tables.
    Emily sat at the booth in the back. He spotted Edward in a booth staring across the room. Chase curious to see what had gotten  Edward’s attention, noticed a young woman. Molly, Mavis’s daughter was buzzing through the tables.
    Interesting.
    He smiled knowing that look of longing.
    Tyler glanced at both men and smiled. The booth opposite the Sampson family was empty.  Lawrence and Chase took the empty seats and stared at Emily. She was older but more beautiful than Chase could remember. Her gaze stared back at him and a nice healthy looking blush stained her cheeks.
    “Hello, Emily,” Chase said. 
    “Hi, Chase. Lawrence.” Her attention stayed on Chase.
    “We need to talk,” he told her.
    “I know.”
    “Well, how about you and Chase go for a walk and we’ll keep Lawrence entertained,” her dad suggested. Chase knew if he didn’t get her alone soon she wouldn’t be around to have a discussion with him.
    “That sounds great,” Emily said, shocking them all.
    She grabbed her coat and started walking out of the diner. He ran to catch up with her.
    His heart lifted when he placed his palm on her back. She wasn’t a figment of his imagination. Emily Sampson was back in Clifford Arbor.
    She was real and he finally had her back.
     

Chapter Four
     
    Lawrence watched his best friend and the woman he loved leave the diner. Emily looked so much better than he remembered. Amazing really. He took the seat she’d vacated and glanced at her family.
    Her mother looked like she wanted to cry, Tyler followed their movements until they disappeared and her father looked furious.
    “She deserves someone better than him,” he growled and took a chip.
    “Don’t start, Andrew,” she said.
    “He’ll break her heart,” Andrew continued on regardless.
    “With all due respect, Mr Sampson. Chase is in love with your daughter and he’s done nothing these past five years but wait for her to call,” Lawrence said. He knew how his best friend felt. He knew about the pictures Chase kept of her and the jumper he refused to wash because it held her scent. Thankfully, Emily had washed it before turning up in the damn thing.
    Chase had it fucking bad and with time his feelings had only gotten worse.
    “If she was with you, I’d know she’d be protected.”
    “Chase was the one who looked after her last time. I swear to you, Emily is always protected when she’s with him.”
    Lawrence knew it because when he was with him, he felt the same way. The guy was fucking built. His muscles getting bigger with the weight training he’d undergone in the last few years alone.
    He drank his coffee and left to go back to the garage. Time seemed to be moving slowly and he didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
    “Hi, Lawrence,” Edward said from under a car.
    “Where’s your brother?” he asked.
    “Moved onto the building site. Said working on cars wasn’t his deal.”
    Lawrence understood. Working on cars meant you had a lot of time to think. Looking at an engine and working out the kinks of the problems didn’t take a miracle worker to figure it out.
    “I saw you in the diner. You were eyeing up, Molly.” Lawrence began a conversation.
    Edward popped out from under the car and glanced at him.
    “How many other people saw?” he asked.
    “Not many. I think, Chase saw.”
    “Nothing is going to happen. Carl, wouldn’t allow it.” He went back under the car and Lawrence heard the guy sigh. A defeated sound.
    “Why wouldn’t, Carl want anything to do with it?”
    “Because he likes them on the thin side. God, I sound like a fucking bastard. Molly, is a beautiful, amazing woman and, Carl doesn’t like